Gå ubegrenset med Magzter GOLD

Gå ubegrenset med Magzter GOLD

Få ubegrenset tilgang til over 9000 magasiner, aviser og premiumhistorier for bare

$149.99
 
$74.99/År

Prøve GULL - Gratis

MBL NOBLE SERIES N31 CD PLAYER–D/A PROCESSOR

Stereophile

|

December 2020

In Stereophile’s February 2018 issue,1 I reviewed the MBL Noble Line N31, a baroque-styled CD player and D/A processor from German manufacturer MBL.2

- John Atkinson

MBL NOBLE SERIES N31 CD PLAYER–D/A PROCESSOR

The N31 is expensive, at $15,400, but, as I said in my review’s conclusion, digital audio engineering doesn’t get any better and neither does digital sound quality. However, I also wrote that the N31’s absence of a volume control might be a problem for those who’ve sold their preamplifiers, as will be the lack of a network port for those who’ve banished their noisy NAS drives from the listening room. (The N31 does have a USB port—two, actually—which I used with Roon running on a Mac mini.) I also wished that the MBL’s reconstruction filter—the N31 offers a choice of three: Fast and Slow linear-phase filters and a minimum-phase filter— could be selected with the remote control.

At the start of 2020, MBL North America’s Jeremy Bryan let me know that an update for the N31 was available that would address these practical concerns. The N31 can now have a Roon Ready Input Module installed, either in production, which increases the price to $16,420, or retrofitted to existing N31s for $1062 plus the cost of field installation by a qualified technician.3 Bryan warned that some of the oldest N31s, including my review sample (serial number 0034), would have to be returned to the factory for the upgrade.

FLERE HISTORIER FRA Stereophile

Stereophile

Stereophile

Doing it for themselves—and for us

Women have undeniably become the most dynamic and vital creative force in music today. Without their good energies and ideas, music, which in the digital age has become more background than art, would be much less interesting and inspiring.

time to read

3 mins

November 2025

Stereophile

Stereophile

15 FOR 50 1975 IN 15 RECORDS

WAS IT SOMETHING IN THE AIR, SOMETHING IN THE WATER? COSMICALLY INSPIRED BY THE STARS AND THE MOON? OR MAYBE THE DEVIL WAS FINALLY CLAIMING HIS OWN AS ROCK MUSIC IN ALL ITS VARIANTS WAS UNASSAILABLY ASCENDENT.

time to read

12 mins

November 2025

Stereophile

Stereophile

PrimaLuna EVO 300 Hybrid

These days, listeners the wide world over enjoy hearing their music recreated for them by equipment whose origins are international; trade isolationists might consider the example of PrimaLuna.

time to read

10 mins

October 2025

Stereophile

Stereophile

Bricasti Design M21

Those of us who review audio equipment, and even audiophiles who don't, often talk about our reference systems.

time to read

11 mins

October 2025

Stereophile

Stereophile

Pablo Records via Granz and Kassem

Way back in my ignorant youth I thought that Pablo Records, the label of jazz producer/promoter legend Norman Granz, was where jazz artists went to fade away, where they were put out to pasture.

time to read

3 mins

October 2025

Stereophile

Stereophile

Hi-fi for (very) small spaces

For the past few months, I've been getting ready to move. Those of you who've looked for an apartment in New York City know that it may be the single most dismal thing about living here.

time to read

12 mins

October 2025

Stereophile

RECOMMENDED RC2025 COMPONENTS

Every product listed here has been reviewed in Stereophile. Everything on the list, regardless of rating, is genuinely recommendable. Occasionally we get complaints from manufacturers who object to being included in, say, Class B. That's their error: Inclusion in Class B is a significant honor.

time to read

34 mins

October 2025

Stereophile

Stereophile

The Shanling ET3 CD transport

Costing just $899, Shanling's top-loading ET3 CD transport appears to have been designed by people who recognize the multitude of big and small fails (or lost opportunities) of previous CD transports. In use, the ET3 felt like a distillation of what I've always wanted in a transport: strong, solid, compact, cool-looking, and feels good to use. Everyone knows I like pro-audio cool with no froufrou. This Shanling deck looked so damn smart and felt so good to touch that it kept my mind repeating, \"Yep! That's how a CD transport should be built!\"

time to read

11 mins

October 2025

Stereophile

Stereophile

JOHN GIOLAS ASSUMES MARKETING LEADERSHIP AT CH PRECISION AND WATTSON AUDIO

Industry veteran John Giolas, global director of marketing for Swiss-based Wattson Audio since November 2024, has expanded his portfolio by also becoming global director of marketing for Wattson's parent company, CH Precision. The appointment, effective July 16, 2025, consolidates marketing strategy across both Swiss brands under Giolas's direction.

time to read

8 mins

October 2025

Stereophile

Stereophile

CH Precision C10

It takes audacity for a company that already builds one of the finest DACs on the planet, which is already expensive, to set out to build one that's so much better that it warrants an extra digit in the model number and a much higher price tag. But then CH Precision has never lacked audacity.

time to read

16 mins

October 2025

Translate

Share

-
+

Change font size