Is the Rotel CD11 Tribute the Right CD Player Under $1000?!
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 ก.ค. 2024
- I feel the Rotel CD11 Tribute, one of Ken Ishiwata's last projects, is an excellent choice for the folks wanting to stay under the $1000 mark for a formidable CD Player. In this video, I go into features, details, and sound quality of what may very well be an iconic piece of HiFi history.
// Products
Rotel CD11 Tribute: shop-links.co/cgTxcnWYIIv
Cambridge Audio EVO 150: shop-links.co/cgTxdlzMdxH
Denafrips Ares II: amzn.to/3JDtGO7
Audioquest Evergreen RCA Cables: amzn.to/36KtkXw
Audioquest Cinnamon Coax Cable: amzn.to/3JERpO1
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Papa Roach-Paramour Sessions: amzn.to/3L8yzyQ
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//Chapters
0:00 Intro
4:34 Specs and Tech
7:08 Sound Quality
10:21 Final Thoughts - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
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Today I received the Rotel CD11 Tribute. I bought this unit after having listened to this discussion several days ago. I connected the Rotel to my Bryston preamp using AudioQuest Sidney interconnecting cable. For loudspeaker cable I use AudioQuest Rocket 33. The first album I listened to was Frank Zappa's Over-Nite Sensation. This was enough to give me an adequate sense of how well the Rotel CD11 performs. How did it perform? Wonderfully. Satisfyingly. All the nuance of Zappa's brilliant production was served up in a delightful way. No need to say anymore concerning the Rotel. It is a fine cd player.
Excellent. I am very happy to hear that! 😊
Great video! Thank you for the information and insight provided
No problem, it was a lot of fun researching everything about Mr. Ishiwata
Dude, you're the reason I took the leap and bought this unit that I've been eyeing for a while. Got it used for $400.I have the Tribute A11 and a Rotel RA1572. A-B'ing the internal DAC with the Schiit Bifrost 2, I couldn't tell a difference! Thanks for bringing me back to the world of CD's.
My pleasure my friend. Enjoy the music!
Thanks! Looking into replacement CD players lately. Good review!
Thanks so much for checking it out!
Very enjoyable review, thank you
Glad you liked it, thank you! 😊
@@mykandrew I have. Silver CD 11 Tribute atm and love it, so much better than CD players were even 10yrs ago. I agree CD had a lot of potential, I kept all my collection mainly purchased in the 90’s and 2000’s. I’ve had several KI signature products over the years and was always a huge fan of Ken’s work, I loved his passion for improving affordable hifi.
Mine arrived yesterday
And exceeded my
Expectation, good enough
To spend last night listening
To CD after CD and I'm
A analog guy love the
Blend of warmth and detail
Nice, glad you enjoyed it
Enjoy your videos! keep it up!!! I was using a Sony higher end ES unit from the late 80’s for years, in fear it might go down on me eventually, I bought the CD11, I love them both! I think considering the theory of diminishing returns, this is a sweet spot unit for me!
Thank you so much
Mike I use to be in line with you as you know . Laserdisc over vhs easy and then My crazy CD collection over cassette . I didn’t have the right things to understand However my heart an my ears now want “analog “ via Vinyl tube phono stage,pre amp 2 channel discrete circuitry high power amp and the right speakers to match . New Vinyl Is crazy good ,thicker cleaner and some of the old pressing are impressive as well . Yes Tubes all day !!
Btw I’m happy with my Sony SACD DVD &DVD Audio media yes Multiple Channel I love but media is limited and still happy being an analog dude in a digital world . Great video we all have a heart and emotional link to how we connect to music . The add ons are hit and miss meaning we all see the value or hear it in different accessories we add on and use ..
Purchased this Tribute 11 CD player AND the Rotel 12 Integrated Amp about a year ago. I’m happy.
Great an interesting video , I have a cd11 tribute sound really great , also A11 amp saving up for the T11. I had Rotel rt100l 30years ago that was a great tuner amp. Regards mark
I can appreciate and respect the history behind this CD player, and it's designer/engineer, however I have a collection of not only thousands of CD's, but several hundred SACD, DVD-Audio, and Blu Ray music discs. I need a player that can handle all of those formats. I currently have an Oppo 105 which I've been using for the last 7 years, and it's been great. When the day comes when I need to replace it, I will be looking at players that play at minimum, CD, SACD, and DVD-Audio. CD can sound great in many instances, but a lot of my SACD's and DVD-A's sound absolutely incredible. I'd put many of them up against their best sounding vinyl counterparts any day of the week. Excellent video. Keep up the good work.
