I reviewed the Unison Research CDPrimo tubed CD player a while back, and found it to be a great sounding, fairly priced source component. I thought it only fitting to review the Italian company’s flagship player, the Unico CDE. They share some of the same design characteristics, but are very different animals, as reflected in their price points and performance. The $2295 Primo sounded terrific, with an output stage built around a 12AU7/ECC82 tube, a USB digital input, and a 96/24 upsampling DAC chip. The Unico CDE, also a 24/96 upsampling CD Player, has four twin triode tubes in the analog output stage. The build quality is extraordinary, taking things to a whole new level. There is a digital input via coaxial RCA, and both single-ended and balanced outputs. The CDE, like the rest of the Unico line, is available ...

Unison Research is a family owned high end audio company based in Treviso, Italy. They have been making tubed, solid state, and hybrid components since 1987.  There are a number of unique things about Unison Research, one of them being that all their products are still made in their factory in Italy. You can bet that is one factory tour this reviewer would jump at the chance for!  Also unique is the fact is that they are the sister company to Opera, who make wonderful loudspeakers. I have read about Unison Research for years now, and when I was assembling my first real “reference” system”, which I was determined to make tube based, a friend mentioned Unison Research should be on my short list. Unfortunately, at that time there was no local dealer. Fast forward to CES 2012 when I ...

Bel Canto Design, out of Minneapolis, has an the envious reputation of making a full line of very well reviewed Class D amplifiers, preamps, DAC’s, CD players, and transports.  Their products have a unique and stunning appearance. They also have a loyal customer base, and their products are designed and manufactured in the USA. The company is small but manages to distribute its products through a nice sized dealer network domestically and in thirty five countries worldwide. John Stronczer, Bel Canto’s head honcho, founded the company in 1990. He has a serious technical background, having worked as a research scientist in some very high tech environments.  Interestingly, when Stronczer founded Bel Canto, he was making tube amplifiers. Ironically they are best known for digital products and switching amplifiers. ...

It's no secret that stand-alone CD players have lost ground with consumers looking for “universal” solutions to home theater and audio needs. Although the digital domain still reigns, portable media players along with DVD and Blu-ray players have taken a lot of wind out of the CD player's sails. Still, a dedicated CD player offers the best potential for high-fidelity performance. If you've invested into compact discs and want to keep enjoying your collection, then a dedicated disc spinner is still the way to go. If you want to take your disc collection to a new level, Cary Audio's CD 500 CD Player may be the last player you'll ever need. Design & FeaturesThe CD 500 retails for $2,995, and for that price you get a machine that's built rock-solid and complemented with top-grade components. The CD 500's digital-to-analog converter ...

Aimed at Audiophiles who like their CD players simple, well made, single tray, and optionally rack mountable, Marantz has announced the CD5004 CD Player.  The CD5004 plays CDs, CD-Rs, and CD-RWs and will play CD-DA (PCM) alongside MP3 and WMA formatted files at 42, 44.1, and 48kHz sampling frequencies.  Though this is not a networkable machine, the CD5004 does have the ability to read metadata on MP3s and WMA files as well as text-data encoded CDs.Marantz's CD5004 has a very impressive 0.002% THD (total harmonic distortion) rating thanks to its "SACD-quality" digital to analog converter, though sadly the machine does not support that format.  This means you won't find distortion due to resistor matching errors, performance drift over time and temperature, or excessive clock jitter (aka time-domain irregularities).The CD5004 also features HDAM-SA2, the company's proprietary Hyper Dynamic Amplifier Modules which ...