Micromega CD10 CD Player

The Micromega CD-10 offers outstanding performances for a product of this category such a digital to analog conversion using 24 bits digital filtering designed to present a perfect phase response in the whole audio band. The linear power supply, for better noise immunity, uses an R-Core type transformer and discrete voltage regulators. All the manufacturing details are perfectly controlled, making CD-10 one of the best players of the market offering such a high quality/price ratio.

The chassis
Made entirely out of metal, the frame’s role is to provide a stable and rigid base for the CD mechanism. It also protects the CD’s electronic circuits against external electromagnetic disturbances and high frequency exposure, which are very common in today’s environment. The aluminum front panel adds a special touch to all of the models of this range, providing an impression of elegant soberness, where minimalism and user-friendliness combine harmoniously. The blue 10 character dot matrix clearly displays all necessary information in real time. The aluminum anodized top cover, which comes in either black or silver, matches the front panel perfectly. The brushed effect of the front panel gives the product an unrivalled distinctive touch.

The power supply
Like all the players, CD10 depends on the user’s mains source for its power supply. Unfortunately this source is increasingly subject to interference, especially since the arrival of switching mode power supplies used by computers as well as by numerous other consumer electronics goods. All these power supplies are supposed to prevent any input or output disturbance, emit towards the mains high frequency signals likely to disturb the CD’s musical reproduction. The CD10’s transformer is an R-Core type. These very specific models have very interesting characteristics from the point of view of mains interference filtering. Contrary to toroidal transformers, which have a very broad bandwidth, R-Core transformers, due to the way there are made, have a very narrow bandwidth. This makes them the ideal choice when the current requirement is moderate. CD10 is equipped with a linear power supply made up of several distinct sections in order to avoid the problems of cross talk from the power supply, in particular between the digital and analog sections. The digital power supply provides the necessary current to the drive mechanism, the feedback circuits and to all of the user interface section.

The drive mechanism
The MICROMEGA team invested so much energy and time into developing the most appropriate solution in terms of musical reproduction. The MICROMEGA team’s wish was to be innovative in this field and to use a DVD mechanism; this was for very good reasons. Due to the success of DVD, DVD mechanisms produced today are of top, reliable quality, simply because they are mass produced and therefore subject to extremely tough quality control procedures inherent to mass production.
Digital to analog conversion: AD1853 CD10 calls upon one of the best dedicated digital-analog converters currently available. We chose the Analog Devices AD1853 because of its unbeatable value for money. This converter with its dynamics of 110dB, its signal to noise ratio of 112dB and its THD + Noise figure of < -100dB is the ideal converter for treating signals as accurately as possible. The power supply with constant current source and shunt regulators ensures total immunity from external disturbances. The local decoupling ensured by very low inductance, very low series resistance capacitors, guarantees better signal integrity for the analog stages.

The analog stages
As specialists know well, measurements and listening do not always go hand in hand; there is always an empirical part which remains and experience in the audio field is thus essential. The type of alignment of the analog output filters was not left to chance and the choice of a thirdorder Bessel filter turned out to produce the best results. The frequency cut-off was placed at 75 kHz, well beyond the audio band guaranteeing a perfectly linear phase from 20 Hz to 20 kHz and a constant group delay on the full audio band. For the last pole of this alignment, we deliberately selected a passive element in series with the signal in order to reject all high frequency residues which could have slipped through even the tightest of nets. This results in an output signal that is free from any DC component due to the use of a specific circuit, which allows a low impedance connection without resorting to a coupling capacitor.

Conclusion: A challenge achieved
To produce a CD player at a reasonable price is not easy when your aim is to achieve the highest level of musical reproduction, which is as faithful and transparent as possible. CD10 reaches that point admirably and the thousands of owners of this model are only full of praise. For once you can rightly appreciate the positive effects of a rumor. CD10 will make you love music.