Compact Disc is now in the winter of its life. As far as new hardware sales go, there are precious few new CD players being launched – but the software side is holding up better. There is, of course, a considerable number of CDs still in circulation, and a great many new releases are still coming out on this legacy format. Last year in the UK, for example, 10.5 million discs were sold – which is just a slight drop (2.9%) from the previous year. 

So, just as it made sense to own a cassette deck well into the nineteen nineties, there is a residual demand for silver disc spinners now. And why ever not? It remains a robust and convenient format that makes sense to audiophiles, even in 2025.

That's why Fell Audio chose to launch its Fell Disc CD player as the first partner for its now highly successful Fell Amp integrated. A streamer – called the Fell Stream – is coming soon, but in the meantime, the Cumbrian company's 'legacy media' player is selling well. Indeed, if you buy the two components together, you can even get a special discount. 

The challenge for this new product is clear – it needs to be well-made, reliable, fun to use, and attractively styled. Oh, and don't forget the sound. This must be at least good enough to take on the likes of Cambridge Audio's budget CXA 25.

UP CLOSE

The Fell Disc's 'retro-modern' aesthetic and ergonomic design is impressive. It sports touch-sensitive capacitive 'buttons' to control the disc transport functions, a refreshing change to the usual plastic 'push to operate' types. One gripe is that there's no positive feedback when you touch one – aside from physically waiting for it to do as instructed, such as ejecting a disc or playing a song. But there's still the decent-quality bundled remote controller if that bothers you. The display is a reverse liquid crystal type with a crisp green filter; warm, bright and clear, it's different to the ice blue used by everyone else these days. The standard width but slim [75x440x300mm, HxWxD] case is surprisingly robust and well-finished for a budget CD player.

Inside the case is a neat circuit board layout with a toroidal transformer fitted as standard – which is not a given at this price, as switched-mode supplies are often specified to cut costs. Like its amplifier brother, an ESS Sabre ES9018K2M DAC chip is fitted. This is a respected slice of silicon that's been fitted to a number of hi-fi products over recent years, but not typically as inexpensive as this. 

The disc mechanism supports CD, CD-R, and CD-RW formats, so it's 16-bit. 44.1kHz or bust! Alongside analogue stereo RCA outputs on the rear panel sit optical and coaxial digital outputs – meaning that the Fell Disc can also be used as a transport.

THE LISTENING

This has a surprisingly grown-up sound for something that's right down at the bargain basement end of the market. 'Pleasant and polite' is the best way of putting it, and that's not meant disparagingly. Tonally, it's smooth and even, with a slightly soft and light bass that's actually a good complement to its partnering amplifier's fulsome bottom end. The midband is even and fairly detailed, and the treble is crisp and open, albeit slightly lacking in bite. This is all in absolute terms, by the way – compared to the best that Compact Disc can muster.

Its pleasing character makes classic soul tracks, such as Isaac Hayes' epic cover of Walk On By, a lovely thing to hear. It's not a great recording, but the Fell Disc gets the gist of it and serves up an expansive soundstage that almost feels like you can walk right in. It's not quite as enveloping in terms of depth as it is in breadth, but still, there's no sense of the music feeling shut in. Hayes' iconic voice is billiard-smooth and dominates the centre of the recorded acoustic.

The melodic strains of Girl Talk by Dave Edmunds are also well handled; this catchy slice of late seventies new wave sounds lively and engaging and powers along with gusto. The recording is not what you'd classify as 'audiophile quality', not least because the great man's voice sounds anaemic. However, this CD player still captures the song's lovely melody and the energy of the playing. Ditto with the icy perfection of xPropaganda's The Night [xTension]. This bang-up-to-date techno epic is engaging with a sinewy bassline and an infectious groove.

In absolute terms, the Fell Disc is a little dynamically soft and slightly misty across the midband, but never is it uncouth and/or shouty. And the great thing is that once you've saved up for a high-quality DAC such as Chord's Qutest (at just over twice its price), it can then function as a fine-sounding digital transport, especially via the coaxial output. Even on its own, though, sonically, this CD player stands in comparison with the likes of Arcam's more expensive CD5.

THE VERDICT

If you like the look of this player, and/or you're an existing Fell Amp owner, then it's hard to think of a reason to not buy a Fell Disc. It sounds as good as you can get for its modest price, is impressively well-made in the UK, and, of course, can be used as a CD transport should you ever purchase a serious DAC. I'd certainly suggest you audition it if you're still clutching your precious silver discs and don't want to go down the streaming route quite yet.

Visit Fell Audio for more information