Thank you for the support. I am currently filming a video on how to rip DSD files to your PC using an older Sony Blu Ray player! It's quite interesting.
If money is no option I would recommend the OPPO udp 205 even though it’s discontinued you can find some on 2nd hand market and they sell for more then msrp because it’s pretty nice
On WBC I agree. My two turntable, two cdj DJ rig is wired with all quad core cable. Both XLR and RCA. Canare wire with Neutrik silver and Amphenol connectors. It ain't really the copper wire though that makes the difference. It's the fact that it is quad core balanced XLR and quad core floating ground RCA that makes the difference.
I have the cd11 tribute whit Rotel 06se amplifier. Fantastic.
Great cd player by a brillant brand
Indeed!
Hi Mike, hope you are fine. This unit or Cambridge CXC v2 since I have an external DAC ? what would be better to listen to my CD collection ? thank you ! Love your videos, learning a lot !
I would also recommend the Rotel cd14 mk2. It is a absolutely fantastic sounding cd player that is free of fatiguing digital artifacts. With Analog warmth and detail in abundance this player is a class act in any system especially with preamps and power amps, tubes or transistors!
Thank you for this review. I am looking for a very good CD player. I am just wondering if this player has gapless playback? and if not which one would you recommend for the same quality as this one? Thank you
I own the CD11 Tribute and yes it has gapless playback.
The Rotel cd14 mk2 is also beautifully constructed and is visually stunning. In Its silver finish especially, this cd player let's you know it is high end in addition to its sound which is the icing on the cake,(with a juicy cherry on top!!). Buy it and rediscover some cd's!
I love my ONKYO C-7030!!!
Ken 🙌🏻 🇯🇵 was unique among audio designers.
This is wild…I purchased a CD11 last week. Love it! Great review and information.
Awesome! I'm glad you like it. It's an awesome player.
With the latest firmware it reads all of my disks I've tried and before it didn't, however my old 1980's Marantz read them all and had no ability to change the firmware so which is better?
Thanks for the review. I am really interested in this CD player but I dont know If I will see a big difference compared to my Yamaha CDS 303. I think I will but I also saw the emotiva cd player erc-4 that looks really good too in the same price range.
I bot....all 3....lol...I tend to like burr-brown chips...... emotiva has ad1955
@@dennishill290 Did you prefer the CD11 over the CDS303?
@nnc2199 in my systems...Yamaha is more natural and balanced...cd-11 has more or empaized bass and smoother tray action....
@@dennishill290 so not a big difference so I should keep my Yamaha for now ? nothing on the Emotiva ?
How does it compare with the Cambridge AXC 35?
Thx.
Still have a rotel amp
Can you by any chance compare the Rotel CD11 Tribute to Marantz CD6007 ? These 2 are the top candidates for the price as I've researched.
Beware the CD6007 does not have the stated AKM4490 dac chips, been changed to ESS9010, but no mention anywhere. If you like AKM dacs you will be disappointed.
6007 is junk flat sounding
I’m looking for a solid transport under 1000 what would be best case to buy right hie in your opinion
I have the CD 11 tribute. I don't have an expensive DAC (Schiit Modi 3) but I too likes the internal DAC on this CD player than the Modi. This is a solid player.
Couldn't agree more
How would you compare the Rotel CD11 VS Cambridge AXC35.... I'd like a comparison.
From the digital output they are practically identical. From the analog output stage the Rotel CD11 sounds a lot better. They both look very nice. So essentially it comes down to the analog output. Ken Ishiwata did alot of work to make sure it sounded amazing.
Taking a shot that you'll actually see this post after two years. I am interested in the CD11 Tribute, but I need to know if it has gapless playback. I looked through the manual and there is no mention of it. Also, I am reading a lot of complaints that the player stops working when it gets halfway through a CD, especially toward the end of CDs. Do you know if these problems are real?
Hi, thanks for reaching out. I only had possession of the player for a short period of time before having to return it to the manufacturer and in that time I didn’t have any issues. I also can’t remember if it did in fact have gapless playback. If you contact Crutchfield they should be able to have the answers you are looking for. There’s a link in the description that will take you to the product page on Crutchfield. I’m sorry I wish I could have been more help!
@@mykandrew No worries. Thank you for your reply. I have been in touch with Crutchfield and they don't think it has gapless because it isn't mentioned in the manual.
That's probably the case.
Hello! How does rotel compare to denon dsd900ne?
Have you looked at Arcams CDS50 CD/SACD, STREAMER. Originally £899 in the UK , now as low as £499. Uses ESS9038 reference dacs, one to a channel. Sounds very good, slightly bright, but still warm. Bargain now, released today you would be looking at a minimum £1200. It's must be the most flexible CD player out there. Also has balanced out for that price. I can buy the CD11 Tribute in the UK for £239, Would have bought it if they had updated the dac chip as well.
