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Shanling SCD-T200

Modern Chinese Medicine

By Brent Burmester

December 2003

Shanling SCD-T200 SACD/CD player. $5600

If the Shanling SCD- T200 was built by a high-end Italian manufacturer – it has that look about it – it would carry a $10,000 price tag. Don’t be distracted by the exterior, though: even without its 1950’s sci-fi looks it would have what it takes to command its $5600 asking price.

Well, okay, be distracted a little longer. Just look at the picture. It’s a very cool machine: wrapped in stainless steel, with a top-loading Sony transport featuring a thick slab of Perspex, backed by those four glowing 6N3 valves and a skyline of output transformers. At night, with its blue LED backlight shining, it looks a bit fabulous.

In terms of features the SCD-T200 wants for little. No balanced outputs, but two pairs of RCA ports on the back: one for the standard silicon-based output stage, and another for the tube-amplified stage. A fifth RCA port provides digital-out. Yes, that's right – the Shanling is a stereo-only SACD player.

On the right-hand side of the casework is a rocker switch for power on and a gold-plated earphone jack to which two of the valves are dedicated. The front panel is free of controls, instead machined stainless steel buttons for play/pause, stop, track skip forward and back, and SACD/CD select are arrayed flush on the upper surface either side of the defeatable display. On the inside are a Sony SACD decoding chip and for CD a 24/192kHz DAC by Burr Brown.

Even the remote is something special. An entirely metal-cased oblong, it weighs nicely, and although the buttons are small and tightly grouped, it works well at sensible angles and features a mute function and digital volume control.

During the review the SCD-T200’s transistorized outputs were tried briefly, and proved to sound good but more obviously ‘digital’ than the valve equivalents. Since this beast is all about the glowing bulbs, comments about sound quality below are made in the context of the tube amplified output.

CD

Smooooth. That thermonic effect was in evidence in all the right ways. There’s no shortage of kick and punch in the low registers, and the mids and highs are free of any digital edge or glare. Best of all, the lack of grain or sting in no way compromised the detail and air in musical performances.

Skunk Anansie’s Charlie Big Potato from Post Orgasmic Chill is compressed and aggressively over-bright, but the Shanling gave the music added three-dimensionality, expressiveness, and listenability, without dulling the shine.

Shifting gears, local hip hop stars Nesian Mystick gave a captivating performance featuring big beats and delicate acoustic guitar. The SCD-T200 showcased the surprisingly well-engineered quality of the album.

SACD

If you haven't heard two-channel SACD before, I can confirm it is better than CD. However, the SCD-T200 is a very good CD player, and the gap is not so wide as it might be. Although I never preferred a CD mix to its SACD counterpart, on the eight or nine dual-layer discs I had to hand I often neither knew nor cared which layer I was listening to.

When I really concentrated on the sound, as opposed to the performance, I appreciated the total absence of glare, and there were discs that grew in terms of air and presence when SACD was selected. Still, I was slightly disappointed that Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon didn’t stand head and shoulders above the CD mix. More convincing was the new release of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana from Telarc. SACD seemed to get inside the intricacy of orchestral music to more obvious effect.

Earmuffs

Another strength of the SCD-T200 is its in-built headphone amp. This is not merely convenient, it is decidedly good. Remember, two of those glowing bulbs on the roof are dedicated to the headphone amp, and they don’t go to waste. In fact, it might be here that the qualities of tube amplification in digital become most apparent. If you’re a habitual headphone wearer, I think you’ll be very pleasantly surprised by the Shanling.

Glitches

One slightly disconcerting discovery was the Shaling’s inability to play between tracks. That is, when the end of one song runs into the beginning of another on the next track, the player would mute momentarily – this happened on both CD and SACD layers. Perhaps more momentous was the player’s inability to find either layer of Peter Gabriel’s singles album, Shaking the Tree. This is a brand new, unmarked disc, the CD layer of which worked without fault in my regular CD player.

All the same, I find myself wanting one of these far out Far East machines. It isn’t perfect, no indeed, but when it’s playing you’ll be quite willing to forgive it any little operational quirks.

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