Stunning articulation, transparency and naturalness with stunning soundstage which has no back to it. Voices have a rich timber which is lacking in any other player. The fog which is places over the soundstage by other players is lifted, and is so obvious once removed that you wonder why you never noticed it before.

Remote can be a mixture of excellence and frustration

I had never heard a player which would encourage me to part with my hard earned cash until I chanced on the Capitol 24/192. I ordered one after hearing 2 tracks, it was that obvious. This is a close as one can get to the best of analogue. Instruments are separated from each other and surrounded by their own air. Notes decay naturally and just fade out instead of starting and stopping suddenly as a lot of players do. Hall ambience can be felt, and you can hear how far away the back wall is. Comparisons with SACD are almost laughable. Listening to SACD disks against standard CDs on the Capitole results in a collapse of the soundstage, a blurring of instruments and a fog between the instruments. I was tempted to wait for SACD until I heard this player.

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Compared with and easily eclipsed Meridian, Audio Note DAC2 and DAC5 Signiture, Sonic Frontiers, Audio Research and Theta.

A wonderfully balanced player. Silky mid-range, highs and bass control. Fantastic detail and resolution with no grain or apparent distortion out of a beautifully quiet background of silence. Makes for fatigue-free listening pleasure.

Associated gear:
2001 model 24/192 Capitole through Chord Solid interconnect Naim NAC72 pre and NAP140 power Tri-wired to full range (& highly efficient) Osborn Epitome & Subs. Finally a source to do justice to one of the best reasonably priced speaker systems.

NONE except big & ugly, but hearing Music this good - anything cosmetic is forgiven.

Lets you forget about tweaking the sound system. This player conveys all that good HiFi is about - an emotive experience.

Warning: don't listen to the Capitole unless you can afford to buy it on the spot. From the first minute listening - it's that easy to decide.

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Meridian, Audio Research, Linn Ikemi. Directly compared against Naim CDX (seems a little harsh and noisy compared)

Air,smooth,dynamic

None that I can hear

I've listened to this player,and now I am recommending to everyone I talk to.This sounds REAL! The others I mentioned sound very good,but not like this one.You don't need to try to think if it's real,it's just like real people in front of you,EERIE! Hope that the seperate D/A sounds like this for less money.I want one!

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Wadia,Cary,BelCanto

natural, engaging sound while VERY detailed. 2001 model year but audioreview does not let me pick 2001 above...

agree with below, kinda ugly, kinda large, door forgets if it's open or closed sometimes,

Reviewers below are much more eloquent than I can be. I managed to get a home trial unit and once the unit broke in(about three days) and warmed-up(about twenty minutes from cold start??) it really is outstanding. It is as detailed as the Krell units that i heard while engaging in a way that Naim can only dream of.

Vocals are simply marvelous. Remember all the old 'belcanto' opera singers that you loved on record but didn't enjoy as much on CD? NO problem with the AudioAero, Anna Moffo lives again and u wonder why such a fuss over the contemporary singers?

Haven't noticed any music that doesn't play well on the unit. On Jazz CDs I can follow the drummer around his kit, locating each drum...no kidding.

It has a tube output but don't kid yourself into thinking it's making the music sweeter than it really ought to be(typical knock on tube gear). It's so natural that it's eerie.

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Naim,Linn,Krell,Wadia,CAL,Sony SACD,Classe,Copland

Many. Gets it where it really counts -- right to the heart & soul of the recording.

Build quality not quite up there when compared to Levinsons, Krells, etc. No "absolute phase" switch. Remote is not particularly "user friendly".
Ultimately though, there's not enough free time in a day to listen to it.

This CD player is a true audio masterpiece.

It brings to life ANY cd that is placed in it, like no other digital (or otherwise) pc. of gear I've ever heard.

Indeed, it's THE ONLY digital set-up I've heard that can finally match a great analog/vinyl front end. It has that elusive "continuesness" of an Analog Master tape. Those of you who own a top notch analog playback set up will know EXACTLY what I'm referring to.

It achieves this remarkable virtual-reality trick, not just by extracting every last ounce of detail (which it of course does), but by blending to complete accuracy, ALL of the dynamic shadings and graduations that again, are only heard live or on a studio master tape.

The high frequencies are especially well reproduced, to a degree that I never thought I would hear through the "conventional" Redbook processed CD.

While it does not have HDCD, it still manages it's remarkable sonic sleight-of-hand with EVERY CD played, regardless of the recoding/processing technique that was used. In fact, it actually brings greater improvement to CD's which I once thought, were/are poorly mastered. This is a God-send for those of us not wishing to replace our vast, already invested collection of CD's with the latest, greatest new CD/DVD format.

I've heard a couple SACD players as well as a DVD Audio, ALL fell well short of the crushing musicality of this remarkable machine.

Especially nice is the built-in buffered volume out feature, which allows for the cleanest possible output to your systems, with no weak link between it's magic and your amp of choice.

My only complaints are from a strictly mechanical side; as mentioned, there's no provision for switching polarity (which at this caliber, can actually be "heard"), the remote is a bit of a pain to use, the overall construction of the player is not of the "built like a tank" quality of the other "big boys".

However, as you would have to spend MUCH more, to begin to even approach this level of sonic excellence, I unquestionably have to give it an easy 5 stars all around.

If you haven't auditioned a new CD player in a while, or are resisiting holding out until the format-wars dust settles, you owe it to yourself to hear this incredible machine.

I guess we can add "CD players" to the fabulous list of wine & exotic cars that the French folk are able to produce.

BRAVO Audio Aero!

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Back to the beginning...
Denon DCD-1500II, DCD-1520
C.A.L. Tercet Mk III
Adcom GDA600
McCormack Prism II
JVC 1050TN w/PS Audio Ultralink II
Sonic Frontiers SFD-D2 w/PS Audio Lambda
Mark Levinson No.39