Quest For Sound - High End Audio

MUSICAL FIDELITY A5.5CD - CD TUBE Player

Musical Fidelity's A5.5 tube hybrid CD player employs the best DAC's, filters and componentry available to ensure technical performance which is equal to the most expensive available. Coupled with the cutting-edge digital circuitry is an almost impossibly smooth vacuum tube output stage that makes this player sound more like an ultra-high-end turntable than a compact disc machine.

"Outstanding Overall Balance"

The Absolute Sound magazine honored the Cambridge Audio 840C with a "Short List" favorite product recommendation in the Digital Sources $2K - $5K category in its January 2009 issue, praising its "outstanding overall balance and high dynamic excitement."

Compare the technical performance of the A5.5 versus the more expensive A5.5 CD from the proper measurements made in magazines like Hi-Fi News or Stereophile , and you won't see much difference - because, in reality, there isn't much.

Very low noise lets you hear 'right into the corners' of the recording. Excellent linearity down to an enviable -105 dB offers exceptional recovery of low level detail.

Ultra-low Jitter DAC

The A5.5 CD player uses an advanced 24 bit Delta-Sigma (Bitstream) dual differential 8X oversampling DAC. The extremely high-quality digital-to-analog performance offers ultra-low jitter, ultra-low noise, and vanishingly low distortion. It achieves both an excellent technical specification and unparalleled CD sound quality.

Vacuum Tube Output Stage

The Musical Fidelity delivers analog circuitry that's fully the equal of the exquisite digital componentry. Thus, the digital side of the A5.5 CD is complemented by a nicely-designed vacuum tube buffer stage which delivers a high quality tube audio output.

"It has a sound reminiscent of the much-loved Nu-Vista, because it contains a pair of ECC88 tubes," reports Ken Kessler in the June 2008 issue of England's Hi-Fi News magazine.

The A5.5 CD is pretty well as good as it gets. The competition wants you to be fooled by the outrageous prices they're charging. If it's expensive it must be good. The more expensive it is the better it must be. This isn't true in the Musical Fidelity universe, however. The A5.5 CD offers superlative technical performance, great design, and superb build quality in the service of providing a subtle musical performance.

FEATURES

State-of-the-art DAC and filter technology
Vacuum tube output stage
Ultra-low-noise design
Excellent linearity right down to -105 dB

Connections

Line level outputs: 1 pair RCA 'vacuum tube' outputs
Digital outputs: 1 S/PDIF (RCA connector), 1 optical (TOSLINK)

SPECIFICATIONS

DAC

DAC circuit: 24 bit Delta-Sigma (Bitstream) dual differential 8X over sampling
Total correlated jitter: <135 pS
Linearity: <0.1dB down to -96 dB
Output digital 0dB level: 2.18VRMS at 1kHz nominal
Frequency response: 10 Hz to 20 kHz -0.2 dB max
Channel Separation: > 105 dB 20 Hz to 20 kHz
Signal / noise ratio: > 117dB 'A'-weighted
Total harmonic distortion: < 0.003% 10 Hz to 20 kHz

General

Power requirements: 100 / 115 / 230 Volts AC 50 / 60Hz (factory pre-set)
Power consumption: 22 Watts maximum, 8 Watts idle
Remote control: A5.5 universal
Batteries: AAA manganese alkaline type
Dimensions: 17.3" wide, 5" high, 15.25" deep (including terminals)
Weight: 24.75 lbs