I'll have to reach out to Arcam!
Im going to order one in the next few days
Cds are going to be a round
For awhile
Nice! You will enjoy it!
This or Rotel RCD-1572 or Marantz CD6007/Yamaha CD-S303?
there are a few reviews of a rotel cd player on crutchfield that say while their unit sounds great the drawer is rather flimsy in construction.
I find a lot of drawers on the newer models aren't as heavy duty as they were in the 80s and 90s. I like slot loading, but a lot of people complain slot loading scratches their CDs 💿
Yes, it's like one you'd get on a cheap desktop cdrom but all new CD players are like this, Denon 800NE etc, I have an old Yamaha CD player with a sturdy aluminium tray. The CD11 T tray also auto closes after 60 seconds and can't be disabled.
I've noticed that the DAC used is specified as a "Texas Instruments" DAC of unknown model number. With all this fuss about AKM vs. ESS in other players, it's surprising that Rotel (and Mr. Ishiwata) would go with this relatively unknown chip, but I guess I could defer.
As far as the TI chip goes, Rotel might have gone with it due to the AKM factory fire, resulting in a shortage of that chip. It's telling that they didn't just "go to the well" and pull out another ESS - or maybe the TI chip is just that good.
The Denafrips Ares is known to have a warm character, explaining the detail you noticed in the Rotel. Some may not prefer that detail. Most reviewers of the Ares loved it precisely because it sounded "analog" and had better soundstaging. I know from experience that "detail" often equals a lack of soundstage depth. This is important to me, at least, as I tend to prefer a warmer sound.
The hunt goes on!
thank you for the information i already have a tribute 11 amp i will buy tribute 11 cd player i have very old cd player
Awesome, if you can, use the link in the description, I earn a little commission, and it helps grow the channel. I am glad the review helped! 😌
I ended up buying cd player a second amp in silver and a tuner by Rotel from richer sounds England cd player sounds great really pleased thanks again
A great competitor is the Emotiva ERC-4.
Great video and tribute to a tribute :) I am considering as a first step to the cd experience to buy this cd player and pair it with the schiit magni 3 headphone amplifier and a good pair of headphones. I would love to hear your opinion on this thought of mine. Cheers anyway!
I am a huge fan of headphones. I, however, would go with the Cambridge DACMAGIC 200M over anything Schitt. Check out my review on the Cambridge. You wont regret it. I use it daily on my desktop with a pair of Hifiman headphones
@@mykandrew thank you so much for the response. I just checked out the video and it's certainly in my mind for when i want to go to a more delicate and detailed setup. Your overall vibe suits my style and you know how to ''sell'' a good product. :) The thing is that i want to keep the cd player system as close to the 1000 price mark as possible. So the current plan is to rely on the internal dac of the rotel,combine it with a headphone amp and a pair of sennheiser hd600. Later,i will certainly use an good external dac and expand to a speaker setup,when i am economically better and have my own place(living with parents who dont like prog and metal lol). Let me know your thoughs,if you dont mind,on the internal dac of the rotel. I heard from the video that you have a good impression,but you did not go to great detail,if i remember correctly. Again thank you! :)
@@Esko354 the IFI Zen DAC is also better than the schitt and you get dac/headphone amp combo for less than the dacmagic.
@@mykandrew well you read my mind. So kind of you answering my questions. So I guess I should bypass the internal dac of the rolit and go for an external dac anyway. I might save for the dac magic though. Dear devil you sparked my inner audiophile. Perhaps I should invest on it because I will move to an amp-speaker setup later on.
Does the player load and begin playing in less than an hour? Some players are agonizingly slow.
Yes it's quite fast
Link to World's Best Cables please? Thanks!
amzn.to/3wDUslS
There ya go! :)
I'm New to ur Channel can you please Recommend a Really good DAC for Me I to have the Rotel A11 Tribute plus the Rotel Amp the Amp is a bit Disappointing because U Really Don't hear any sound till it's at 45 on the Volume. As you know we all Desire greater sound cheers
Designed by Ken Ishiwata but finished by Karl-Heinz Fink from Essen/Germany after Ken's death!
How much better is the primare DD15 to the Rotel cd11 tribute ¿ 🤔
At that point it depends on the DAC you're using. The DD15 is just a transport and the CD11 is the total package. They are very close when using the digital outs. I do like the CD11's analog output, it sounds very nice. It's a tough one especially when the price is so different.
yes trust your wing nuts ,thats what got me a fab system ,price is no guide or looks or origin or age ,dont believe hype to,and your health and state of mind plays a part to...
