Greetings friends, I hope your 2023 is off to a great start!

My own 2023 has started off with a bang, as I've been listening to some impressive audio components that are in for review, like the Audio Note (UK) 5.1x Red Book CD player that is the subject of this post.

I always like to tell you about my initial listening impressions, and then fill you in on my more fully formed impressions as I get more listening time under my belt.

In the case of the Audio Note (UK) CD 5.1x Red Book CD player (MSRP $30,850 USD), I've already been listening to the impressive Audio Note (UK) CD 4.1x for quite a while (MSRP $14,331 USD, review HERE), so I have very high expectations for the CD 5.1x. 

About the CD 5.1x, the Audio Note (UK) website says, "Level Three Red Book CD Player. The CD5.1x is a completely new machine which elevates the one-box CD player to hitherto unknown levels of performance. Never before has it been possible to achieve such quite astonishingly superior levels of digital replay from a single chassis, integrated design."

Peter Qvortrup has also told me how pleased he is with the performance of the CD 5.1x, as did Darko Greguras, Audio Note (UK)'s digital designer. From what I'm hearing from the CD 5.1x, their praise for the CD 5.1x is well justified. 

The Positive Feedback feature review for the CD 5.1x is a ways out still, as I'm working on the feature review for the Mactone XX-440 line preamplifier and MH-120 stereo amplifier at the moment.

For its feature review, I'll be partnering the CD 5.1x with the "Level Three" Audio Note (UK) Meishu Phono Silver Tonmeister 300B SET integrated amplifier (review HERE), one of the intended "Level Three" matches for the CD 5.1x in the Audio Note (UK) amplification product lines. 

However, its always nice to be able to try components in different associated equipment contexts as well, so I can get a feel for how well the components play with others. In that spirit I've started listening to the CD 5.1x with the Mactone XX-440 preamp and MH-120 amp combo while I'm working on their feature review. 

All of the Audio Note (UK) source components I've tried - the Audio Note (UK) CD 2.1c/II CD player (HERE), the CD 4.1x CD player (HERE), and the Io I moving coil phonograph cartridge, partnered with the silver wound Audio Note (UK) AN-S4 step-up transformer (HERE) - play really well with others, and are all objects of my audio desire given their exemplary performance. 

What I've noticed as I've climbed up the heights of the Audio Note (UK) products lines, is that each model up in a product line makes significant gains in overall performance and refinement, compared to the component below it. 

Also, the Audio Note (UK) components all have a familiar 'Audio Note (UK) voicing', which is of course by design, so that an Audio Note (UK) customer can rest assured that any new purchase will match well with their existing Audio Note (UK) audio system, and improve upon its performance. 

If you are vinyl devotee, you'll be pleased to note that the Audio Note (UK) CD players have an overall voicing that is very much like their analog sources, like the Audio Note (UK) Io I moving coil phonograph cartridge (above), partnered with the silver wound Audio Note (UK) AN-S4 step-up transformer (below), that I have been listening to for quite a while now. 

The Audio Note (UK) Io I cartridge and AN-S4 SUT combination is scary good, and pretty much blows away all my other phono cartridges rather handily. 

The Audio Note (UK) CD 2.1x/II and CD 4.1x have provided me lofty levels of listening satisfaction from CDs that approaches that of the Io I & AN-S4 playing vinyl, yet it is also apparent that the Io I & AN-S4 are at a higher "Level" of performance in the Audio Note (UK) source product lines in terms of overall performance and refinement. 

When I'm listening to Audio Note (UK) CD players, I'm so absorbed with their musical ability, and how much I enjoy listening to CDs with them, that the performance divide between digital and analog sources as a debate just fades into the distance. 

Both analog and digital can be extremely rewarding listening experiences if you have the right audio equipment.

The Audio Note (UK) CD 5.1x CD player came to me fully run-in, so it was ready to go without further ado, and I installed it into my primary music listening system with my Tannoy Royal Westminster Royal SE loudspeakers.

