CD Player/Transport Reviews

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CD Player/Transport ReviewsAudacious Audio
Proceed CD Library
Corey Greenberg  |  Aug 29, 1998  |  First Published: Aug 29, 1992  |  0 comments
I think I've finally figured out the secret of Stereophile's success. You, cherished reader, don't read this mag because it's chock full o' reviews of tantalizing audio gear (even though it is). And you don't read this mag because JA and RL strive so hard to keep the literary quotient as hi as the fi (even though they do). And I know you don't read this mag cuz trusting yer own sensory input is a mighty scary proposition indeed so you look to Stereophile as to a Holy Bible that eases your Earthly burden by telling you, Ah say Ah say TAILING YEW what to buy (do you?).
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CD Player/Transport Reviews
Proceed CD player
Robert Harley  |  Oct 04, 2011  |  First Published: Feb 01, 1990  |  1 comments
666proceedcd12.jpgThe Proceed CD player is the first digital product from Madrigal Audio Laboratories, a company known for their Mark Levinson preamplifiers and power amplifiers, including the very highly regarded No.20.5 power amplifiers. Given Madrigal's track record of producing ultra–high-end (and expensive) components, I was surprised and encouraged that the Proceed CD player is so affordably priced.

The Proceed was a long time in development, reflecting Madrigal's care and thoroughness before releasing a new product. Many technical innovations have been incorporated into the Proceed, and the machine's unusual appearance exemplifies the "start from scratch" attitude behind its development. With its nearly square proportions, grey cabinet, and sparse front-panel controls, the Proceed may set a new trend in audio component styling.

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CD Player/Transport Reviews
PS Audio DirectStream Memory Player universal transport
Robert Deutsch  |  Sep 26, 2017  |  7 comments
The first time I heard a CD player in my own system was in 1983, the first year of the format's introduction in the West. CD players were generally hard to come by, but I had a friend who worked for Sony, and he came over with his new toy: Sony's next-to-top-of-the-line CD player. (I think it was a CDP-501.) We connected it to my system—at the time, Quad ESLs driven by a Luxman tube amplifier, with a Linn turntable—and listened to some Sony demo CDs.
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CD Player/Transport Reviews
PS Audio Lambda CD transport
Robert Harley  |  Dec 08, 2015  |  First Published: Oct 01, 1993  |  0 comments
It's easy for reviewers to become jaded by the high prices of some audio products. We get the products in our listening rooms—albeit temporarily—without having to part with our own money. Consequently, we get enthusiastic about products that offer real breakthroughs without, perhaps, fully considering their cost.
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CD Player/Transport Reviews
Quad 99 CDP-2 CD player
Wes Phillips  |  Jan 22, 2006  |  0 comments
You can't always get what you want, but sometimes you get what you need—and Quad, bless its cockamamie heart, is the company that gave it to me.
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CD Player/Transport ReviewsIntegrated Amp Reviews
Quad Artera Solus integrated amplifier/CD player
Herb Reichert  |  Mar 06, 2020  |  19 comments
The Quad Electroacoustics Ltd. Artera Solus is a multifunction audio component that was designed to look smart on top of a bureau in a living room or office. It comes with a thick, removable smoked-glass top that complements its compact dimensions. It weighs 25lb, and, in addition to being attractive, feels genuinely solid and well-made. Like its Artera-series stablemates, the Artera Solus strikes an intriguing engineering and aesthetic balance between decorator-friendly lifestyle product and serious audiophile product worthy of the Quad name.
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CD Player/Transport ReviewsBudget Component Reviews
Radio Shack Optimus CD-3400 portable CD player
Sam Tellig, Various  |  Jun 30, 1995  |  First Published: Jun 30, 1994  |  0 comments
"You are not going to believe this."
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Budget Component ReviewsCD Player/Transport Reviews
Rega Apollo CD player
Art Dudley  |  Jun 26, 2006  |  0 comments
You've heard it said that the early bird catches the worm, which is all well and good if you like worms. If you're more interested in music, you might want to follow the lead of Roy Gandy instead: He's the managing director of Rega Research, a 331/3-year-old audio company that was the very last of its kind to enter the CD market. Rega's first CD player, the Planet of 1996, was a success in virtually every way.
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CD Player/Transport ReviewsBudget Component Reviews
Rega Planet CD player
Sam Tellig  |  Jun 04, 1997  |  0 comments
At last—a CD player from a company that doesn't like CD.
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CD Player/Transport Reviews
Rega Research Apollo CD player
Art Dudley  |  May 17, 2018  |  3 comments
I've been looking at this all wrong.

