SACD is back, baby! This beefy new audiophile CD player is deliciously ’90s, and has built-in tube amplification as a bonus

  • The Shanling SCD3.3 is an SACD player with 24-bit R2R DAC and dual tubes
  • Upsampling chip and MQA CD compatibility
  • $3,990 (about £3,000 / AU$6,055)

Shanling is bringing a high-spec SCD3.3 reference Super Audio CD player to the US in December 2025 with a price tag of $3,990 (about £3,000 / AU$6,055).

The SCD3.3 is a reference-grade player with its own 24-bit DAC and built in tube amplification, and Roger Fortier from its US distributor Forte Distribution says its hybrid analog/digital design delivers “sonics that stand out from the standard SACD player.”

The player features a top-loading drive based around Shanling’s HD850 laser. It also supports additional external sources including flash drives and hard disks for Hi-Res Audio up to PCM 768kHz and DSD512.

Shanling SCD3.3 SACD player on a wooden desk

(Image credit: Shanling)

Shanling SCD3.3: key features

The SCD3.3 is housed in a 9.5mm-thick, 10kg aluminum chassis with a transparent opening that enables you to see the light from its tube array, which uses a pair of 12AT7 tubes to deliver warmth and power. The device is controllable via its built-in five-inch touchscreen, and there’s also a controller app for iOS and Android.

The DAC is the second generation of Shanling’s R2R DAC, offering native DSD transport among other features. The player has has RCA and XLR outputs, line-out and a pre-amplifier mode, and plays CDs, SACDs and hybrid CD/SADC discs (but not multichannel ones) and is MQA-CD compatible.

The SCD3.3 is also a Bluetooth 5.0 receiver, with support for LDAC, aptX HD, aptX and the usual SBC and AAC codecs.

With two transformers providing up to 66W of power Shanling says the SDC3.3 is “exceptionally stable”, its two independent sets of oscillators delivering high precision and dramatically reducing jitter.

The US page for the SCD3.3 currently details a different model, but you can browse the full specifications of the SCD3.3 on the Shanling website here.

If the price here is too high for you, this isn’t the only interesting CD player from a Chinese hi-fi breakout company to be unveiled this week: Fiio’s new CD player is much more affordable, smaller, and very desirable – and Shanling actually has its own similar cheaper portable CD player.

Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!

And of course you can also follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form, and get regular updates from us on WhatsApp too.

Read more @ TechRadar

Latest posts

Threads overtakes X on mobile, but still lags far behind

After launching almost three years ago, Meta's Threads is now reportedly attracting more daily mobile users than rival platform X. According to Similarweb data...

Solving AI’s energy challenge: sustainable data centers for a competitive UK future

The world is racing to harness AI's transformative potential, but this revolution comes with a stark reality: AI's energy appetite is enormous and growing...

You can now turn off the Google Chrome AI model behind the scam detection tool – Google confirms AI model was hosted on your...

Google Chrome users will soon be able to opt-out from an AI modelChrome added an AI model as part of the 'enhanced protection' modeThe...

Jet combat and ladder fixes will come to Battlefield 6 tomorrow as part of a smaller patch focused on game stability and extra polish

Battlefield 6 will get a new patch on January 20 at 1am PDT / 4am EDT, 9am GMTThis focuses on melee combat, jet battles,...

IT spending set to hit $1.4 trillion in 2026 – but what exactly are we spending it on?

AI could be pushing IT spend up in 2026, but geopolitical influences are inflating thisRising costs are also forcing companies to fork out more...

This iPhone 17 Pro Max rival could soon steal its crown as the world’s best camera phone, thanks to a unique sensor and 35mm...

The Vivo X300 Ultra could have the industry’s largest multispectral sensorThis should lead to improved color accuracy in photosIt could also have a 35mm...

The Ozone 3K could be the iPhone Air battery pack you’ve been waiting for

The Ozone 3K and Ozone 5K are billed as the world’s thinnest magnetic power banksAt just 4.98mm thick, the Ozone 3K is even thinner...

A prominent Resident Evil leaker claims that a Code: Veronica remake will be announced this year

A prominent leaker claims that a Resident Evil – Code: Veronica remake will be announced this yearThey previously accurately leaked Resident Evil Requiem details...

UCI World Tour 2026 live streams: How to watch cycling online from anywhere

Stream select UCI World Tour 2026 events for FREE on France TV (FRA), Rai (ITA), RTVE (SPA) and SBS On Demand (AUS)Use...

There’s a sneaky way to watch A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms for FREE

HBO’s A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms – the Game of Thrones spin-off based on George R.R. Martin’s beloved Tales of Dunk and Egg...