Back in 1995 I bought this well-dedicated cd-player at the same time as my Rotel RA970BX integrated amplifier for Fl.1500,- (nowadays €682,-) which was a heavy load of money at the time being. Looking back 20 years later it was money well-spended, because boy-o-boy this sonic-youth makes musiclines pour out so easy and well-defined !! In combination with my
RA970BX it kicks ass : the sound is fantasticly fast and punchy!! The rhythmsections from Faithless' Take the Long Way Home (from the superb Album 8pm) are so damn accurate & coherent, it really blows ones socks away (again, again & again)!!

The real truth behind this excellent cd-player is PHILIPS : PHILIPS CDM 9 Pro swing-arm cd-mechanisme and TDA 1305T double on board DA-converters (Differential Mode - MBCC -
Conversion)!! This unique DAC also found its way in Cambridge outstandig seperate /stand-alone DAC-Magic !! By doubling the on board TDA 1305T it actually resulted in a 30dB lower noise-floor per channel : and that is absolutely jawdropping !! All this together we have to be thankfull for to the original inventers of the cd-player PHILIPS and her research development
team / department (The additional letter T behind the numbers 1305 is taken from one of own PHILIPS-employees : Danny Timmermans who developed this superb DAC)!!Back in the days
the Rotel RCD975 could compete with a Fl.4000,- Meridian 508.24 for less than half the price!!
Need I tell more ..... ( a big sigh here : I rest my case ) !!

Usefull internetpage/ link Dutch Audio Classics

Kind regards, Quadrupp.

Incredible sound. What more could you ask for?

None

This is a piece of electronic art. If you can find one of these on ebay, snag it. I got this in an attempt to upgrade to mid-fi from the usual suspects: Denon, Marantz, etc. Looking at the reviews on this site, I decided between the RCD 971 and this one. Rather than take you through all the "my system is comprised of..." or "the soundstage blah, blah, blah" garbage, I'll simply state that this machine provides a marked sonic improvement over all other CDP's I've had in my system. When I first racked it, I thought I'd use a coax digital line to my DAC. I didn't hear a big difference. So I put my CD changer back on the coax, and straightwired the 975's "analog out" with some good RCA's. I guess there's something to be said about a quality on-board DAC...and that something is "don't mess with it". The dual 20-bit/18x oversampling chips are outstanding as stand-alones. The difference in sound was almost incredible. Yes, incredible. So noticeable, even my sonically-challenged wife commented when I popped-in her favorite Peter Cincotti CD. I'm feeling a little guilty about getting this for just $250, with the improvement it's made on my system. But I'll get over it. The build quality is exceptional, the control functionality is impeccable, and the sleek profile make it a joy to look at. If you believe it's "all about the music", I recommend you find an RCD 975. Yeah, it's older, but it kicks the pants off most of the newer consumer-grade stuff you'll listen to (Sony, Denon, Harmon-Kardon, etc.).

Similar Products Used:

Marantz, Nakamichi, Denon, Sony

Sweet balanced sound with some authority. Looks nice. Detailed,open,good bass extention.

CD draw has a common problem of not opening and closing properly after awhile. Could use a removable power cord. A volume control would have been nice,because eliminating the preamp would have given some more punch and dynamics to the sweet sounding player. It is dynamic,dont get me wrong,but it would have probably given a bit more edge without the preamp in the line.

I love the Rotel RCD 975 for its sound and looks. Its punchy without being tiresome,detailed without extending into hyper detail,reflects good and bad equipment but not to the point of making cheaper equipment sound worse. Its not a Wadia or a Mark Levinson,but for about $700 it was a honey of a player. Im not sure of the model year,so i guessed. Ive had this player for about 4 years. I purchased it as a demo player. The only complaints i have is the draw dont open and close properly now(seems to be a common problem),and i have to get it fixed,but i love the sound so much that im going to get extra parts to keep it running longer. Ill never sell it,and may even look for a back up used,seeing that they no longer offer this unit. My brother has a Marantz 67se. We purchased our units about the same time,and the Rotel has more extention in the highs and lows,and just sounds more balanced to me. The staging might be a little more focused on the marantz,but overall the Rotel sounds a bit better. Also,how come everyone except the first few reviewers only rated an overall rating and not a value rating? I think the sweet sound of this player has made all of you lazy!!!

