Some time ago I was looking at my old CDs and thinking: what a shame not to be able to enjoy them again. These days we have plenty of streaming platforms, which in many cases offer quality that’s even better than what our old discs can provide. But I think—or at least this is my view—that, just like with vinyl, listening to a CD is not just pressing play. It’s taking it out of its sleeve and placing it in the player, going back to the moment you bought it, remembering the first times you listened to it, and pulling out the booklet again to enjoy the artwork that comes with it.
In my current audio setup, unfortunately, the CD player disappeared a long time ago, and my collection was left gathering dust in drawers and boxes. A few days ago, the new Fosi Merak CD Player landed in my hands—and my CD collection finally saw daylight again.
Once in hand, the feel is familiar—the material reminds me of my MacBook Air M2. I also noticed the orange side slider used to raise and lower the volume. On the back you’ll find the switch button to enable/disable ESP, the line‑out jack, the USB‑A port for connecting USB flash drives, the optical output, the 12V trigger output, and USB‑C power.
On the front there’s the power button and source selector (CD‑USB), the line‑out selector, play/pause, the OLED information display, forward and back buttons, and the stop and ripping button. Above the OLED display there’s a small notch that helps you open the tray to insert the CD.
Amplifier: Wiim AMP
Speakers: Dali Specktor 2
Inputs: Optical and LINE‑IN
My current setup is a Wiim AMP connected to a pair of Dali Specktor 2, so I connect the CD player to the Wiim’s optical input and to its line input as well.
I set it up this way to compare both connections and decide which one I prefer. It’s not necessary to connect both outputs for the player to work correctly.
According to Fosi’s documentation, it’s best to set the ESP switch to off.
ESP (Electronic Skip Protection) minimizes playback interruptions caused by vibration or movement, ensuring stable and smooth music playback. It operates by pre‑reading and buffering audio data, while dynamically adjusting the disc reading speed to maintain consistent playback. Merak allows ESP to be enabled or disabled according to user preference. For the purest sound quality, it is recommended to disable ESP in a stationary listening environment. ESP is best suited for mobile or vibration‑prone usage scenarios.
I choose The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd to test both configurations. To select the line output, I press the OPT button until “LINE” appears on the screen and, after 12 seconds, playback starts.
During listening, the sound is excellent: bass is strong and well controlled, mids and vocals are clear, and treble is clean. I also check the output level from a technical standpoint.
Then I switch the source to OPT, wait the 12 seconds for the change to apply, and start listening through the optical output. The experience is also very good—bass is solid, mids and vocals remain clear, and treble stays crisp. Still, by feel, it seems to sound better. I don’t know whether that’s due to the output itself or the amplifier, but I like it more.
I change discs and put on Metallica’s Black Album, starting with “Enter Sandman”. The opening guitar sounds impressive, the drums hit hard, and when the vocals come in everything is very, very clear. I switch back to Line, restart the track, and the same thing happens as with Pink Floyd: everything is great, but I still prefer the optical output.
Switching genres, I try Unplugged by The Corrs. The violins and vocals sound amazing. With the LINE output, the values shown are the same as with the optical output, and yet I still feel optical sounds better. At the same levels, I notice treble is more refined and bass isn’t as boosted.
Headphones: Sennheiser HD 25‑1 II
Even though I have other headphones, I chose my old Sennheisers because they don’t have a built‑in DAC and they cover a very wide frequency range.
I start again with Pink Floyd. The heartbeat at the beginning feels almost physical, the background voice is clearly distinguishable, and overall everything sounds very good. I keep the volume at 17. I raise it to 21 and the cymbals become very clear, but it starts to distort. I bring it back down to 18 and it’s enjoyable again.
Next up is Metallica’s Black Album. The opening guitar is spectacular and when the drums kick in, it feels like a cannon. The riff is great, although to my taste the treble is a bit too elevated. When the vocals come in it’s still enjoyable, but I think the highs slightly overpower them and the drums have a lot of presence.
I switch to Unplugged by The Corrs. The opening violins sound fantastic and the drums are great too. However, as with Metallica, I still think the treble is pushed too far. The vocals are perfectly intelligible, but at times the highs reduce their presence.
