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Arcam Solo Mini

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Flushed, no doubt, by the success of the original 'Solo', Arcam has now progressed to a three-band, half-width, receiver with built-in CD player - and that's usually the territory of Aiwa, Matsui and other faceless brands that no one has ever heard of.

All the same, Arcam is keen to point out that the Mini has plenty of Arcam cred, with features such as digital-to-analogue conversion and a 25-watt output (that's real hi-fi watts, not PMP0, or some such fancy concoction).

Combined DAB and CD player

There's certainly plenty of logic in combining a DAB tuner and CD player in the same unit, since they both need digital-to-analogue conversion. And, once you've done that, you might as well add a USB input, so that files on USB portable audio devices can also be played.

The power supply - which is a linear type based on a toroidal transformer - is common to all the stages. However, even with all the space saving efficiency that comes with surface-mount components, it was clearly a bit of a squeeze to get everything in the case.

The inclusion of a slot-loading CD mechanism could easily be seen as another compromise but, just because most slot-loading players are a bit ho-hum, we shouldn't be in a hurry to condemn this one.

The DAB module is the usual minute, self-contained affair and the FM/AM one likewise. Source switching and volume control are electronic and the final squeeze is in the power amplifier section.

It might have been just about possible to fit in a discrete output stage, but Arcam has opted for a power integrated circuit secured to a heatsink that, while on the small side, is more than adequate for any music duty we tried.

Simple operation

In case radio, CD and USB don't rock your boat, Arcam has thoughtfully provided four line inputs on the usual phono sockets at the rear, plus an extra one on the front in the form of a stereo mini-jack.

There's a fixed-level output, quaintly labelled 'tape', and a preamp output so that remote amps can be driven (the same output allowing the Mini to be upgraded by the addition of an external power amp). If you hanker after more, or more refined power, then also nestling at the rear are control connections for multi-room automation.

Operation is pretty friendly, with a fair degree of intelligence built in. For instance, when you insert a CD, the source selector automatically switches to CD on the reasonable assumption that you actually want to play the disc.

The controls directly above the front panel work well enough, though the extra buttons on the remote make life easier. Volume steps are sensibly set at 1dB, with basic tone and balance controls included.

We really can't think of anything Arcam's left off - you can even use the Mini as an alarm clock!

Exceptional performance

To our great delight, the Solo Mini proved to be everything we'd hoped for. Arcam sent it in for review with an accompanying pair of 'Muso' loudspeakers (£130 each).

These may be a popular choice, though we couldn't really work up much enthusiasm for them. Instead, we spent many happy hours enjoying the Mini's prowess in the company of a pair of the very fine Living Voice Auditorium speakers.

Purloined initially for our valve amplifier group test, their high sensitivity of around 92dB was no less-suited to the relatively modest output of the Mini.

Now that may seem an odd pairing - a £2,100 speaker with a £650 mini-system? On the contrary, we found ourselves drawn inescapably to the conclusion that, with a budget of two to three thousand pounds, a Mini, plus the best loudspeakers one can find, it's still an eminently sensible choice.

After all, the Mini isn't just competent; it is, in context, stunning.

Superb CD audio quality

One does, of course, makes allowances for systems like this and we had a high expectation of some residual hiss or hum. But, hang on - there isn't any.

With fine-quality separates, you have to press your ear to the tweeter to hear anything of that nature and, yet even though the Auditorium is a sensitive speaker, we were not aware of any background noise. So far so good!

The CD player, however, is bound to be a bit coarse and lacking in detail compared with any half-decent separates. Except that it's not! We compared it with the exceptionally fine Chord DAC64 fed by a decent transport.

While we could spot it as an upgrade on the Mini's built-in player, it was the sort of differential we'd expect from a £500-class CD player (and some of them are quite alarmingly good).

But isn't the Mini's amplifier a bit of a puny starveling? Well no, it isn't. It does run out of power eventually, but up to that point it has astonishingly high-levels of detail, control and grip.

It's not a Krell or Musical Fidelity, but it has real insight, tuneful bass, sweet and extended treble and admirably little character of its own - it gets on with any style of music with equanimity.

Why bother with separates?

The DAB tuner is perfectly decent, while the FM one may be the weakest part of the system but that's all relative and it's still better than the FM section of some digital/analogue tuners we've come across, with a nice 'bite' to the sound and good integrity.

It's worth mentioning that a quick visit to the lab, resulted in a set of measurements not unlike those from good modern separates, and the real-world power output is comfortably above the rated 25 watts.

This is a system that plays music with gusto, conviction and a degree of finesse that could convince the most hardcore devotees of separates to change their ways.

It's possible that some painstakingly assembled systems of CD, amp and tuner for under £1,000 could see it off, but they still wouldn't offer as many features and would probably take up about five times the space.

Endless possibilities

So what are the applications for the Mini? From ultra-upmarket alarm clock to the heart of a dedicated stereo system, they are nearly endless.

Add a pair of Musos or other miniature speaker and put it in a bedroom, study or kitchen. Use it to lift the performance of a (non-multichannel) TV setup and add games, mobile music player and auxiliary inputs to the equation.

Or, as already suggested, add the best speakers you can buy, secure in the knowledge that the range of inputs and outputs makes it painlessly upgradeable both upstream and down. You could even give one as a present and spread a little real music replay quality.

