Musical Fidelity launches the B1xcd compact disc player
Offers audiophile-level audio and some handy features
It’s not cheap, but it costs less than certain alternatives
Physical media is officially back; just look to the fact that we’re covering new turntables, cassette players and CD players every week. And sometimes there are options that marry all three , then allow you to put it all vertically on your wall. OK, most of the new propositions are affordable and often portable, but high-end SACD-spinning kit is coming back too. Just look to the new Musical Fidelity B1xcd as further proof; it’s been unveiled ahead of a release "from October 2026" (so any time now, then). It’s a standing CD player designed to be used as part of a hi-fi set-up in your home, not carried around for music on the go. Musical Fidelity is pitching this as an affordable option with "an incredibly attractive price". You might raise your eyebrows to learn that its MSRP is €599 (about $670, £500, AU$1,000), but that’s actually affordable compared to many similar picks on the market right now. And for reference elsewhere, the recently-launched Oppo A7 Pro Max smartphone carries the same asking fee, and that is very much billed as a budget handset. Kind of puts things into perspective, no?…