I prefer the original Rotel Sound from the Stan Curtis era. These earlier Rotels are very Naim or Cyrus like in sound signature IMHO.
You mean less bass and too much uppermids and highs?
whay didnt you let us hear the music through your stereo system?
What would be the point? TH-cam compresses its sound to 126 aac... it would be an injustice to try and listen to someone's system through a TH-cam video.
Primare dd with dac or rotel?
Primare with DAC in my opinion.
Looks like the link for t shirts is down.
audio-arkitkets.creator-spring.com
Try that
The one thing that a reviewer can't answer immediately for their readers or viewers is what kind of reliability can the buyer expect from a unit. I'm using a Rotel RCD-1072 as a transport that's getting close to twenty years old now and still works well after a cleaning and a new belt. However, Rotel no longer stocks any repair parts for this model. When something finally goes out, that may be the end of the player's usefulness. So, how well built is the CD-11 and is it reasonable to expect a long life spinning discs?
One aspect that often troubles me regarding some readers and viewers is the expectation that everything must be flawless. I completely understand the desire for certainty in knowing the longevity of a product, as it helps in making a secure purchase. However, it's important to recognize that reviewers, including myself, usually don't have an extended period to test these products. This is primarily because PR companies frequently request the return of these items soon after review. Unfortunately, I cannot wait 20 years to provide a long-term usage report. Consequently, when it comes to purchasing electronics, there often has to be an element of trust or, as I'd put it, a 'leap of faith'.
I bought the CD11 T. together with the Amp (A11 Tribute). The amp's transformer is humming and this is audible when it is just quiet in the room. At a price of approx. 500 Euro this should not be. But I am not picky, I don't hear it when I listen to music and there are much more important problems in this world. The set - amp and CD player - is running for a year now and 2 weeks ago the CD player stopped receiving it's remote's signal. I testet the remote - it is okay. But the CD player does not receive it. That is really annoying because - thanks to that "simplicity" you cannot control anything, can't even put the player on stand-by anymore. And the repair cost is unreasonable. I wanted to repeir it myself but Rotel only gave me a list of authorised services. By the way: There is no evidence that a logic circuit impairs sound quality. What I am trying to say is: When you turn the CD player off the tray won't retract. Tryi it, you'll see. I don't care about Ishiwata. Generally speaking at this price range it is possible to get something much more reliable, like Yamaha or Sony for example. Or I had a bad break with these units. The sound quality is good but not "Tribute". It is just ok.
In my opinion all recent cd players must include digital inputs to take advantage of the dac, specially for this price. In my case i use the dac 80% of the time for any digital content i consume (spotify, tidal, netflix...) and only 20% of the time for cds
You've got it backwards. If you ran a digital signal into a CD player with a digital in you'd be using the internal DAC inside the CD player negating any benefit from your outboard DAC.
@@danielrhoden2973 i don't understand, you mean that the dac that processes the digital input signal is a different one from the cd signal?
@@fabiyeah I apologise. I think I misunderstood your comment. I thought you were suggesting hooking up an outboard DAC to the digital inputs of a CD player.
Not a player for you then...
I didn't know the stuff you put in cheese made cd players
I assume that when you use the coax output, that you bypass the built in DAC, so you basically praise the DAC in your amplifier. Crorrect?
I think there was a misunderstanding, the DAC I praised was the one in the CD Player. The DAC in the EVO 150 was never used. To A/B test I used a Denafrips Ares II. Which the CD Player's DAC actually bested.
And in direct comparison connected to my Technics SU-7700 via RCA the Rotel does not sound as good as my 30 year old Technics SL-PS 700. And it also does not sound better than the PS 700 little brother SL-PG 520A. I really would like to know if the Marantz CD 6007 sounds better than the Rotel. I need a modern time replacement for my old school Technics CD players.
My Magnavox CDB-473 beats out most new players, I enjoyed the Rotel, I thought it was a great sounding player for today. However, back in the day those players and the TDA-1541 chips were 🔥
@@mykandrew TSA-1541 -Oh yes one of the best DAC chips ever made ! For today and for s.o. who is new into Hi-Fi the Rotel is a nice bit of kit. But the best times for affordable absolutely great sounding CD players are gone since beginning of the 90s.
I am currently considering replacing my Technics SLPS670. It still works and sounds great. It would seem from your comment it may be better to hang on to it. Interested in your opinion. Thank you!
@@davebarlow8976 I would strongly recommend to keep it. That oooomph praaaat full bodied sound you get from it via the Mash, 4 DAC and other soundwise important internals of the bigger higher class Technics CD players is comparable to the sound of modern Naim players and expensive DACs which cost much much more...
