Bel Canto CD2 - a great CD player to emerge

[Steve Toy]

I've been using the Bel Canto CD2 (£2400 in the UK) since April purchased from Coherent Systems. It replaced a Linn Majik player for I felt it had better definition across the frequency range and more bass heft. Generally I felt it was a more involving listen. The Linn in comparison sounded hazy at the top end and whilst a tuneful player, a little inarticulate at times. The Linn was also a bit of a lightweight at the bottom end.

What a great transport in the form of the Philips PRO 2 LF, which I believe is still in production mainly for the jukebox market so a rather solid piece of kit. However, this player is not without its faults. First of all it is powered by a a small 12v switch-mode power supply unit that does all the sonic nasty things that SMPSUs do. It makes the player sound rather digital with a slightly glassy presentation to the top end - well-defined, yes, but hard with it.

Upgrading with the accompanying offboard Bel Canto DAC 3 fixes this and raises the dynamics/resolution stakes to boot for an extra £2000. What you get with the DAC is the same shoebox-sized component to match the player and this matching pair can then share a shelf on your rack. Inside you get better DAC chips and a linear power supply to boot to feed them. I've no idea what these chips are but I do know that this is a worthwhile upgrade that takes the resulting combo to the resolution levels of some of the midrange Esoteric fare not to mention the DCS P8i with which it also compares costing a good £3000 more.

Another option is to replace the SMPSU with an off-board super-regulated linear transformer and this is the route I've taken so far.

I asked Anthony to do this for me and he duly obliged and came up with this:

http://img392.imageshack.us/img392/7929/aossystem001cv9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)


I'll ask Anthony to come along to explain the technical stuff in more detail, but I can tell you that it has around seven times the current capability of the SMPSU and keeps a constant voltage regardless of the load variation presented to it by the CD player.

I plonked the player on the floor at Anthony's hooking it up via the SMPSU to his Soul amplifiers and Spendors. It sounded involving and even more beguiling for being amplified by the venerable Soul amps. Playing a Tears for Fears CD we then put the new PSU in. I could hear a big improvement after only two notes had been struck by the bass guitarist - more depth, texture and even better definition. The dynamics were lifted in a similar fashion across the frequency range. The top end lost its glassiness and the overall presentation was more insightful especially in terms of inflection and harmonic information, yet the nasties were smoothed out leaving a much more analogue sounding player. I was urged to turn up the volume but this done, the player was clearly crying out for a proper stand to sit on. Microphonic feedback via the speakers and floor made it sound characteristically jangly so I dropped the volume back down again.

I messed around with the different sampling rates, taking the player from the factory-set 96 to 192 - the highest upsampling rate. This seemed to smooth things over too much, slightly removing a little insight into the texture, timbre and harmonics of notes, so I quickly put it back to the factory default option. I guess that sampling rate is great for recordings originally captured at that kind of resolution, but upsampling to that level seems to add nothing but artificial gloss that gets in the way of ultimate clarity.

At home I've derived similar results with the player sounding even more 'together' as the new PSU has had time to warm up and burn in a little (still a long way to go there.) For anyone who either owns a Bel Canto CD 2 or is considering getting one, this AOS/Tube Distinctions PSU comes highly recommended at around £750. I can also turn the volume up now as much as I want. :)

Pictures of the internals of the PSU are available for mods/admin to view only.

[Marco]

Nice one, Steve! Another bespoke 'AOS special' joins the fold! I look forward to hearing the difference it makes next week :)

Marco.

[Spectral Morn]

Hi guys

I like the sound of the DAC and the CD player, and your upgrade sounds very interesting but for me the biggest flaw with this player is not the sound but how it works.

My first encounter with this was at the London Hi-fi show last year in Absolute Analogues room. I know Simon Bennett very well and Bill Houston of Aanvil Audio ( Bel Cantos UK distributor), so guys dont take this badly but the user interface on this player is a joke( bit of an issue with most modern Bel-Canto kit IMHO). It is probably the worst CDP I have ever tried to use. To say things are being made hard is a bit of an understatement (I know you might get used to it), but at this price its lack of functionality and loading quirks are frankly a disgrace. I know they want to keep the look clean and the size of case is small but I think this is taking things to extreme(even 47 labs is easier to use).

