Atoll CD80 Evo $1750 Vs Advanced Paris X-CD-9 $1400

I’m a great fan of playing CDs. It’s my favorite way to listen to music. Drop the disc in, hit play, and you’re listening to music. There’s no maintenance or wasted time.

As a business owner for over 50 years, with a busy family, I value my TIME. You don’t get it back.

Vinyl is a mechanical bag of cats. A more knowledgeable set up guy will get better performance out of a table/arm/cart set up than you can. No two tables/arms/carts are the same as they’re all a package of assembled parts. This is before we discuss the entire hassle of vinyl and stylus maintenance. And yep, no matter how good this format gets, you’ll have to pretend you don’t hear the snap/crackle/pop.

I realize some people are NUTS for all this. Literally! The vinyl doctor from Stereophile met up with a guy at a trade show to talk about his tonearm design for over 2 hours. That, was after talking with him for a couple hours on the phone. Really bud?! That’s what you’re doing with the TIME you have on this planet?

Streaming is great fun. We all have it. But an excellent CD player will sound better than the same music streamed. For music you really love and listen to over and over, go CD all the way!

Here we have two affordable CD players facing off. Both get good marks, but I much prefer the Atoll. Let’s compare!

Atoll CD80 Evo, $1750

*Designed and built by Atoll in France, 3 year warranty

*CD transport is made by Teac in Japan- world class transport for CDs

*Burr Brown DAC created for high end audio use

*Has DAC input so you can use the DAC & Line stage for other sources

*Has 10 Power Supplies, including four transformers, 3 large, one of which is a 30VA toroid

*Solid state with discrete components in line stage

*Construction based on through hole parts and no spaghetti

Advanced Paris X-CD-9 $1400

*Designed in France, built in China, 2 year warranty

*Transport is made by Sanyo in China- generic transport for a variety of disc formats

*Wolfson DAC typically used in DVD players and TVs!

*No DAC input

*Claims to have power supply, not multiple, 2 transformers, larger T is 25VA, the other, a thimble

*Tube buffer after DAC. Tubes are solder-in (no tube rolling!) Raytheon 5744s ($15 for five tubes)

*Constructed by a maze of wires using molex connectors

As you look at the bullet points above, you’ll see that Atoll wins handily. In a recent review by Stereophile, the reviewer says the CD9 is French. Pardon me bro. It is designed in France (good start) but is IN FACT built in China with Chinese parts. It is a Chinese product.

The reviewer says what most do, that just because it is built in China, doesn’t mean it’s worse than if it was built in France. Ummm, Mr Reviewer, that is exactly what it means!

If you check out the photo of the inside of CD9, it doesn’t compare well with Atoll. Check the rear of the CD9 in Stereophile you’ll note the optical output is downright crooked.

The Atoll is built in its own house in France. The layout is exquisite. Just look at the insides of these two players to compare. The Atoll is clean and concise while CD9 has smaller parts, more chips and spaghetti running about to connect things up. The Atoll is designed and built more professionally.

The Atoll has a DAC INPUT, CD9 doesn’t. Hence you can run a cheap streamer or TV output into the Atoll and benefit from its outstanding on board DAC and discrete line stage. With the Atoll DAC and line stage in the path, you’ll improve the sound of your streamer and TV noticeably.

CD9 brags up that it has tubes. But the tubes are only a tube BUFFER. They don’t generate any real benefit other than to boost noise. Further, the tubes sell for $3 ea and solder-in. There is no tube rolling my friends.

Stereophile says the CD9 sounds good. They liked it. That’s great. We’re happy that a price no object magazine will pay some attention to gear we can actually afford. I’m not saying the CD9 is junk. I am saying the Atoll is worth a few bucks more!

I’m happy to point out that the Atoll is a much better buy. For very similar money the Atoll has a significantly better build. I’ve heard it at length and it’s warm, solid and detailed. We’ve sold many an Atoll CD player in a wide range of systems. Every Atoll CD buyer calls or writes to thank us. They’ve fallen in love with their CD collection like never before.

I haven’t heard CD9, but looking inside, I can promise you it can’t beat an Atoll. Mechanically, it simply can’t hold up like at Atoll can either.

For a few bucks more the Atoll is a much smarter investment. It is solidly built in France, not China. It has a superior DAC and line stage.

The transport is Teac, not Sanyo. Teac transports are calibrated precisely before going out the door. Sanyos are NOT. Think of a transport’s task as, a basketball that has to go through a hoop. If the ball (laser) is centered exactly in manufacturing, it will go through the hoop (track CDs) cleanly. Even with years of operation, if the laser drifts a tad this way or that, you’ll have some elbow room. The ball can still get through the hoop. It will still track. Sanyos are punched out, not precisely centered. It’s highly likely that within a few years as the mechanism/laser drifts or vibrates out of alignment- the ball will hit the rim and bounce out. I have seen this mistracking on a plethora of players, even very expensive ones- where a manufacturer starts out with the Sanyo drive. Even if you put expensive electronics around that transport, you still have tracking issues to worry about. We have sold hundreds of Atoll CD players. We haven’t had a bad one!

Atoll uses MUCH LESS running wire on the chassis. The DAC input could be very valuable to a guy with a Bluesound / Wiim (or any other) streamer- or your TV.

Atoll is a family owned company that builds products in its own house. Advanced Paris vendors out in China.

Please support great products made in Europe or N America, vs China!