Gold Note's CD-10 promises you'll “rediscover your library of CDs; it will make you fall in love again with your favourite artists”. The compact “CD transport with in-built DAC” measures just 80 x 200 x 260mm (HxWxD) and is designed to sit amongst the Italian brand's highly respected 10-series products.

The CD-10 features a precision CD mechanism with a loader by Stream Unlimited that has been “engineered for high-performance audio”. We're told that it “extracts every bit of information from the disc to accurately create a pure digital signal stream” and that the player has a 0.0001% rated speed fluctuation. This is fed into an AKM AK4493 digital to analogue converter, which is Gold Note's choice thanks to “its unmatched quality”.

Around the rear, you get a Coax S/PDIF and TOS-Link input, both rated at 24bit/192kHz. Output-wise, there is a Coax S/PDIF alongside a set of unbalanced RCA and balanced XLR analogue ports.

Gold Note states that every component—from the mechanical chassis to the electronic circuits—has been carefully chosen and tested to achieve the best sound quality. The noise floor has been lowered to the minimum so that you can enjoy the most subtle harmonic decays. The quoted signal-to-noise ratio is 128dB, and THD is said to be 0.001% max.

The CD-10 can be easily controlled from the ultra-clear touchscreen display, the rotary knob or the multifunction remote.

Finally, you can also upgrade the CD-10 by attaching the PSU-10 EVO, an external power supply that the company says will “further enhance the player's performance and enable even finer details, powerful sound, and refined presentation”.

The Gold Note CD-10 is available in Gold, Silver and Black finishes priced at £1,800. 

Visit Gold Note for more information