My first thought upon hearing the CD 5.1x playing music in my system was, "Wow! The CD 5.1x might be on the same "Level" of performance as the Io I & AN-S4 combo!" 

That would be huge news for me. While I've got a lot more analytical listening to do to fully characterize the CD 5.1x's performance, my casual non-analytical listening sessions have impressed me with how musically engaging the CD 5.1x is, how much it sounds like good analog replay, and the remarkable amount of information it is capable of retrieving from a compact disc.

It turns out there is a lot more music that can be extracted from CDs than I would have ever imagined possible. It has taken nearly 41 years after the introduction of the Red Book CD format for CD players to appear that allow us to hear the musical potential that Red Book CDs are capable of, and its a lot higher than I would have ever imagined. 

My friend David brought over Martin Taylor's Spirit of Django CD for a listening session, and I enjoyed it so much I bought a copy for myself, and I have been listening to it a lot. 

Playing Spirit of Django through the CD 5.1x provides an impressive listening experience, one full of beautiful tone, impressive resolution, oodles of refinement, astonishing musicality, and dare I say it, a very high-performance analogue-like listening experience. 

While Martin Taylor's Spirit of Django CD is a great example of what the recording arts can accomplish these days, I also like to step back in time and listen to albums from earlier periods as well, like Django Reinhardt's album, Nuages, that was recorded during the monaural period of the magnetic era of recording in 1953, the last album before Django's death. There's also bonus material on the CD that includes recordings sessions from 1947, which sound like they were sourced from direct-to-disc 78rpm recordings.

Not only are Django's monaural recordings great fun to listen to through the CD 5.1x, the CD 5.1x also told me about all the nuances of the different recording methods used in the recordings, 1947 versus 1953, while maintaining the full emotional and artistic impact of Django's impressive performances on Nuages.

The 1953 recordings have impressive presence, tonal naturalness, and dynamics, and the monaural images are very vivid indeed. 

One of the things that I've grown to love about the Red Book compact disc format over the last few years is that recording sessions from all of the eras of the recording arts are readily available to listen to, from the ancient recordings of 1877, to today's most current recordings.

That makes it possible to listen to all of our recorded music canon with one source component, like the CD 5.1x, something that would be impossible if I just had a turntable as a source component. 

I never cease to be amazed at how many great musical performances have been recorded over the history of the recording arts, how incredibly satisfying they are to listen to, and how good they can sound within the fidelity limitations of their recording eras.

That's been a huge revelation for me, and has had me rethinking a lot of what I thought I knew about early recordings, and the audio equipment used to play them back. 

Listening to recordings through the CD 5.1x is impressing the heck out of me. Its resolution and transparency are remarkable, as is its musicality. The gorgeous tone of the CD 5.1x is inviting, and its analogue-like playback rivals really, really, good vinyl playback, and it betters the overall performance of most turntables I've heard. 

Peter and Darko were right on the money when they told me the CD 5.1x was a very formidable digital source, and the CD 5.1x truly does "elevate the one-box CD player to hitherto unknown levels of performance". 

I'm really impressed with the CD 5.1x. After I get the Mactone feature review written up, I'll install the Audio Note (UK) Meishu Phono Silver Tonmeister 300B SET integrated amplifier back into the system so I can listen to the CD 5.1x as its intended to be heard, and compare it on an even footing with the Io I phono cartridge & AN-S4 SUT playing vinyl.

Much more to come about the CD 5.1x!

Previous articles about the Audio Note (UK) CD 5.1x Red Book CD player:

Today's Fresh Catch: The Audio Note (UK) CD 5.1x Red Book CD player! HERE

Next post about the Audio Note (UK) CD 5.1x Red Book CD player:

Inside the Audio Note (UK) CD 5.1x Red Book CD player! HERE

As always, thanks for stopping by, and may the tone be with you!