I have owned most of the previous giant killers (Pioneer, Rotel, JVC, Adcom, Cal Audio Labs, Sony XA) and the Ultech definitely is currently the one to beat under $1000. What is different about the Ultech over all of the other under-$1000 contenders I auditioned (Rega, Sony, Acurus, etc.) is the strong pace and dynamics without sacrificing delicacy. It reminds me of the first time I heard a Theta processer. The Ultech has that same big. forceful sound with rich bass and excellent detail. Dynamics...the soul of music...the Ultech's got 'em. The feel of the unit and its sturdy build quality, which remind me of the first time I saw the Cal Icon, are an added bonus. Think of it as an $1800 player priced at $895.
Drawbacks? Sure, there is one: the blue LCD display is hard to read.

John

I am another person who set out to buy the Rega Planet and ended up with the Ultech. I'm very happy with that outcome! Compared with the Rega and even the Cal Audio CL 15, the Ultech sounds noticably more detailed. Individual instruments and the overall soundstage are better defined. It took awhile to find a unit to audition and do comparitive listening, but once heard, there was no way I wasn't bringing home the Ultech.
Mine needed about 30 hours to burn in before it sang, by the way. And if you have any HDCD's you're going to be very happy!

I recently upgraded my cd player to the Ultech ucd-100. This is truly a great cd player. You really don't have to spend 2 or 3 grand to get true hi-end. This player with it's good tight bass and great dynamics is a statemment about what hi-end is all about. Absolutely incredible for the price!!!!!

This is a follow up to my October 24, 1998 Review: Let me tell everyone a little story about my dealings with Ultimate Technology and their fabulous Ultech UCD-100 CD player. I purchased an Ultech UCD-100 CD player in October of last year from Famous Audio in Seattle. Within two weeks of my purchase the Ultech started exhibiting strange behavior. It would suddenly lose it's marbles. All the functions would halt (drawer wouldn't open or close, play, no forward or backwards). If I let it sit for a while it would suddenly come back to life. Within a month of my purchase the player died completely. So, I returned the Ultech to Famous Audio who in turn sent the player back to Ultech. I was assured by Ultech that my favorite CD, which was lodged inside the deadplayer, would be promptly sent back to me. Well folks, it's now 3 months
later and I still haven't seen my CD. But wait, the story gets better!!!
Alan Lee of Famous Audio was gracious enough to loan me his demo Ultech
while I waited for a new one. Within a month of having the demo player it
too started acting up. This time the symptoms were a little different. At
the end of many tracks on numerous CD's the Ultech would fail to advance to
the next song. It would just stop dead in it's "tracks"!! No amount of
stopping, ejecting, starting would get it to play. To make a long story
shorter I returned the demo player and Alan Lee refunded my money. What
pisses me off about my dealings with Ultech is that their customer service,
in addition to their player, SUCKS! They don't return my calls and they
won't send my CD back to me. So, even if you can find an Ultech
DON'T BUY ONE!!!!!!!!!!!

Jeff Serafini

My 4 year old Nakamichi CD-4 needed replacing, so I auditioned a number of cd players in the 1000 to 2000 dollar price range. (Canadian $ prices) First up: the Cal Audio Labs Alpha-Delta combo...way too harsh with my gear and interconnects, but amazing bottom end and detail.
Next, Rega's Planet...sounded like an old Dual turntable, with very little drive or rhythym. Can't understand the buzz on this one.
Also heard the Micromega stage 5, but the ergonomics and Made-in-France build quality scared me off. Sounded good though.
Then the Arcam Delta 7... nice, but no excitement here for me.
Then I heard the Ultech UCD100. Nice detail, good bottom end, very good dynamics, HDCD, removeable power cord, remote control, heavy duty build quality. I bought it.
After 100 hours break-in it is even better. The resolution of detail and dynamics, especially on HDCD recordings is wonderful. Until the software format wars are over, I'm happily camping here.
(I do have some concerns about the company itself, but my local dealer is excellent, so I'm confident that any potential problems will be taken care of without hassles.)