@@angelheart7643 thank you. Hopefully it keeps going for a while 😀🤞.
Rotel have always made excellent budget CD players. I have an RCD 965BX and an RCD 971, I think they retailed at around £250 and £400 respectively, I also have a Linn Unidisk 1.1 (£8600), Linn Ikemi (£2200), Naim CD5 XS (£2000), Meridian 507 (about £1500 iirc) and Denon DVD A1XV (£3000 iirc)… you can clearly hear the difference between all of these machines and you can hear the improvements as you go up the price range (although the Ikemi outperforms the Denon, and gives 95% of the performance of the Unidisk), however they’re all superb performances, and the Rotel machines are still highly enjoyable machines!
Yes, I do have too many CD players, but I really like them all.🙂
My CD-11 sounds superb even ‘high end’ when playing through a Naim SuperUniti, Rega RS5’s.. 😎👍
This CD player sounds great but the build quality is awful. The last track on mine plays on repeat, sometimes it won't play the last track at all and really struggles on long CDs. It will just click off in the middle of a track. So annoying. Test your player by leaving it on repeat all night, if it's stopped by the morning then you've got a faulty one. Such a shame as it sounds really good, but the software is some of the worst I've ever seen. Get the Marantz one instead, you will regret buying this.
So you got a faulty unit... It happens, get it sorted out with Rotel. You say it sounds really good but condem the entire model based on your one experience. Also your software comment, presumably you have somehow downloaded the operating software and analysed it 🙄
Ive had the player for over a year now and its a great player. Its a Red Book player with no frills that does what it does extremely well.
@@petercook7502 I did, and then I discovered they are actually all like that because the replacement has exactly the same fault. I then started a thread on a hifi forum and many others complained too. I stand by my comment, t's a great sounding player but the build quality is rubbish. I had the amp as well but that got sent back after 2 days- it was junk. Rotel have known about the CD faults for over a year and haven't addressed them yet. I don't have to be a software expert to know that if it takes 10 seconds for the drawer to eject after pressing the button that the software is bad, the buttons are laggy and horrible. And the auto close 'feature' is so annoying. So yeah, great sound but terrible design
Mine came with a very over sprayed black finish to the top of the unit right out of the box, there are other's out there as you can see the images on crutchfield..this don't affect sound of course. Why this things needs software revisions I don't know but mine came with ver 1.02 - a version Rotel don't make available yet on their download page (the firmware is updatable and many out there are using ver 1.0) and a Rotel USB key with documentation so I am assuming my model is more recent. As reported by many there can be playback glitches on longer CD's and more than 22 track discs (Beatles 1 Compilation for example) so let Rotel or your local shop you purchased from know this so they can fix with a future firmware.
@@barrystamp8600 Not noticed the overspray as I have it racked but I can believe it. I have version 1.02 software in my replacement unit. It still cuts out although not as much as the original one I had did (also 1.02 software)
try the latest firmware fix
Don't order it unless you want to be an ancient old man before you get it.
Too bad this model doesn't have a USB input to allow playing music files, that would make this a home run at $599.
I think this was meant to be a traditional "old school" style CD player. However, yes that would have been a great feature.
It’s called a CD player for a reason
What’s the point of a 1000 dollar CD player? They all do the same thing.
Just wait until my next video. I thought the same way you did until I took a $3000 cd player for a spin and holy shit! It's not about their fundamental functions or the fact that their purpose is the same all around. It's the execution in the engineering that matters most. You have to try it someday. It will be an enlightening experience.
What's the point.............................hahahahaha..........................all the cars drive the same.............and all the women are the same............and..................all penguins lay eggs.
@@frankgeeraerts6243 I don't care about cars or penguins...........
@@mikepxg6406 YES , you're right ! ....You don't care !
Sorry, I bought an Onkyo C-7030 recently at a used record store trying to get into the used gear game for $35 and a pair of Dynaudio audience 5's for $75! Thank God the guy was an asshole and later I discovered he sold me a worthless King Gizz bootleg or I might've felt guilty.
Cavaet Emptor kids. You are better off spending a $1000 on more music than getting that Rotel. Don't believe for a second that your AV receiver will reveal improved sound with that thing.
Don't believe...................Believing is the one thing you can't argue with....................My advice : Don't spend your money on anything more expensive than the least expensive..............
@@frankgeeraerts6243 Back in the day we had a 50/50 budget rule for assembling a system- 50 percent for speakers and 50 percent for everything else. Still good advice.
That's because AV receiver.
Ok