That said, there are a few things I miss on this device. For example, the USB‑A to USB‑C cable: I think a USB‑C to USB‑C cable would be more convenient. The CD ripping feature doesn’t make much sense to me. It works well, but it feels a bit cumbersome to use and it doesn’t let you choose the output format for the files you’re saving. I also miss Bluetooth, which would be genuinely useful.
I find it interesting that it includes ESP, which is great for situations where the device might be moving, but it has no battery for standalone use—which would be the most likely scenario for that kind of use.
I really liked the track skip behavior because, on live recordings, there are no silent gaps between transitions, which is wonderful. I also enjoyed the sound output on both LINE and OPT. As for the headphone output, the sound is very good as long as you don’t push the volume too high. I recommend listening between 15 and 20, because above that treble starts to distort. Bass and mids don’t behave the same way—they feel great—but in some moments, treble can still make mids and vocals lose a bit of presence.
In my current audio setup, unfortunately, the CD player disappeared a long time ago, and my collection was left gathering dust in drawers and boxes. A few days ago, the new Fosi Merak CD Player landed in my hands—and my CD collection finally saw daylight again.
What’s in the box
The packaging is nicely presented and feels premium. Inside you’ll find the CD player, the remote control, a USB‑C to USB‑A cable, an optical cable, a 3.5 mm jack to RCA cable, and the manual. For safety reasons, the remote’s batteries are not included.Technical Specs
| General Specifications | ||
| Chipset | SC6137D+CS43131+TPA6120 | |
| Maximum sampling rate | CD | PCM 96kHz - 16bit |
| USB (USB flash drives) | PCM 96kHz - 16bit | |
| Headphone impedance | 16-300 Ω | |
| Input | USB A (USB flash drives) CD | |
| Output | 3.5mm headphones jack - LINE - OPT - 12V trigger | |
| CD formats | CDDA, CD-R / CD-RW (partially readable). Original pressed discs are recommended. | |
| CD-R formats | Supports CD-R discs containing FLAC / WAV / WMA / AAC / MP3 files. | |
| SACD | Not supported. However, SACDs with a CD layer can be played. | |
| IR remote control | Supports a maximum operating distance of up to 7 meters. | |
| Firmware upgrade | Firmware can be updated online via a USB-A port using a USB flash drive. Firmware download link: https://support.fosiaudio.com/products/merak | |
| Audio formats supported for USB drive playback | MP3 / WAV / FLAC / AAC / APE / WMA | |
| Input voltage | DC 5V / 2A | |
| Audio Performance | ||
| 3.5 mm Output Performance (CD) | ||
| Rated output power | L+R ≥ 210mW + 210mW (32Ω/THD+N<1%) | |
| SNR | 121 dB (A-weighted) | |
| THD+N | 0.002% (A-weighted) | |
| Dynamic range | 121 dB | |
| Noise floor | ≤ 3𝛍V (A-weighted) | |
| LINE Output Performance (CD) | ||
| Output level | ≥2Vrms | |
| SNR | 124 dB (A-weighted) | |
| THD+N | 0.0009% (A-weighted) | |
| Dynamic range | 124 dB | |
| Noise floor | ≤ 3𝛍V (A-weighted) |
On the front there’s the power button and source selector (CD‑USB), the line‑out selector, play/pause, the OLED information display, forward and back buttons, and the stop and ripping button. Above the OLED display there’s a small notch that helps you open the tray to insert the CD.
Connection and listening experience
The player lets you enjoy CDs in different ways: connecting it to your system via Optical or Line, or plugging in headphones. In the first two cases, the player’s volume control is disabled and the output level is fixed at maximum (32).Optical / Line-out connection
Setup:Amplifier: Wiim AMP
Speakers: Dali Specktor 2
Inputs: Optical and LINE‑IN
My current setup is a Wiim AMP connected to a pair of Dali Specktor 2, so I connect the CD player to the Wiim’s optical input and to its line input as well.
