CEC has been an industry leader of CD players since the development of the belt drive in 1991. The Constant Linear Velocity (CLV) data read rate is controlled by the rotation speed of the CD turntable. The rotation of the CD is slowed down as the laser pickup moves to the outer edge of the CD. The design of the CD5 drive mechanically isolates the motor from the turntable with a rubber suspension system. The rubber belt further isolates the turntable from the motor torque vibrations. A lower torque motor is used with a belt drive transport comparted to a direct drive transport design. CEC’s patented belt drive CD transport has a lower mechanical vibration and lower electromagnetic noise when compared to a direct drive design. A heavy CD stabilizer is used to clamp the CD firmly on the turntable which increases the turntable inertia 26 times the inertia of the CD. This achieves a more stable and smooth rotation of the CD disc. These advances reduce the mechanical vibrations and speed variation of the turntable which is needed for accurate CLV. The smaller torque motor of a belt drive transport and longer distance from the motor to the center shaft (turntable) reduces electromagnetic noise levels at the laser pickup. This creates the ideal environment for the reproduction of music with the industry leading low jitter and high signal to noise ratio. These advances yield a high performance CD player with a rich musical sound.

Other CEC CD5 features include:

• digital outputs: COAXIAL and TOSLINK
• digital inputs: USB, COAXIAL, AND TOSLINK
• the fluorescent display which can be dimmed and even turned off
• rubber belt replacement is now done with ease
• shortest possible signal path is maintained by directly mounting of all terminals on a single circuit board

The CEC CD5 has a high-resolution, high-performance DAC. The conversion from digital to analog signal is performed by a ESS Hyperstream ES9018K2M DAC chip. The ES9018K2M is a high performance 32-bit 2 channel audio D/A converter for audiophile grade playback. With USB input connection PCM 32bit/384kHz and DSD128/5.6MHz DAC digital recordings can be streamed to CEC CD5. The D/A converter is used to produce a full-balanced analog signal to achieve dynamic and musical reproduction of the recording. The headphone output enables direct listening without amplifier and loudspeaker system.

Test reports in international magazines as well as the testimony of our satisfied customers worldwide confirm that we have achieved our musical objective: music reproduction at its highest level. The word about the musical cohesion, the rich detail and emotionally gripping “analog-like“ can be found in many industry reviews. No other CD transport has sounded so analog to this day. There has seldom been higher quality compact disc playback in this price class!

Technical Data Sheet