Disc Replay

CD & SACD Players

McIntosh, Burmester, MBL and dCS — for the library that already exists.

A disc collection built over thirty years did not stop being worth playing because streaming arrived.

There is a practical argument alongside the sentimental one. A CD carries around 1.4 megabits per second of uncompressed data that nobody can revoke, quietly remaster, or pull from a catalogue in a licensing dispute. What is on the disc stays on the disc.

SACD carries considerably more, and the players here read both. McIntosh's MCD12000 runs separate solid-state and vacuum tube output stages from dual 32-bit converters and doubles as a reference DAC with seven digital inputs. Burmester's 069 remains one of the most seriously engineered transports ever built.

Nobody can take a record off your shelf overnight.

How to choose a disc player

One box or two comes first — if you already own a converter you like, a transport is usually the better buy. Be honest about whether you actually own SACDs. And ask about the transport mechanism: it is the only part with moving parts, and mechanism availability decides whether the player is repairable in fifteen years.

dCS Vivaldi CD/SACD Transport II

The Mark II Vivaldi transport — a dual-wavelength laser mechanism for CD and SACD, in meticulously machined aerospace-grade aluminum.

dCS Rossini APEX Player

The integrated Rossini — the APEX DAC and a CD/SACD transport in one chassis, Roon Ready with network, USB, AES and SPDIF inputs.

dCS Rossini CD/SACD Transport

The dedicated silver-disc source of the Rossini program — CD and SACD in machined aerospace aluminum, upsampling to DSD, DSD128 or DXD.

McIntosh MCT500

McIntosh’s SACD and CD transport — four digital outputs including the proprietary MCT DIN, the only path that carries SACD DSD to a McIntosh DAC.

McIntosh MCD12000 Reference SACD/CD Player

McIntosh’s flagship SACD/CD player and reference DAC — dual ESS SABRE PRO DACs, Hybrid Drive tube AND solid-state outputs, seven digital inputs.

McIntosh MCD600 SACD/CD Player

Premium SACD/CD player and DAC — 8-channel 32-bit PCM/DSD Quad Balanced DAC, fixed and variable outputs, digital I/O both ways, High Drive headphone amp.

McIntosh MCD350 SACD/CD Player

Purist SACD/CD player — balanced 2-channel 32-bit/192 kHz DAC, fixed analog outputs only, coax and optical digital outputs, no digital inputs.

McIntosh MCD85 SACD/CD Player

Compact narrow-chassis SACD/CD player — same 8-channel Quad Balanced DAC as the MCD600, USB Type B up to DSD256, plus two coax and two optical digital inputs.

MBL 1621 A Reference CD Transport

The Reference Line CD transport — top-loading CD PRO 2 LF mechanism on a brass and aluminium sub-chassis sprung to a 13 Hz resonance.

MBL N31 Noble Line CD-DAC

Noble Line CD-DAC — dual Multibit/Delta-Sigma conversion, three selectable digital filters, True Peak Technology, optional Roon module.

MBL C31 CD Player and DAC

The Cadenza Line CD-DAC — slot-loading transport with conversion to 24-bit/96kHz, USB Audio Class 1 and direct iPhone connection.

Choosing a disc player, in detail

The first decision is one box or two. A one-box player is simpler and removes a digital interconnect. A separate transport and converter let you upgrade either half and choose a DAC on its merits rather than accepting whatever the player's designer picked. If you already own a converter you are happy with, a transport is often the better purchase.

SACD support is worth thinking about honestly. If you have a shelf of hybrid discs it matters; if you do not, it adds cost for a format you will rarely play. What is worth more to most people is a player that also functions as a standalone DAC, so the disc mechanism is not the only thing you paid for once your listening moves toward streaming.

Then ask about the transport mechanism specifically. Optical drives are the one part of a disc player with moving parts and a finite life, and mechanism availability is what determines whether a player can be repaired in fifteen years. Manufacturers vary enormously in how seriously they take this, and it is a fair question to ask before spending.

Hear these in Scottsdale and Tempe

Bring discs you have owned for years — familiar pressings are the only way to judge this category, and early CDs in particular separate players quickly. We can also run the same disc through a one-box player and through a transport into a reference converter, which usually answers the one-box question faster than discussing it.