CD Player/Transport Reviews

Why didn't you use your swiss army knife to get the V2 open? I bet it would've worked.

Whose going to buy a 1970's 'Wal Mart bargain section' looking box with two near-obsolete technologies as its built in inputs and externally 'designed' by a guy who 'designed' the externals of a long-obsolete camera, a couple of vacuum cleaners, a 'failed in the market' electric shaver, and the 'blow up in a week' Musical Fidelity A1 amplifier?

Not too many, I suspect.

What's that 'hollow' in the case to the left of the CD tray for? Cookies?

Page 2 answers some of your questions (without even going through the text).

It's AURA's design. Not sure what make you prefer, but for some (many?) consistency is an asset, also when it comes to appearance & design. And in this regard Aura is no different to Burmester, McIntosh, Accuphase.

Nuff said. Disrespectful jag.

Its just 'stuff'. Respect is not relevant. You respect people, not 'stuff'.
And this is just a rehash of an out of date, not notably brilliant nor notably success earlier one. Even its two main inputs support near obslolete services, CD and FM. So even the PEOPLE who put it on the market are not worthy of any significant respect. The actual product' good or bad, never can be.

Just 'product' like a car or washing machine. You don't 'respect' them, you just buy them or don't buy them.

If you think you do, you are a fully-trained 'consumer'. Sadly, many people are.

As an April Music dealer with a V2 on display I feel I must chime in.

The V2 is a cool little device that makes a perfect transition product for many people who haven't made the full transition to streaming audio.

The V2 is not a perfect product but boy does it sound good and work well. Yes many people will not use the CD or FM tuner sections but it is really nice to be able to spin a disc without having to load it into a computer first.

It is also nice to be able to hear a local radio station and the Blu tooth streaming actually sounds quite good so does the built in Usb dac.

So if you look at all the flexibility to play conventional sources, streaming usb and apt x blu tooth, with a good sounding amp and preamp stage you have a very flexible and practical product which is great for a second system or for the person who is just starting out.

We brought in the V2 to be a less expensive starter product than what you would find from many competitors.

The V2 sounds really quite superb it has a big sound with a lot of detail and it is a joy to use and it is sexy.

So is it for everyone it isn't but what product is? For $2,500.00 you are getting a lot of sound and flexibility for your money, add in a nice set of Kef LS 50 and you have a great little system.

Be warned, this company has no repair facilities in North America . If your amp is on the fritz {as mine has been for the same proplem 3 times , twice under warranty withuout a lasting fix} you will have to send it to Korea at your expense, at a cost of around $500. I will never deal with these disreputable idiots again!

I have the April music Stello ai500. Stereophile gave it a short but good review in 2011. Other review sites loved it. I really like the way the DAC sounds, better then my NAD M51. Never read a bad review about any April Music products. Lots of CD player reviews still fill the pages of your magazine. I don't think CD's are dead or obsolete at all, not with the new DAC's doing DSD.