Whereas we get pleasure from the advantages of streaming as a lot as anybody, there’s a sure hands-on attraction to CD gamers that we are able to’t ignore. Greater than that, we wish to personal our music and be capable of play it any time we wish. Given the comparatively fickle nature of streaming rights and the marginally erratic stability of an web connection, we nonetheless see a spot for a high-quality CD participant in our programs.
In fact, this far into the age of streaming, new CD participant launches are skinny on the bottom, and what was as soon as a raging river of latest merchandise has slowed to a mere trickle. So, when TEAC launches a premium participant just like the VRDS-701 we are able to’t wait to have a go.
Construct & Design
These initials – VRDS – will imply rather a lot to hi-fi followers of a sure classic and are greater than some random letters that make up a product identify. They stand for Vibration-free Inflexible Disc-clamping System and point out the usage of TEAC’s proprietary CD transport design. There have been quite a few variations of this mechanism present in merchandise that vary in value from premium to extremely high-end however the fundamental concept is at all times the identical, and that’s to minimise rotational vibration and different disturbances by clamping the whole floor of the CD fairly than simply within the center, as just about each various does. The thought is that lowering these undesirable exterior influences permits the laser to learn the disc extra simply and the outcome ought to be a greater sound. We’ve heard sufficient TEAC VRDS-equipped CD gamers and transports over time to search out that’s often the case.
Look previous the inclusion of the VRDS transport mechanism and there’s nonetheless loads to admire within the ’701. It is a fantastically made participant with a pleasingly chunky casework that weighs in at a substantial 11.1kg. We notably just like the exact really feel of the 2 small management dials – one governs the amount of the headphone and line output and the opposite, the play and skip features of the transport. The massive show is straightforward to learn from a distance and is pleasantly crisp.
Don’t be fooled by the TEAC’s metallic toes. They might really feel free however are in actual fact fairly elaborately engineered multi-piece affairs which can be designed to disperse vibrations. The VRDS transport is lavished with comparable consideration, being mounted to the chassis with what TEAC calls a floating mounting to decouple it from the chassis and minimise the switch of mechanical vibrations.
Options
Look across the again of the 701 and you’ll discover each balanced XLR and RCA line-level outputs, a trio of digital inputs within the type of a coaxial, optical and, unusually for a product akin to this, a USB-C socket. For those who resolve to make use of the 701’s inner DAC part with an outboard supply then you’ll discover that it’s a succesful circuit that’s appropriate with 32-bit/384Hz PCM information and 22.5MHz DSD. MQA decoding is on the menu too.
There’s additionally the choice of including an exterior clock. This type of characteristic is extra frequent within the studio world than in home gear, however having tried varied outboard clocks prior to now it may be a helpful avenue to analyze when the urge to improve strikes. In fact, the extra traditional path to upgrading an built-in CD participant is to feed its digital output into an outboard DAC, and the VRDS-701’s coax and optical digital outputs enable that. Word that TEAC additionally makes a transport-only model of the 701 for many who need to observe that route from the off.
TEAC VRDS-701 tech specs
Kind Built-in
SACD? No
Outputs Balanced XLR, RCA, coaxial, optical
Inputs Coaxial, optical, USB-C
Distant included? Sure
Dimensions 11.1 x 44.4 x 33.3 cm
Weight 11.1kg
Finishes x 2 (black, silver)
This participant is a pleasure to function. The VRDS is as reassuringly mechanical sounding as we bear in mind from older TEAC merchandise and the participant responds swiftly to instructions. The provided distant handset has a neat metallic end on the highest plate and is nice to make use of.
Check out the in depth set-up menus and you’ll discover that this can be a tweaker’s delight, given it has a variety of output, upsampling and digital filter choices. It’s price taking part in round with these supplied the remainder of your system has the transparency to disclose the delicate modifications in sound. After spending just a few days attempting the varied choices, we find yourself switching off the digital outputs (giving the sound a bit of further precision and readability), upconverting the enter into the DAC by 4 occasions the sampling price (fairly than the utmost of eight occasions) and get the interior DAC chip to course of PCM datastreams in DSD. All these items add as much as giving us the form of fluid and expressive sound we like. In fact, your system or tastes might result in different selections, however the variations are sufficiently small that it’s not possible to really spoil the general sound.