My recent informal survey of ca $10,000 CD players has been based on two assumptions: that the people reading those reviews would be looking for their last-ever CD player, and that such a purchase would require Serious Money.

In addition to such things as the best available design and parts, the most luxurious enclosure, and the utmost in reliability, Serious Money is presumed to buy durability of value: Any appliance that costs $10,000 today had damn well better be worth more than nothing in five or ten years.

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CD Player/Transport ReviewsDigital Processor ReviewsComputer Audio Reviews
Resolution Audio Cantata Music Center
Jon Iverson  |  Nov 10, 2011  |  3 comments
The dual subwoofers were bumping and our pant legs were flapping. Only moments before, we'd been treated to a polite viola da gamba. Not now. Resolution Audio's designer, Jeff Kalt, had brought only two discs with him to ensure that his company's Cantata Music Center was functioning properly in my system: Jordi Savall and Hespérion XXI's Altre Follie, 1500–1750 (CD, Alia Vox 9844), and Tool's 10,000 Days (CD, Tool Dissectional/Volcano 81991). After changing a few things around with the chamber music, we'd advanced to the hard rock of Tool.
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CD Player/Transport ReviewsBudget Component Reviews
Rotel RCD-955AX and RCD-965BX CD players
Corey Greenberg  |  Apr 17, 2014  |  First Published: Mar 01, 1992  |  1 comments
On the mantel sat a stuffed Culo snake from Nuevo Laredo, with a red rubber tongue in freeze-frame flick. Above the bookcase hung the mounted head of a wild poi dog, killed in self-defense in Sri Lanka with only a Phillips-head screwdriver. A table-lamp made from a shellac'd, puffed-up frog wearing a sombrero and playing the contrabassoon bathed the room in a soft cream glow.
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CD Player/Transport ReviewsBudget Component ReviewsIntegrated Amp Reviews
Shanling MC-30 Music Center CD receiver
Art Dudley  |  Mar 18, 2008  |  0 comments
My first one-piece stereo—I think I paid $60 for it, including a pair of speakers with pegboard backs—gave me a lot of pleasure when I was young, and I loved it. Everything that came after has been better in every way but one: None has inspired that kind of love. And most have left me wondering if there might be something just a little bit better.
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CD Player/Transport Reviews
Simaudio Moon Eclipse CD player
Brian Damkroger  |  Apr 06, 2001  |  0 comments
"Isn't it nice to have some bastions of stability in an ever-changing world?"
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CD Player/Transport Reviews
Simaudio Moon Equinox CD player
John Atkinson  |  Sep 09, 2004  |  First Published: Sep 01, 2004  |  0 comments
Simaudio has been doing well in the middle of the high-end market, providing products such as their Moon i-5 integrated amplifier (reviewed by Chip Stern in July 2002), which offers a glimpse of high-quality sound at an affordable price. That's not to say that the Canadian manufacturer neglects the cost-no-object market: the two-box, $5700, Simaudio Moon Eclipse CD player impressed the heck out of Brian Damkroger when he reviewed it for Stereophile in April 2001 (with a Follow-Up in April 2003). So when Simaudio's Lionel Goodfield offered me their Moon Equinox player ($2000) for inclusion in my irregular series of CD-player reviews (footnote 1), I didn't need to be asked twice.
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