Intro
Contents
For many enthusiasts, the streamer is now the center of the hi-fi system. An analog fanatic might have a record player on top of that for more serious nights of music. But a CD player? Many see that as neither fish nor fowl. But is that right? We take a look at the ATC CD2 CD player. A player that costs just under 2500 Euros.
ATC is seen by many enthusiasts as a brand that makes speakers. Both for studio and consumer. And that is true. However, they also have an electronics line. Think of the beautiful ATC CA2 preamplifier. Or the very handy CDA2 CD player, pre-amp and dac. And then they also have power amplifiers. In short: it is perfectly possible to build a complete ATC system.
ATC CD2
The ATC CD2 dates back to 2019. At the time, this compact CD player received an update in the form of a new TEAC drive and a new AKM dac chip (4490EQ). We are pleased with the choice of a fine AKM dac. Somehow your author has a thing for that brand of dac chips…. they just almost always sound nice.
The cabinet of the ATC CD2 is compact. At 31cm wide, it is a crazy size. We don’t particularly like that because it’s almost impossible to match with other equipment that way. Why not just make it 43cm wide?
On the front we see all the necessary buttons for operation: on the left a button for standby and on the right the buttons for: stop, play, skip and open. The display is large enough for easy reading. There is no button to dim the display. Not even on the remote control.
On the back, we see both balanced and single ended outputs. Also a coaxial and optical spdif output. Very neat. So it is possible to connect a better dac later.