Sound
A CD participant of this customary positively calls for a high-quality partnering system. The majority of this check was carried out with the TEAC feeding our traditional reference system of Burmester 088/911 MKIII amplifier and ATC SCM 50 audio system. However, we additionally use extra price-compatible merchandise within the type of Naim’s SuperNait 3 built-in amplifier and PMC’s Prodigy 5 audio system. The VRDS-701 shines whatever the partnering system.
This participant proves one thing of a gradual burner for us, so watch out to not make snap judgements after a brief audition at a supplier. Its sonic signature does not brim with sparkle or exit of its strategy to make your discs sound thrilling. It is a extra analytical device than that and prefers to let the recording take the highlight. If that’s innately energetic as The Heist by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis is, then that’s what you’ll hear. This TEAC is all about management and composure. It has wonderful element decision, notably within the bass the place it defines the feel of low notes higher than any rival we’ve heard and in addition provides grip and agility to the combination. Transfer up the frequency vary and you’ll discover a pure and unexaggerated midrange that offers in a excessive degree of readability and precision. However, there’s sufficient delicacy on provide to render the dynamic nuances that talk the feelings in a voice fantastically.
There’s loads of slam when the music calls for and surefooted rhythmic drive that will get essentially the most from infectious tracks akin to Thrift Store. Any edginess within the recording is revealed with out the participant making a meal of issues, and it’s this refinement that permits the TEAC to carry out properly throughout a variety of recordings.
Subsequent, we strive an outdated favorite check disc within the type of Prokofiev’s Romeo & Juliet. It is a demanding recording with wide-ranging dynamic swings and dense instrumentation however none of that fazes the TEAC. It stays calm and organised, not permitting the music’s sonic fireworks to throw it out of its stride. We sit again and marvel on the participant’s authoritative presentation and the way in which it renders scale. Put it up in opposition to the similarly-priced Cyrus CDi-XR and the variations are marked. The Cyrus is a front-footed participant that’s all agility, decision and pleasure whereas the TEAC is extra centered on evaluation and management. The 701 presentation can also be considerably extra muscular in its strategy, although given an acceptable recording lacks nothing when intimacy or subtlety is required.
The TEAC pulls properly forward of the Cyrus with regards to options. The Cyrus is a regular built-in CD participant and doesn’t have digital inputs. We strive these of the VRDS-701 and are impressed. All the pieces we like in regards to the participant’s sound with CDs remains to be obvious by means of any of the digital inputs. We join our MacBook Professional (loaded with Audirvana media taking part in software program and loads of high-res information) and like what we hear. Michael Jackson’s Off the Wall (24-bit/96kHz) brims with power and expenses together with its infectious rhythms, rasping horn part and Jackson’s ever so distinctive vocal supply. There’s all the pieces we might need right here from thrilling dynamic shifts to a driving beat. Element ranges are excessive, and as with CD replay, we are able to’t poke any holes in how all that data is organised. This TEAC sounds effortlessly cohesive and musical. The story stays optimistic regardless of if we hearken to the intimately recorded Right here’s The Tender Coming from people group The Unthanks, the place the TEAC’s unforced but expressive midrange involves the fore, or rock out to Gimme Shelter by the Rolling Stones.
Verdict
For those who nonetheless have a big assortment of CDs and actually need to hear precisely what’s saved on them we are able to’t consider a greater strategy to do it at this value degree than this TEAC. It’s fantastically made and an actual pleasure to make use of. Those that admire positive engineering can be impressed by the care taken within the casework development and the obsessively designed VRDS transport mechanism. In an age the place most corporations are comfortable to purchase low-cost off-the-shelf mechanisms, we’re comfortable that TEAC hasn’t taken the straightforward route. Will CD ever make a mass market comeback? By no means say by no means, whereas machines pretty much as good because the VRDS-701 are nonetheless round there’s at all times a (tiny) likelihood.
SCORES
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