Review: Krell Cipher CD/SACD player

The Cipher is a new high-end SACD player from Krell and is a welcome surprise. It shows there's still a market for the medium.

True, SACD software issues are somewhat limited and the format risks being superseded by high-res downloads, but many small classical and jazz labels still support SACD and issue new titles each month.

This is where the new Cipher comes in, replacing Krell's popular EV505 SACD player. It promises an improved performance – especially in terms of Red Book CD playback and while this is very welcome, it's as an SACD player that the Cipher will stand or fall.

Fortunately, Krell has spared no effort to make it as good as possible – with both formats.

The Cipher is an advanced digital disc player offering users a choice of SACD and DVD-Audio playback in two channel and multichannel surround formats. The ability to play in surround is unusual – many purist audiophile SACD players dispense with this option, offering just two channel playback.

There's a choice of three fixed-level analogue outputs: RCA (unbalanced); XLR (balanced) and – for those using Krell amplification with the appropriate inputs – a special four-pin CAST socket (CAST is claimed to offer a significant improvement in sound quality). An output for subwoofers is also included in the mix.

The Cipher's disc drive is mechanically isolated from the main chassis and the mount uses composite materials to minimise vibration-induced errors. Strategically placed damping is used to reduce mechanical resonance and Krell's customised disc-drive firmware is claimed to improve disc-reading accuracy.

SACD disc transports can be temperamental and some players gained a reputation for being mechanically noisy and unreliable. Fortunately, the transport used in the Cipher is very quiet and seems to play a wide range of discs without complaint. CDs that jump or suffer dropout on our other players, played perfectly on the Cipher.

Separate lasers for CD and SACD are employed and these are individually hand-calibrated for accuracy. All signals are fed into a custom-designed Krell anti-jitter module and this is said to reduce jitter to virtually unmeasurable levels, resulting in a perfectly clean digital signal.

D/A conversion is via a pair of balanced 24-bit/192kHz DACs. Most players use a single DAC for each channel, but Krell uses its DACs in pairs and configures them to operate in balanced mode. So, 'balanced' operation occurs throughout the signal chain – from digital through to analogue. Usefully, the Cipher can play DVD-R data discs – though not, it seems, DVD-A discs.

Prior to the launch of SACD, one or two small audiophile labels released audio-only DVDs with a sampling frequency of 48kHz. These provided better-than-CD sound quality and very long (over three hours) continuous playing time.

As an aside, EMI issued its 2005 three-CD set of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde as a special limited edition, with a bonus audio DVD containing the complete recording on a single disc lasting three hours and 47 minutes in 5.1 DTS Surround Sound. The Cipher proved able to play this disc and could even deliver the DTS information. So, if you have any music DVDs, you'll be able to listen to them via the Cipher (most SACD players can't do this).

Another slightly unusual feature is the provision of user-selectable output filters; two for CD, and four for SACD. These alter the out-of-band frequency response and output gain.

The Cipher features all-aluminium casework. Being non-magnetic, aluminium is a good material to use for hi-fi casing, reducing the effects of magnetic eddy-currents. It costs more than steel, but can be relied on to deliver a smoother, more open and natural sound.

Finish is excellent, and the 'Cipher' centre panel looks very attractive. There are about thirty small press-buttons on the front panel – something that appeals to the inner geek in all of us – giving the Cipher a complex 'techy' look.

Fortunately, the button layout is logical and intuitive, so you instinctively find the right one. The buttons have a nice solid feel and operation is smooth and confidence-building.

At a cool £12,255 (including VAT) the Cipher is not cheap. Although well made and beautifully finished, we'd not say it offers 'battleship' build quality. However, excessively heavy build is not always advantageous. From the standpoint of resonance and energy storage, a light but solid case (as here) is often best.

Sound quality is likely to be the determining factor when it comes to deciding whether or not the Cipher justifies its hefty price tag. But give it a good SACD and it delivers a quality of sound that even the finest CD players cannot equal.

The Cipher's exceptionally lucid presentation is notable for amazing clarity and astonishing fine detail. Musically, the sound is open, lean, and crisp – not the least bit warm or romantic. At the same time, there's impressive refinement and (despite the sharpness) a smooth neutral tonality.

