Rotel Tribute Editions: A11 Amplifier and CD11 CD Player Review & Comments

[Ed Selley]

Rotel’s latest affordable amp and CD combo is more than a pair of Hi-Fi components; they’re the last work of an industry titan. Are they any good though?
Read the review.

Write your own review for Rotel CD11 Tribute

 

[bogart99]

Being in the market for a new CD player, of which this Rotel is shortlisted this review confirms that it should be in that list. The obvious alternative, to my mind , is the Marantz CD6007.

 

[Sab]

Being in the market for a new CD player, of which this Rotel is shortlisted this review confirms that it should be in that list. The obvious alternative, to my mind , is the Marantz CD6007.

Surely a hifi streamer would provide more convenience? Some of them can be controlled via a smart phone or tablet, and playlists can be done. But they will cost a lot more.

 

[Zombie Twin]

It's funny, but for all their audio/visual achievements over the years, when I hear the name Texas Instruments, I immediately think: "Speak and Spell".

 

[Blupetros]

Surely a hifi streamer would provide more convenience? Some of them can be controlled via a smart phone or tablet, and playlists can be done. But they will cost a lot more.

Not everyone is after "convenience". Perhaps he has an existing library of CD's.
Being into classical music, I've yet to see a streaming service that is more convenient than me going to my shelves, knowing where everything is, and being able to put on a movement of a particular piece of music by a particular performer.

 

[bogart99]

Surely a hifi streamer would provide more convenience? Some of them can be controlled via a smart phone or tablet, and playlists can be done. But they will cost a lot more.

Already have my streamer. plus as Blupetros said I already have CDs. Without a CD player would be a tad difficult to play them.

 

[SOUNDVISION]

Already have my streamer. plus as Blupetros said I already have CDs. Without a CD player would be a tad difficult to play them.

Just Rip the CDs to Flac Files, on to a HDD and then put CDs into Storage Boxes
"I Have Spoken"

 

[Jefke13]

You can easily better the performance of the cd-player with a dedicated dac after some time... Great products to start ones journey indeed.

 

[Sab]

Already have my streamer. plus as Blupetros said I already have CDs. Without a CD player would be a tad difficult to play them.

Can I ask which streamer do you have? Is the sound quality not better than a £400 CD player?

 

[Kingchin]

You can easily better the performance of the cd-player with a dedicated dac after some time... Great products to start ones journey indeed.

DACs have come a long way in recent years even some cheap DACs are excellent. As for "You can easily better the performance of the CD player with a dedicated DAC after some time" - yes you will be able to get better performance from lots of external DACs.

But it won't be a night & day difference even if you spend over a £1000 on a DAC. Plus your adding another signal path to the chain diluting it with another device attached.

Most DACs from the past few years measure so good past the human hearing threshold. If the DAC in the CD player is already good you will get better performance audible boost by getting a more transparent power amplifier.

 

[Kingchin]

Just Rip the CDs to Flac Files, on to a HDD and then put CDs into Storage Boxes
"I Have Spoken"

I will rip some of my CDs to FLAC files to stream off my phone using Bluetooth on my stereo power amplifier. But I still enjoy the act of putting a physical music CD into a player and playing them as some people still do

 

[Steven]

There is clearly a market for turntables and CD players otherwise they would not still be produced

Whilst well intentioned I do not know why people keep posting "just buy a streamer" in every analogue source thread

I would not assume streamer separates are the future either. Young people want Bluetooth speakers controlled by their smartphone or tablet and or smart speakers

 

[Hixs]

Can't beat owning physical media for when the internet dies!

 

[gibbsy]

There are some seriously good CD players available that won't break the bank and some that will. This looks like a good entry into players.

 

[gigglebug]

There is clearly a market for turntables and CD players otherwise they would not still be produced

Whilst well intentioned I do not know why people keep posting "just buy a streamer" in every analogue source thread

I would not assume streamer separates are the future either. Young people want Bluetooth speakers controlled by their smartphone or tablet and or smart speakers

It's the same ideology as those who couldn't understand why you would choose a classic car over a Tesla. Just because something is objectivity better in almost every respect doesn't mean that it is the more emotive choice and therefore the more enjoyable for many.

 

[fordster]

Nice review @Ed Selley, I particularly liked reading your background to these products.

I have a love for Rotel as my first “proper” hifi system was an RA-01 and RCD-02 (so in some sense the ancestors of these) and then moved on to the higher end 1062 amp (not the current 10 series but what was replaced by the 15 series). Whilst I no longer have a CD player I will be considering a higher end Rotel for my next amp. Talking of which do you have the Michi X3 lined up for review this year by any chance?

 

[bogart99]

Can I ask which streamer do you have? Is the sound quality not better than a £400 CD player?

I use a Bluesound node2i. When I maybe buy a £400 player I will let you know. That is unless I go down the transport/DAC route and use my current player as purely the transport.

 

[bogart99]

Just Rip the CDs to Flac Files, on to a HDD and then put CDs into Storage Boxes
"I Have Spoken"

Was considering that. Possibly still am for sometime in the future. In fact I should as about a year ago I had a rush of blood to the head and bought a Synology NAS/HDDs to facilitate just this, still in their boxes!

 

[muljao]

I use a Bluesound node2. i When I maybe buy a £400 player I will let you know. That is unless I go down the transport/DAC route and use my current player as purely the transport.

I guess you can use the blue sound as the dac in that scenario

 

[SOUNDVISION]

Was considering that. Possibly still am for sometime in the future. In fact I should as about a year ago I had a rush of blood to the head and bought a Synology NAS/HDDs to facilitate just this, still in their boxes!

I use dBpoweramp for ripping my cds, its good, easy to use
dBpoweramp CD Ripper: CD Converter, Securely Ripping

 

[bogart99]

I can start there for sure. Hard to know how the DAC in the Bluesound compares with a standalone DAC costing say £400-500. I would assume a standalone would sound "better", if my aging ears could discern it, by how much.

 

[Ed Selley]

Just because something is objectivity better in almost every respect doesn't mean that it is the more emotive choice and therefore the more enjoyable for many.

This is a statement that needs a bit of qualification. A Node 2i does (a lot) more than a CD11 Tribute. In functionality terms, it's a better product. However- for the specific task of playing a 16/44.1 format file that came off a CD- whether still embedded on the CD or ripped from it- I'm not convinced it sounds better. The componentry in the signal path of the CD11 is quite a bit better than the Node.

Way back in the long distant past, the first streamer that took up residence in my system was a Naim ND5 XS and it did so because, beyond on paper technical ability, it sounded better playing my legacy content than my Cambridge Audio 840C but, given it cost more than twice as much, it should have done. That it did more as well was a bonus.

Talking of which do you have the Michi X3 lined up for review this year by any chance?

Yes... but so does every other publication so it will fall to Rotel and their PR gurus to assign who gets what and when.

 

[Steven]

There are objectively updated internal components all set out in the review. Whether there are objective or subjective sound quality increases is another matter and likely dependent on the entire chain and resolution ability of your speakers or headphones.

There is little excuse for lack of reading comprehension though

 

[bogart99]

Must admit never saw Ed saying he had lots of money. If you have can you spare the price of a cuppa guv?

 

[Sky watsher]

Not everyone is after "convenience". Perhaps he has an existing library of CD's.
Being into classical music, I've yet to see a streaming service that is more convenient than me going to my shelves, knowing where everything is, and being able to put on a movement of a particular piece of music by a particular performer.

Hey Mate,
Probs you are already familiar with the following, but just in case you haven't heard there are 2 streaming services dedicated to classical Music :

• Idagio
• Primephonic

Enjoy the music : )