After all, we have no hesitation in declaring the Arcam Solo Mini as one of the nicest and most exciting hi-fi products we've come across in a very long time. We can't recommend it more highly.

Moon CD5.3 RS and i5.3 RS

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Moon Audio is one of those less well-known brands that quietly goes about the business of making top-notch audio electronics at its base in Boucherville, Quebec.

The CD 5.3 RS player and i5.3 RS integrated amplifier featured here form part of Moon's Classic series range - a group of products that also includes two further CD players that are more affordable and a similar helping of integrated amps.

Both components also carry the RS suffix, which means they've been revised from their North American specification, to comply with European RoHS (Restriction of the use of certain Hazardous Substances) regulations.

Behind the name

This influential directive bans the sale of new electronic products on the EU market with more than the agreed levels of lead, cadmium, mercury, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyl (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame retardants.

The electronics in both the CD player and the amp are fundamentally different than the standard versions. Due to the RS regulations, both products include higher temperature grade PCBs, with gold-plated rather than tin/lead composite traces and have extensive use of improved dielectric (insulating) material.

Health and safety concerns aside, Moon is also the sort of company that opts for a stable and considered approach, which is reflected in the no-nonsense engineering of its products. And when it comes to amplifier design, it uses DC coupling (where capacitors are completely removed from the signal path in order to produce a better soundstage).

Moon also uses power supply transformers with 'tight regulation' on the premise that such devices allow the amp to drive difficult loudspeaker loads more effectively than 'typical' transformers which Moon claims deliver ten per cent less voltage.

The i5.3 RS has a specification to deliver 85 watts, which doesn't seem a great deal for the price, but when combined with a high damping factor and low output impedance, it results in surprising amounts of grip.

As ever with power figures, quality is more important than quantity and this is apparent when you try to drive tougher speaker loads at higher levels.

System features

On the features front, the i5.3 RS has five line-level inputs, one of which is configured to operate as a unity gain input - very useful if you want to combine stereo and multichannel systems in one room.

Essentially, it means that the integrated turns into a power amplifier for this input and the volume control is taken out of the circuit. One unusual touch is the way that the balance operates, reducing the level of one channel while leaving the other constant, or vice-versa.

The remote control is pleasant enough and apart from a minor fault with it (we couldn't decrease the volume), its only shortcoming is the lack of direct 'track entry' keys. While it has a sleek and streamlined, uncluttered look, the lack of track selection capability is mildy disappointing.

The CD5.3 RS CD player inhabits a very similar heatsink-flanked case to the partnering amplifier, but it has a bump on the top to make space for the disc drive. The four legs have threaded sockets into which you screw the small pointy feet that discourages one from stacking the player atop an amp.

Tough build

Construction is solid rather than slick (the front panel is very professional-looking), but the top plate looks a little tinny for the money. The rear end is embellished with decent WBT socketry and thus looks and feels the biz.

Under the lid the CD player has a Philips- based transport mechanism driven by Moon's own control software. On the power supply side, there are two mains transformers - one of which supplies the analogue output stage, while the other drives the digital side and the disc drive system.

The power supply has eight stages of voltage regulation prior to supplying elements like the DAC (which is a Burr-Brown 1730E). While this is not a chipset we've seen in many other players, it is a 24-bit/192KHz converter with 8x oversampling.

As with the amplifier, the CD5.3 RS has a DC servo circuit and proprietary analogue filters. Digital and analogue circuits share the same board, but have their own ground planes, the idea being to minimise circuit length by sharing a board and to minimise interference by not sharing a ground.

Our previous experience with Moon

The last time we listened to a Moon from the Classic series, it was the precursor to this amplifier and was simply called i5.

At the time, we found the sound overly smooth, while using very similar cables to those still in our reference system (Townshend and Living Voice) and changing them did the trick.

This time with different speakers, Bowers & Wilkins 802Ds, we had almost the opposite problem. To start with the balance was too bright and too dry, but rather than curing this with cabling we tried putting some damping between the pointed feet of the Moons and the glass shelves on our Townshend VSSS equipment support.

This sorted things out nicely (as this is not the first time that such an effect has been noted, those of you using points on glass might be interested to try the same experiment).

The other factor that probably came into play and is likely to of cured the dry aspect of the balance, is that the Moons had been left to warm up for an additional 12 hours. With the preliminaries taken care of, things get very interesting indeed.

Rich sounds

First impressions from the first spin of our regular test disc reveal the incredible levels of detail on offer. This is matched with true musical coherence, delivered in a genuinely engaging fashion. Barb Jungr's rendition of Who Do You Love is revealed in full effect, despite being an SACD on a CD player.

Her voice, in particular, is rich in nuance and depth. The tempo of another track from the same disc, Trouble In Mind, is reproduced in a fashion that enlivens the music without threatening to make it forward or brash.

The pairing makes a very clean sound indeed, with smooth highs and tight imaging. In fact, in this latter respect, we'd go as far as saying it is uncommonly effective.

Individual instruments and voices are far more solid and distinct and the effects, or surrounding acoustic, is easily distinguished. This was particularly apparent on Melody Gardot's Worrisome Heart, where the voice has quite a lot of compression.

