We've just had a listen to this gorgeous new CD player from Chord Electronics.
The RED Standard player is available in silver and black, and costs a cool £8000. But we have to admit it looks sensational.
Chord is demonstrating the player with its CPM3000 pre and SPM1050 power amps in the Dublin Suite on the lower ground floor.
The RED Standard CD combines conventional CD playback with the addition of DAC64 conversion technology to give optimum performance at 44.1KHz sample frequencies.
The player uses the CD Pro2 mechanism from Philips, and is housed in an aluminium support structure. The 45 degree disc loading mechanism allows front access even if the unit is placed on a stand or in a rack, while access to the CD is at the touch of a button operating a solenoid-controlled, fluid-damped door.
Rear connections include gold-plated phono sockets, optical fibre or balanced XLR connections.
We've already ordered a RED Standard player for review, and it should be delivered to our test rooms shortly. We'll let you know how it sounds once we've tested it in the mag.