I've had my Ultech for over 6 mths with no problems. It's a beautiful component with a hard to read display although it gives me all the information I want to see. I thought they were part of a large company from Germany that makes speakers too so I hope the other posters were wrong about them going out of business. Based on my unit I would take off one star for the display but I won't because this player is so much better looking and hefty. Couldn't see paying 2 or 3 times as much for a player that was all plastic and weighed 5 pounds!

I agree with the majority of the positive postings on this product.I have listened to and tried Rega,Classe,Adcom,Monarchy,Acurus,Theta,CAL,& Muse and feel that this product offer the best value for the dollar.It has great build quality,superb sonics on all types of music,reliability,and HDCD.I have had this unit for 8 months and,as others have stated,it does require a long breakin period.It took my unit over 200 hours before it achieved the best performance that it is capable of.The correct choice of interconnects and power cord are also important in tuning the sonics produced by this player.I recommend it highly and suggest that you include it on your shortlist to see if it can satify you as it does me.

I purchased my UCD-100 October of last year and haven't had any problems other than a blinking LED. My sympathies to those that have had problems. I am very satisfied with the sound quality and plan to hang on to mine as long as it keeps working. Has anyone tried connecting to the Ultech web site lately? I have a feeling they went belly up. I guess everyone that bought one has a collector's item. If mine breaks down I will probably buy a Rotel RCD-971, an excellent player for the money. Not as dynamic as the Ultech, but just as detailed and smooth sounding.

Great player for the budget under $1000. Good spacing around instruments, execellent detail. Soundstage and depth well presented for players at this price range. It did take a long time before this player started to perform at its level, approx. 200+ hours. One gripe, blue back lit display is impossible to see from listening distance.
Great value if you have a working unit.

Two weeks ago I finaly took the plunge into the digggital world and purchased a UCD-100. I have been reluctant to purchase a cd player because vinyl sounds soooo good. My front end constist of a Linn LP-12 & Moscode Super-it phono preamp. For years I have contemplated weather or not the convenience of cd's was worth the sacrifice in sound quality compared to vinyl.
I have to admit that avaliability of vinyl, the constant attention required to obtain maximum performance from a turntable, the "Don't walk in the room because the floor shakes and causes the turntable to skip" syndrome, and availability of new releases on vinyl finaly has gotten the best of me! I know with the format of digital up in the air the decision to purchase a cd player may not have been prudent but I said what the hell. Keeping the price of the cd player purchased below 1k was my objective but I felt that very little compromises would have to be made for there are very good players to choose from within that range.

Stereophile was my source used to point me in the right direction and help minimize running around from shop to shop. Reading the last two years worth of magazines indicated that the Rega Planet was a very likely candidate for my price range. Hey, it couldn't be all that bad if a company known for its turntables was making a cd player right. The second cd player constantly mentioned in the sub 1k price range was the Marantz CD-63SE or its replacement the CD-67SE. Then I read the review on the Ultech UCD-100, a sub 1k player with the latest craze HDCH capability. To keep things short I now have a UCD-100 sitting in my stereo cabinet.

Per the advice given to me from a phone call to Ultech's president, sorry I forgot his name, I listened to the unit right out of the box which sounded grainy, silibant, and compresses. I then proceded to burn the UCD-100 in for 200 hours. I was amazed, to put it mildly, with the improvement of the sound quality. The voices of female singers became more natural, imaging improved, individual placement of instruments an performers was more detailed and focused.
Had I actually made a good decision purchasing a cd that I could listen to for more than 15 minutes? Yes I did. Now I feel the urge to retwek my Linn.

The bottom line is this. Vinyl is great but I think I may be convinced that this diggggital thing is not all that bad. I think I can HAPPILY live with this cd player and have it fill a void in my musical enjoyment. Thank you Ultech!

GRM