I am not talking about sound. The quality of this is every bit justified by the price of the kit but frankly its nice( IMO essential) to have a smooth user interface and this is not it. Leemas Stream is also hard to use but its easier too.

Regards D S D L ----- Neil

[Steve Toy]

The user inteface is upgradable. Mine was flashed with the latest version (2.11) in July this year. Prior to that there were quirks that did my head in but it has not put a foot wrong, so to speak, since.

[Mr. C]

The psu is a good upgrade Steve, a very noticeable performance improvement is wrought right across the audio spectrum.we have been building our own them for around 2 years now, though we incorporate never connected and our own special screening/absorption technology into the package
Strangely enough the same price too :-)

[anthonyTD]

hi all,
the power supply that was made for steve's player to replace the tiny 15 watt switch mode is a 100 watt linear unit, it has continuous voltage monitoring to keep the output voltage constant at all loads, and uses a LARGE conventional I and E type transformer for the raw DC, this type of power supply is very fast, and because it dosent use large capacitors for the DC smoothing [like a lot of conventional outboard power supplies] it has a consistently low output impedence through out the audio frequency range.
regards,anthony,TD...

[Spectral Morn]

I am glad to hear that Bel-Canto have sorted these quirks out(should never have gone to market like this). However my main issue is the single control interface. Frankly this is poorly done in this case (though in my opinion its hardly ideal even when done right). The remote is not much better either. The design choices made by Bel-Canto our not ideal. If a decent remote was supplied as an option this would at least give the user a better way of playing cds. ( maybe the remote control functions exist on a better control from some one else). I found the Dac awkward to use and the integrated amp too so its not just the CDP. I thought Cords lack of legends on their back panels was awkward until I came on this current generation of Bel-canto kit. In my opinion normal customers(even people like us/me) struggle with this kind of issue and ultimately will put them off.

The previous full size range was very good(current range sounds better) and did not suffer from any of these control issues.

I think Bel-Canto's sound is very good though I do wish they had not dropped valves(having spoke to the CEO at the London show three years ago I do understand why they stopped making them). So I am not against Bel-canto just their current design choice.

regards D S D L ----- Neil :)

[Marco]

Are you sure that's all that's wrong with it? I mean, why not go the whole hog? I think they smell funny, too, don't you? And 'Bel Canto', what kind of bloody daft name is that, and why aren't they round? ... {Moan, whinge}... ;)

Marco.

[Spectral Morn]

Hi Marco

Have you tried using one ? If you haven't you should. I think after that/hope you will agree it is not the most intuitive way to operate a CDP. Every designer has to make choices and compromises. In my opinion the choices made on this product could have been better. I understand what Bel-Canto were trying to do its just that I think they could have made better choices.

I will repeat again I love the sound. I have no issue with this. I like the style. But the small size has led to these control knobs being used and they are hard to use. The remotes are also to small and lack facilities.

By the way I love the name BEL-CANTO. Sing well. The guy I met at the show was a really nice too. Simon Bennett, Bill Houston, myself, a friend of mine and Tash from Ref 3a spent a very enjoyable night out after the show. Meal and a chat and I would have offered these opinions then but the CDP was not out then. I was looking forward to it and saw a number of pre-production drawings and the finished unit looks better than these. However seeing drawings and using a product are two very different things. I think the control knob(which is the only way other than remote to use the player) is poorly designed and not the way I would have done it. I would have gone for a control panel on the top a bit like the one on the Moon Andromeda. Yes this would have made the CDP a bit dearer but it would be easy to use and not lead to frustration.

Regards D S D L ----- Neil :)

[Steve Toy]

Neil,

I was aware of all the quirks when I bought it. I live with them happily. You can do all the usual things from the remote anyway. If it starts, stops, selects tracks and shows track/time elapsed that does me. Before I added the linear PSU with an on/off switch at the back, to switch off the player you had to unplug the SMPSU! I bought it for sound quality above all and build quality second. My preamp doesn't even have remote so hopefully you'll begin to see where my priorities lie. The Bel canto CD2 is the only component in my chain of electronics not to carry the AOS and Tube Distinctions brand. My system plays music to my incredible satisfaction; it is not a lifestyle choice.



Hi Marco

Have you tried using one ? If you haven't you should. I think after that/hope you will agree it is not the most intuitive way to operate a CDP.


He has. Mine!