What Hi-Fi? Verdict
Big, bold and to many ears we suspect beautiful, it’s very deserving of some serious consideration
Pros
- +
Style and solidity of build
- +
excellent engineering
- +
powerful yet sweet sound
Cons
- -
Bettered by some for sheer impact
- -
not without competition at this level
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Yamaha clearly sees a stereo future for Super Audio CD – this is one of two new audio-only two-channel SACD/CD players from the company. Beautifully screwed together using substantial aluminium panels, it's a classy-looking piece of kit.
It also draws heavily on the CD-S2000 player, which sells for £200 more, sharing the high-quality differential digital-to-analogue conversion for rejection of noise and interference, and basically being of a dual mono design. The silent diecast aluminium loader mechanism is also present.
All that's really missing is the CD-2000's balanced output provision – here you get high-quality RCA phonos, plus a choice of optical or electrical digital output.
It has an attractive way with music
There's even a Pure Audio switch, which switches off the display and digital outputs, thus subtly reducing the noise floor, and giving a cleaner sound.
As well as being a delight to use, the player has an attractive way with music. While the CD-S1000 isn't the hardest-hitting player, it'll win over many listeners with its combination of weight and scale.
Bass-lines have excellent extension, and orchestral recordings just the right sense of there being a big band before you, and what little it gives away in top-end openness, it more than recovers with its sweet midband.
As an alternative to players some may find brash or fatiguing, it's well worth very serious consideration.
