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  • Icon Audio CDX2… doing it with valves

Icon Audio CDX2… doing it with valves

May 10, 2015 Written by Editor

VALVE specialist Icon Audio has just launched its second CD player, the CDX2, which replaces the costlier CDX1. The CDX2 has been “specifically designed to deliver comparable sonics but at a lower, mid-range price.”

The UK manufacturer’s founder and chief designer David Shaw says the brief was to “craft a CD player with real warmth and dexterity… with that magical ‘vinyl sound’, in other words.”

Featured on board is the “latest” 24-bit/192kHz processor, but Shaw says what was more important was designing the output stage to avoid the “mechanical and soulless presentation” attributed to some CD players.

“I wanted a more musical presentation, with more warmth and colour. Something incredible easy to listen to,” he adds.

Icon Audio CDx2_b

The CDX2 has an all-triode valve class A output stage that uses T J Full Music or original Mullard valves. The digital and analogue circuitry is hand-wired with high quality components.

The top-loading Sanyo CD transport mechanism ensures better rigidity, while a heavy alloy clamp acts as a flywheel to increase rotational stability during playback.

The CDX2 is available now, priced at £995.

 

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