Slimline, clean looks with a sound that goes beyond its price

Although heavier than most CD Players in the price range it's still a little lightweight. And the fixed power cord just means I'm waiting for the warranty to be over before changing the power cord via soldering iron. Needs to be run in properly at least 100 hours of playback.

Very musical CD Player that sounds fractionally better than the Marantz 6000 OSE (which also sound good). It's also sounds very similar to the Copland 289. In fact it sounds just like the Copland 266 at less than half the price. They are not identical sounding though and the copland is miles ahead in build quality and styling.

Out of the box it sounded thin and edgy but give it a good 100 to 150 hours of playback and it sings.

Similar Products Used:

Several including the Marantz 6000 OSE. I also used it against the mighty Copland 289.

Slimline, clean looks with a sound that goes beyond its price

Although heavier than most CD Players in the price range it's still a little lightweight. And the fixed power cord just means I'm waiting for the warranty to be over before changing the power cord via soldering iron.

Very musical CD Player that sounds fractionally better than the Marantz 6000 OSE (which also sound good). It's also sounds very similar to the Copland 289. In fact it sounds just like the Copland 266 at less than half the price. They are not identical sounding though and the copland is miles ahead in build quality and styling.

Similar Products Used:

Several including the Marantz 6000 OSE. I also used it against the mighty Copland 289.

Clarity, build, quality

zero

This actually a review of both this player, and the hk fl5380, as my experience is with both. I bought last week a HK fl8380 because of its burr brown dac, hdcd ability, and the fact that I wanted better stereo sound than I was getting with my Sony DVD player....I found the HK to be large, clunky, and Plastic with a capital P. I thought its decoder was pretty decent, but I was annoyed that when using the on board dac, you lost about 6 db of volume over its digital mode, or over other cd players...It's due to hk's implementation of the burr brown pcm1732, which makes allowances for the extra dynamic sound of its hdcd implementation...The level of all non hdcd recordings suffers because of it...The dac provides clear decoding, but it's also shrill, muddy, and has lousy bass reproduction. And, stranger still is the fact that if you use its digital out signal, even though it may go to the same external dac as your dvd player, the sound is just plain lousy...Something is happening to the digital signal which is really bad...The signal when coming from my dvd player's digital out is much better than when using the hk's digital out, even though both use the same dac in the receiver! So all in all, the HK is one bad cd player. And, I hate to return stuff, so I really tried to like it...But no go.

Now, onto much better things....I picked up the Rotel player on the way home after I realized I'd never be happy with the HK, try as I might...Well, just let me say that this player plays in another league alltogether...The sound from its internal dacs is unbelievably clear and robust, with not a hint of shrillness or fatigue. The music is extremely involving...Much moreso than any other player I've heard...Which surprised me a little cause I used to think that cd players would not make a big difference in overall sound quality...Boy was I wrong...The bass is so deep but clear at the same time...And I tested it with recordings from David Crosby's CPR album, Dvorak, Brahms, and Mark Knopfler to test some HDCD...In each case, the cds sounded clearly better than what I had been listening too, and, keep in mind, I was pretty happy before....I just new things could be better...And I was right....And, not only is the onboard processing superior, but when I tested its digital out, that was also up to speed, presenting even a better signal than my Sony dvd player had done, and I really liked that signal.

So, I would strongly recommend this player to anybody lookign for superior cd quality sound....The fact that it also does HDCD is a big plus for me, as there are so many titles now available.....I'm tired of waiting for sacd or da...hdcd is not vaporware, and you CAN hear it....This is one awsome cd player.

Similar Products Used:

HK fl8380, Sony DVP-C660

My absolute initial impression:
Amazing. Totally... amazing. It's almost scary to think that like most Rotel products, the sound will probably only get better with time. Straight out of the box, it was the best CD player I've ever heard.

Granted, I've never heard anything over $1500, but I'll wager this sounds comparable to players that are 3 and 4x as expensive (it retails for $750). Thank God there was a defect on my 975 - which was a great player in it's own right.

Only glitch is a slightly flimsy CD tray.

Go listen to one as soon as you get the chance.

I must agree with Frank that the person below who disliked the Rotel does not know what he/she is talking about. Bass in this player is superb, both in accuracy and power. I hear depth, detail, and "texture" in the music as thought I had good headphones on. To hear these qualities, without any harshness in the sound, is a hell of an accomplishment in a market where most other players cannot pull off detail AND smoothness. Look around for Marantz CD-63/67 vs. Rega Planet reviews to see what I mean.
This is an outstanding player which only begins to have shortcomings vis a'vis astronomically expensive components (i.e. Mark Levinson No. 39, which I have auditioned). If you spend more $$$ than the Rotel on another brand, the REST of your system had better be 2nd mortgage material.

Functionally- The player is a bit slow to read tracks, does have a slightly flimsy tray (no real problems though), and will not automatically close the tray and play if you press a track # on the remote. The tray also occasionally closes by itself when I am placing a disc into it. However, the player picks up the remote signal very well, even from an angle. It also looks elegant, if simple.

