Plinius CD-101 CD-player
The design of the player is very authentic but at the same time harmoniously combined with Plinius amplifiers. The front panel of the player is made of thick aluminum sheet, which, upbending, flows to side walls. Already in 2001 its chief designer Ross Stevens suggested to use such material in the finish of equipment. The color of player can be black or silver, but in both cases the screws with recessed hexagonal slots will be light and shiny.
The player has no traditional letter-digital display on the front panel, but only power on indication with one blue LED under the loading tray and band of another twenty-one LEDs at the bottom, the main function of which is classical "musical calendar". In addition, a current track (by changing of brightness)and the mode of first data reading from CD (by flashing diode under number 1), repeat and pause are indicated with a help of these LEDs. The developers deliberately refused from time indication, because suggested that CD player is intended as change to vinyl players, which do not have such indication. Thus, they once again underline that the main purpose was the creation of music source, unweighted with informational functions, which can distract from the main role of CD-101. When technocratic approach additional information presents in plenty, but when humanitarian, which is realized in CD-101 - it pales into insignificance. Moreover, by pressing DISPLAY button on the remote control you can reduce the brightness of LED's line or even turn them off that makes the player extremely neutral. At the same time, after the end of playing their brightness is automatically restored.
The window of photoelectric receiver (on the left) and a single button, which controls stop and loading, (on the right) are placed symmetrically from the loading tray. So, the whole player's control is implemented from an austere remote control of unexpectedly impressive sizes and mass. On which top eight buttons are responsible for the player, and three bottom ones allow you to regulate volume and turn mute of Plinius preamps and integrated amps on.
On the back panel, which is the part of the unusually blue chassis, there are the main power switch and connectors, among which you immediately note the presence of balanced outputs. Each of them is added with coaxial RCA and same another one is used for digital output. In addition to this quite normal set, there are the input for external remote control receiver and very rare tumbler, which either connects signal ground to the case or shuts it off. This switch can be useful at the arising of problems with background in stereo system.
The player in the set of equal to it by music level stereo system showed itself as a wonderful source in all senses. Big, harmoniously opened in depth and front scene, excellent detailing and elastic deep bass presented while playing different genres of music. Comparison of sound when using symmetric connection showed that this one is clearly preferable. It was especially noticeable for recordings of small groups or soloists with a large dynamic range. And, finally, the last thing - matter of price is simply inappropriate for the source with such sound.
