Exposure 1010CD
It's nearly half the
price of the Quad Elite, but have too many corners been cut to bring the cost
down?
Many modern
audiophiles I will have first become acquainted with Exposure HIP in the
eighties, when the company established itself as the purveyor of high-quality
transistor amplification. It was distinctive for not being as bright and
bracing as the popular Naim sound, and yet a good
deal more musical than many Japanese or American amps. Since then, Exposure has
gained a broader outreach, making some very capable affordable separates while
retaining its purist philosophy. The 1010CD personifies this; it’s inexpensive
in Exposure terms yet real attention has been paid to the design.
Exposure 1010CD three quarter view
Construction
is the usual steel box with anodized aluminium fascia
plate. It’s neat and purposeful, and has an easy-to-read blue vacuum
fluorescent display - complete with eighties-style ‘music calendar’ - which can
be turned off for better sound. Inside, a chunky 30VA custom toroidal transformer provides clean power to the circuitry,
and feeds the double-sided PCB that sports decent signal path capacitors and a BurrBrown PCM1716 DAC chip. Round the back, there’s the
usual digital output - although this time only in Toslink
optical form. A remote control is bundled. The Exposure is nice enough to use,
but doesn’t feel as expensively finished as rival machines; its fascia panel
has ever so slightly sharp edges for example, so you can tell it has been built
down to a price.
On test
Like the
Teac player in this test, Exposure's 1010CD betrays a hint of PSU rectifier
noise with peaks at 100Hz/-92dBV, 200Hz/-97dB, 300Hz/-107dB etc. Even with A-weighting these do impact on the overall S/N ratio,
bringing it down from a potential 108dB closer to 102dB. Nevertheless
the player's low-level resolution remains 'better than 16-bit' with errors of
just ±0.5dB over a full 100dB dynamic range. Also like the Teac, these low
frequency signals crop-up on the jitter spectrum, possibly contributing to the
player's slightly warm overall balance.
Exposure 1010CD rear view
Distortion
is higher than with other players here, but at 0.001-0.0015% at its full 2.2V
output (20Hz-20kHz), falling to 0.0008% at -10dBFs,
THD could never be described as 'high'! The 1010CD's response is very flat (a
mere -0.13dB/20kHz turndown at 20kHz), but there is an
increase in output impedance from 50ohm (mid) to 150ohm (bass).
Sound quality
Tonally the
smoothest of this group, the Exposure sounds warm, rich and full, which will
suit many budget systems very well - but there is a sense that it lacks a
little bite and incision. In some ways it’s a sort of synthesis between the
silky but slightly opaque-sounding Teac (p37) and the richer, more incisive and
engaging Cambridge Audio. It loses a little of the latter’s detail and insight,
although it adds a touch of warmth and polish. Interestingly, as well as a
subtly different tonal balance, there’s a presentational difference too, as the
Exposure seats the listener a little further away - and higher up in the gods,
as it were. The result is that instead of feeling right in the action, you get
a better sense of perspective. Compared with the similarly priced Cambridge, it’s a little less punk rock and a bit more stadium rock.
Exposure 1010CD’s interior
Take the
New Order track for example. The opening drum sequence instantly marks out the
Exposure as a little less forceful player; you don’t get those electronic kick
drums etched in-between your eyes! Instead, there’s a slightly more standoffish
sound, less immediate and less initially appealing. But within a second or so
you start to notice the interplay between the snare and hi-hat, and it’s done
in a way that none of the cheaper players here quite manage. Even the excellent
Azur, with all its cleverness, doesn’t quite manage
to catch these tiny micro dynamic inflections. Then the verse kicks in and it’s
initially a little less striking, but then again you begin to find the overall
flow of the song highly enjoyable. There’s a better sense of depth perspective
than many other players here and the Exposure seems confident to hang backing
instruments just where they should be - at the back.
The Visioneers track highlights the pleasing warmth of this
player, and reminds us of the widescreen presentation. But inside the recorded
acoustic, things aren’t quite as tightly focused as with the Cambridge. It’s
certainly an enjoyable, pleasing player, but it’s not perfect.
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Details
·
Product: Exposure 1010CD
·
Origin: UK/Malaysia
·
Type: CD player
·
Price: $684.38
·
Weight: 5kg
·
Dimensions: (WxHxD) 440 x
90 x 300mm
· Features: BurrBrown PCM1716 DAC,
1x RCA phono line output, 1x optical digital
output, Drawer-loading CD drive
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