RDV1060 vs RCD 1072

[Kemp]

Hi all,

Could anyone tell me the difference, if any, when playing a CD on the RDV1060 compared to the RCD1072. I was enquiring about the RCD1072 and the salesman advised me to rather go with the RDV 1060.

Any comments will be appreciated.

MK

[Scarp]

I haven't heard both players, but from others I've heared that the CD part of the 1060 isn't as good as the RDV1080! And the RDV1080 isn't as good as the old RCD991 cd player (which is still Rotels best) of Rotel.

But if I where you I would listen to the 1072 and 1060 and hear for yourself. Never trust sales people

[Lexa]

They told me the same. It depends on connection. When you used digital connection to 1098, it uses 1098's DAC and the quality coming from DVD or CD should be the same. Analog connection sounds different, but a preference depends on each personal. Finally they recommend me to use digital connection anyway. It can even save some money.

[mazuly]

Hi,

I actually A-B the RDV-1080 and RCD-1072 using the analog output of RDV-1080 connected to a Rotel stereo receiver and B&W 602S3 speakers. To my ears, RCD-1072 just sounded better in CD playback than RDV-1080. I did not do that with RDV-1060 since by dealer told me that RDV-1080 is better than RDV-1060 when it comes to analog output.

At home I have connected my RDV-1080 to RSP-1098 using digital coax connection and 6 channel analog for DVD-A and it does sound very good. The interesting thing is that when I switch between digital input and 6 channel input on the RSP-1098, the sound to my ears is identical and therefore I am sure I will get better performance if I use a dedicated CD player like RCD-1072. I will be borrowing the RCD-1072 from my dealer to compare sometime soon and will let you guys know the outcome.

Now DVD-A and DVD playback is a different story.

Thanks,
Maziar

[Kemp]

Thanks for the replies. I am looking forward to your findings Maziar.




MK

[mazuly]

Hi,

I will try to do the test this weekend. The only problem is that if RCD-1072 sounds better than my RDV-1080 (and I am sure it will), then I will be tempted to buy it. Anybody likes to send a donation to me for my upgrading addiction?

I will keep you guys posted.

Thanks,
Maziar

[mazuly]

Hi,

As I mentioned in my last post, I had the opportunity of borrowing the RCD-1072 from my dealer for this weekend. Below is my impression of this player after 2 days of listening to it:

Disclaimer: Below are my findings and my experiences with RCD-1072. Yours might be very different from mine and I would strongly urge you to go and have a listen to this player before you make any decisions.

My System:
RSP-1098 pre-pro
RMB-1075 multi-channel amp
RDV-1080 DVD player
B&W DM310 main speakers (very old but they still sound great )

I like to start by saying that all my listening was done in 2 channel and did not use any of the RSP-1098 sound fields. Also, I only compared RDV-1080 with RCD-1072 and had no opportunity to do the same with RDV-1060. According to my dealer, the sound produced by both of these DVD players are very similar and interestingly some like RDV-1060 better, and others swear by RDV-1080. But the differences are very small.

First I started by comparing the digital output of the RCD-1072 with that of RDV-1080 using the internal D/A of the RSP-1098. To my surprise the digital feed of the RCD-1072 sounded better than the RDV-1080. I guess all digital signals are not the same and for what ever reason, the signal sent by the RCD-1072 provided a better soundstage and sound in general than my RDV-1080. I like to mention that I have used RDV-1080 in both digital and analog, feeding my RSP-1098, and cannot tell the difference in sound between these connections. Therefore I use the digital feed for CDs and analog feed (doh ) for DVD-As.

I then started to compare the analog output of the RCD-1072 to digital output of the RDV-1080. The way I did this comparison was to listen to a full song using RDV-1080 and then listen to it again with RCD-1072. Every single time, RCD-1072 sounded better. Music just opened up. The sound stage was bigger and more accurate and I could pick every instrument on good recording. RDV-1080 sounded very analytical and 2 dimensional compared to RCD-1072 on all recordings no matter the quality of the recording. It was like you could sense the air around the instruments and singers when you listened through RCD-1072. Also the timber and bass sounded more natural and the instruments sounded the way you hear them in a live performance, and did I mentioned the soundstage, WOW. I listened to all kind of different music from techno to rock, jazz and classical and could not find any type of music that didn’t sound good using this player. At the end, I could easily point out the shortcomings of RDV-1080 even before I listen to the same song through RCD-1072. I would sit there and think that the singer sounds so flat and 2D, the music seems muffled and soundstage is just not right and as soon as I put the CD in RCD-1072, I could hear what I was missing. I just stopped listening to RDV-1080 after 20 or so songs.

Finally I tested the analog output of the RCD-1072 to its digital output and found that the sound was very close, but better through the analog output. The timber, bass and all the characteristic of the sound was there but it just wasn’t 3D and seemed analytical. Every time I switched to analog feed, soundstage improved and the air around the instrument and singers came back. RSP-1098 has an incredible processor inside, but it just could not match the sound of the RCD-1072.

As you can see, I did like this CD player very much. Would I recommend it over RDV-1080, absolutely. Would I buy it, yes, but not now. I need to wait a little since I have spend too much money on the rest of my gear (RSP-1098 and Samsung HLN-5065 HDTV)

Again, I would strongly urge you to go and have a listen to this player yourself, or better yet, borrow and take it home for in home audition. I liked this player very much, but your experience might be very different from mine.

Thanks,
Maziar

[SpOoNmAn]

mazuly, thanks for your impressions. I planned on getting the 1072, and reading this makes the purchase easier overall. I will have to experiment as well when it comes to analog and digital, seeing as the pre/pro I am getting is the Bryston SP1.7, home of supposedly one of the sweeter sounding Bypass features around.

I can't even imagine how good 2 channel music will sound with the Rotel 1072, feeding the Bryston pre/pro, and the Bryston 4B SST 2 channel amp....

I might have a problem lifting my jaw off the floor, but thats a good thing right?

Thanks again for posting your results here. I assumed the 1072 would exhibit a better soundstage then the 1060 or 1080, looks like I assumed correct for once.




Life is short, Play it LOUD!

[mazuly]

You welcome and good luck with your purchase.

Maziar

[mutley]

i have an 1072. It's just great.

I found it was better than my Pioneer 757 (Elite).

I didn't compare with the 1060 but i feel the 1060 isn't better than the Pioneer so...

I wanted a Rotel DVD player in my rack but it has to be better than the pionner, which is just great!




Fear causes hesitation and hesitation will cause your worst fears to come true!

[will1066]

Nice review, mazuly.

Spoonman: No offense to Rotel, but if you're going with Bryston pre and amplification, why not shoot for a higher-end playback source?

[Scarp]

Here is a review of the 1072:

http://www.hifichoice.co.uk/review_read.asp?ID=2751