Transparent wall-mounted CD player raises over $540,000 on Kickstarter - $109 Syitren RM1's visible disc and mechanisms channel 90s B&O nostalgia with Bluetooth and battery power

A transparent, wall-mountable CD player from Syitren has passed $540,000 in Kickstarter funding, according to the product's campaign. The RM1 encloses a compact disc reader in a "borderless" acrylic frame that can be hung on a wall or placed on a shelf, with its components and moving parts left visible to the user. The transparent design extends to the read head assembly, the battery compartment and the onboard controls, and a backlight LED appears to sit beneath the moving harness.

The unit is priced at $109 for the main player. Buyers can also pay $139 for a bundle that adds Syitren's N200 Bluetooth speaker, which carries design cues inspired by Braun. Two RM1 players sell for $169, or $84.50 each, and a four-pack runs $319, or $79.75 per unit. The N200 speaker is available on its own for $59 in beige or black.

Syitren's player targets cable-free use through Bluetooth audio output and a rechargeable 2000 mAh battery in an 18650 size, which the campaign says should provide six to eight hours of playback and recharge in one to two hours over USB-C. It reads standard CDs as well as data discs holding MP3 files. A 3.5-mm jack is included for wiring audio to a separate device.

The RM1's styling draws on the Bang & Olufsen Beosound 9000, the tower CD player and changer that became a fixture in film and television productions needing futuristic-looking audio equipment. The product is not alone in its category. It competes with the Coolgeek M1, the Clearframe CD Player and the Moondrop Discream 2, all of which share the idea of exposing the disc and mechanical parts. The RM1 appears aimed at nostalgia and industrial design fans rather than audiophiles.

The claimed "hi-fi" audio output has limits worth noting. Over Bluetooth, the unit supports only the baseline SBC and AAC codecs, with no modern protocols or lossless transport. The wired output is specified at more than 70 dB of dynamic range and distortion under 0.1 percent, figures below those of even early desktop CD players.

For comparison, an affordable audio interface such as the Audient Evo 4 offers a dynamic range of 113 dB and THD under 0.0015 percent. Decibels are logarithmic, so the gap between those ratings is larger than the raw numbers suggest. The RM1 should still suit compact Bluetooth speakers, though it is unlikely to satisfy listeners who connect it to larger amplification.

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