I am the original owner since 2000 and have it's only been used by me, an adult owner. It is a cd player for audiophiles who love analog. If you like records, this is the cd player for you!
I used this very lightly as I had many audiophile systems. Since 2006, due to a move. it was used even less frequently in an adult only, non-smoking home.
The cd player has RCA and balanced out, along with digital out if you ever wanted to use an external dac. I have tried dacs with more resolution, such as a modified PS Audio DLink III with 96/192 bit resolution, but then lost the musicality of this all in one player. If you love tubes, excellent sound-stanging and a warm vocal sound, you'll love this BAT cd player.
I am rating at 7/10 for age. The front is slightly faded. There are no dings or scratches. The remote is almost like new. It plays fine, no problems with reading disks except for scratched ones!
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From Jonathan Scull's review in Stereophile:
"ll of the BAT VK-D5's best qualities were those I most often associate with tubes. To begin, the VK-D5 turned out one of the most developed midbands I've ever heard from a digital product. I'm not talking about smarm, euphony, or an over-sweetened, time to make the donuts glaze? On the contrary, there was always a ton of information available in the mids, and the naturally heightened resolution served the music in a most appealing and gratifying manner. This was certainly enhanced by the totally grainless, airy, and bloomy soundfield the VK-D5 presented without ever breaking into a sweat. I would say this special resolution was slightly more in evidence in the midband than at either frequency extreme, but this is a minor cavil."
From Wayne Garcia's review on Fi:
"What the VK-D5 does so wonderfully well is make CD's come to life with the richly-layered tonality, multi-tiered dynamics, and expansive volume–as in the way it projects instrumental air with weight and body–that is usually associated with the very best analog gear....Despite what some of you may be thinking about those six output tubes, the VK-D5 is quite a neutral machine. There is nothing overtly tube-y to its sound"