Similar Products Used:

marantz 67 se,cal power boss,sony,pioneer,classe,theta,adcom,carver

I am not going to restate all the great things about this player, which I agree with fully. I will though add my personal experiences. Do you want to bring it up a notch to easily compete with the $1000-$1400 players. 1st, have your local repair center convert it with an EIC socket to be able to use a detachable high-end power cord. 2nd, add chassy dampening material to top, sides, bottom, and back. 3rd, add very small amounts of blue tack to D/A converters, digital clock (enclosed in a rubber thingy), and op amps. What will you hear? Tighter better defined bass, clearer midrange, deeper sound stage, smoother highs, removeal of a veil covering musical presentation, more air and less confussion in complicated music passages. You dont need a 24 bit processor or tube output on this fine player. You just need more current to the great power supply (power cord) and a well dampened chassy like the real high priced units. Go for it and you will blow away the new Jolida jd-100, Micromegas, Arcams, etc. The Jolida lacks true deep bass, the Micromegas smear the sound, and the Arcams are thin sounding.

simple with exceptional design and twin self calibrating DAC's. Solid buttons and tray seams solid also.

crappy round plastic base feet, just replace with cones.

I just purchased this cd player after reading the reviews here and testing various other brands. I tried the cambridge audio player. Sounded quite decent though I couldn't see myself paying 500$ for a player that I couldn't read the display on. I listened to a Rokson caspian. It was too warm and colored the sound far tooo much for my lieing. I also considered if it ever had to be repaired(expensive to do). I went with the Rotel 975. It cost me 500$ used, but is an exceptional player. Dual DA converters 20 bit 16 times OS with a self calibrating DAC ( changes depending on heat and voltage. ). I know of no other player which has this feature. The transport and lazers in it are by philips. The cd creators. The display is easy to read. You press play with the tray open and it closes automatically and starts playing. The sound stage is very accurate and the use of really good cables shows the entire musical range. It also played a sheffield labs burned cdr that my sony wouldn't. It has .002 THD and better that 106 db. A really really wicked player. NO COLORING just transparent great sound. It even sound better than both newer models of rotel I listened to the 961 and to 1070. GO figure. I guess cd's were at there height in the 95-98 period. Hence the grat quality. I actually like the sound of the 20 bit players as opposed to the 24 bit. I think cd's have just gone way overboard in the present, and they need new formats sacd, hdcd, etc. I think it's more so for the sell a $5,000 player factor. I am running a Rotel 975 cd, Belden 9860 custom interconnects(78% VOP), NAD 7100 pre amp section, Bryston 3bst amp, NAD take deck, sony ns415dvd, Torens TD 160, and B and W 604 series 3 speakers bi wired with acoustic research 12 gauge. If you can find one of these cd players for sale grab it, you won't be sorry. I think the other reviewer should remove his outboard DAC and let the players DAC take over though.

Similar Products Used:

NAD 513(crap), sony ns415 dvd, fisher, and about a 1/2 dozen other.

very open soundstage(with good pre-amp,amp set-up)will send everything through to speakers. Some systems that might not be the best thing, but with a good system, just awesome.

even after 8 years my drawer still opens, so none so far. Maybe one. It makes it hard to find better components in the future.

I felt it was time to give this player a review since I've just bought a brand new Pioneer Elite DVD-A,SACD player to compare it with. Lets just say this, I'm still trying to get the pioneer to sound as good as my Rotel. I took my sacd of Alison Krauss and played it with both players and I can't tell a difference. I do have the Rotel connected to a outboard Parrasound Dac. But the rotel is 8 years old and I still can't believe the sound. If anyone can buy this player for 300.oo or in that area, it surely is a great buy.

Similar Products Used:

Jvc 7 disc cd player,Sony dvd, Pioneer Dvd-a, sacd

Awesome data retrieval capabilities. Build quality and good looks.