Another female voice, that of Gillian Welch, reveals this combo's ability to expose the layers that seem to exist within recordings. Not so much the different parts, as the harmonies that she produces when singing alone and with a backing vocalist.

The recording's slight hardness is not smoothed over, but neither is it emphasised, so there's no discomfort. In fact, it gets right to the heart of the matter on the song 14th Day of April.

Exciting acoustics

Taking the CD5.3 RS on its own and putting it up against our reference Resolution Audio Opus 21 (via more revealing Classé amplification) shows the Moon in a very positive light.

This is one of the few occasions where we felt that our player of reference was in danger of being eclipsed by a similarly priced product. The Moon certainly knows how to take advantage of the subtlety offered by a big pre/power amplifier, producing acres of space from the Melody Gardot disc and making her voice even more seductive.

Next to the Opus 21, the CD5.3 RS has a cleaner top end that makes the music sound less lively, but also allows you to play it at a higher level without any hardness.

Some will prefer the more forward and dynamic sound of the Opus 21, those with smoother-sounding speakers or more highly damped rooms, but in this system, the Moon's ability to deliver great instrumental tone and depth of tone with no tendency to hardness works very sweetly indeed.

In truth, we got carried away and started playing some great music at proper levels; stuff like David Wilczewski's Room in the Clouds, which builds up a real head of steam on the track Speedy.

With this, the system separates everything out so that you can hear the individual elements, but keeps the pace right on the money, so that it retains the excitement as well as the detail.

A cosmic combo

Having had such a good time with the CD player in the 'big' system, it was time to see how the amplifier fared on its own.

In this instance, a Leema Tucana (£3,000) was summoned in order to give us a point of reference. Here things were a little closer - yet again the Moon proved the more relaxed of the two amps delivering a more three- dimensionally solid sound, but one with a less crisp and tight bottom end.

The Tucana is a rather more powerful amplifier and this is apparent when you play some weighty Grace Jones, where the extra depth and kick in the bass is particularly welcome.

The amp has a very good sense of pace and a smooth, relaxed presentation that doesn't skimp on details, nor dynamics. The Tucana on the other hand, delivers a bit more of the tension and drama in a piece, its resolve of leading edges makes it that much tighter.

The Moon combination is a very appealing package. Its combines great imaging with strong timing and dynamics. Although, the CD5.3 RS seems the stronger of the two, in tandem, the results are cosmic.

Leema Pulse/Stream

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To accompany its latest CD player, the Stream, Leema has built a more affordable version of its Tucana integrated amplifier.

Called 'Pulse', it produces 80 watts, rather than the 150 offered by the Tucana, but the build comparison is to the same standard (albeit, without the fancy logo perforations on the top or the heat sinking down the flanks).

There are also blue lights that indicate coarse and fine volume; those under the knob representing small increments and those around it, large ones.

A plethora of features

Features are also pretty comprehensive with a phono stage that accepts moving coil and MM cartridges separately, a tape loop and preamp out. Next to these are more contemporary facilities, like a minijack for your MP3 player and another for headphones.

Those who need to integrate both stereo and home cinema set ups, will be pleased to see the AV direct sockets that allow the power amp section of the Pulse to be driven with an external multichannel processor.

This means that the stereo speakers can be integrated into a surround system without compromising two channel performance.

The Stream is an unusually clean-looking CD player, thanks to the compact size of the display and the fact that there is only one knob and one power button.

Leema calls this knob L-Drive, with the distinct possibility that 'L' stands for learner, because that's what you are until you can work out how to use it!

A challenging CD player

We thought that the Cairn players were a little challenging to operate, but the Stream takes things further. Opening the drawer requires a three second push, while getting it to play only requires one.

The tendency for the novice, however, is to press it again, once the drawer closes and this instigates 'pause'. The two-digit display doesn't help either, because it has to resort to abbreviations to tell you what it's doing - it's no BMW!

Inside the box, Stream follows the theme established by the Antila, with multiple DACs. This time there are eight, rather than ten pairs, but this is still more than the majority of players.

These are top notch 24-bit/192kHz delta-sigma devices, whose output is fully balanced thanks to the differential arrangement that having two or more pairs per channel allows.

The actual output on the player is only single ended - one way in which Leema could reduce costs without too much compromise. It also makes sense in the context of like-priced amplifiers, which rarely have balanced inputs.

Well-built system

The other differences to the Antila include conventional casework. The front is billet aluminium, but the rest is steel rather than stainless aluminium. The L-Drive is also a
cost saver because it removes the need for numerous buttons and LEDs.

What Leema has seemingly succeeded in doing is retaining the key elements of the Antila, while reducing the cost of the surrounding architecture.

Both Stream and Pulse are equipped with LIPS (Leema Intelligent Protocol System), which allows components to talk to one another and significantly increases ease of use.

The CD players are able to act as a master through LIPS, which means that the amp can be out of site and you can command it completely through the player, the display showing input selection and volume level.

Another neat feature is the way the amp always drops the volume to a low preset level with an input change, so that there's no danger of damaging loudspeakers when switching between sources.

Fierce sound

In order to get an idea of their individual characteristics, we tried these two components on their own prior to combining them. First up was the Stream, which we played through a Classé pre/power combo and Bowers & Wilkins 802D loudspeakers.

