Ruark’s svelte CD player compliments its retro sound systems
Plug and play with all 100 series models
Brit sound brand Ruark might be devoted to digital these days, but that’s not to say it has forgotten its storied history with physical media. Its latest launch, the R-CD100, is hoping to please music fans that have held firmly onto their stacks of CDs, and also have a taste for stylish hi-fi gear.
This slim slot-loading CD player was designed to be the perfect match to Ruark’s 100 series streaming music systems, including the R410 all-in-one, freestanding R810 radiogram, and just-add-speakers R610. Its chassis uses the same hand-crafted walnut wood, sandwiched between machined metal top and bottom plates, to perfectly blend in with an existing Ruark setup. There’s just an eject button and a power LED up front, with the CD slot stealthed cleverly into the front face.
It’s USB-powered for minimal cable mess, and there’s no setup needed. As soon as it’s plugged in, each 100 Series system will add it as a new source within the input list automatically.
Naturally it’ll play any home-made CD-R compilations you’ve still got kicking around as well as retail CDs, and promises to be ‘whisper-quiet’ while playing, thanks to an acoustically isolated enclosure. All the digital signal processing is taken care of on the system end, rather than the CD player side – so don’t think you can plug a pair of headphones in for standalone listening.
The 100 Series systems already played nicely with third-party turntables, so the R-CD100 brings its physical media tally up to two. That’s on top of FM, digital and internet radio, Spotify and Tidal Connect, AirPlay and Google Cast, so there’s now little they can’t play.
The R-CD100 is available right now, from all the usual Ruark retailers – as well as direct from Ruark itself – for £250/$350.
Tom Morgan-Freelander
Deputy Editor 
