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When the Grant Fidelity CD-327A arrived I was impressed with the build quality. The solid aluminium faceplate and heavy aluminium remote have the feel of higher end equipment yet it has a modest price. The IEC receptacle locks the power cord in place with an audible snap and holds it there solidly. When you remove a cord it doesnÂ’t slide out loosely like some other gear I own or have owned in the past. I use very stiff and heavy power cords and occasionally when you are working on connections behind the gear and you nudge a power cord it will unplug itself from the receptacles of most of my gear. Not with this CD player. This is important to me because if a cord can unplug itself then it may be only partially pushed into place without you knowing and good connections are important. The RCAÂ’s on the back are spaced apart for larger connectors and are quite long. The remote is a heavy metal piece with a nice feel to it and is fairly well set up.
The first time I heard the player I liked it in my system. There was a good soundstage and it played with authority. There was a good grip of the bass and overall it was quite dynamic. Detail seemed good on first impression as well. I tried the up sampling but the higher choices seemed to rob some of the detail from it so after a couple of times switching through the 44.1, 88.2, 176.4 choices, I left it on the 44.1 as suggested by some of the previous reviewers being their choice as well. I didnÂ’t check to see what brand of tubes are inside this player and I didnÂ’t have any 12AX7Â’s to swap anyway.
When I connected the CD-327A to my Sonic Frontiers Line 2 I used a pair of pure silver RCAÂ’s. I powered it with a Virtual Dynamics David 2 power cord. I did not use the Grant Fidelity power cord supplied so I have no comment on it. I was going to compare to my own tube output CD player, a Cary 303/300. Since the Grant Fidelity doesnÂ’t have balanced connections the comparison had to be done with different cables but would be able to be compared on the fly. The Cary 303/300, besides being perceived as the better player based on price and reputation, has an advantage of better cables and running balanced. The cables are Virtual Dynamics Nite 3 XLRÂ’s and a Virtual Dynamics Nite Platinum power cord. Also, the Cary sits on Vibrapods and has an Isoclean fuse.
The rest of this system consists of the Sonic Frontiers Line 2, as mentioned, which also has a VD Nite Platinum power cord, an Isoclean fuse and sits on Vibrapods. It has Mullard and pinched waist Amperex tubes. The preamp is also connected with Virtual Dynamics Nite 3 XLRÂ’s to the power amp which is a Bryston 4bsst that has a Nite 1 power cord. Speakers are B&W 804sÂ’s connected with VD Master series speaker cables.
When listening to the Grant Fidelity CD-327A on this system, it sounds pretty good as mentioned above. If I didnÂ’t have a better CD player in my system I could live with the CD-327A. It reminds me a bit of the sound of a Classe CDP-10 that I had a couple of years ago. Doing a comparison with the Cary and Grant does reveal some minor weaknesses but this is a $950US player compared to a $4000US player. The bottom end of both the Cary and Grant are tight and well controlled although the presentation differs between the two. The midrange of the CD-327A is good and only misses a bit of detail and body in comparison. Highs are good without any sibilance and in comparison to the Cary, doesnÂ’t quite have the realism of the instruments, but again, if you didnÂ’t have a player like the Cary to compare(with superior connections) the CD-327A would be satisfactory. Over all when switching between the two players the Cary has a more lush, full body sound, with more detail than the CD-327A and the CD-327A is more forward sounding, but the Grant Fidelity player on itÂ’s own is very satisfying on my system.
I also have a Denon 2910 for movies. When I purchased the Denon it was said to be good at audio playback but it was never a contender for any CD player I have owned, even with SACD. I hooked the Denon up with the same power cord and pure silver interconnects as the CD-327A so switching between the two meant physically unplugging one to use the other. Comparing between these two players was, well, not really a comparison at all. The sound quality of the CD-327A is very much superior to that of the Denon 2910. The Denon lacks the tight, well defined bass, lacks the detail and isn’t as ‘musical’ sounding as the Grant Fidelity CD-327A.
The Grant Fidelity CD-327A is a fairly basic CD player and I personally prefer balanced players as I feel that they open up the sound more, influencing the soundstage and midrange bloom. However, this player is in the affordable range for what seems to be a higher end sound in my opinion and balanced operation would have cost more money to build into the design. For the money I was very impressed with the sound and performance of the player. I thank Ian Grant for allowing this free trial of his equipment and if I was setting up a second audio system at home I would seriously consider a complete system of his entry level gear. Not to say that I wouldnÂ’t go with his higher priced components, but I havenÂ’t heard themÂ….yet.
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