Far from suffering from the exposure that this set up undoubtedly offers, the Stream seems to revel in the resolution, delivering one of the most toe- tapping results we've encountered in a CD player for quite a while.

It gets straight into the groove in such a convincing manner that you wonder if it's cheating by leaving something out. Although, to be honest, we couldn't find anything missing on well-played discs like the legendary Eva Taylor on the Opus 3 label.

The Keith Jarrett Trio's Live at Montreux is also highly revealing in this respect, but the Stream has no trouble getting to grips with the less than obvious rhythm of Green Dolphin Street, a tune that can often seem to meander with other players, but which really picks up its feet with the Stream treatment.

A comparison with the less expensive, but reigning sub- thousand pound champ (Cambridge's Azur 840C) reveals nothing amiss in terms of detail.

The Cambridge is laid back by comparison, the soundstage literally moving backwards when it takes over, which makes the Leema relatively forward, but not so that it's in your face.

The Cairn Tornado, for instance, is a more forward and edge-of-the-seat player, which puts the Stream in the middle-ground.

Timing talents

Perhaps the most striking comparison, came with Barb Jungr's Trouble in Mind, which has a full-bodied double bass providing the beat, which the Stream delivers in timely fashion, making the 840C seem leaden and ploddy.

It's not just a tempo thing either, dynamics are also well catered for, which means that if there is life on the disc it will be sent to the amplifier in no uncertain terms.

Even with relatively restrained discs like José Gonzalez's Veneer, where there's rarely more than a voice and a guitar, the Stream finds the energy and vitality that was laid down in the studio.

Stream's timing talents with the Pulse amplifier are not quite as revealing as nine grand's worth of pre/power, but we think that this can be forgiven under the circumstances.

What is most impressive about it, is that it doesn't make us keep thinking 'I wonder what this album would sound like through the bigger amps?'

Imaging could, perhaps, be more precise and voices, though centrally placed, are not always as clear as they might be. But, the inflections and subtleties on display can still be appreciated.

Better than pricier competition

With Keith Jarrett for instance, it reveals the tape hiss and an awful lot of the incidental foot-tapping, alongside a very real and solid sounding piano.

It can deliver something very close to palpable realism with the aid of the Bowers & Wilkins' 802D loudspeakers, which is very impressive given the asking price.

We've heard plenty of more expensive amps struggle with the load offered by this speaker, let alone deliver top musical results through them.

And, while it may not be quite so transparent to timing, it lets enough through for you to know that the source is delivering the rhythmical goods. Tunes do indeed chug when the material calls for it - the Blues number; When The Levee Breaks, for instance.

The degree of tangibility it brings to well-recorded pieces does a lot to help suspend the disbelief that is the raison d'etre of a sound system.

More detailed sound

As with the Stream, we used a Cambridge Azur component as a reference for the Pulse, this time the 840A amplifier. A design that has significantly more features, but costs £400 less.

You'd expect the Pulse to cream it and you'd be right, but the 840A has upset previous pretenders, so this is not an easy task.

Essentially the Leema amplifier delivers more detail and you can hear the resonance of the double bass strings and the timbre or tonal depth of voices rather more clearly, too.

The difference is great enough to warrant an upgrade from Cambridge to Leema which, given that you usually have to spend a bit more to make it worthwhile, is a good sign.

A confident CD player

The Leema has one feature not to be found on the Cambridge, a phono stage. When connected to the output of a van den Hul Frog MC, sited in an SME IV arm on a DPS2 turntable, the Pulse produces a wideband, dynamic result that is more than a match for the charms of any digital source.

The bass is particularly tuneful, with good depth to boot, continuing the tactile theme encountered with the Stream and doing so in a highly engaging fashion.

Leema has managed to deliver a confident and inspiring sound from its latest and most affordable components.

The Stream times like few other CD players can, while the Pulse has power and transparency that should have the likes of Arcam and Cyrus more than a little concerned.

Arcam MS250

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After some four years in development, Arcam has added the MS250 to its ‘FMJ’ range of hi-fi separates.

By no means the cheapest act available, it nevertheless promises audiophile sound quality based on Arcam’s CD player expertise and offers a handy capacity of 400GB – equivalent to well over 500 hours of uncompressed audio.

Stunning amount of storage

Lossless compression would have made that over 1,000 hours, but 500 should last most people a few years. In many respects, the specification is familiar, with multiple independent audio outputs fed from a hard drive, internal CD reader/writer, internet radio or line inputs, plus Ethernet, USB and video connections and a few other control sockets besides.

Arcam has upped the ante by offering four outputs (most servers seem to have three), but of these only one has a digital alternative to the analogue phono sockets. Is that a problem?

Possibly not: for one thing, if the sound quality via analogue outputs lives up to Arcam’s claims an external DAC is unlikely to do much to enhance it, while the really dedicated owner could still add something very fancy (think Chord, dCS etc.) in the principal listening zone to gild the lily.

Then again, digital interconnects have advantages on long runs and can also be connected via a wireless interface of some sort.

Inside Arcam's music server

Inside, we found not just similar, but identical control and power supply sections and a closely related CD transport, too. The audio board is completely different, though, so in a sense this is no more surprising than finding that two CD players share a transport and a handful of control chips.

