Build quality, transport.

Remote - very poor. Only 1 digital out ie: no optical & only 1 SP/Dif

I have had more systems than hot dinners and even now there are 4 in the house, in the living room is my second system based around Audio Research kit and the family is happily listening to whatever they are listening too - me I'm not interested because I'm in here (my den/listening room) with my toys in all their glory. Audiophile? ...you bet. Currently I am employing the CD20R into a Chord DAC64 and from there on into silver wired lumley reference amps driving Eggleston speakers, all wired with MIT & transparent cables. Cool. I've had the Sony 777ES, the Musical Fidelity nu vista, the meridian 508 and and and BUT as of now - if my musical memory is serving me well - my system sings better than ever. As a stand-alone CD player it's OK - as a transport feeding a quality DAC ....Excellent

Similar Products Used:

Sony 777ES, Musical Fidelity Nu Vista, meridian 508 & 206B wtc...

As above.

Price is double that of the (very similar) 60i - which is a real bargain, by the way.

It really is such a shame that idiots like the previous reviewer are allowed on this site. It makes a mockery of the ratings system. Don’t believe me? For a start, he’s talking about amplifiers, and secondly, his comments don’t make any sense. He doesn’t even supply a valid e-mail address. Anyway enough wasted space. I’ve had the 60iRV for a year and it’s good. It’s clean, insightful, yet quite laid-back. I don’t agree with reviewers in magazines who refer to it as clinical and cold. Neither do I agree that this amp contributes to the ‘TAG sound’ which is a phrase that comes up occasionally. It''s a very musical piece of kit and, partnered with a source of the same value, it’s very insightful, faithfully transmitting what’s on the disc. Scale and dynamics are also impressive. It’s actually rated at 72 Watts RMS into 8 ohms, so it’s got more grunt that it appears to have on paper. Anything else? Well, it looks good. Mine’s in silver, which goes very nicely with the blue power indicator light. I plan to bi-amp it with a 60P very soon. I’ll let you know about any improvements it makes. My system: Rega Jupiter 2000 CD player TMA 60iRV ProAc Studio 125 loudspeakers Van den Hul cabling and Audioquest interconnects

Similar Products Used:

None similar, but I demo''d the Arcam A85 (ok, but not exceptional), Primare A20 (nasty, narrow little soundstage) and the Linn Numerik (good, but I dislike the design).

none whatsoever

loads

this company fills thieir products with microchips and then expects the product to have quality sound.

the less chips the better sound in ANY component. in fact amplifiers should not have any microchips AT ALL if you want to maintain sound purity.

expensive low-end rip-off. nothing else. cant see the company lasting long, just no way good enough quality for anywhere near their asking price.

Similar Products Used:

many

The TAG CD20R is a revamped version of the now ex-audiolab product. It's housed in a sturdy full width metal case, with 2 unbalanced line outputs and 1 coaxial out. The transport is a modified top of the range Philips.
Build quality of the TAG is excellent and has a real feel of quality about the product. All outputs and connectors are standard so can be used with any other manufacturers equipment.

Sound wise the TAG is a touch dull and lifeless when used with the internal DAC. The music is there, but it's lacking in dimension and dynamics that you would expect in a CD Player of this league.

When used through the TAG digital AV32R processor the CD player shows that it is actually getting the data off, it's just the internal DAC circuits letting it down. When used in this combination it really is edging on as a 5* rating.

The load time of CD's are excellent and time skipping between tracks is good. Also the CD player is good at playing scratched disks without jumping.

Other down points to the machine are the display (it's poorly illuminated compared to their AV32R) and the remote control is lightweight.

Overall the TAG is a good player, but overpriced. Luckily most dealers are selling them off cheap to make them competitive.