I set it up this way to compare both connections and decide which one I prefer. It’s not necessary to connect both outputs for the player to work correctly.
According to Fosi’s documentation, it’s best to set the ESP switch to off.
ESP (Electronic Skip Protection) minimizes playback interruptions caused by vibration or movement, ensuring stable and smooth music playback. It operates by pre‑reading and buffering audio data, while dynamically adjusting the disc reading speed to maintain consistent playback. Merak allows ESP to be enabled or disabled according to user preference. For the purest sound quality, it is recommended to disable ESP in a stationary listening environment. ESP is best suited for mobile or vibration‑prone usage scenarios.
I choose The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd to test both configurations. To select the line output, I press the OPT button until “LINE” appears on the screen and, after 12 seconds, playback starts.
During listening, the sound is excellent: bass is strong and well controlled, mids and vocals are clear, and treble is clean. I also check the output level from a technical standpoint.
Then I switch the source to OPT, wait the 12 seconds for the change to apply, and start listening through the optical output. The experience is also very good—bass is solid, mids and vocals remain clear, and treble stays crisp. Still, by feel, it seems to sound better. I don’t know whether that’s due to the output itself or the amplifier, but I like it more.
I change discs and put on Metallica’s Black Album, starting with “Enter Sandman”. The opening guitar sounds impressive, the drums hit hard, and when the vocals come in everything is very, very clear. I switch back to Line, restart the track, and the same thing happens as with Pink Floyd: everything is great, but I still prefer the optical output.
Switching genres, I try Unplugged by The Corrs. The violins and vocals sound amazing. With the LINE output, the values shown are the same as with the optical output, and yet I still feel optical sounds better. At the same levels, I notice treble is more refined and bass isn’t as boosted.
Headphone output
Setup:Headphones: Sennheiser HD 25‑1 II
Even though I have other headphones, I chose my old Sennheisers because they don’t have a built‑in DAC and they cover a very wide frequency range.
I start again with Pink Floyd. The heartbeat at the beginning feels almost physical, the background voice is clearly distinguishable, and overall everything sounds very good. I keep the volume at 17. I raise it to 21 and the cymbals become very clear, but it starts to distort. I bring it back down to 18 and it’s enjoyable again.
Next up is Metallica’s Black Album. The opening guitar is spectacular and when the drums kick in, it feels like a cannon. The riff is great, although to my taste the treble is a bit too elevated. When the vocals come in it’s still enjoyable, but I think the highs slightly overpower them and the drums have a lot of presence.
I switch to Unplugged by The Corrs. The opening violins sound fantastic and the drums are great too. However, as with Metallica, I still think the treble is pushed too far. The vocals are perfectly intelligible, but at times the highs reduce their presence.
Conclusions
If you don’t have a CD player in your audio setup and want to enjoy your CDs again, this one is a great choice. It’s also a good option if you don’t have a CD player and want to connect it to a computer to listen with headphones.That said, there are a few things I miss on this device. For example, the USB‑A to USB‑C cable: I think a USB‑C to USB‑C cable would be more convenient. The CD ripping feature doesn’t make much sense to me. It works well, but it feels a bit cumbersome to use and it doesn’t let you choose the output format for the files you’re saving. I also miss Bluetooth, which would be genuinely useful.
I find it interesting that it includes ESP, which is great for situations where the device might be moving, but it has no battery for standalone use—which would be the most likely scenario for that kind of use.
I really liked the track skip behavior because, on live recordings, there are no silent gaps between transitions, which is wonderful. I also enjoyed the sound output on both LINE and OPT. As for the headphone output, the sound is very good as long as you don’t push the volume too high. I recommend listening between 15 and 20, because above that treble starts to distort. Bass and mids don’t behave the same way—they feel great—but in some moments, treble can still make mids and vocals lose a bit of presence.
Pros
- Excellent sound via OPT and LINE
- ESP (Electronic Skip Protection)
- Solid construction and design
Cons
- No Bluetooth
- No battery
- Treble can be too elevated on headphones
- 12‑second delay when switching sources
- No USB‑C port for media (only USB‑A for drives)
