Moon's latest CD player, the CD3.3, stands out in the company's range for a number of reasons, not least being its technical superiority over the next model up, the CD5.3 RS.

But if the latter looks less impressive on paper than the CD3.3 , then it's a different matter in the flesh, even though the signal to noise ratio in the new model is a decibel better, THD (total harmonic distortion) the same and the upsample rate four times higher. If only reviewing CD players were a matter of comparing numbers, fortunately for us it's not.

Yet even if the more expensive CD5.3 RS is the better player, what the numbers do tell you is that the CD3.3 is a more up-to-date player, with the latest processing chips responsible for the higher 1.411MHz upsample rate.

Design

The DAC is a Burr-Brown PCM1798, which operates at 24-bit/192KHz and the oversampling filter runs at eight times. Moon makes a lot of its own casework at its facility in Quebec, Canada and it does an exceptional job. At its price point, this is a very nicely put together player with high-quality machining and anodising.

The loading drawer is described as 'proprietary' and is likely to have been sourced elsewhere as part of the transport mechanism, but it oozes class with a beautifully smooth operation and slim solid aluminium construction. It's a little inconvenient having the basic control buttons underneath this drawer but you can, of course, use the remote.

It would, perhaps, have been more logical to swap the left-hand buttons for those on the right, for ergonomics. Fortunately, however, if you leave the drawer out, it will close itself after a little while, which is a nice touch. The back panel reveals quite an array of connections including blanked-off space for balanced XLR sockets.

If you include these at the time of purchase they will cost an extra £150, although analogue output on RCA phonos is provided in either case. Usefully, it has S/PDIF digital in-and outputs on RCA phonos too, so you can connect another digital source to the DAC onboard the player.

Moon suggests that you could connect a music server or PC to this input, but the latter don't tend to have S/PDIF digital outputs unless fitted with an appropriate soundcard.

Alongside the audio connections there is an RS232 port for incorporating the CD3.3 into multiroom systems. You can also use it for firmware updates. Simlink sockets allow interactive use of the player in a Moon system and an IR input means you can use an external eye if you want to hide the player away. But then you wouldn't be able to appreciate the clarity of its red LED display which we rather like.

Moon's engineers have also incorporated what it calls M-Quattro gel suspension between the transport mechanism and the rest of the player. This consists of four gel spacers between the two elements which should help to keep vibration out of the transport.

There is just one circuit board within the player with separate areas for digital and analogue signals, each with its own ground plane in order to minimise interference between the two sections. The power supply starts with a toroidal transformer and uses ten stages of DC voltage regulation which feed the various elements in the circuit. The analogue side of which being a DC servo design that has no capacitors, as these are considered deleterious to low bass.