Listening
Let me open the discussion of my listening impressions about the Audio Note (UK) CD 5.1x CD player with some general observations about its performance.
Audio Note (UK) uses the "comparison by contrast" method of voicing, which endows the CD 5.1x with what I'll call a sense of musically natural sounding 'accuracy', which achieves high-fidelity playback from the widest possible span of recordings.
There's a sort of a signature voicing trait I hear from all the Audio Note (UK) CD players, where the music comes across with a sense of musical 'authority' that makes listening to albums extremely emotionally engaging.
Basically, albums played through the CD 5.1x with an 'authority' that made me feel like I was hearing the best possible version of those albums.
As you ascend up the Audio Note (UK) Levels from the CD 2.1x/II, to the CD 4.1x, and then the CD 5.1x, there's just a lot more of everything recovered from those CDs performance-wise, while still maintaining the signature 'accuracy' and 'authority' voicing traits that makes these CD players so endearing to listen to.
It is possible that you'll get a CD that is just a turd of a recording that's not going to sound good no matter what. I've lost count of how many albums I've played through the CD 5.1x since it arrived here. Certainly hundreds. I've had one album that I thought was nearly unlistenable. You'll read about it in a moment.
Another general observation is that the CD 5.1x has been a brilliant match to the various amplification components I've tried it with during its time here.
Whether the combination of the Mactone XX-440 line preamplifier and the 65-watts per channel MH-120 stereo amplifier (above), or the 8-watts per channel Audio Note (UK) Meishu Phono Silver Tonmeister 300B SET integrated amplifier featured in this article, or the 2-watts per channel Triode Lab 'EVO' 45 SET integrated amplifier (below), the CD 5.1x's voicing brought out the considerable best in all of those amplifiers during listening sessions.
So even if your amplification or loudspeakers aren't from Audio Note (UK), its very likely the CD 5.1x will still be a brilliant match to your hifi kit, just as it was for me here with various components from Tannoy, Mactone, and Triode Lab.
