About the Rotel CD14

Breathe life back into your CD collection
Breathe life back into your CD collection
The CD14 carries on Rotel's relentless pursuit of sound quality. As the company puts it, they designed the CD14 to "release the emotion in the music." They spent hundreds of hours fine-tuning the audio performance of the player, going through countless components until they found "the one."
The first piece Rotel designed for this player was the power supply. Thanks to careful engineering, it delivers ripple-free voltage and current to both digital and analog circuits. One of the other delicate puzzle pieces housed inside is the digital-to-analog converter chip. The high-performance, CD-specific Wolfson 24-bit/192kHz DAC lets your CDs be heard as the artists and sound engineers intended.
Who is Rotel?
Rotel has been crafting high-performance gear for music and home theater enthusiasts since 1961. They focus on creating the best signal path possible, using premium capacitors, transistors, diode bridges, and custom toroidal power supplies to get the most from music and movie soundtracks. Crutchfield is proud to offer a diverse selection of Rotel components including preamps, amplifiers, CD players, and home theater processors.
Product highlights:
- plays audio CDs, CD-Rs, and CD-RWs
- premium Wolfson 24-bit/192kHz digital-to-analog converter
- frequency response: 20-20,000kHz (±0.5dB)
- total harmonic distortion: 0.002% @ 1kHz
- signal-to-noise ratio: 118dB
Connections:
- one pair of analog RCA outputs
- coaxial digital output
- RS-232 port for integration with third-party automation systems
- 12-volt trigger in
- Rotel Link 3.5mm input for optional attachment of other Rotel network-enabled products with Rotel Link Out connections
- app controllable using the Rotel app (free for iOS®) when connected to a product with a Rotel Link Out port
Dimensions and warranty:
- 17"W x 3-13/16"H x 12-5/16"D
- weight: 13 lbs.
- warranty: 2 years
- Our 60-day money-back guarantee
- MFR # ROT1015005
What's in the box:
- CD player
- 58" AC power cord
- Remote control (RR-D99)
- 2 "AAA" batteries
- 38" Stereo RCA cable
- 40" Mono-minijack cable
- 40" Stereo minijack cable
- Owner's manual on CD-ROM
- Warranty Information
- Important Safety Instructions
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More details on the Rotel CD14

Features & specs
General | ||
---|---|---|
Disc Capacity | 1 | |
CD Transport Only | No | |
Disc Exchange | N/A | |
Track Programming | 20 | |
Random Play | Yes | |
Direct Track Access | Yes | |
Direct Disc Access | N/A | |
Networking Features | ||
Network Music Streaming | No | |
Ethernet Port | No | |
Wi-Fi | No | |
Remote | Included | |
Parts Warranty | 2 Years | |
Labor Warranty | 2 Years | |
Compatibility | ||
CD-R Playback | Yes | |
CD-RW Playback | Yes | |
Stereo SACD Playback | N | |
Specifications | ||
CD Frequency Response | 20-20k Hz | |
Signal to Noise Ratio | 118 dB | |
SACD Frequency Response | Not Compatible | |
SACD Dynamic Range | Not Given | |
SACD THD | Not Given | |
Inputs | ||
Digital Optical Input | No | |
Digital Coaxial Input | No | |
USB Type-A Input | No | |
USB Type-B Input | No | |
Outputs | ||
Analog RCA Output | Yes | |
Analog XLR Output | No | |
Digital Optical Output | No | |
Digital Coaxial Output | Yes | |
Headphone Output | No |
Product Research
Features
Stereo Compact Disc Player: The Rotel CD14 compact disc player faithfully reproduces all that is recorded on a CD Audio disc, revealing even the smallest of musical details in a recording. Enjoy your CD collection the way the artist and recording engineers want you to hear it with the most detailed, nuanced sound.
- Disc Loading Tray: A motor-driven disc loading tray located in the center of the unit accepts a 12cm or 8cm compact disc.
- Compatible Discs: The Rotel CD14 supports playback of CD Audio, CD-R/RW, and CD Text discs. CD-R/RW discs must contain music files in CD Audio format (not MP3).
Note: This unit does not support MP3 or other compressed audio files.
Balanced Design Concept: Balanced Design Concept is the essential Rotel design philosophy that revolves around three major areas - Parts selection, circuit topology, and critical evaluation. These aspects influence final sound quality significantly and illustrate the holistic Balanced Design Concept approach to Rotel's product development. Thanks to the Balanced Design Concept, Rotel components easily exceed the performance of many mass produced audio products that offer plenty of features but skimp on audio quality, and compare favorably to components that are many times the price. Rotel continues its pursuit of extraordinary audio performance, which elevates the home entertainment experience through their core values of sonic accuracy, reliability, and affordability.