And since we thought the Systemline was pretty well equipped on the control interface front, we’re bound to say the same of this machine, with all the connections we can easily imagine needing for typical application. Actually it has rather more inputs for remote control, giving extra flexibility in the implementation of a multi-room installation.

The audio board, all Arcam’s own work (the rest is clearly all bought in), carries high specification DACs chips of recent vintage from Cirrus/Crystal, followed by good-quality op-amps, resulting in a signal path not entirely unlike that of good current CD players.

Slow to store

The power supply is a switch-mode package – traditionally a no-no in high-quality audio, but we’re not alone in accepting that many recent hi-fi components using such a supply have demonstrated a perfectly acceptable, not to say impressive, performance.

The Meridian 808 Signature CD player, for instance. If switchmode is good enough for that epitome of digital excellence, we’re certainly not going to discount it in applications like this.

We’re still hunting for a server that can ‘store’ (they all seem to use that term – i.e. rip a CD to hard disk) really quickly. This one has two settings – Fast and Quiet, but while Fast seems to run at only about eight times normal speed (and is anything but quiet), Quiet runs at a rather tedious four times speed and is far from silent.

Still, it’s always entertaining to see track details etc. and even cover artwork pop up automatically, thanks to a seamless connection to an online database.

Music cataloguing made fun

If your collection features a lot of really obscure CDs, you may have to enter some details yourself, but it’s not too tiresome and you can add a PC keyboard to speed things up.

A TV or VGA display is, as usual with servers, more a requirement than a luxury for setting up, but simple selection and playing functions are perfectly possible using only the front panel display.

The remote control is nice to use and the front panel buttons duplicate all frequently-used functions. In addition to playing music from the hard disk or CD drive, you can listen to Internet radio stations (assuming you have broadband), some of which are starting to put out better sound than was the case a year ago.

Line inputs also allow recording from vinyl, cassette and other analogue formats. iPod and similar devices can interface via USB and you can build a network of MS250s and connect to home computers to share music as well.

A noisy unit

Once again, we are forced to issue a warning that having this server in the same room as your loudspeakers places a distinct limit on sound quality, simply because of the volume of sound it emits.

The hard drive isn’t the half of it: there are two internal fans and the CD drive is far from silent when used to play discs which you can’t be bothered to store.

To our mind, cooling a server without the aid of fans is an absolutely essential first step towards making it truly audiophile and it’s certainly possible: just look up ‘Hush Technologies’ on the Internet, for instance.

Impressive audio quality

An ugly 1980s-style glass-fronted hi-fi cabinet didn’t make enough difference to noise levels, so we took the MS250 out of our room and introduced the long interconnects.

This set-up quickly brings impressive results. What surprises us more than anything is the very high degree of insight into even very complex recordings that this server affords us.

We aren’t entirely astonished to find that its tonal balance is good, nor that the sound is basically clean, but the degree to which it emulates a very fine CD player is frankly rather a pleasant shock.

In addition, over and above the general balance, both bass and treble have the kind of clean, detailed and above all, confident extension that one expects in high-end kit and hopes for, though sometimes in vain, in decent mid-price equipment.

Energetic bass

If we have any criticism of the bass it’s that it can sometimes be a little indistinct in pitch, but it is firmly extended and times very well, giving great drive and energy in rock and other strongly rhythmic music.

The treble is open and airy and high sounds decay into silence very naturally. The line inputs seem more than just decent, too and were admirably up to the task of storing tracks from some treasured LPs.

So is this server the perfect embodiment of the new digital experience? Not entirely.

A worthwhile hi-fi investment?

We’re undeniably full of admiration for Arcam’s achievements on the sound front, but we are still beset by doubts as to whether we could live with it as part of a hi-fi system, pretty much entirely because of that wretched noise it – and all of its peer group that we can recall – makes.

All the same, put it in the cupboard under the stairs as part of a multi-room installation and in audio terms, it is currently the model by which to measure the rest. It seems qualified congratulations are in order.

Consonance Reference 2.2 LINEAR

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Plenty of manufacturers use the word 'Reference' in relation to their product names. But what about 'Linear'?

Well, it turns out that this appellation is Consonance's way of indicating that the player uses no oversampling or upsampling. In other words, there's no digital filtering of any kind and not much in the way of analogue filtering either.

This approach has been used by only a few manufacturers in recent years (perhaps most notably by Audio Note) and is claimed to sound more natural despite measuring considerably worse.

Basic approach, modern design

In this case, you do actually get the option of upsampling to 88.2kHz, but Consonance's preference seems to be for non-upsampling.

Conversion from digital to analogue is done by a quartet of rather antique DAC chips, which are followed by passive current-to-voltage conversion, some very simple filtering and a lone valve for the output stage.

Construction is neat and surprisingly modern - a bit of a turn-up finding 1990s DAC chips, valves and surface-mount components all on one board!

As well as the all-black finish shown in the photo, silver front and natural wood top is an option. The Ref Linear, also shares the unusual control feature that we first experienced with the Ref 2.2.

These controls are actually joysticks which 'wobble' up, down and sideways and which are great fun to operate.

Lively sound

Suggesting that Consonance may be on to something in its abandonment of technical perfection, this player was very well-liked.

It conveyed to our listeners a consistently good impression of musical life and excitement, with a full-bodied bass that's always under control, plus lively and energetic upper frequencies.