Awesome data retrieval capabilities. Sounds a little too lean sometimes.

This review is for the RCD1070 which I believe is the replacement for the 975 and/or 991. This new player is similar to other Rotel players I've heard in the past but with a tad more refinement. Overall, its tonal characteristics are relatively neutral with no emphasis in any particuliar frequency region. If you're a phono person, this player is probably not the player for you; The RCD1070 frequency coverage extends to the extreme ends making it sound more anytical and to some extent digital. I personally prefer to have the high frequencies tone down a notch. Having too much information sometimes takes away from the presentation because it makes you focus on the details rather than the big picture. Choose your interconnects carefully. Its able to extract every last bit of data on a disc. Its not kind to old bad recordings. Because its able to extract even the smallest of nuances in a recording, my perception is it tends to paint a smaller sounstange especially compare to my Rega Planet which I use in my main system. In terms of imaging, the Rotel does an excellent job localizing voices and instruments with pinpoint accuracy. Layering is also first rate for a player in this price range. Overall, the RCD1070 does a better job sorting out the information compared to the Rega Planet. The Planet sounds sloppy with chamber and classical music. The trade off is the Rega tends to be more lush and palpable which works well if you listen to a lot of jazz. The Rega makes me forget about the my equipment and lets me enjoy the music. There is a long break in period for this player so give it some time. Build quality is amazing for a player in this price range. I love the way it looks with its centered protruding tray to its small round buttons. The silver/black combo is pretty classy. To tell you the truth, I picked the Rotel over the Arcam CD72T because of aesthetics. This player sounds very similar to the entry level Arcams. I would have bought the new Musical Fidelity A3.2CD but it was double the price and probably overkill in this setup. Another killer player to consider is the Heart CD6000. System: Rotel RA-971 Rega Planar2 Rotel RCD-1070 Transparent MusicLink AQ Type4 speaker cables Energy C4s

Similar Products Used:

Arcam CD62,72, Marantz CD6000OSE, MF A3CD, Music Hall MMF-CD25

Gear that drives tray broke, other than that none for the price.

This is a fantastic CD player for the money. I have not heard better for $300. A friend of mine bought the RCD-971 and I had also demo'd that player with my system before deciding on the 975. The 971 did not have the balance that the 975 has. The high end was too harsh and it didn't blend very well with the midrange. It had a slightly grainy sound to it, and that was through a tubed preamp. I did get a chance to compare it to a RCD-971 modded with a Lclock XO crystal and the 971 then did sound better. The differences were significant IMHO. The grain went away on the treble and the bass had a lot more definition. The depth of the sound was also greater as more detail presented itself added what seemed like milliseconds to length of each sound giving that little bit more depth of realism. Having said that I know that there are better players out there except they are to be had at a higher cost. The 975 does seem to sound a bit lazy at times with not enough dynamic punch to it but I can't really complain for the price I paid for it which was below half the original retail cost of the unit. Like another reviewer below the motor on my transport has also gone kapoot and I have to manually open the tray and push it back into the chassis which is a minor gripe. The part that broke is a simple plastic piece that has gear spokes on it and pushes the tray out via the ridges carved into the cd tray itself. I have emailed Rotel to see if they stock a replacement part and hopefully they do. Great player, great sound (far better than anything at this price and probably 2x the price), reliable and non-fatiguing. Definitely get it if you can for below $325.

Sound detail, build

remote

I am about to purchase a new set, upgrading to Home Cinema. I''ve had this player for more than 4 years now and I am still very happy and satisfied with it''s performance. Very good detail, open and honest sound. I do not have a clue if there is a DVD-player that can play CD quality the same way. I am considering the 1080 from Rotel but keep the 975. unless proven otherwise.

I compared the Rotel 975 to the Marantz 67, and feel it is a MUCH better player, though both are good values. The Rotel has excellent imaging and is quite smooth, and not at all harsh, like the Marantz. Music truly came through as music, not just rhythmic noise. I was not able to do a direct comparison to more expensive players, but I would be happy to own a 975, and don't think I'd ever get tired of listening to it. It's a good value, especially if you can get it on sale.