Review: Shanling CD-T2000 CD/SACD player

Shanling's new CD-T2000 CD/SACD player shares the stunning aesthetic of the former CD-T1500, but, although superficially similar, the two players are, in fact, quite different.

The CD-T2000 is a Red Book CD player constructed around a high-quality Sanyo HD-850 transport. It also features a Burr-Brown PCM 1792 24-bit/192kHz upsampling stage, but no solid-state analogue output.

There are actually two 12AUX7 (ECC 82) tubes per-channel (four tubes total), because the player offers the option of single-ended or balanced operation.

Like many new CD players, the CD-T2000 features a USB socket, enabling you to use its DAC with computer-based music storage systems. It also has a digital input (and digital output) via RCA phono sockets.

Two sets of variable analogue outputs are provided – single-ended via RCA phono sockets and balanced via XLRs. Output voltage levels are claimed to be 2.1V and 4.2V for unbalanced and balanced respectively.

The volume control is a digital-type and, having variable output, allows you to connect the CD-T2000 direct to a power amp – though the unbalanced output voltage of 2.1V may be a bit low for some power amps.

There are three power transformers: two for the analogue outputs and one for the digital side of things. To retain the smooth classic lines of the earlier player, while offering various switching options, three of the four corner posts feature selector switches: power on/off; output volume and a CD player/USB input switch.

The Sanyo transport is a high-quality device that's virtually silent during operation. There are no audible whirrs or clicks – important for an 'open' player like this, as there's no case to reduce the noise. The transport offers fast track access and reasonably speedy fast search – certainly, better than the CDT1500, which was very slow.

Shanling's SCD-T2000 (SACD/CD player) had a solid-state output with the option of a tube buffer stage to add a bit of valve warmth. However, this player has a proper tube output stage and no solid-state option.

One slight grumble is the way the CD-T2000's volume control automatically defaults to -40dB once power is switched off. While, useful if you're connecting directly to a power amp, it means you have to turn the volume control clockwise about 2.5 turns (or use the remote) to get back to maximum output again each time you switch the player on.

Like most Shanling products, the CD-T2000 offers 'battleship' build quality and a very high standard of finish. The entire chassis is made from solid aluminium panels around one centimetre thick and sits on four corner turrets. It weighs in at about 11kg, which is remarkably heavy for a CD player and whether or not its substantial build affects performance is debatable.

But the sound certainly has a 'solid' quality to match the look and feel of the player. While the chassis dimensions are more or less the same as earlier Shanling players, having the feet at each corner has effectively made the player wider. Indeed, so wide, it only just fits onto a 'normal' 46cm-width hi-fi equipment shelf. Ideally, you need one with a width of about 50cm.

If this product were manufactured in the USA, it would probably cost three or four times what Shanling is asking here and at just under £2,000, makes it a veritable bargain. You can buy it secure in the knowledge that few products anywhere at any price will match it for build quality and finish.

Before auditioning the CD-T2000, we'd been enjoying the sound of the SCD-T2000 SACD player. When playing SACDs, the latter delivers a very open, detailed sound that's very natural and the difference between CD and SACD on this player has been fairly marked (but that's what you'd expect given the technical advantages of a higher-resolution format like SACD).

With CD, however, the CD-T2000 sounds better than the SCD-T2000 and while the latter delivers a very open sound – it lacks that slightly hard 'closed-in' tonal balance you almost always get with CD. This difference is very noticeable on instruments like cymbals. Via the CD-T2000, cymbals reproduce with a lovely breathy openness that sounds like good analogue. Transients have crisp attack and there's plenty of body and shimmer.

But what's unusual and remarkable is the lack of tonal hardness – something that really lets you experience the sound of stick on metal – or metal to metal when orchestral cymbals are crashed together.

Playing the recent Boulez recording of Mahler's orchestral song cycle Des Knaben Wunderhorn, we were forcibly struck by the truthful natural quality of the sound – the pure uncoloured timbres and spacious naturalness produced. Had we not known otherwise, we'd have thought we were listening to an SACD rather than a CD – there was a comparable purity and 'rightness' about the sound.