It has a slightly more 'broad brush' approach than some, but despite that manages to keep a good grip on detail.

That is nowhere more evident than in stereo imaging, which was felt to be the best of the bunch in terms of overall spread and reach. It's not the most precise, but not the least so either and it is generally very persuasive.

One might say the same of midband tonality, which is not always absolutely neutral but nevertheless has a convincing ring to it.

There's a little boost, it seems, in the presence band which just occasionally can make the sound a touch strident, but despite that the quality of each individual instrument shines through, giving highly believable character to sax, violin and Hammond organ alike.

Never a boring CD player

Voices are particularly favoured, with natural timbre and good diction, thanks to a high degree of precision in the treble. A pleasantly 'airy' quality to the very high frequencies helps voices to sound distinct and completely clear of the instrumental backing.

We did feel that the sound can sometimes be a bit larger than life, but there is always enough of a rein kept on proceedings to prevent this sonic footprint from being oppressive.

The lively quality to the sound seems equally apt across a wide range of musical styles and, perhaps most significantly, this is never a boring player.

Cyrus CD-8X

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The Cyrus CD-8X is approaching the status of an old favourite, having been in the Cyrus catalogue for several years. We've enjoyed its company in the past, but we hoped the exciting new Servo Evolution transport upgrades would have been ready in time.

The CD-8X is built into the usual Cyrus die-cast case, it is quite a shoe-horn job with two circuit boards carefully mounted above and below the rear extension of the CD transport and two toroidal transformers squeezed in too.

Despite that, space has been found at the rear for twin outputs, control bus sockets, both flavours of digital output and a socket for the PSX-R power supply, which we decided to employ in this review.

A useful upgrade

Effectively a big transformer in a box, but with some intelligent housekeeping circuitry to make it a complete no-brainer of an upgrade, the PSX-R is compatible with many of Cyrus's more upmarket products.

It comes with a flying lead terminated in a plug which fits into the appropriate socket and operation is completely automatic.

It powers key parts of the circuit and, while its effects are more appreciable with power amps than CD players, it is still claimed to giveworthwhile improvements in general sonic clarity and precision.

The display on the 8x is basic, but the player is nice to use, with rapid disc handling. We particularly appreciate the way everything can be easily controlled from the front panel: players which make key functions exclusive to the remote can quickly lose their appeal when the remote has temporarily vanished.

Little to criticise

If the 8x didn't seem to our listeners to excel in any particular area, its performance was nevertheless considered good in each department and there was relatively little specific criticism.

About the strongest expression against the player came from our 'rhythm and timing' enthusiast, who found the presentation a touch bland, most noticeably so in the Penguin Café Orchestra track.

Even he, however, conceded that the bass can be punchy on at least some occasions, especially in the Rachmaninov, which features some quite energetic work from the double basses and the percussion, but then separation of instruments is very clear in small ensembles.

Frequency limitations

Multiple voices seemed to fare very well indeed, with some very positive comments greeting the Pallavicino track. Here, the space in which the recording was made seemed even bigger than usual, while each voice was still clearly defined and projected.

To the extent this player has limitations they seem more to do with the frequency extremes than the midband. The bass is quite well extended, but not quite as deep as some. Some instruments can catch it out and end up sounding slightly boomy.

Treble is extended but can sometimes be a little dry, especially with very treble-rich sounds. But at neither extreme is there anything that seems likely to induce listener fatigue or discomfort.

Shanling CD-T1000SE

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We thought we'd seen this one before, but as it turns out that was the 100, not the Shanling CD-T1000SE, which is a new model though evidently sharing a few mechanical components.

It's based on a Philips mechanism, but instead of the usual loading tray it has a flip-up lid. This allows direct loading of the disc and makes for exceptionally fast access since the transport is very quick to read a disc.

There's a lot more to this model than just the convenience of top-loading, though. For a start there are the valves, obvious at once in their attractive protective surrounds (the word 'cage' hardly seems appropriate here).

High quality CD player

You get the best of both worlds in a sense, thanks to Shanling's provision of two sets of outputs at the rear, one 'Tube' and one 'Direct'.

In other words, if you find the idea of adding valves to a digital signal chain suspect, you can listen without them and simply enjoy their attention-grabbing appearance. You can't forego valves if you choose to use the headphone socket, though, as one pair is dedicated to driving that.

Inside the very shallow chassis is a well-filled circuit board equipped with high quality DACs, an unusually generous provision of upmarket op-amps and an upsampling chip.

Shanling has made upsampling a switchable option, so you have unusual opportunities to tune this player to taste. There's even a digital volume control. Build quality is high, with plenty of little extras such as the ferrite interference stopper on the leads to the output sockets.

Copious amounts of detail

With so many options to choose from we plumped for oversampled operation via the 'tube' output, as it seems likely that this is how most units of this model will be used.

Shanling will have no cause to argue with our choice as the results are among the best of its class. In fact, one listener declared this firmly his favourite of the day, while the sentiments expressed by the others were hardly less enthusiastic.

It seems the single most impressive aspect of the sound is the extent to which it gets 'out of the box' in every sense - images which extend beyond the loudspeakers in all directions and, perhaps even more important, instruments that seem less constrained by the realities of sound reproduction.

There is copious detail on offer, never unnaturally emphasised but gratifyingly easy to follow and allowing highly analytical listening if one cares to try.

