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Model: | RCD 1070 |
Category: | CD Player/Recorder |
Suggested Retail Price: | $800 |
Description: | Rotel's new flag ship one box CD player |
Manufacturer URL: | Rotel |
Model Picture: | View |
Review by Hifi Steve (A) on February 19, 2002 at 08:36:15 IP Address: 24.103.121.11 |
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Review – Rotel RCD-1070
Rotel has long been known for making budget hifi that sounds great. It should come as no surprise then, that Rotel’s new flag ship CD/HDCD player, the RCD-1070 is a stunning performer. Recently I was hunting for a player to replace my Arcam Alpha 6, that although an award winner in its day in the $1000 range, was starting to show its age. To that end I auditioned Arcam’s much vaunted product range at that time, including the Alpha 7SE, Alpha 8, and Alpha 9. As well I brought home the Rotel 971 for audition. After extended listening sessions with the 971 it was clearly superior to the 7SE. Although I did not take the Alpha 8 home I believe that the 971 was superior to it as well. It was definitely inferior to the Alpha 9 but the 9 was out of my budget so I decided to purchase the Rotel 971. I lived with the 971 happily for the next two months, my only concern with it being a slight lack of bass performance compared the to Alpha range.
Then the brand new RCD-1070 arrived at the dealer. I knew the 971 was being discontinued but I didn’t think it would happen quite that fast. Now I was in a bit of a quandary; should I trade in the 971 at a slight loss while it is still worth a lot? I decided to take the RCD-1070 home for a listen to see what, if any, improvements Rotel had made over their previous product line.
Well let me tell you strait away the RCD-1070 is a far better CD player than the 971. In fact it outperforms the older model in every way possible. Gone is the bass shy performance of the 971. Here instead is powerful and sometimes surprisingly deep bass. The midrange has detail and bite but a naturalness that sounds, well, like a great turntable. The high end is slightly laid back, never forward or bright, but rather sweet and detailed. The overall presentation is full bodied but extremely detailed. To be cliché I’m hearing things I’ve never heard before.
On Holly Cole’s Girl Talk CD, the singer’s voice was silky smooth with lots of echo and air around it. The stand up bass was deep with very nice edges. The piano was full bodied and rich, sounding very real. On the song Cruisin’, the echo around the standing bass slapping was just amazing. I was struck by how real it sounded. And, I’ve never before heard so clearly the humming and grunting of David Piltch during his standing bass solo on My Baby Just Cares for me.
On Naim Audio’s recording of Could You Believe, by Antonio Forcione and Sabina Sciubba, Sabina's voice was natural and powerful. The guitar was full bodied with delicious leading edges around the strings. Moving to The Lemon Song on Zeppelin 2, I was struck by how great John Paul Jones’s playing was. Just a great song that was very enjoying to listen to on this player. Listening to Miles Davis, Kind of Blue, So What took on new dimensions for me. This great performance by the jazz master never sounded better to me. The cymbals were laid back and natural with new clarity in the mid range. The guitars on Supertramp’s Give a Little Bit sounded amazingly real. The soundstage was deep with individual instruments readily discernable.
Make no mistake this is a storming CD player and a stunning accomplishment at this price range. For the first time I truly feel like my system has a great front end, and I have auditioned some very expensive players here at home before. It reminds me of really great analogue sound. If you are in the market for a player in this price range, run, don’t walk, to your nearest Rotel dealer and give it a listen.
Oh and one last thing, this player has now received 5 star reviews in both HiFi Choice and What HiFi.
Product Weakness: | Nada at this price. |
Product Strengths: | Detail, detail, detail. Drive, powerful bass, and deep sounstage. Great performance for the price. |
Associated Equipment for this Review: | |
Amplifier: | Cyrus 2 with PSX power supply |
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): | None |
Sources (CDP/Turntable): | Linn Sondek, Rotel RCD 971, Arcam Alpha range |
Speakers: | Mission 753's (flag ship 5 driver model) |
Cables/Interconnects: | Audioquest Crystal and Vandenhul D-102 Mk III |
Music Used (Genre/Selections): | Jazz, Rock, Classical, Punk |
Room Size (LxWxH): | 18' 5" x 12' 4" x 8' |
Time Period/Length of Audition: | 2 Weeks |
Type of Audition/Review: | Product Owner |
Follow Ups:
Thanks for elaborating.Did you track how long the player took to burn in?
_____________________________
"Pride is a worthy adversary
in the struggle for yourself."--Face To Face, "Think For Yourself"
Writing the review was fun. Thanks for the tip about this site. The player was great right when I took it home. Probably because it had been on for two weeks in the store although not much had been played on it...
...have you picked a good-sounding cd, and compared
it to the Shanling VS an all-solid-state
player??...any large differences in how the
same cd sounds on both players?
I'm sorry I've not compared it to the player you mention so I cannot comment. I would think that this player would be in the realm of the Naim CD5 or Arcam Alpha 9 if you need other comparisons.
Nice review, I have a Rotel 991 and it's an excellent unit. When auditioning it last year against 771 i remember it beating its smaller brother in all aspects. Is there a word on how newer model compares to the Rotel 991. I see that 1070 lost XLR outputs and a lot smaller and $200 cheaper than the previous flagship. I wonder if technology advances that fast to justify the price drop combined with loosing balanced outs.
BTW. How where you able to trade up your old unit. Sounds like a great deal to me.
I'm not sure how it stacks up to the 991 exactly. I would be willing to bet though, that it is in the same "general" ball park. Stuff mostly gets better as time goes by, though sometimes that rule goes a stray. The 991 is probably better with bass and soundstage and the 1070 probably has a little more detail. That is usually what happens when you compare older players that have better power supplies, as the 991 would, with newer players that have better DAC's. But of course, you must listen and let the ears decide as they are the ultimate guide. Though I must say the bass on the 1070 is truly phenomenal.As far as the trade in goes, I only deal with two hifi shops here in London, Ontario, those being London Audio and Target Hifi. Target is the higher end store and London Audio is a little more mass market. They both know me and have no problem taking in trade in equipment. In the case of the Rotel I had just bought it two months ago and they gave me $600 Canadian, compared to the $700 that I paid for it, against the 1070 which they charged $995 Canadian. I think the 1070 actually lists at around $1050 Canadian though.
Good listening...
Hifi Steve
It's nice to have good relations with your dealer. I'm trying to do same thing here, although it's a little more difficult since majority of the hi end shops here at Dallas change management quite frequently. I agree with you on the theory of CD players, given 1070 uses 24bit dacs it will have a little more high end resolution over 20bi DACs in my 991. But in the end it's all good my friend with such great units one no longer cares about anything else, happy Listening.Dmitri
Ya London Ontario only has about 400,000 people compared to the millions that live in Dallas. For that reason the hifi stores get to know their customers pretty well. Once you start buying stuff they start treating you very well and are willing to go the extra mile for you. Plus being friendly is just the Canadian way! Next up for me are new amps. The Cyrus 2 / PSX are just getting old. Time for something new. Looking for amps that are detailed but powerful. Maybe Bryston, or Naim, or even Rotel...
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