Atoll CD400 Evolution CD player and DAC
We’ve all been lost in an internet rabbit hole, gone down a Youtube tunnel and found ourselves in no-man’s-land. Can you remember the last time you got lost in your own CD collection? The Atoll CD400 Evo sent me on such a journey. It took me so far down the rabbit hole I ended up digging through long forgotten boxes of CDs in the garage, rediscovering long forgotten gems.
I’d been thinking back to my time running the ever controversial Hifi Wigwam site and was reminded of an afternoon hosting a bake off (hifi based social event), a few weeks after the Munich high end show, where we’d been listening to the likes of Ypsilon, Gryphon and Kondo. Guy from Pure Sound turned up at my house for said bake-off with a Sony CD player he’d bought for £130 on ebay, thene we all sat open-mouthed as the machine blew us away. Now, let’s be serious, it didn’t compare well with the exotic kit we’d heard in Munich, but it did prove that you don’t have to spend megabucks to get a good sound.
The Atoll CD400 Evo CD player in question here isn’t megabucks, but it’s not £130 either, so we have to ask the question: What happens if you spend the price of a set of Turkish teeth or a hair transplant on one, and how far has the technology really come since that time, over ten years ago?
For the CD400 Evo Atoll has devised a dual mono circuit with a dedicated PM1792A CMOS DAC for each channel. They have an incorporated a top loading mechanism which has such a high quality feel that there’s pleasure in just loading a CD. The inclusion of a decent set of inputs to the rear means the CD400 is also a high quality DAC.
But before we get into the sound, there’s an elephant in the room to be addressed: Atoll have a reputation for being a bit ‘out there’ with their case designs, and by their own admission this has cost them sales in the past. So, When Jason asked me to review the CD400 Evo I was a little nervous. I wondered if I could be polite about some of their more ‘steampunk’ designs.
I needn’t have worried, theCD400 is one sleek and serious looking bit of kit. Stealthy in black, with just one elegant swoosh across the face for interest, it really looks every inch the high end contender. Their UK distributors say sales have tripled since the redesign of the casework and I am not surprised.
Sound quality
Those elegant looks are very quickly matched by the sound quality. Let’s not mess about here, the bit you need to know is that the CD400 is a very capable CD player (and DAC) indeed. It has timbre, texture, warmth and depth in abundance, while never lacking in sparkle and detail. It’s a cliche, but you can listen to absolute favourites and find new sounds, new textures and new depths. Dear friends, press play, lie back and think of France.
Straight in with some rock, it’s Friday evening, I’ve finished the day job, had a couple of cold ones at my local and now I want some tunes. So we open the batting with Queens of the Stone Age and Vampyre of Time and Memory. Oh yes, classic hifi review fodder I am sure you’ll agree (there will be no Tubular Bells here). First surprise of the evening: Josh Homme’s voice and the clarity of the drums. Wow. I get that it has been mic’d this way but it’s just there – right in front of you. To steal a lyric “the illusion that you feel is real”. This is visceral stuff, and I’m already excited to explore more.
Sure Thing by St Germain (from Tourist), gets off to a heady start, and I decide to rewind and just listen to the whole album. Until my Daughter comes into the listening room. She’s a walking music library. She asks “can we stream to it”? Well yes we can, the CD400 is a DAC too. I have a Sonos system round the house, and I had taken the precaution of plugging a digital output into the back of the CD400 for just such an occasion.
My daughter, who we will call Zoe, because that is her name, opts to change the mood a little with some Alice Coltrane (who she informs me is “better than her ex husband John”). Ptah, the El Daoud is an exotic choice for a 20 year old undergrad, but I’ve learned not to be surprised by Zoe’s music choices. We’re having a fine time now, listening and chatting about the CD400 and how she misses the hifi when she’s away at uni. She points out the soundstage, “Double bass and tenor sax clearly in front. Cymbals float across the back of the soundstage as the piano hammers notes into life.” The music exploration goes late into the night. One take away here was that streaming FLAC, whether from an online service or my NAS, into the CD400’s DAC makes for a very good listening session indeed. So much so, I was tempted to lead this review with ‘High end DAC comes with free transport’ but decided that played down the machine’s primary capability too much.
(For balance, I should add that my son Joe loved the CD400 too. However, whether our neighbours loved their introduction to the Chemical Brothers that much, is a matter for the neighbourhood watch.)
A few days later, Page and Plant’s No Quarter (the semi Led Zep revival with Egyptian orchestra) kicks into life. Percy’s gravelly vocals are realised with such clarity and precision it took me a moment to notice how well the rest of the band were being rendered. The orchestra’s wonderfully alien instruments can be picked out, yet the orchestral sound never loses cohesion. It’s one sound but you can pick which instrument you follow. And that rich textured bass is there again, underpinning the fireworks with a beautiful, tuneful and rumbling foundation. Oh my.
As “Thank you” starts, you notice that even the crowd has a soundstage. The lady that whoops just as Page’s opening line ends, you instinctively know where she is in the crowd.
Has CD technology moved on since I last reviewed kit? On this evidence, yes. Sample group of one or not, I’d say the sound quality that used to cost £10k is now available at the £5.5k ish price point. I’m sitting here comparing this with my very capable Leema Antilla CD player/DAC (£3.8k over ten years ago) but the Atoll reminds me more of listening to kit from Wadia and Esoteric, we’re a good step up here.
It’s my last day with the CD400 and I decided to fire the Leema up again and just sense-check my bold comments above. The Leema’s slightly sticky drawer is coaxed open and I start Radioheads’ stunning Moon Shaped Pool. The strings provide beautiful warmth and depth to the opening track Burn the Witch, track 2 Daydreaming is a complete contrast, a muffled piano plays a beautiful, low-res melody, against tinkling bells and Thom Yorke’s haunting voice sails above these melodic clouds. Forget the hifi for a moment, just sit and marvel at Nigel Godrich’s stunning production and Thom’s melancholy lyrics (the album followed Yorke’s break up with his wife Rachel). “It’s too late. The damage is done”.
I don’t want to press stop, so I leave it going. I decide I have to hear my favourite track Decks Dark before swapping over to the Atoll. So, same three tracks again. oh. There’s immediately more sparkle. An extra layer of really clean treble has opened up. I’ve seen the Leema described as bright (I would say clean and detailed), so this might cause you concern. It should not. The Atoll retains composure, there is no splashy nastiness here. No sibilance detected. And we’re back again with that beautiful textured bottom end. The strings have extra layers of warmth and detail. It’s a hard trick to pull off but the CD400 does it. We listen to the whole album, of course. It’s such a treat. I’m sold.
Conclusion
The editor asked me for 1400 words. I could sit here listening and writing odes for as long as you like. You’d soon tire of my gushing, and I’ve barely touched the technical bits yet. My advice is simple: Buy an Atoll CD400 Evolution and stop worrying about DACs and CD players. Move on. Spend elsewhere. In the words of the late, great Anthony Bourdain: This is what you need. This is the good stuff.
Postscript; Just read this back and I’m in a panic! What if the next CD player that arrives me is even better? Have I used all my superlatives in the first review? You will have to read the next one to find out.