Fell Audio Fell Disc.
The Fell Disc brings smooth, forgiving CD sound with a lively midrange, clean treble and an impressively broad soundstage. StereoNET United Kingdom praises its mature, even-handed presentation, while The Ear highlights its warmth, rhythmic energy and freedom from digital glare. Robust construction, a toroidal supply and optical/coaxial outputs make this an outstanding-value player and future-ready transport.
WATT RECOMMENDS
Save your favorites. Compare them anytime.
Create a free HiFi Hub account to save products to your Wishlist and compare your favorites side by side.
Nicely Roasted
Sound Quality
87/100
Build Quality
88/100
Features Usability
84/100
Value for Money
94/100
Pros
Smooth, well-balanced and non-fatiguing presentation avoids digital glare while retaining detail and energy.
Broad, open soundstage and engaging musical momentum, with clear vocals and firm, easy-to-follow bass.
Robust, well-finished chassis, toroidal power transformer and optical/coaxial outputs support later use as a digital transport.
Exceptional value at its price, with performance considered competitive with more expensive CD players.
Cons
Bass can sound slightly soft and light, while the treble trades some bite for its forgiving character.
Ultimate resolution, top-end air, scale and dynamic authority fall short of higher-end digital sources.
Touch controls offer little tactile feedback and can be sensitive to fingerprints.
WATT RECOMMENDS
Save your favorites. Compare them anytime.
Create a free HiFi Hub account to save products to your Wishlist and compare your favorites side by side.
What Reviewers Are Saying
SOUND QUALITY PERFORMANCE 87/100
Reviewers find the Fell Disc notably mature and entertaining for an affordable CD player. Its smooth, forgiving balance avoids old-fashioned digital glare, while offering useful midrange insight, a broad soundstage and enough detail to keep music involving.
Tonal Balance Musicality
89/100
The Ear describes a well-balanced, enjoyable and lively presentation, with a lightly forward midrange and carefully controlled treble that avoids digital hardness. StereoNET similarly finds it smooth, even, pleasant and polite, although bass is somewhat soft and light and the treble gives up a little bite.
Resolution Detail
86/100
Reviewers report precise vocal diction, easy-to-follow bass lines and a detailed enough presentation to remain engaging. StereoNET calls the midband fairly detailed and notes an expansive soundstage, though depth is less convincing than width and the midrange can sound slightly misty.
Digital Performance
86/100
The player is praised for sounding clean and civilised rather than sharp, shouty or fatiguing, with The Ear specifically noting the absence of glare. StereoNET hears some dynamic softness, but considers its overall sound competitive with the more expensive Arcam CD5.
FEATURES USABILITY PERFORMANCE 84/100
The Fell Disc is a straightforward disc player rather than a streaming source, with useful analogue and digital outputs. Reviews say little about remote-control behaviour or everyday interface ergonomics, but its connectivity gives owners a sensible upgrade path through an external DAC.
Streaming Software
84/100
This is a dedicated CD player, so there is no streaming platform or control app to assess. The supplied remote is listed, but reviewers provide little comment on navigation, responsiveness or day-to-day operating experience.
Features Connectivity
85/100
Analogue RCA outputs are joined by both optical and coaxial digital outputs. This lets the Fell Disc work conventionally as a complete CD player or serve as a transport into a future external DAC.
Assessments of Build Quality, Usability, and Overall Propositions.
Build Quality
88/100
Both reviews find the slim chassis impressively robust and well finished for its price. StereoNET also notes the neat internal layout and a toroidal transformer, while The Ear considers it well built enough to feel durable over the long term.
Value for Money
94/100
At £499, reviewers regard the Fell Disc as unusually compelling: StereoNET says it sounds as good as one could expect at its modest price, while The Ear calls out its great price and lack of notable vices. Its sound is also said to compare favourably with Arcam's more expensive CD5, strengthening its appeal against pricier rivals.
Reviews & Sources
Professional reviews and sources for this product's Watt'n Potatoes analysis.
Online Reviews & Mentions
YouTube Reviews
Forum Mentions
No forum mentions found yet
Specifications
- Laser
- 3-beam
- Wavelength
- 790 nm
- Integrated DAC
- ESS Sabre 9018K2M
- Signal-to-noise ratio
- 98 dB
- Harmonic distortion (1 kHz)
- 0.005 %
- Output impedance
- 47 Ohms
- Frequency response
- 10 Hz-20 kHz
- Output level (0dB)
- 2.3 V RMS
- Mains voltage
- 220 V-240 V AC
- Power consumption
- 7.5 watts
- Standby Power consumption
- 0.5 watts
- Dimensions W X D x H (inc feet)
- 440 x 300 x 75 mm
- Weight (net)
- 4.6kg
- What's in the Box?
- The Fell Disc CD Player Power cable Remote control (w/ 2 x AAA batteries) Analogue Interconnects Quick start guide
Manufacturer's Description — Fell Audio
Designed, Engineered and Built‚ in Britain.
Iconic Design
Sleek retro-modern style with inviting capacitive-touch controls complemented by an easy-read dot matrix display.
Flexible connectivity includes optical and coaxial digital outputs, for external DACs and compatible digital-input devices.
Elegant and discreet slot-loading CD mechanism enhances the clean aesthetic.
Technical Precision
Electronic Expertise
On the inside, this UK-made CD player features high-quality components, ensuring superb and reliable playback of your cherished CD collection. It boasts a top-spec, discreet CD mechanism and the high-performance ESS ES9018K2M DAC for optimum sound quality.
British designed, populated and finished PCBs backed by trusted UK quality control.
Capacitive Touch
Superb Sound
British Built
Key Features
Designed with meticulous attention to detail by the Fell Audio team with its 50 years of hi-fi expertise, the Fell Disc sets the highest standards in budget CD playback, delivering outstanding performance at the entry level. Cherished CD collections are often built over decades not years and shouldnâ„¢t be hidden away in the streaming age. Now, music lovers can enjoy lovingly curated collections for years to come, affordably.
- Discreet slot-load CD mechanism
- ESS ES9018K2M DAC for 16-bit to 24-bit audio with sample rates of up to 96 kHz
- Compatible with CD, CD-R, and CD-RW
- Outputs via analogue stereo RCA, as well as digital optical and coaxial outputs
- Sleek design with capacitive touch control and a compact remote control