- Shanling CD80 II is a small hi-fi CD player that costs $ 359 (about £ 269 / AU $ 550)
- 3.5 mm and 4.4 mm balanced headphones that deliver up to 850 MW/32Ω
- Stream LDAC over Bluetooth from your phone
You’ve been told a million times about how wonderful vinyl is, but you hear much less about CDs and that’s a good thing because the relative lack of trendy means that the cost of CDs in good conditions is often a fraction of what you would pay for the same record on vinyl. If you like me like to save money as much as you like listening to music, a CD player is still a smart addition to your system.
The Chinese company Shanling makes some impressive CD players, including those with integrated amplification. And it has just brought a new player called CD80 II (via Darko Audio) with high-quality headphone reinforcement for wired over-ears and IEMs-and with high quality bluetooth streaming so you can play music from your phone, computer or tablet.
Shanling CD80 II: Key features and pricing
Shanling CD80 II takes the compact CD80 and delivers a new DAC system and a much improved CD loader. The 4th generation of CD loader comes from the more advanced CD-S100 model with an HD450 laser and a well-known tray-style tray.
Inside the ESS -DAC in the previous model has been replaced by a Cirrus -Logic CS43198, and it is combined with double SGM8262 Headphone amplifier to operate 3.5 mm and 4.4 mm balanced output. They deliver 215 MW and 850MW to 32 ohms respectively with an in-ear monitor-friendly output impedance of less than 1 ohm.
Bluetooth input is Bluetooth 5.0 with support for LDAC as well as the well-known AAC and SBC, and there is also a USB input with support for 2TB drives to play files, by hi-res sound quality up to PCM 384kHz and DSD256.
There is a lot going on here, but Shanling has managed to pack it in a very small 28 x 20 x 5 cm case, so it is small enough for even the tightest setups.
The new Shanling CD80 II has one the recommended price of $ 359; Other prices have not been announced, but in the UK, the first general model had a typical price of £ 339.