5 stars in the did'nt-have-to-get-a-2nd-mortgage price category. Nothing else comes close in sound.

Related components: Adcom GFP-565 pre, Adcom GFA-5400 amp, Transparent MusicLink IC's/ MusicWave cables, B&W DM-602 speakers, tolerant wife.

I compared this product with the Marantz 67SE and the Rotel just blew it away. The clarity is unblievable. I am hearing new things in my old CD's I never noticed before. This player is at home with any kind of music- classical, jazz, folk, rock...anything! I would encourage anyone to give it a listen before they buy a player in the $400 to $1,000 range. Sound is definitely worth a five star rating, however, selecting and changing tracks after loading a new CD can be slow. My machine occasionaly has difficulty reading home recorded disks and even can make some weird noises when tracking them. All things considered though, this player rocks.

As pretty much everyone below has stated, the RCD-971 is a great player. I compared it directly to the Arcam Alpha 8, Rega Planet and Marantz CD67SE. This slayed them all, especially the Marantz. And the Rotel is only about a hundred bucks more.This player is SMOOTH! It has a wonderful bass, a detailed and grain-free midrange/treble and a great sense of drive and dynamics. Vocals are superb. I thought soundstage depth and imaging were better than the other players too. Under the hood you get HDCD decoding, dual Burr Brown PCM63 Dacs, toroidal transformer with separate windings for analog and digital sections, and lots of damping material on the transformer, the chasis and even the master clock. Truly an outstanding player and worth an audition.
The only negative thing I can say is that disc initialization is slow and the control logic is a little weird. But who cares! I bought the thing to play tunes not for pushing buttons!
Oh, by the way, it plays jazz, rock and classical,and opera equally well.

I first heard about the 971 from reading the Hifi Choice issue where they reviewed it along with a bunch of other players and gave it a top rating. Not too long after that I was at my local audio dealer requesting 1X 971 for an audition. I took it home and proceeded to do a comparison with my then current player, coincidentally the Rotel 970BX (OK, I confess, I'm a Rotel fan). It was an interesting couple of days, I must admit. At first I thought the player was too laid back and polite. THe 970BX sends music leaping from the speakers (Boston CR9 with Rotel 971 pre and power combo - I did warn you) and has considerable presence. However, the 970BX also tends towards harshness on some recordings. Vocals are superb but the picture is not as detailed as it could be, as I discovered after getting into the 971. This player, as others have stated, has a remarkable smoothness, but without sacrificing presence and detail. Detail is particularly superb. Little filler sounds mixed way back were suddenly clearer. The imaging was better and more three dimensional. The sound stage was also bigger. My dealer is a kind man and he understood the reluctance I expressed when it came to handing the player back. He took my 970Bx off my hands and I left the store a happy man. The new player has more features (repeat function, time mode, HDCD) sounds better and even looks cooler. Good score? Damn straight. Check it out. If you think Marantz sounds warm and smooth, you gotta another think coming.

I am not an audiophile, but based on reviews here and the newsgroups, I went out an bought a Rotel RCD-971, RA-971 amp and also a pair of Sennheiser HD600 headphones.
Fantastic.

HDCD is good too, although I only own one HDCD title :(

I highly recommend this player (and the Sennheisers).

I did a direct comparison between the Denon 1650 and the bottom of the line Rotel with HDCD the RCD-951. With the PMD-100 filter the Rotel sounded as good as the Denon on non-HDCD discs and much better on HDCD discs (obviously). The amp was a Krell Kav 300i and Martin logan Aerius speakers (MIT 330 plus interconnects and 750 cables) The dealer was kind enough to leave me alone and only come back when I wanted to switch the interconnects. Consequently, I spent a lot of time listening. Everything from HDCD jazz and classical. to non-HDCD clasical and rock (hard core gothic stuff, very very low bass). I would have easily bought the $500 Rotel over the $1000 Denon. If Denon added the Pacific Microsonics filter (HDCD decoder) it may make a great improvement. But until then get the Rotel.
So Why am I talking about the 951 here. Because I personally waited and got the Rotel RCD-971, with dual 20 bit Burr Brown Dacs, Tordial transfomer (seperately wound for analog and digital) and the HDCD. It is AWESOME ($699 retail) The only other player I have heard that I like more is the Ultech UCD-100 (retail $895, but $795 most places) It uses the Burr Brown (dual of course) PCM1702 Dacs used in the Krell 300, Classe .3 and .5, Anthem CD1 etc.. The Ultech is as good as the Krell, its power source is nearly the same size as most amplifiers!

Anyway, The 971 is truely a great player, not just for the price, but a great player period. The only difference between it and some of the really high priced stuff is the choice to use PCM 63 dacs instead of the PCM 1702, the price difference in these Burr Brown Dacs is less than $1. For people like me who do not have a need for balanced connections the 971 gives 95%+ of the 990 (or new 991) performance for almost 50% of the price (the variable dither would be nice, but you can't have everything for $699)

Before you buy a Arcam, Rega, Marantz or Denon, audition the 971.