VRDS-701
A full function remote control is included. It is monotonously consistent, with rows of identical round buttons and no illumination for nighttime listening. Even after using the remote for weeks, I still must seek the Play button for CDs. It is a trade-off; a simpler full function remote would indicate fewer performance options. Some companies offer the owner a second, stripped down remote with the essential functions (and don’t forget illumination), and that would be a good idea in this instance.
It may sound like I am irritated, but I am content. The learning curve is not so steep as to pose unresolvable problems. With patience, the patterns of the VRDS-701 reveal themselves. A person who wants one switch and maybe a choice of A or B will be overwhelmed by the myriad functions. But anyone who wants to dial in a premium result that fits like a glove with their set of cables and speakers should not be put off by the extra decision making. The bulk of the selections are required for establishing and optimizing the system. Once that is done, the choices are minimal. I experience more feature selection activity due to my system building projects, but if yours remains stable for periods of time, then you are essentially selecting the Input, and only if you switch cables from RCA to XLR or vice versa, you need to switch the Analog Output. The other option is if you elect to use the VRDS-701’s internal DAC, in which case you would turn Off the Digital Input and turn On the Digital Output. It’s basic at that point. If you set something up and get no sound, you likely didn’t select the right Digital or Analog setting.
I have a higher threshold for extra settings than most because I want to finely tune the sound for each system and speaker. The TEAC gear is superb in achieving that goal, and I detect no diminishment in sound quality consequently. The fidelity to the signal seems extreme for this level of componentry.
Can I have that also?
When I contacted the ever-helpful Jaclyn Ingis who owns her own PR firm, Jaclyn Inglis PR & Communications, and represents audio manufacturers including TAD, IsoAcoustics, and Advance Paris, I requested the VRDS-701 and the CG-10M-X Oven Clock. I love saying that! How fabulous to use an oven clock to cook up love in audible form! I felt the love last night when I played David Benoit’s “Freedom at Midnight”, a disc that I had stopped using, along with dozens of other oldies from the 80’s and 90’s because CD players or transports with DACs were not eliciting the beauty I wanted from them. The quality of the streaming music had risen steadily over the years, but the CD playback had not been improved. I had given up playing discs, thinking that they would never sound as I wished.
Hope returned when I started playing more current (if you can call CDs current; maybe you can over a 4-decade period) discs through the VRDS-701 and oven clock, and they sounded good! When I popped Benoit’s disc into the player, I wasn’t expecting the world. After all, even previous $10K disk players and outboard DACs had not made the music seem freshly recorded, not according to today’s standards. What a pleasant surprise when it sounded right, as it should! The experience was so moving, so gentle to the soul that I listened straight through the disc, even to tracks that I formerly skipped! Something was going very well with the TEAC setup.
I was elated that I asked for the oven clock and a pair of the AP-701B Amplifiers. Thank you to Jaclyn for going above and beyond to get the pair of amps! Most reviewers are content to work with one amp, even if it has a Bi-amp or Mono function. I consider that half a review. The first thing I wonder when I see a switchable amp is, how would a pair of them sound? The answer is, usually a lot better than a solo amp! I do not recall any stereo/mono switchable amplifier that has not sounded superior in Bi-amp (Mono) mode. It is especially important to consider a switchable amp’s performance if the goal is the best performance and or one is driving less efficient speakers.
CG-10M-X
Aesthetically appealing
TEAC is to be commended for their robust, triple boxed packaging with thick foam inserts protecting the components. One box suffered a drop, but the tri-box packaging acted like crumple zones in a car and the component occupant emerged unscathed.
Buyers are given two choices, a standard shade of brushed silver or black. The VRDS-701 has petite non-functional fins akin to a heat sink. Wisely, they are beveled at the ends, unlike some amplifiers with sharp edges protruding like knives waiting to injure the owner. Is a set of sharp-edged amp fins supposed to enhance the sound? Manufacturers need to get a clue in this age. The black is reminiscent of black out for cars; everything is black. The printing indicating functions on both the silver and black is so small as to be unreadable for older audiophiles. It’s good that seemingly all functions are accessible from the unit, but you may have to memorize them. Otherwise, keep a flashlight or the Owner’s Manual handy.
The casework is top notch, solid but not overly heavy, with superb fit and finish. The components appear as though they would weigh 50% more, but they are pleasantly balanced between feeling solid and not feeling like an anchor. Dials and buttons work smoothly and are not loose, and the rear is tight and clean with solid posts. Some plastic switches appear, such as the one to select between Stereo and Bi-Amp (Mono) on the AP-701B. But these are not high use switches and should not pose a problem in wearing out. I have seen such switches on high end gear.
This is the first time I am using a 12v trigger to control amps, and I like it. It’s a welcome feature because as a 60-something listener who still hauls 200+ pound speakers around, I want to preserve my spine by not bending over and wearing it out by flipping the Power toggle switch. I jest, but I do like the old-style toggle switches. Like the meters, they are classically HiFi.
