CD Player/Transport Reviews

Bow Technologies ZZ-Eight CD player Specifications

Sidebar 3: Specifications

Description: One-box HDCD CD player with remote control. Frequency response: 5Hz–20kHz, ±0.3dB. Output level: 2.75V RMS. Measured output impedance: 45 ohms. Phase linearity: >0.3°. Channel separation: >98dB at 1kHz. S/N ratio: >110dB. THD: 0.002% at 1kHz; 0.007%, 10Hz–20kHz.
Dimensions: 16.75" (430mm) W by 3.75" (96mm) H by 13.25" (340mm) D. Weight: 35.25lb (16kg).
Serial number of unit reviewed: 00277.
Price: $6900 (1998); no longer available (2020). Approximate number of dealers: 10.
Manufacturer: Bow Technologies A/S, Amicisvej 19, 1852 Frederiksberg C., Denmark (1998). As of 2009 the contact information for Bow Technologies was listed as Durob Audio BV, PO Box 109, 5250 AC Vlijmen, The Netherlands. Tel: 31 73 511 2555. Web: www.bowtechnologies.com/new/index.html and www.durob.nl/selectie_bow.htm.

COMPANY INFO
Bow Technologies
Durob Audio BV
PO Box 109
5250 AC Vlijmen, The Netherlands
www.bowtechnologies.com
ARTICLE CONTENTS

COMMENTS
tonykaz's picture
Submitted by tonykaz on September 10, 2020 - 8:04pm

"I'd buy it and be done with it, it's that good"

I expect and even demand honesty from reviewers. Reviewers at Stereophile have ( or should have ) a fiduciary responsibility to readership, shouldn't they?

It seems blatantly obvious that you have a disdain for all things 16/44, so why make an obviously dishonest attribution ?

I have you as a person whose nervous system is intentionally tuned to all things 33.3. I also had that synapse tuning arrangement, back in the day. I lately changed my synapse tuning to 16/44 ( it's like changing from Vodka to Scotch from the Islays, it's no big deal that rewards with vastly improved utility ) .

I would enjoy your observations if I felt a consistent honesty.

Tony in Venice

Ortofan's picture
Submitted by Ortofan on September 11, 2020 - 2:25am

... an analog disc fanboy?

Cut the poor fellow some slack.
At the time of the review, it's been 10 years since CDs started outselling LPs and it will be another decade before the vinyl revival begins in earnest.

If you want to complain, then note that MF is comparing playback from a $7K CD player with that from a turntable/tonearm/cartridge/phono stage setup with a combined cost of $15-20K. Is that in any way equitable?

Likewise, where are the comparisons with some other CD players in the same price range? A comparison with a $300 DVD player seems rather pointless.

JHL's picture
Submitted by JHL on September 11, 2020 - 8:13am

...need less projecting and moralizing and more letting go and perspective. I tend to think that the kindly reviewer, column given here for free, isn't an elected or ordained official of vast and ponderous truths.

He's a *reviewer* and this is, for now anyway, a free market.

This is entertainment, not dialysis. -N. Pass.

tonykaz's picture
Submitted by tonykaz on September 11, 2020 - 9:17am

a

JHL's picture
Submitted by JHL on September 11, 2020 - 9:15am

...what that means, but if you were a dealer, your first obligation by your own rules and usual customer expectation, was to assess and report on these same wares. Maybe some helplessness overtook the stocking, auditioning dealership that it could neither advise or counter in the face of a magazine brought in off the street.

Which leaves intact the question of badgering an ancient column for the writer's purported want of professionalism or acuity, if that's what you're alluding.

Jim Austin's picture
Submitted by Jim Austin on September 11, 2020 - 9:28am

It almost seems like you want a slap-down. Well, I hope this will suffice.

This reviewer's statement probably mis-led but it makes sense if the review is actually a Presenting & Promotion. ( Jim Austin will give me a slap-down for accusing this )

I can't quite parse what you've written here, so I'm not sure if it's offensive or not. Maybe I should just point out that this review was published in 1998, and the company that made the product is long gone. I find it a little strange to get all personal and indignant about something written 22 years ago. But never mind.

