C.E.C. TL-51XR
Digital sources
Perfection is a rule, not exception. This is how Japanese C.E.C. classifies itself. It is not that far away from truth. The player's sound is very alive and misses all the artifacts that are normally linked to 'digital'. Friendly price catapults the TL-51XR to the list of high-value players.
Function and form
The C.E.C. TL-51XR is a belt driven CD player. The biggest advantage of such a solution is anti-vibrational decoupling of the pick-up mechanism and te motor. Reading optics should be able to read the data with greater accuracy, consequently. The resonant behaviour is further suppressed by a ceramic clamp that must be used on the disc before you slide the TL-51XR drawer back into its place. The clamp is pretty heavy so be cautious not to drop it.
The whole transport mechanism is on a separate cast-iron block that is floating on the player's chassis. The chassis is a sandwich of metal plates and damping foam. As you see there was a lot of attention put to prevent any kind of resonances.
Many people are not comfortable with the belt driven mechanisms - what if the belt breaks? The manufacturer guarantee minimum of 5 years for the belt to endure. Then, if necessary, it is easy to replace the belt with a new one for the cost of ca 20EUR (the new C.E.C. CD5 does not need a serviceman at all as the belt can be replaced by the user).
Bass management
The player provides both single-ended RCA cinches and balanced XLR outputs. I recommend using the latter as the internal topology of the TL-51XR is symmetrical from the input to the output. There is a dedicated Burr-Brown PCM1796 D/A converter for each sections which uspamples the digital signal to 24bit/192Hz and, according to the producer, the balanced outputs improve the signal-to-noise ratio by 10dB with lower distortion and better linearity.
As mentioned the discs must be inserted from above so it is not a good idea to bury the C.E.C. into a rack (do not forget that the clamp is needed too).
Clarity & delicacy
The C.E.C.'s midrange is warm and colourful and the warm and colourful music, like Enya's Aldebaran are just great through the TL-51XR. The harmonic richness of timbres is married to expanding soundstage so I was completely absorbed in the music, like floating deep in the space. In the REPEAT mode I spent more than half an hour listening to one single track (that is like 3 minutes long).
Tonal accuracy
Human voices is another strength of the TL-51XR. Choirs and background vocals were fantastically resolved in tone and in spatial positioning. The choir was not a choir, it was a collection of individual voices through the C.E.C., yet conveyed with integrity and seamlessness.
Spatial resolution
I found the bass control to be an Achilles heal of otherwise great player. The electric bass guitar in Early One Morning (Johnny Lee Hooker) had good weight and proportions but it lacked a bit of articulation. That's why I missed the textures or the bass, tranzient speed and attack. The bass can be improved by using the XLR outputs - it gets tighter and more dynamic.
As I had Bryston's BCD-1 on hand for a review I started to compare both the players. The Bryston is faster, more sparkling and more detailed so the C.E.C. sounded a bit tasteless next to it. After two hours of listening I had enough of surrealism of the BCD-1 and prefered maybe not that attractive but more realistic TL-51XR presentation. If you listen to classic music, jazz, folk or other acoustic genres than - I believe - the C.E.C. is the better player of the two.
Recommended resellers
High-End Audio Studio, Praha, tel. +420 224 256 844
Manufacturer's website: http://www.cec-web.co.jp
Associated components
- Sources: C.E.C. TL-51XR, Bryston BCD-1
- Amplifiers: Mark Levinson No. 432, Bel Canto
- Interconnects and speaker cables: Kubala-Sosna Emotion
- Loudspeakers: Revel Ultima Studio2
- Power conditioning: Accuphase PS-510
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