Rotel RCD-1072-Huge Disparity in Reviews

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Am I naive in asking why there is such a disparity between these two reviews of the same cd player?
The newest TAS was so pleased with the sound of the Rotel 1072 player with redbook playback that they gave it their 2003 Product of the Year. "Landmark performance for an affordable price".
But then I just read a recent review from HiFi Choice:
http://www.hifichoice.co.uk/review_read.asp?ID=2751
They were not impressed, giving the unit 3 out of 5 stars.
What is going on behind the curtain, Mr. Wizard?
Lyndon
Utah:xeye:
 
Rotel 971/991

Both of these are pretty good out of the box. The 991 is reported to be a little better than the 971.

Better yet, they are very easy to upgrade significantly. Because both have bottom chassis covers they can be 'operated upon' without a lot of pain disassembling things (except for the 20+ screws!).

I like the sound of my modified 971 as much as that from my stock Meridian 508-24. Norman
 
The funny thing is HiFi Choice raved about the Rotel RCD1070 which used the same Burr Brown DAC as the RCD1072.

I know there's more to a CD player than the DAC but they mention the DAC in a glowing paragraph in the 1070 review and completely kick dirt on the same chip in the 1072 review.

Re the 1070:

"The brand has always made a big deal about the quality of its toroidal power transformers, right down to its estimable budget amplifiers. Naturally one is included here, along with Rotel's predictably sturdy build and precise attention to detail for the sake of audio purity. There are some pretty serious audio components nestling amid its circuits, slit foil capacitors and the like, while important audiophile considerations like separated power supplies for analogue and digital circuits are present and correct. One difference this time around is the use of a Burr-Brown PCM1732 DAC, an 18-bit equivalent multi-level Delta-Sigma unit."

Re the 1072:

"The choice of Burr-Brown's PCM1732 DAC is unusual, particularly as this IC is far from the highest performer in BB's range (and also far from the cheapest). It seems that Rotel's retention of this part boils down to one factor: its on-board HDCD decoder. Rotel has been a supporter of Pacific Microsonics' encoding scheme for CD, although any advantage it once offered in stretching the performance of the 16-bit format was blunted once SACD and 24-bit DVD-Audio arrived."

:confused: :rolleyes:
 
Hi-Fi Choice manage to completely contradict themselves in a later article featuring the Rotel RCD-1072. Chck out http://www.rotel.com/reviews/pdfs/cd/ra1062-rcd1072-hfc.pdf
My guess is that the first review was of a unit not properly run in. No mention of that in the initial or subsequent review. I agree about the reviewing standard in HiFi review. It's all over the place.

Andrew
 
He He:))

Now I will tell very interesting story.

My first cd Rotel was Rotel 1070 25 Years StereoplayJubilee Edition.It was not bad,but when I purchased Rotel 991 and made some mods (pcm63p-k,opa627,black gates FK instead of Nichicon),it is just kills Rotel 1070,sound quality of 991 was much better,especially in bass. So I sold RCD1070. Than around 2 weeks ago I purchased chinese player Sheng Ya CD-S10 .For me was really interesting to hear tube player and for price I've got it (400 euros) it was good deal. And I modded Sheng Ya (ad825,opa627,Black Gates,Cerafines etc..).And now it's courious,it's outperfoms Rotel 991. Strange.The main difference between pcm1732 in Rotel 1070 and Sheng Ya is in 2nd dac in 24/96 mode.Also Sheng Ya has XO.Rotel 991 have more soft sound better highs,but stereo base ,basses,and mids is better on Sheng Ya.And I like Shneg Ya sound more. Any ideas why? May be pcm1732 in 18 bit mode sounds completely different with pcm1732 in 24/96??? Many other chinese bolids like Cayin CD15 also using 1732,but people very like sound.Any ideas why?
From my site:I'm not selling Sheng Ya or anything else,so please not accept my post as advertisment.I audio fanatic like you and try to find truth!
 
But what "new BB op-amp'' is used in RCD-1072? Maybe opa2277 instead of opa2604? It is correct?

The RCD-1072 indeed uses the OPA2277.

I just heard the RCD-1072, back to back it outperformed the Naim CD3.5 and not just by a little bit! The Absolute Sound review is bang-on, spooky low noise floor, amazing detail and the HDCD playback is excellent. The RCD-1072 is fantastic, it will be my next CD player. HiFi Choice is shooting 50% at the best of times and on this review they are completely out to lunch!
 
carlosfm said:


Well... the Naim CD3.5 uses a Philips TDA1305 bitstream dac.:bawling:

True, but it certainly didn't stop HiFI Choice from giving the 3.5 a good review. Hum...a good review for the Naim and a poor review for the much superior yet cheaper Rotel, truly bizarre. Like I said before HiFi Choice is out to lunch in their Rotel review.

http://www.hifichoice.co.uk/archive/perl/221_printreview.htm
 
Gaucho said:
True, but it certainly didn't stop HiFI Choice from giving the 3.5 a good review.

Show me a british mag with a bad review of Naim gear.:D

Forget the mags, listen for yourself, as you did.
Mea culpa to point to a review without listening.:xeye:
But someone I know who as listened to both the 1072 and 971 said to me that the 971 is superior.
I don't know it the 1072 has had some evolution, though...
 
pinkmouse said:
But the strange thing is, it's only the magazines that rave about it, most of the people I know can't stand the stuff, me included.

If we are going to talk about raved products/brands on the mags, I can give another example.
Audio Analogue.
Everything I've heard from them was too bad to be true.
Amps, preamps, CDPs...

Now they are selling a CDP with a cheap Samsung cd-rom inside, and it has good reviews.:bawling:
And notice: the dac of that cdp is the one inside the CDROM.:bawling: :bawling: :bawling:

I've read a review that said: "smooth sound, very romantic, blah blah blah".
Then the guy measured it and it was 6db down at 18khz.:clown:
More: they just buffer the output of the analog signal coming from the CD-ROM. The output is below 1V.
:att'n: Warning::att'n:
When the mags say it's "smooth", even if they end up with a very positive review (?!:eek: ), it's pure junk.

Conclusion: the reviews are good because those manufacturers pay for publicity in the same mag.
Who has the guts to say that a Sony SCD-1 sounds like junk, if Sony has a full-page pub about SACD on the back cover?
 
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