- Parts Selection: Rotel engineers carefully select premium components and parts for all their audio gear. At each stage of development, Rotel engineers listen to circuit prototypes and revise the design when they feel they can gain a sonic advantage by using a particular component from another manufacturer or by specifying tighter tolerances. Since Rotel is an independent manufacturer, they are free to source parts from highly respected suppliers around the world to fit their requirements.
- Circuit Topology: It’s not enough to simply use good parts. Where you put them is equally if not more important. That's why Rotel keeps their circuit paths as short as possible, so there's less chance that spurious emissions and unwanted leakages will corrupt delicate signal nuances. That’s also why Rotel often uses more expensive "on-board" relay source switching, rather than routing a signal from a rear-panel input to a front-panel control. Rotel also relies heavily on something called Symmetrical Signal Trace design. This keeps each channel's signal path identical to the others to preserve the imaging and soundstage. Rotel also uses electrically superior "star" grounding techniques to improve performance because star grounding routes all ground connections to a single point to reduce potential loops that might introduce noise or produce hum.
- Critical Evaluation: Rotel's development team places a lot of importance on critical listening sessions before the final product is sent to market. Rotel electronic and acoustic engineers, both in the UK and Asia, have honed their aural acuity over the course of decades of collective experience to evaluate each stage of product development from working samples, through pre-production and, finally, to verify that final production is the same as the pre-production units. Some sessions evaluate different circuit elements: capacitors, resistors, and active devices such as transistors or operational amplifiers. Others focus on differences in circuit layouts or differences caused by power supply elements. Only after this tuning process is complete with sonic performance confirmed will the product be launched to the market.
Carefully Engineered Power Supply: The Rotel CD14 compact disc player features a carefully engineered power supply to ensure separate, ripple-free voltage and current to both digital and analog circuits.
Wolfson Premium 24-Bit/192kHz DAC: The Rotel CD14 utilizes a state-of-the-art 24-bit/192kHz DAC (digital-to-analog converter) from the world renowned British manufacturer, Wolfson. This very high performance stereo DAC is specifically designed for audio applications, such as CD playback.
Analog & Digital Outputs: The CD14 unit gives you a choice of two different kinds of output connections - stereo analog or coaxial digital. The stereo analog RCA output utilizes the built-in DAC and plugs into a conventional analog audio component, such as a stereo receiver or integrated amplifier. The coax digital output bypasses the built-in DAC and provides an unprocessed digital data signal for use with an outboard DAC or digital processor.
Front-Panel Display: A back-lit display on the front-panel of the unit provides useful information about the status of the unit, activation of special features, and track/time information for the disc being played. The unit will also display CD Text.
Front-Panel & Remote Control: The unit can be operated using its front-panel buttons or from corresponding buttons on the supplied IR (infrared remote) control. Specific instructions for each of these controls are detailed below. Most of the buttons are duplicated on the front-panel and on the IR remote control. However, there are a few exceptions where the buttons are only available on one or the other. Control functions include -
- Power On/Off
- Play/Pause/Stop
- Previous/Next Track
- Fast Forward/Reverse (2x, 4x, or 8x) *remote only
- Program Track (up to 20 tracks) *remote only
- Direct Access (0-9) *remote only
- Repeat/Random *remote only
Rotel Link: This 3.5mm stereo minijack input (labeled "Rotel Link") can attach to Rotel network enabled products with a Rotel Link output. This allows the attached Rotel products to communicate with each other and be controlled via the Rotel App (for Apple iOS 6.0+).
12V Trigger Input: The unit can be activated by a 12 volt trigger signal. The trigger input accepts any control signal (AC or DC) ranging from 3 volts to 30 volts. When a mono-minijack cable is connected to the 12V input and a trigger signal is present, the CD Player is powered on. When the trigger signal is turned off, the unit goes into standby mode.
Note: Do not connect both the Rotel Link and 12V trigger input. The 12V trigger's power on/off feature will override the Rotel Link feature.
RS232 Port: The unit can be controlled via RS232 for integration with automation systems. The RS232 input accepts a standard straight DB-9 Male-to-Female cable.
Auto Power Off: The CD player can be configured to automatically power off if unused for a specified period (30, 60, or 90 minutes). If the CD is stopped for the specified time, the unit will automatically go into standby mode.
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Customer Q&A
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I bought this to replace a Denon DCM-340 carousel player and a Carver MD/A-420 player, both bought in the early nineties. The CD14 sounds amazing, I can hear details/nuances that were absent on my other two cd players. I am very happy with this player.
E Thomas from Palmetto, GA