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Rotel 1072 vs. Arcam CD73

Does anyone have any further thoughts on this subject? I've read the posts of the previous months and have previewed both players but am still having trouble arriving at a decision.

Unfortunately I had to hear each player at two different dealers, through two different amplifiers and two different sets of speakers. The Rotel had a commanding sound which is very detailed, whereas I didn't find much noteworthy about the Arcam. Later, after reading various reviews, I found that there is some agreement on this: people say the Arcam has a more "natural" and relaxed sound that you grow accustomed to and grow into while Rotel has a brighter, more enthusiastic sound. However, they also seem to say that the Arcam is better built, with the Wolfssen DAC, 24 bit, while Rotel uses older Burr Browns (how many bits?).

Reviewers seem to disagree about which has the wider and deeper soundstage. Does anyone have any opinions?

My intuition says to go with the Rotel, but I know my ears and tastes well enough to know that what I like on first listen is often not what I really like long term.

Furthermore, my receiver is an HK AVR-110, and the speakers are old Boston Acoustics A150s. With these speakers, I feel also that the brightness of the Rotel is a better companion than the Arcam.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
rfprice

Showing 1 response by ferrari

ferrari
617 posts
 
CD players like analog are very system dependent on the other components one has in their system such as amp,preamp,speakers,interconnects,power cord,etc. I evaluated both of these players in my system. The Arcam CD 73 was considerably better in my system than the Rotel 1072.

For me there was nothing special about the Rotel 1072, just another good CD player in that price range.

However the Arcam CD 73 is an overachiever and has sonics of a player in the $1,000.00 plus range. Plus the ability to further upgrade this model with factory supplied parts is further statement of Arcams committment to this product.

With the ability to upgrade at a cost less than a new player and 2 year warranty I added the Arcam CD 73 to my system. This is one player that won't become obsolete in a couple of years. In my opinion the overall build quality and sonics put the Arcam ahead of the Rotel.
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