Yamaha CD-X2 CD-player Review

The Yamaha CD-X2 is one of the least-expensive CD players on the market. Its $399 list price has been achieved in part by omitting some of the special control and programming features found in higher-priced units, but, as we found, without sacrificing the basic audio qualities of a digital-disc player.

The disc loads from the front of the player into a motorized disc drawer, which slides out noiselessly at the touch of a button and returns as smoothly at a second touch (or if the drawer itself is given a slight nudge). Normally, pressing the play button starts the machine playing Track 1 of the loaded disc. Until the program actually begins, the word “play” appears in the display window, then it is automatically replaced by the track number. Touching the display button to the right of the window changes the readout to show the elapsed time of the track being played, and touching it again returns the readout to the track number.

Next to the play button is one marked pause/stop. Touching this button once temporarily halts play, which resumes if the play button is pressed again. Pressing pause/stop twice ends playback of the disc, returning the laser pickup to its start position. Pressing the DISPLAY button once in the pause mode causes the readout to show the elapsed time of the track. In this mode only, pressing it twice shows the total playing time of the disc. A third touch restores the track number.

To the right of the pause/stop button are four large search-control buttons. Two are marked “+” and “—“, respectively, and are used during play to move the pickup forward or back to the beginning of the next or the current track. Holding one of these buttons in causes the pickup to continue skipping forward or back at the rate of about two tracks a second.

The other two search buttons, marked with double arrows and labeled index, serve a dual function. During normal play, holding in one of these buttons causes the pickup to scan the disc, either forward or backward, at above-normal speed. The contents remain audible at the increased tempo but without change in pitch. The scanning is relatively slow for the first 3 seconds a button is held in, and then it speeds up. In the pause mode (after pause/stop has been pressed once), these same buttons can be used to access specific index points within a track, if the disc is provided with them. The selected index numbers appear in the display window to the right of the track number.

The CD-X2 can be programmed, with its PROG button, to play up to nine tracks in any order. In the programmed-playback mode, the display normally shows the actual track number being played as well as its position in the programmed sequence, P1 through P9. Pressing display in this mode switches the readout to show the elapsed time of the selected track or the total time of the whole programmed sequence. The player automatically pauses for 3 seconds between programmed selections even if there is no such pause between the tracks on the disc. Finally, there is a REPEAT button that can be used to repeat playback of the entire disc or of a programmed sequence.

The Yamaha CD-X2 has a front-panel headphone jack with its own volume control. Fixed-level line outputs are on the rear of the machine. Finished in black, the unit measures only 13-3/8 inches wide, 11-1/2 inches deep, and 3-5/8 inches wide. It weighs a mere 7-3/4 pounds.

Lab Tests

Our lab measurements of the Yamaha CD-X2 confirmed the manufacturer’s specifications and showed performance in line with that of other third-generation CD players. The frequency response was very flat up to almost 10,000 Hz, rising to +0.5 dB at 15,000 Hz and falling to about — 1 dB at 20,000 Hz. Low-end response fell to —0.25 dB at 20 Hz. Both channels were absolutely identical in their frequency response and output level.

The player’s noise level and harmonic distortion were typical of today’s CD players, and flutter was, as usual, unmeasurable. The phase shift between channels at 20,000 Hz was 58 degrees, and the ringing pattern on a 1,000-Hz square wave indicated the use of digital filtering. According to Yamaha, the CD-X2 has a “double resolution digital filter,” which is apparently a digital filter plus a third-order active analog filter.

Like almost all current CD players, the CD-X2 had no difficulty in tracking the largest defects on the calibrated Philips TS3 test record. Its servo moved the laser pickup from Track 1 to Track 15 of the TS4 record in about 4.5 seconds, performance that is also typical of recent players we have tested. The difficult transition between Tracks 17 and 18 of that record, which have no silent interval between them, was handled perfectly, with no audible clipping of the opening sound of the second track. However, when we used the programming function to play those two tracks, there was a short burst of the opening sound of Track 18 at the end of Track 17, just before the 3-second silent interval the player inserts in its programmed mode. The CD-X2 was fairly good in its ability to withstand physical shock applied to the sides of its cabinet, but it was considerably more sensitive to taps on its top cover. Headphone volume was excellent with 300-ohm phones.

Comments

The Yamaha CD-X2 delivered the same high quality of sound we have experienced with every CD player we have used. It was utterly silent and smooth in every phase of its operation. It does not have all the control niceties many other CD players have, some of which we have by now come to expect, but it is one of the lowest-priced CD players designed for use in home music systems.

For our part, a remote control is not nearly as important for a CD player as for TV or a VCR, so we did not miss one with the CD-X2.

Moreover, the more exotic programming and cueing capabilities of a few much more expensive players are not needed for most listening situations. Although we found the selection of high-numbered tracks (some test records have up to ninety-nine tracks) a tiresome process with the CD-X2, this is fortunately more a problem for the tester than for the listener, since few music CD’s (even samplers) have more than fifteen or twenty tracks.

Another economy is in the display, which can show only one type of information at a time. The display itself is simplified, true, but we have always found it very convenient to be able to check simultaneously which track is being played and how far into it we are without having to use a control to switch between one readout or the other.

On the other hand, Yamaha has made the most important information, the current track number, available without manual selection by the casual user. Our final criticism concerns the programming function. Once the CD-X2 has been programmed to play a desired sequence of tracks, there is no way to cancel the program except by turning the player off and on again or by opening and closing the disc drawer. Simple enough—but inconvenient if you change programs frequently.

If you have no need for advanced programming or other operating features, however, the Yamaha CD-X2 is certainly an excellent value. And as far as its intrinsic disc-playing performance and sound quality are concerned, it is as good as any CD player we have used.

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