The frequency extremes are well-balanced and integrated with the midband - being picky, there's an occasional lack of complete control in the bass but it's by no means enough to cause headaches. That's the basics covered.

Involving sound

Where this player really excels, though, is in sheer musical communication and involvement. There is a cohesion to the sound and the listener is treated to an unusually convincing musical rendition as a result.

Whether the music be hard-driven bebop, the slow movement of a classical string quartet or synth-based pop, it is presented with complete conviction and that, surely, is what one looks for in any hi-fi component.

Edgar CD-1

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The most striking aspect of the Edgar CD-1 is its solid wood front, polished to a very fine finish.

The CD loading tray has a wood trim added too, which on the review sample didn't quite match the rest of the front, and even the power switch is wood-faced.

That much we like, but we're less keen on the display, a frankly 1980s-looking affair that is bordering on naff. Still, it conveys all the information you need.

A basic CD player

The control buttons are another black mark as they are noisy and sometimes unpredictable in operation. The transport, in typical Philips manner, is brisk and efficient though and the remote control is rather classy with its wood sides and heavy construction.

A generously-sized toroidal transformer looks after the basic power requirement. In terms of features, basically there aren't any - analogue output and the most basic programming, being two!

A digital output is about the only thing we'd bother adding. Case construction is very robust, if a little industrial, and felt feet are fitted which can allow the player to slide away if buttons are pressed hard.

Impressive performance

With only the gentlest of criticisms levelled at it, its performance came across as one of the strongest we've heard.

It has a big-hearted, big-scale presentation which rapidly convinces the listener that everything is just so, but in addition it pays due attention to the little details that keep one interested and alert.

It may be a touch over-enthusiastic on the bass but, in general, low frequencies are well extended, well controlled, well timed and above all tuneful.

From this firm foundation rises a neutral midrange, topped off with a natural airy treble that never seems to become harsh or edgy, even with notably difficult sounds like violin or oboe.

An enjoyable experience

We said the midrange is neutral: once or twice it seemed a little over-keen on the presence region, slightly accentuating voices and higher melody instruments. That's very much the exception, though, and most of the time the player is very even-handed.

It has good detail right across the spectrum and very good imaging too, with nicely extended depth and a good lateral spread.

The one time it seemed slightly less in control of things was in the Ian Dury track. This can be a tricky test because the voice is placed significantly forward of the rest of mix, and we felt the Edgar fell into the trap of separating it further rather than making its relation of the backing clearer.

Overall, though, the sound is enjoyable, believable and involving, with plenty of impact and drive, and in addition seems very even-handed in its musical taste.

Lyngdorf CD-1

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Lyngdorf is best known for its range of digital amplifiers and the room correction built into them, but a digital source is a natural enough extension for such a company.

It doesn't do anything but play CDs, but none too surprisingly it is a highly technological device with extras like a choice of oversampling rate at the digital output and digital control of the analogue output level.

The outward appearance of this player is smart and it has a good display. Lyngdorf's decision to use a 'jog dial' for track selection and menu navigation is to be applauded and we found this a fine player to use.

It's flexible, with balanced as well as unbalanced outputs, and it boasts RS232 ports for connection to a computer for remote control or updating of the internal firmware. There are three flavours of digital output: electrical and optical S/PDIF and AES on an XLR connector. It's even possible to disable analogue outputs, because Lyngdorf's amps all have digital inputs.

One interesting feature deserves mention: Intersample Clipping Correction. Lyngdorf points out that all too many CDs are recorded at very high levels with frequent clipping of waveforms, and because this is an oversampling player it is possible to correct to some extent for clipped audio.

There's a limit to how much this can correct, but it will certainly prevent any further nastiness from occurring at the D-A conversion stage.

This is a very well built machine internally, with a 'proper' CD-Audio transport, generous toroidal mains transformer and good quality parts throughout. Looking through the rather varied notes our expert listeners made on this player, the conclusion we are drawn to is that its sound is too dispassionate and uninvolved for some tastes.

But that doesn't necessarily mean it's passionless and uninvolving - it depends on the music and how it's recorded. Taking first the comments on specifics, its bass is warm in tone but restrained in level and extension, a combination that isn't self-contradictory but does lead to differing reactions from listeners. Midrange is okay though, and treble seems open and detailed.

Dynamics attracted a good deal of comment, not all of it favourable. One listener thought the player downright compressed, while another found it at least a little tame in this regard.

But the third felt that the sound had very good integration, which merely seemed to reduce dynamics when in fact it was producing a less aggressive approach to loud passages of music. Another comment seemed to point in a similar direction, suggesting that the player may be too refined for its own good.

Lacking an absolute reference point, it's hard to be sure whether the rawness is being lost from recordings or added by other players, but in a group context like this it's useful to be able to make peer comparisons, and this is certainly a highly civilised player.

All the same, we would add a warning note about its detail, which all listeners (blind and sighted) rated as no better than par for the course. That apart, it has an attractive presentation - just don't expect it to be the most exciting-sounding player in the shop!

Cairn Tornado

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Earlier in the year, we took a closer look at Cairn's obscurely named Fog 3 CD player.

Manufactured in France, it had its fair share of Gallic charm and provided more thrills than we've encountered in digital audio for some time.

