CDP-10 - COMPACT DISC PLAYER

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Whatever the music is—old or new—the Classé CDP-10 pursues a single-minded objective: reproduction that is peerless in its purity and realism. The CDP-10 can playback CD, CDR, CD-RW and HDCD-encoded discs. It features 352 kHz filtering and dual-differential D-to-A conversion. Analogue audio stages are fully balanced. It is fully remote controlled and comes supplied with a high-quality aluminium handset. The Classé CDP-10 has been designed to deliver exceptional sound quality at comparatively modest cost. In deploying the best possible components and creating an enclosure of sleek, minimal design, the emphasis is on high quality and simplicity.

Transport mechanism
The CDP-10 uses a Philips VAE-1250 front-loading mechanism, chosen for its stability and long term reliability. This mechanism is of the latest generation design and will reliably read all CDs including CDR and CDRW discs.

Digital circuitry
Timing, as essential to digital audio as the bits themselves, remains a common source of sonic degradation in designs at every price. Assembling the signal at precisely the correct rate is the only option where high-fidelity playback is required. The CDP-10 achieves remarkably accurate timing (and superb fidelity) through the use of a special, isolated, digital re-clocking system. Signals are then filtered (sometimes called upsampled) to 352 kHz and further defined with 24-bit processing. For discs encoded with HDCD, a Pacific Microsonics digital filter applies the proper decoding algorithm. The CDP-10 is fitted with the latest highly-acclaimed differential, stereo Burr-Brown PCM 1738, 24-Bit 192Khz D/A converters. Separate stereo converters are used for each channel to reduce distortion and noise and improve stereo separation.

Balanced circuit configuration
The CDP-10 features balanced circuitry starting from its differential DACs and continuing through to its output connectors. With balanced (also called symmetrical) circuitry, positive and the negative signals are handled as an identical mirror image pair. A differential amplifier subtracts the signals, one from the other, cancelling common noise and distortion components and leaving a larger copy of the original signal. Properly implemented, balanced circuitry can reject extraneous noise and allow full prominence to subtle low level dynamics and detail in the music.

The circuit board
The analogue audio boards are constructed from four layers of bonded epoxy resin, achieving an extremely strong, rigid and non-resonant foundation for the audio components. This construction keeps the signal paths very short with the added benefit of allowing optimum distribution of power and ground along wide, low-impedance planes.

Power supply
Careful distribution of power along the circuit boards is most valuable when the power source is clean, quiet and able to respond quickly. To assure analog and digital circuits of a nearly perfect source of power, eleven separate stages of regulation are employed throughout the CDP-10. Power demands and noise generated in one circuit are well isolated and do not interfere with the performance of another circuit.

Optimum bias levels
The analogue audio stages are set to operate in Class A, eliminating all traces of grain and harshness.

Input and output connectors
All RCA phono and balanced XLR connectors are gold-plated and securely attached to the chassis, safeguarding the integrity of the signal path.