An anomaly presented itself regarding the 12v trigger, namely that a static shock will trigger the amps to turn on. If I turned on the clock first, then the static discharge would cause the amps to turn on as well. They immediately turned back off because the VRDS-701 had not yet been turned on. The oddest happening was that if I touched the metal accent of the Wharfedale Opus 2M2 Speaker, the TEAC amp associated with that channel would turn on! In comparison, the Legacy Audio i.V4 Ultra’s 12v trigger never resulted in the amp turning on apart from powering up the VRDS-701. I suspect that TEAC may be using a particular grounding process in the AP-701 that makes it sound better but susceptible to static electricity. If you experience static electricity, be sure to discharge it prior to approaching the TEAC components.
The oven clock is a half-size component with an aesthetic departure; the handles on the front are less squarish, making them seem a bit out of place. Not that the handles are serious, given that the VRDS-701 and the AP-701 offer no means for rack mounting. The handles are diminutive, as I have smaller hands for a 6’5” man, and I can only fit three fingers into them. A guy with a meatier hand couldn’t begin to use such handles. What good are they? They are secure and suitable for carrying components, which are of modest weight. This is another nod to the heritage of HiFi, and it’s pleasant. It distinguishes the TEAC kit from thousands of mundane looking components.
Perhaps handles are the new HiFi aesthetic. The stunningly erudite Colibri C2 compact loudspeakers have pronounced handles incorporated into their cabinet. It makes picking up the speaker and moving it about with the stand attached convenient. Next, perhaps, we’ll see a streamer with rack mounting handles. I’m joking!
CG-10M-X
The VRDS-701 has its back connections organized well, with the Bi-Amp (Mono) connections clearly indicated. The CG-10M-X is practically foolproof, given that it has an IEC connector and four female BNC connections. It can support four devices for re-clocking to 10MHz (the digital source must be able to accommodate a 10MHz signal). A digital cable with male BNC terminations on both ends is required, and in the case of AudioQuest, which when I requested a couple different digital cables sent the cables with RCA terminations and four BNC to RCA adapters. Oh well, I can’t blame them much, as it’s a lot easier to slap an adapter on than to manufacture low quantity BNC cables. When AudioQuest told me they could manufacturer any kind of cable, that’s not what I had in mind. Still, more importantly, this design allowed me to compare different brands of adapters and alternative digital links. Yes, such things do make a difference. I learned years ago that Cardas makes a robust BNC/RCA adapter, and yes, it is a step up sonically from the Audioquest adapter.
The CG-10M-X is the only component I have used with a legit warm up period. Don’t waste our life on things like warm up of components. I have explored such things with solid state and tube equipment, one new and stone cold and the other broken in and warmed up, and in direct comparison, break in and warm up do not pass my Law of Efficacy. But the oven clock does, as far as I can tell. The true test would be to compare two of them, one from a cold start and the other warm. I don’t have the gear to do so, but over the 10 minutes that is claimed by the Owner’s Manual to cause change in sound, it seemed to improve noticeably. That is perception, not demonstration.
What was demonstrated is the efficacy of using the master clock. The VRDS-701 can switch in a matter of moments from the dual internal clocks to the outboard master clock. The improvement brought by the outboard clock is refinement, and it is well worth the money especially as the refinement of the speaker system rises. I would not be without it in use with the VRDS-701. It is an affordable way to juice the performance of not only the integral CD player, but also streamers like the Bricasti M5 or the PS Audio AirLens, both of which I bought following their reviews. It is worth a great deal to me to have a strong upgrade on streaming quality from the master clock.
The AP-701B Amplifier, like the others, is sharp looking, with that yummy dual meter and the otherworldly yellow hue. There is a mesmerizing effect seeing the pair of amps stacked – they generate little warmth – and their four needles bouncing. But watch out; the thin rubber discs that the owner puts onto the footers of all these components leave a difficult to remove residue on other components’ tops, and that after only a few days. My solution was to use some scrap pieces of leather placed under the footers. Another option would be a piece of fabric under each footer. TEAC will want to investigate the residue issue. One sure way to piss off an audiophile is for a footer to mar the top of another component.
The illumination of the amp’s meters can be low, high, or off, and likewise, the owner has two options for meter sensitivity or can turn them off. XLR and RCA inputs are selected by another petite toggle switch. I presume the signal circuitry has been optimized with forced selection of the type of input. The power rating is 170wpc into 8 Ohms and 260wpc into 4 Ohms. The Class D module is NCore by Hypex Electronics B.V. This is my first review of a Hypex module Class D amp, and in comparison to ICEPower module Class D amps, I’m impressed with the detail retrieval. I am finding that with Class D amplification, a power rating of at least 200wpc into 4 Ohms is usually plenty to drive even speakers which are of 4 Ohm nominal impedance.
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