Small, but perfectly formed

Now we have the first sample of its new stablemate, the Tornado - a similarly designed player that manages to bring the price down quite dramatically by cutting back on luxuries. While the Fog 3 will set you back over two grand, the Tornado is only £850.

The Tornado is the base disc player in Cairn's small, but attractively formed range (there are two further one-box players, including the aforementioned Fog 3 and the Via, which is only available built to order).

Described as a simplified version of the Fog 3, the Tornado is smaller and is less lavish; the former's attractively ventilated silver casework being replaced with a standard black finish behind a 5mm front panel. It is not quite as smart as the Cambridge 840C, but is very much on a par with most of the competition.

Inside the box, savings have been made by shaving off the XLR output and the digital inputs. More significant, perhaps, is the change of DAC board, with the Tornado having a standard 24-bit/96kHz chipset and filtering.

Sound effects

The four filter settings on the Fog 3 offer a broad range of sound tailoring, far wider than the filters we've tried on players in the past, with everything from relatively smooth and relaxed all the way up to 'in yer face'. So the way that Cairn has set the filter on the Tornado will probably have a distinct impact on the impression it makes.

The analogue output stage is a Fog-like bipolar design that runs in class A and is devoid of negative feedback, an approach much vaunted by the valve amp designers.

But Cairn is also an amplifier maker with three integrateds and a pre/power on its roster, so the chances are that it has its own ideas in this department.

For the newcomer, the Fog 3 had some peculiar operating procedures and the Tornado is no exception. Opening the disc tray or playing a disc, requires holding in the operation button for a longer period of time. Turning the unit on requires you to double click the on/off button.

Simple connections

Nonetheless, the remote handset now has a conventionally arranged numerical keypad and once you've located the 'tray' and rotate symbols for 'open' and 'repeat', it's not so hard to find them a second time.

The Tornado boasts a simple socket layout, with analogue outputs on RCA phono and digital outputs on coax and Toslink connectors. There's even one extra phono socket for wired remote operation.

Cairn offers an optional 24-bit/192kHz upsampling board called SOFT for £250, which is featured in the £2,000 Fog 3.

As standard, the Tornado is supplied with a 24-bit/96kHz Crystal CS 4398 DAC with fixed filtering. The SOFT board not only ups the sample rate, it also offers the four filter settings that allowed us to tailor the sound on the Fog 3 to quite a significant degree.

The question, of course, remains as to whether adding this board to the Tornado gives you Fog 3 sound at nearly half the price, Cairn calls SOFT "the magic bullet", claiming that it "intensifies all the qualities and brings a refinement that you find sometimes only in very high-end stuff." But, of course, they're naturally biased!

Sound quality

In action, the Tornado is extremely reminiscent of the Fog 3 in its F3 filter setting. It has the same highly detailed midband and a tendency to emphasise instruments in the upper midrange and treble.

Cymbals and percussion instruments are a little more obvious with this player and it doesn't quite put the music in the room to the extent that its sibling does. But it does have a very engaging presentation, which takes a well-tempered system to keep from getting too close to the edge.

We used the Tornado in two set ups (Classé/B&W and Border Patrol/ATC active), and found it more revealing than we would expect at this price point. But, in neither instance was it out of its depth, so long as the output level was reduced accordingly.

We set its output to match a Cambridge Azur 840C (which meant reducing it by 2.5dB) and this took away a slight edginess from the sound, probably produced by high output discs overdriving the input on the preamps in use. In less revealing or warmer systems, this is probably not necessary, but if your amplifier and speakers are already on the lean or bright side it could be essential.

Heard after the 840C with its 24-bit/384kHz oversampling, the Tornado produces an electric result that's significantly sharper and more crisp. It lacks the sophistication of the more affordable Cambridge, but trades this for a level of realism and excitement that is enthralling. Timing isn't quite as poised from the French machine, but it does dynamics to greater effect.

With a good recording - such as Manu Katche's Playground on ECM - the Cairn puts the musicians right there in the room with you. Some of the polish and finesse is missing, but what you get in exchange seems remarkably real.

We wondered if this magnification of the sound might be a little too much for lesser discs and so put on Grace Jones' The Collection. The bass sounds great, chiselled and taut, but the eighties style electronic percussion is a little bit busy and hard-edged.

So the differences in recordings are pretty obvious. But you'll want this from a hi-fi component, so long as it's not achieving the result by colouring the tonal balance. In this instance, there are other factors at work. This is an extremely nimble player that lets you follow what the various contributors to a musical piece are doing.

It does this by being more sensitive to the dynamics and timing than the timbral qualities of the voices and instruments. The Fog 3 is better balanced in this respect and it's possible that the SOFT board upgrade would bring the Tornado closer to that result.

What you can't help but be impressed by, is the way that singers like Rickie Lee Jones are seemingly placed in the room by this player, a trick it pulls off with greater skill than we've previously encountered near this price point. There's an element of 'seat of your pants' to the experience, but that is part of the thrill.

The Tornado will not be to all tastes, but it does deliver an awful lot of detail for the money. This places more emphasis on the smoothness of the recording than usual,
but has the potential to deliver results that would usually cost much more.

It's a bit like a supercar - you don't expect an easy ride but you do get carried away with the adrenalin it produces. So the question is, are you ready to listen in the fast lane?