A naturally sound choice in CD changers
Written: Feb 11 '07 (Updated Apr 13 '07)
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Pros: Brilliantly detailed sound that rivals LPs. Fine quality construction. Very reasonable price tag.
Cons: Hard to believe the same people who designed this awesome player also designed the remote.
The Bottom Line: If you have any doubts that digital audio can sound as warm, clean and detailed as vinyl, this affordable CD changer will dispel them.
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| inspectortb's Full Review: Yamaha CDC-506 5-Disc CD Changer |
Years ago – in the seventies, to be exact – I worked in an electronics store that carried high-end audio equipment. Talk about feeling like a kid in a candy store! Only in that case, the musical ear candy consisted of Marantz, JBL, Harman Kardon and other big names. During this job – my first job -- I acquired something of a taste for nice sound systems.
Fast forward to the nineties: Audio became less of an interest for me and my system morphed into a mish mash of aging equipment. For a CD player, I had been making do with a nondescript Philips single play unit. It sounded okay, I thought, but finally the inconvenience of feeding discs one at a time got to me.
For the long overdue upgrade of my aging system, Job #1 was a new CD player. Job #2 was a new receiver – check out my review for the Yamaha RX-497 at http://www.epinions.com/content_332145921668
An endangered species?
Judging from the meteoric success of Apple’s iPod, it would appear that the whole concept of distributing music and video by means of discs might be on the way out. File downloads are clearly the wave of the future and we’ll store them all in our computers and flash memory devices. So why bother with a CD player now? Answer: Simplicity. You can plug a CD changer into a stand-alone music system and be done with it. No fussing with wireless networking, file compatibility and other glitches. (At least for now).
What I chose
First, I didn’t want to spend a fortune on a CD changer. The rest of my system is not top of the line by any means, and I don’t intend to go overboard on the new receiver. Still, my vintage JBL L-40 speakers can reveal any weaknesses either in the source or elsewhere down the line, so I didn’t want to skimp on specs. Low distortion and good dynamic range are “musts”.
Since a large part of my CD collection consists of CD-R and CD-RW media, I looked carefully for players that have a good reputation for compatibility with all types of discs. I got the impression from many sources on the web that low-end Sony models can get finicky with recordable media, so I eliminated them from consideration.
Yamaha products always struck me as being upscale. Indeed, much of their current product line covers a wide spectrum. That, plus the fact that they distribute their product only through a select number of dealers indicates that they’re not aiming for the mass-market customer. And many people I’ve talked with have been quite pleased with both the sound quality and build quality of Yamaha products. Thus, my choice ended up being the entry level model, the CDC-585.
Features
A quick summary of the CDC-585’s main features:
• 5-Disc PlayXchange, allowing you to swap four discs while a fifth one is playing
• CDR and CD-RW disc read capability
• Peak search and Index search
• Intelligent digital servo
• Fixed Analog Output
• CD synchronized recording compatible with a Yamaha tape deck
• Remote control
• 40-track Random Access
• Automatic track programming for tape recording
Mechanicals
The favorable impression begins with the cardboard carton the unit was shipped in: somehow it feels sturdier than the usual cardboard carton. Even the foam blocks and plastic wrap seem neater and more carefully wrapped than usual.
The CDC-585 is a pretty straightforward unit, yet its owner’s manual covers all its various features in detail and with legible illustrations and diagrams. Quite a difference from some other electronic gear I’ve purchased!
Once set up, nothing about this CD player’s physical features disappoints. The power switch clicks “on” and “off” with a secure feel, the tray opens quickly when summoned by the appropriate button and disc changes occur with only a moderate amount of muffled clanking sounds from within. The nicely lit display presents track information, including text on discs so recorded. From the remote you can set three levels of brightness – a frill in my view – yet even the highest intensity can’t overcome the exceedingly tiny dimensions of the track summary display. The current track and disc indicators and text information appear adequately readable from a distance, unfortunately that’s not true of the remaining information (track listing, mode).
Neatly arranged buttons on the front panel choose from among the five discs, move forward and backward among tracks and start and stop play. Labels for these controls look reasonably legible under most room lighting conditions. On this model, direct track access is possible from the remote only – the next step up in the model line, the CDC-685, offers that feature on the front panel along with a headphone jack and an adjustable output level control.
The nicely shaped remote fits easily in one’s hand. Unfortunately, the good news ends there. As other reviewers have noted, you can’t turn the power on or off from the remote. There’s a vague logic to the device’s layout, but the “random” and “repeat” buttons got mixed in with the ones controlling “play/stop/pause/forward/reverse” whereas other buttons for text display, tape recording and other functions occupy the top of the unit. Worse yet, the labels for those buttons are hard to read even with reading glasses. The faintly printed symbols for “play, pause and stop” nearly disappear against the light colored background. Finally, the buttons themselves have an odd chisel-like shape that makes them a bit difficult to press. The attention to detail that Yamaha’s engineers put into the player itself sadly ran out when they got to the remote.
“Natural Sound” indeed!
Like most Yamaha components, the CDC-585 has the label “Natural Sound” appended to the model number on the unit’s face plate, and the unit lives up to what it promises. Perhaps the highest compliment I can pay to any audio component is to praise the way it brings out details in recordings that had gone unnoticed previously.
I don’t consider myself a fussy audiophile, but I’ve often thought that my old vinyl LPs had a cleaner, warmer sound than CDs. The sound from other CD players I’ve listened to over the years reinforced that opinion. This new Yamaha now has me rethinking that idea: As I listen to my eclectic disc collection – ranging from Bruce Springsteen, Dire Straits and Fleetwood Mac at one end of the scale, to Mozart and Haydn symphonies and concertos at the other – I can almost forget that I’m listening to digital recordings. The CDC-585 renders percussion -- such as cymbals, snare drums, chimes and triangles – brightly, but not overly so. Twelve-string guitars come through cleanly; close your eyes and you can picture a guitar pick contacting the strings. Excellent stereo separation adds to the sense of a realistic soundstage, while the CDC-585’s dynamic range makes Mozart’s “Jupiter Symphony” a thrilling listening experience.
So far, my collection of CD-R and CD-RW discs has posed no challenge to the CDC-585. I’ve encountered only one disc that occasionally hangs up at the beginning of one track, but that has happened very rarely. I suspect that the problems lies more with a glitch in the way that disc was recorded by my old computer’s CD burner, rather than with the CDC-585.
Yamaha gets a standing ovation
After three weeks of listening pleasure, I can recommend the Yamaha CDC-585 enthusiastically. It meets my expectations for convenience in almost every way, save for the quirks of the remote. As for the listening itself – bravo! All these musical details that sounded dull or gritty on other CD players now sound clean, real and…well, natural on the CDC-585. Just like the words on the front of the unit say.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 129
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Epinions.com ID:
inspectortb
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Reviews written: 34
Trusted by: 2 members
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