Recently I had
the opportunity to acquire two CD players which I had either read about and not
heard, or had never been recommended simply because it was not promoted by
local Hi Fi circles and shops. What inspired me to twin their reviews was their
shape – both resembled rectangular warehouses and sported what in architectural
parlance would be termed an industrial fashion to their exterior. As it so happened,
both were valve-facilitated disc spinners. What was also deeply impressive was
the fact that their performance proved that the Compact Disc would persist in
presenting music with a quality that can rival the Vinyl Revival, and most
certainly, the digital music downloads.
STEREOPHILE MAGAZINE has extensively reviewed the
Canadian made Sonic Frontiers SFCD-1 in regard to its technical aspects, so I
will skip all of that in this post. You can read the review of the SFCD-1 here:
https://www.stereophile.com/content/sonic-frontiers-sfcd-1-cd-player-specifications#zv5R6TdcqpJ8uFcZ.99. The magazine also described its technical features
as follows: CD player with HDCD decoding and tube output stage. Tube
complement: 6922 (x2). Outputs: Two 6922 single-ended on RCA jacks, balanced on
XLR jacks. D/A conversion: UltraAnalog D20400A. Transport mechanism: Philips
CDM 12.4. Frequency response: 0.5Hz–20kHz ±0.3dB. S/N ratio: >107dB
(A-weighted). Channel Separation: >100dB, 20Hz–20kHz. THD: <0.05%,
20Hz–20kHz. Intrinsic jitter: <8ps, DC–40kHz with any music signal.
Dimensions: 19" W by 4" H by 12" D. Weight: 27 lbs
unpacked.
The fact that the SFCD-1 touted itself as a
HDCD-capable player was a throwback to the late 1990s and early 2000s. Indeed,
according to the STEREOPHILE review, production of the player was terminated in
2005. Thus, reviewing it in early 2018 allowed some ‘test of time’ to elapse. I
was unimpressed by the front fascia. The combination of silver trimmings set
against a black front resembled potentially the SONYs, PHILIPses and MARANTZes.
The digital display was however simple yet effective, although the unit I
acquired and photographed here showed signs of digital ageing – the zeroes and
twos missed a stroke each, so did the alphabet ‘n’ – the sound blew me away.
There was an immediate and inviting transparency about
every piece. I tried a budget remaster of Nat King Cole’s greatest hits –
indeed a disc pressed in Portugal in the mid-1980s – and the results were
impressive – particularly in the reproduction of Nat’s nasally semi-baritone
and the revelation of detail in the choruses Nat’s arrangers set up on songs
like ‘When You’re Smiling’ and ‘Darling Je Vous A’ime Beaucoup’. Nat’s version
of ‘Sweet Lorraine’ boasted an intimacy to his piano playing that the SFCD-1
was good at picking out. Switch to saxaphone solos of the likes of Stan Getz
and Ben Webster, the SFCD-1 did not disappoint either, placing the soloists
precisely where they stood in the studio. The Sax oozed with a deep feeling of
soul in the breathing of the musicians. What about strings? The Mantovanis and
Frank Chacksfield types revealed their analogue limitations a short time into
their instrumentals. One could ‘sense’ the resonance of the violins being
played but the limitations of the original LPs were also glaringly evident.
Switch back to pop and soul of the likes of Earth, Wind and Fire and Aretha
Franklin and you feel the awe coming back. The newer the recording, and
especially the HDCD ones, the more brilliantly the SFCD-1 performed. The two
6922 NOS tubes that came with the player gave off a very consistent orange glow
and sounded run in, but that analogue sound was not quite exhibited even after
I paired it with a Sansui AU-999 integrated amplifier. That said, the SFCD-1
worked very well warming the 6922 valves in a blink of an eye unlike the Shanling
which took nearly 10 seconds to warm up.
The Shanling CD3.1 looked every bit
like a veritable warehouse with no windows, and with only roof access provided
‘James Bond style’ with an almost silent swoosh of the polished aluminium cover
sheltering the disc compartment. The latter was totally metallic in look and
feel with two discrete depressions where one’s fingers were meant to lower the
disc into the play slot before placing the puck on top of the disc to clamp it
for stability. Press close on the eject button and the aluminium sliding door
hides the disc completely. At the same time, the closure of the disc
compartment draws your attention to another discreet feature behind the disc
compartment – the grilled cover revealing the two EH
6H30
Valves aglow and producing a palpable amount of
heat even before play is engaged. Apart from the blue digits on the display, a
barely audible click and whirr coming from the disc compartment signals the
start of sound pleasure. I suppose that after living with such a nondescript aluminium
box of a CD player, one conveniently forgets about its bizarre, yet bland,
physical appearances and simply concentrates on the music.
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Drive: SANYO HD870 laser head with Philips SAA7824
servo system
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DAC:
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BB
PCM1704 *2
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Unbalanced
output level:
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2.3V
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Balanced
output level:
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4.6V
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Frequency
response:
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20
Hz - 20 kHz (0.5dB)
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Signal
to Noise Ratio:
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>107dB
(RCA), >115dB (XLR)
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THD+N:
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<0.02%
(RCA), <0.002% (XLR)
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Power
consumption:
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<60W
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Dimension:
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460mm
x 403mm x 132mm
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Weight:
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12.7kg
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