When auditioning new CD players I tries the Acurus ACD-11,Cal Labs Ikon mk2,and Adcom GCD-750.The system I listened on consisted of Adcom & Aragon amps,Adcom & Aragon pre-amps,Klipsch & Dunlavy speakers,& various types of Tara Labs cables.I really had high hopes for this player since I am very fond of Mondial Designs in general.However I was let down in this case.While a decent player for its price it was not exceptional in any way.When compared to the other two players it definetly lost.It had noticable hiss compared to both of them.Granted both of the other players cost more($100 for Cal Labs,$350 for Adcom)I did not expect to hear a huge difference.Some stringed instruments seemed to sound harsh also.While I do believe it deserves a listen I can't recommend this player.

While searching for CD player to replace my Marantz CC65, I auditioned the Acurus ACD11. I almost got sick listening to this player. How could something three times the price of my player sound so bad? Simply put this player is one of the Best transports I have seen. However transports don't make music, DACs and analog sections do. The analog here should be good, their RL 11 and A200 are great producers of music. So it must be the DAC. Makes sense, on their web sight, they comment on the transport for two pages, then one paragraph on the DAC, which reads... The player includes a DAC. Wow a CD player with a DAC!
Simply put this product alone is unacceptable, however combined with the Aragon DAC it sounds marvalous. The combo is roughly $2KCAN and highly recommended. But this review is for the ACD11 as a stand alone player.

Regis Poirier

The ACD11 attributes are the following:excellent construction, impecable finish, vibrations proof and a great value for the money. It shares similar sonics to CAL Icon which uses I think the same MASH DA conversion. But as a transport shines and fully comparable to many units on the market that cost 2 times the price of acurus.

I recently auditioned this player to replace my aging carver TL3200. I went in with great expectations since the player is on closeout for about 650$...I listened to it through Acurus amps and preamps, and Martin Logan Arieus loudspeakers...Like I said I really wanted to like this cd player. I have always liked the Acurus line of equiptment.. .Well I didn't...I found the Highs very bright, almost as if you turned the treble all the way up...I am not sure if it was the electrostatics or not but I could not find the bottom of the sound either...although the definition of the sound was just fine....When I asked the dealer about how the equiptment might sound with my magnaplaners through my he told me that I am listening to the cd player basically through an open window, on account of the quality of the rest of the system...Thats what i was afraid of....I am currently saving up the dough to get a Rega Planet which i also auditioned that day...I auditioned the cd players listening to K.D. Lang Ingenue, and Natalie Cole Unforgettable...

I just auditioned this player like two weeks ago in the audioshop around my neighborhood. At the auditioning, the system included Vandersteen 2c speakers, Mcormack 1.0, fed by macro line drive passive preamplifier and all MIT cables. I auditioned this player switching with CAL Icon mkII HDCD( which 500$ more than Acurus). At first, I had not noticed any significant difference between these two players but after I switched from the disc that provided in the store to my own favorite Incognito CD which I'm pretty much familiar with, I found that Acurus somewhat delivers tighter and more bass than CAl Icon but in this regard it occurred to me that CAL reveals more details, I mean really more, than Acurus and also sweetness in midrange with warmer bass, in which some of my friends tell me too soft for rock fan. Anyway, concerning on the financial aspect the Acurus is not bad for entry level system at all, it performs in the fashion that an mid-fi component should do, acceptable detailed, uncolored and most of all no harsh digitalized sound, the only significant draw back I found most in vocal sound, to me it was kind of cloudy and nasal but for rock and pop fan this could be fine. Eventhough, that day I brought home my new CAL Icon player but it was just because I was fortunate enough to have the ability to carry some more on my credit card debt. If not so Acurus would have been the one I had taken home with me. One more thing, the shop owner told me that if I would really go for the Acurus there would be somewhere between 150-200 for discount and that was not bad for this good cd player, wasn't it.

Over much deliberation, I conclude that this is one of the finest CD players on the market for under $1000 US. In my system with Velodyne DF-661's and an Electrovoice 7300 (large, pitiful s.s. amp)it can be a little harsh.However, I am more likened to assert that it is due to the ancilliary equipment and not the CD player.
Congrats Mondial on another breakthrough value/performance item!

JG

I have owned this product for just over one year, and, overall, have been fairly happy with it. Prior to purchase, I was auditioning Rotel and Arcam players. I ended up committing the cardinal sin of audio, I brought the Acurus because I thought it looked more "High-End!". The Rotel's and Arcam's get consistently high praise from the professional audio press, whilst the I have never seen a review of the Acurus!. This concerns me, and I would like a second opinion on the product. The lesser known DAC - some obscure Japanese version - also causes me concern. I would have preferred a more established DAC have been used (eg. Burr-Brown, etc.). The construction quality appears very high - although once you take the cover off, it tends to look a little sparse inside. Acurus makes a big deal over the transport section and it does appear quite well isolated, so it would make a good transport when using an external DAC. I note that the transport mechanism is a Philips CDM-2 (in the new Mark-Levinson, the transport is a CDM-9... does this mean that the CDM-2 is close to bottom of the line?). The unit control buttons are far from ergonomic, and its advisable to use the remote (it saves fingerprints on the nice metal faceplate). I've only had one incident related to reliability, when it would not recognize a disk. To removed Itook the top off the unit, and swore! Once reassembled, it worked fine!.The overall sound is quite good, the bass is strong, and I don't feel like I'm suffering digital fatigue when I'm listening to it. My only criticism is that I don't get the sense of "space" and imaging around voices that I've heard with an other player (although I can't determine whether this is the CD-Player or the rest of my system).

High Tech looks, great detail for a player, very stable mechanism for a transport

Some highs are harsh, qwerky remote,

This player is a great player if you set it up properly. Don't go to radio shack for your cables for this player. It requires a warm sounding cable to remove the harsh edge revealed from the increased detail. Also if you use a line conditioner with a digital configuration the unit really comes live.
I will be using it as a transport with a Theta dac in the future, but this will definitely do for now.

Similar Products Used:

Rotel 975, cambridge 500, rega planet

Over the years, I've auditioned many digital front ends ranging from Levinson's Transport DAC combos to the infamous Marantz CD63 to Krells KPS-20i. From these experiences, I've learned that although perfect products do not exist, there are clear distictions between good sounding products and bad ones. Well, Acurus's ACD-11 is one of those products that sits right in the middle. It's an average sounding CD Player but it's an above average transport. It's solidly built and has somewhat of a high end look. After several auditions and side by side comparisons, I found the ACD-11 lacking in low level resolution and dynamic impact. To put it simply, it's a bland sounding player. Although I'm a big fan of Acurus(Mondial) products, I'm going to have to give the ACD-11 thumbs down. It almost seems like a rushed product which was created to complete their product line.

It has a great transport on it.It also has good build quality.

It has a weak D/A converter.

It sounds better than anything I have had before and I plan to hook up a seperate D/A converter to it. Because the transport on it is excellent. It was worth the money I paid for it. Also I am using a Cardas Quadlink 5c power cord on it and it sounds pretty good.

Similar Products Used:

Arcam Alpha 9,Onkyo,Integra,DX/7911,Rotel,RCD/975