Disc Players

The 30 Series ushers in a new era for Marantz, but there's also plenty that’s familiar

A welcome blast from the past, Exposure’s new XM CD shows there’s still plenty of life left in compact disc yet

An entry-level amp and CD player combo that promises better-than-ever performance at a bargain price

The turntable manufacturer turns its hand to CD

Building on its predecessor, this next-generation CD player/DAC/preamp is as versatile as it gets

History appears to be repeating itself. The sound of vinyl never really came good until the format looked distinctly over the hill, and now we see the same thing happening with Compact Disc. As DAC technology gets ever better, suddenly we’re finding that the little silver disc is actually capable of really rather fine sound. Digital-to-analogue converters are at last able to properly do the job they were designed for, and CD is finally beginning to sound right.

Now that the CD format appears to be in the twilight of its life Rega has produced one of the most entertaining and enjoyable players I have ever encountered. It’s ironic really that when vinyl was being written off in the eighties folk in the audio business carried on improving and refining turntables and now they are significantly better than they were in the format’s heyday. It looks like something similar is starting to take place with CD. Disc sales are being trampled under the weight of downloads, yet in the last year I encountered the best CD transport ever created in the MSB Data CD IV and now Rega has delivered all the best bits of its phenomenal Isis player in a machine that’ll set you back £1,600.