Price Paid:  $600.00

Summary:
NOTE: all prices below are Canadian Dollars

Well, considering the money one would normally pay for this unit ($1100) I was not too impressed - i.e. especially considering what I was comparing it too.

I have a Rotel RCD940xb, which has dual DAC's + 8x oversampling - but this unit is 12 years old - and it is awsome! (foer the money I paid)

Fortunately, I only borrowed the shanling for an in-home trial, but it would have cost $600 (previously enjoyed - 6 mths old).

Now don't get me wrong - it is a very nice unit, however - the Rotel matched it in almost every respect, but the Shanling has a variable output level (volume control)

The Rotel was a tad more detailed, but they were so close I had to look to see what input was selected

One area of concern was the scaping sound the CD transport made when opening & closing - not good for a player of this caliber

The unit has a very nice tone - thanks in part to the Tube output stage - it would probably sound very nice through a solid state amp - I have the Raysonic SP120 tube amp, so most of the benefit of the tube output stage would have been negated by the amp

The music is very detailed with a nice sound stage with deep bass and nice middles and highs

I took a quick look at the new Rotel CD RCD-1072 - and it is a nice unit @ around $700 with lots on innovation for a consumer electronics grade unit

I have since been considering the Rega Apollo - it has excellent reviews for a similar price to the Shanling - it has taken a different approach to CD playback, the transport is secondary, but the electronics extracts large amounts of data (up to 40 meg) from the CD and verifies it for correctness before playing it back through great sounding DAC's - loss-less palyback? - Rega won't admit to this.

This is pretty much how the computer CD devices ensure valuable spreadsheet data does not get corrupted on transfer.

But - my bets are on the Transporter™, the first audiophile network music player.
http://www.slimdevices.com/pi_transporter.html?

Units like these will make the CD Player redundent - i.e. if you have a computer and wireless network. At present they are expensive, but they will come down in price once demand picks up - I hope Rega makes one soon!

Other equipment used
- Raysonic SP120
- Vanden Hul interconnects and speaker cables
- Magnat Ribbon 5 3-way speakers

Strengths:
Build quality, looks, sound stage, detail, balanced sound throughout entire frequency range, neutral sound, deep bass

Weaknesses:
CD Transport made a scrapping sound
Not enough CD player for the money - compared to the competition around the same price e.g. the Rega Apollo and Rotel RCD-1072 (Less $)

Similar Products Used:
Rotel RCD 940BX
Pioneer Elite DV45A

Price Paid:  $700.00 from hong kong

Summary:
I purchased this cd player online after reading many positive reviews. It was purchased for $700 au from a store in Hong Kong. It arrived within a week well packed.
I read that it had to be run in for quite a number of hours but I was immediately impressed with the sound. The more hours if was on for the smoother and more balanced the sound became. Compared with the NAD 540 which it replaced the soundstage is much more open.
I listened to many much more expensive players in HIFI stores before making this purchase and I am positive that I couldnt have bought a better sounding or built player for even 5 times the price I payed.
I have some music both on lp and cd, when making a direct comparison the shanling cd player sounds very much like a good turntable.
I am extremely happy with this player. I have recently upgraded the tubes as recomended in some articles that I have read and now it sounds even better.

Strengths:
Sound
build
price
upgradable

Weaknesses:
none

Similar Products Used:
NAD 540
ROTEL RC960BX

Price Paid:  $700.00 from online store

Summary:
Fantastic for the price

Strengths:
Beautiful sound. Wide soundstage. Fantastic!

Weaknesses:
none.

Similar Products Used:
NAD 540

Price Paid:  $1000.00 from Audio Two

Summary:
I purchase this cd player and was amazed at the sound for a 1500 dollar player. I played it for a month and then returned it to have about a 500 dollar upgrade done to it. WOW. It is a much better player than my Meridian 508.24 player that I had for several years and at a fraction of the cost. I also purchased a set of 396A tubes from Charisma Audio (the shanling dealer) and can say that it is a 100 dollars well spent. Love this cd player.

Strengths:
Fantastic bass. Very open wide soundstage No shrill at all

Weaknesses:
none whatsoever

Similar Products Used:
Meridian Classe YBA Rega Sony ES 777

Price Paid:  $1350.00 from Len Wallis Audio

Summary:
Well, I thought I might write about the shanling cd-t80 i just received today. I received the CD player triple boxed with packaging that was out of this world. After unpacking it and placing everything in place I played my first CD on it, RHCP Stadium Arcadium. I have the CD player directly connected to my Rotel rb-1090 power amp and Paradigm Studio 100v3 speakers. I used to run them with a marantz dv6400 dvd player and yamaha rx-v657 receiver as a pre amp. The improvement in sound the CD-T80 has brought was phenomenal. What was a tiny 2D sound stage has now become into a big open 3D dimensional sound stage. Gone was the harsh and ringing treble that I absolutly hated about my previous set up, the treble is now grain free and a joy to listen to. There is a much higher degree of control in the bass, this was evident when I heard Metallica's Enter sandman. The amount of detail retreived from the CD by the cdt80 is amazing, I am hearing a lot of things that I could not hear before, this is not my imagination infact its down right obvious at how much more detail is retreived from the CD. The valve output stage really does make the midrange magic happen. Overall sound quality is a night and day difference. The improvements were not only apparent to me but also my mother and my freinds who know very little about sound.

This has got to be the best $1500 AUD I spent on my sound system to date! Also when I heard the player at the shop I compared it with the CD-T100C to me the difference in sound was not there, and also compared to the MF A3.5 which to me was outclassed by both shanling's. I highly recommend it to anyone looking to buy a CD player in this price range.

Strengths:
Everything.

Treble - stunning grain free treble

Midrange - Magic!

Bass - Extremely high degree of control and accuracy

SoundStage - 3d sound stage, holographic sound

Best build quality I have ever seen

No pre-amp stage required plugs directly into power amplifier

Excellent remote control

Weaknesses:
Nothing

Similar Products Used:
Musical Fidelity A3.5
Marantz DV6400
Shanling CD-T100C