cost perfomance ratio is high Its quite well put together sounds like music not fingernails on a blackboard precision and detail combined with a sunny warmth your mediocre cds will sound better maybe

Can be a bit tempremental if your mains supply is high It likes 220 230ac Some may consider it a bit ostentatious You can not switch the display off arghh

Like many of you out there I was looking for that last redbook cd player having a large collection of cds. I reviewed the player initially for 3 weeks and was quite impressed. It comfortably out performed the two box meridian I had been using which supprised me as I had modded this combo significantly back 1999 after listening to a number of new machines and realising that mine was still as good and in a couple of cases better. Id budgeted 3k for this last player and had listened to a couple at this price already the cdt100 held its ground by comparison. That sealed the deal for me. I bought a brand new one and sent it to audiocom for extensive mods. Master clocks over 75 black gates op amps blah blah....it came back I changed the valves nos sylvania5670 and left it to cook for a week on repeat. BOOM if you have this player already save up and modify it. Inky black backdrops combine with crystaline images and fabulous dynamic scale and snap. Its getting better all the time probably due to black gates very very slooow maturing process. So for me an excellent product in standard guise and an absolute giant killer with a comprehesive list of revisions. As an asside its worth noting that you will not hear this players true potential until you hook it up with first class components. I have full range hybrid electrostats 4 Aspen aksa100 monos that are driven direct from the Shanling no pre amp. To withstand the unrelenting scrutiny of these components is no mean feat many player's have failed. Its that good.

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Meridian Naim cds2 Resolution Audio Mark Levinson. This was interesting because it allowed the same direct connection to power amps as the shanling.

Very nice looking, nice finsh too.

Does not reproduce music, makes some sound.

Very dissapointing piece of equipment. The look is so nice and the sound so poor. Even the accessories delivered with is are showing nice look and bad feeling. Waited 2 month for run-in, tried changing tubes , plugged in best AC cables, nothing happened. Sound is lifeless and absolutely no bass.

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Krell, Wadia, Audio Note, Audio Aero, Philips, Sony.

Looks, smoothness without being flabby or soft,great value

Tough, I suppose the toploadng mechanism is a little fragile and needs tobe pushed fully up or the lid crashes down

What can I add,I agree with the other reviewers,The value is'nt quite as good in the UK,we pay in £'s what you pay in $'s,will someone tell me why? Great soundstage,detailed but lacking the harsh digital glare of so many upmarket CD players. There is just no fatigue in listening for long periods. I had give up on CD,particularly for classical and opera,listening to my LP12 instead.Well I've rediscovered my Classical CD's and am enjoying them again. It's not perfect, the valve smoothness is at the expense of some detail compared with say the Musical Fidelity Nuvista. I do'nt care, it's still more fun to listen to. So for the music lover who is'nt obsessed with perfect fidelity and the last ounce of detail. It's got HDCD and the Headphone section too. What about the Connection upgrade available in Canada, is it really worth $1200?

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Copland CD 266, MF nuvista

Looks, tubes, versatile, price,HDCD preamp, tube output else digital. Aluminum remote. Powercord

Platter light should have a dimmer. Notice some filings on unit but used compressed air to clean it. Remote needed for umsampling and volume, need spare if something happens to it. Need two of these units!!

Only a short time to review but being this excited I can't contain myself. The Shanling is an outstanding player. After getting it out of a well pack box you are stunned at first looks! The unit is well made and is machined aluminum. The beige aluminum is oriental style color scheme but georgeuos. Power cord is very big. I listen to headphones a lot and the unit is a perfect match for my Seinheiser HD 580's. Sound stage was exceptional and if you like music such as harpsichord and small ensmebles your in for a treat. My Archiv disc by Trevor Pinnnock and the English Concert is magically tuned to this player every instrument can be heard with detail. Lady Smith Black Monmbsonbo group you can hear each individual singer and nuances they create in their perfomance. After hooking it up to my main system noticed more bottom end out of my Paradigm ref 100's. Wide soundstage, detail. Notice better perfomance with 24/96 khz upsampling and unit is quite versatile. Would like to bi-amp speakers when the Sp-80 mono blocks come out. Need to convince the wife I need another unit for the bedroom for headphone listening. Great Bargain. My system contains: Paradigm ref 100's Adcom GFP 750 passive amp Anthem MCA 2 Power Amp Audioquest bi-wire speaker cable Alpha Core XLR Balance cable to amp Alpha Core cable from Tube output to preamp Audioquest Topaz 2 from Digital outputs to preamp

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Moon Eclipse, Adcom, Maranz

Great Musical detail, imagery and smoothness.

None even at this price

Outstanding CD player. Even the stock tubes made my CDs, that I have been listening to dozens of times, sound great. I did however, change the tubes to WE396A and the sound is even sweeter. There is great detail to all music with this CD player. There is almost a Holographic image to what is being played. Even at low volume the room is filled with music. The HDCD that comes with the player is quite impressive. Truly is worth the price I paid and the dealer "Quest for Sound" was great to do business with.

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None