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Product name: Audio Note CD2.1X II
Manufacturer: Audio Note (UK) - United Kingdom
Cost: approx 5000€ (Currency conversion) - (YMMV)
Reviewer: Graeme Budd - TNT-Audio France
Reviewed: February, 2025

I'm in the unfortunate position of being the oldest person in the team I work in when I'm doing my day job (not including our boss). As a result I feel that it is my duty to ensure the younger members of the team hear music that is somewhat more varied (and less banal) than the majority of stuff that's on commercial radio. Often when I recommend something it's because I own it either on vinyl or CD. Now previously owning vinyl had been treated with disdain by the vast majority of people but now even saying "I have the CD" results in a variety of reactions going from raised eyebrows via "you're so old" and the delivering the killer "no one listens to CDs any more."

It's true that the CD market has crashed in a spectacular fashion that even Richard Hammond has failed to achieve in a variety of vehicles but there are still manufacturers making and selling the players and there's plenty of second hand software around if you can't find what you want new. But the question still exists - is there a market for CD players in 2025?

Well, Audio Note (UK) seem to think so as they not only have a full range of CD players but also a full range of transports and DACs to go with them. In each case there's a baby Zero model and then they go from 1 to 5 in the one box CD Players or 1 to 6 (aka remortgage your house level) in the separate transport and DAC range. The machine I have here is a CD2.1X/II. So it's nearly half way up the range and comes with a 5000€ price tag. It takes the basic CD1.1x II (<-- see review of the previous release here on TNT-Audio) and upgrades critical components to get a better performance out of that design.

But what is the design that's been improved I hear you ask. Well it's here that the AN(UK) players are a bit different to most in that they use a no digital filtering or oversampling circuit with (in this case) the famous Phillips TDA1543 DAC, a valve output stage and modified Phillips front loading transport. Ah yes the TDA1543 - renown for its musicality and ability to put many on paper better DAC chips to shame. But of course this is only true if you implement it correctly.

To justify the extra cost of the 2.1 over the 1.1 the 2.1 is equipped with better parts including Audio Note (UK) Tantalum resistors, Cerafine capacitors and Audio Note (UK) copper foil capacitors.

It comes in the usual AN Silver aluminium or Black acrylic finishes. I have the silver version on test and I was initially disappointed as it doesn't match the other AN stuff I have on loan which is black (1st world problem I admit). But it does look rather nifty in a rack with my Canary Audio and CEC components which are silver so no tickets from the hifi fashion police should be coming my way in the near future.

Build wise you could be a little disappointed. The CD2.1x/II doesn't have the bombproof feel of a Naim Audio product or the over engineered feel of the Metronome Technologie Le Player I tried a few years ago. There's nothing actually wrong with it but to use a camera analogy its more compact camera than Pro level SLR. As is usual with Audio Note (UK) (at least at this level of component) the trickery is in the inside and it's what comes out of the player that counts. Looking round the back there are some AN silver phonos dealing with both line level and SPDIF digital outputs. So yes you can add a better DAC later in the future if you so wish.

And that's it. No USB ports or digital inputs. This is a machine designed to simply play back Red Book CDs at the best level possible at the price point. No more no less.

The remote is functional - it's not carved out of marble or anodized purple. It's just a remote and it allows you to control the player including dimming and switching off the bright blue display.

So as this machine is just designed to play CDs I thought it would be good idea to try some. So I hooked it up to my usual Canary Audio CA 608 LV and Living Voice IBX-RW3s and got started.

Listening

I distinctly remember the first time I sat down to listen to this player and to be honest I think it's the AN(UK) component that impressed me the most on an initial listen. When compared to pretty much every digital player I've had here (the exception being the Canary Audio CD300 with Living Voice Turbo) it just flows and plays music in the most naturally disarming way. Which a) makes you grin, b) makes you think that there are people who make CD sound right and c)think that maybe all these high spec DAC chips that we're told are fabulous are either not all they are cracked to be or not very well implemented.

So what does it actually sound like? I could say very analogue and leave it at that but that would be a disservice to our readers. I'll start off with what it won't do - it won't make crap CDs sound good ie it doesn't artificially sweeten the sound or warm the sound. It isn't cuddly or euphonic. It is however very honest and is capable of digging out subtle details that you may not even notice but that all add up in making it sound more like real music (or at least more like what was on the master tape).

Not having several 5000€ CD players in house the best I could do was the Naim CD5i. I bought this a good few years ago and its current albeit 10 year old equivalent is about 1700€. The Audio Note player immediately brings a whole level of detail the Naim just glosses over. The Naim will make you want to dance whereas the Audio Note will give you goose bumps while you're dancing. So what you may say - there are plenty of detailed CD players around and to be honest I wouldn't argue with you. What I feel is wonderful about this player is how it brings things together. I've long enjoyed having my Naim player - hell we've had it for over 20 years and it has always grabbed onto rhythms making other players sound almost boring. Well the CD2.1x II works in a different way. It flows with the music and shows all the subtleties inherent in a given piece or song. It manages to be deft and quiet when it needs to be and goes loud at the drop of a hat. You can just enjoy the performance or examine individual parts of it. I guess it's what we call insight.

I guess we ought to have some musical examples. I played Kyle Eastwood's Eastwood Symphonic and the Main Theme to Magnum Force. On the Naim it's quite enjoyable - everything happens at the right time in an almost metronomic fashion. Swap to the CD2.1X II and it's as if the music has been released from the constraints and is allowed to flow freely. Instruments have more texture and sound more real but the important thing is that they sound like they're actually being played by human beings.This is actually rather irritating as I'd always loved the Naim player and its inherent tightness and timing and now it just sound rather artificial.

Similarly on the Bridges of Madison County track on the same album the CD2.1X II gives the double bass a more complex tone with string attack and resonance from the body.

Moving to more electronic music playing the Disclosure album Settle on the CD2.1X II further shows its capabilities. The synth bass lines are deep and colourful and sound like actual synths. The clever production techniques and effects to give doubled vocals or wall to wall stereo are all present but never take your attention away of whats going on with the song.

I also fired up Plainsong by the Cure form the album Disintegration. The opening wind chimes were precisely placed in the sound stage with individual hits ringing out, the bass is deep (and would probably qualify as thunderous with a big transistor amp) but without adversely affecting anything else and you can hear that Boris Williams doesn't always hit the snare drum with the same force or in the same spot. When Robert Smith's vocals come in after a typically long intro there's more ambiance to them than I'm used to and they're more precisely defined in space. It's one of my all time favourite Cure tracks so to rediscover it having owned a copy for over 30 years was pretty pleasing. Oh and if you don't own it go out and buy it - it's great.

Conclusion

Firstly the bad points. This player ain't cheap and has no obvious external bells and whistles to make it look like it costs more than players lower in the range. So no posing points available here I'm afraid. Unfortunately I can't do anything about any of those problems. What I can do is tell you is that there's life in the old Red Book yet. A considerable amount of life. I'd long held a lot of prejudices against the CD format. Hearing some players over the years made me realise it can be satisfactory. This is one of a small group of players that have pushed the boundaries of what I expect from CD. I've thoroughly enjoyed having it in my system and I'm seriously considering digging out my cheque book.

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© Copyright 2025 Graeme Budd - graeme@tnt-audio.com - www.tnt-audio.com

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