Fell Audio Fell Disc

Fell Audio's first attempt at a CD player falls flat

- 

On the face of it, the Fell Disc has a neat and eye-catching design. The silver chassis and black/green display combo harks back to the golden era of '80s British hi-fi.

Unsurprisingly, it has been designed to match its Fell Amp sibling (see p16), so you have an overhanging frame which wraps around the top and sides of the player.

Placed next to the Marantz CD6007, the Fell looks more interesting, but the Marantz still has class and refinement in spades. The Fell's minimalist fascia with its slot-loading mechanism and touch-sensitive control buttons provides plenty of shelf appeal, but the large power button feels a little cumbersome. The touch-sensitive controls look nice, but we don't find them enjoyable to use, and they are sometimes hit and miss in terms of responsiveness.

Another quirk we discover is the repeat control, which you touch once to repeat the same track and again for the whole CD. For some reason, though, the button keeps flashing in the latter mode, and won't stop. We are, though, big fans of the slot-loading mechanism, which is smooth and quiet.