can anyone help me........


I have a old rotel rcd 975, love its sound but its on its last legs.  laser is going out and parts are getting harder to find.  the 975 had a very unique sound, with that phillips chip.  does anyone who is familiar with this unit know what compares to it today.  I currently have the oppo udp 203, and a nad 565bee which sounds good, but the rotel sounds better.  if anyone has any answers let me know.  please no bizarre and expensive brands that I cant afford or brands just to impress me please.  let me know what you come up with please, thanks.

kennesawjet
Hifiman5, I've never cared for Rotel CD players. I bought a gently used RCD-1072 to pair with my Rotel integrated, which replaced an old Sony player I was using. The Sony/Rotel combo actually sounded quite decent. When I put the RCD-1072 into the system, it sounded like absolute crap (no dynamics, poor detail, way too forward with weak bass). Rather than dump the player, I upgraded my Audioquest interconnects, speaker cables, and power cords to Acoustic Zen which luckily smoothed out the sound greatly and added some much-needed warmth and bass which allowed me to live with the Rotel unit. The 1072 is now an average performer and tolerable while I look to upgrade next year.

What interconnects did you use with your 991? I don't like using cables as an EQ, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do in order to make a unit listenable.