Otherwise, I'll just say that while no one writes for Stereophile who isn't willing to call it like he [edit: or she] hears it, Michael Fremer is probably the most outspoken and plainspoken of all of us--and has been for as long as I can remember.

Times are tough--I know I could use a vacation. You?

Jim Austin, Editor
Stereophile

MatthewT's picture
Submitted by MatthewT on September 11, 2020 - 9:38am

Thanks very much.

tonykaz's picture
Submitted by tonykaz on September 11, 2020 - 12:33pm

Thanks for writing.

I have many things in common with 33.3 and Mr.MF.

Reviewers have been ( since the days of Stereo Review & the English Mags of the 1980s ) closing with positive comments, despite not seeming to like or appreciate the reviewed devices. It almost seems a mandatory inclusion.

Some reviewers never use an apologagetic endorsement i.e. Jim Austin, J Gordon Holt, HR, Kal R., Steve G and of course the original JA1 ( true his entire life of reviewing ) . The closest JA1 ever came was to give the Adcom GFA555 a Class C recommendation after Anthony Cordesman looooooved it, after Holt sort of loved it and after reviewing the amp himself.

I feel that reviewers are "higher authorities" but they still need juried supervision in their choice of phrases. ( the measurement guy has been consistently brilliant )

Tony in Venice

ps. your new lady reviewer seems gifted

ps.2. Tyll was outstanding as are a few others that I should mention like our Canadian Stereophile Robert.

Michael Fremer's picture
Submitted by Michael Fremer on September 13, 2020 - 9:02am

I concur!

Michael Fremer's picture
Submitted by Michael Fremer on September 13, 2020 - 9:08am

For the same reason. Perhaps you didn't notice the date I wrote that review. I did not make a dishonest attribution. Not sure why you think that. It's funny because when the importer came to pick up the unit they made me an offer for purchase that had I accepted would have been dishonest. But I didn't take it because I am honest. Yes, I don't like 16/44 now though it's surely gotten better and I certainly didn't like it then but my likes and dislikes are not really the story. I do still prefer records. It's not even close for me but I did buy a dCS Vivaldi One and I do like playing my SACDs and streaming high resolution on Qobuz and Tidal. Reading this review for the first time in decades I rather enjoyed it and think it proves me prescient. You think otherwise. That's fine. Enjoy your 16/44. But please add the .1.

Anton's picture
Submitted by Anton on September 13, 2020 - 12:25pm

I may be asked to turn in my audiophile card, but....

I like rocking to Radar Love in my VW.

I like listening to Louis and Ella and my now vintage Oppo UDP-205. (Insane tangential drift in this parenthetical, I just checked the model number to make sure I got it right and saw the secondary market prices, yow!)

I like CD, SACD, analog, cassette, reel to reel (even vintage commercial reels. Check out the old commercial release of Bridge Over Troubled Water and marvel!)

It's important, if we really do claim to be in it for the music, that we don't act as if we can only enjoy music "without pops and clicks," or if it is pure AAA analog...I get that an essential part of our recreation is identifying or creating differences between gear, but doesn't the joy hit you just as well when LCD Soundsytem starts singing about Daft Punk playing at his house during your commute? Or when Muse's "Madness" pops up on Sirius at the office?

If music only satisfies via a specific Hi Fi format on a 'qualifying' system, then we are really just gear fetishists.

End of rant.

rschryer's picture
Submitted by rschryer on September 13, 2020 - 4:07pm

...until you had to mention cassette.

Turn in your Audiophile card, sir. Right now! Do not make this any more difficult than it has to be.

tonykaz's picture
Submitted by tonykaz on September 13, 2020 - 10:20pm

Can I have my Card Back?

I don't even remember getting it.

Did you scoop it up before they got around to mailing ?

Tony in Venice

ps. when are y'all gonna float down to my little "incubator for old people" in Venice?

I'll take you Kayak Fishing and let you enjoy the associations of all the other Canadians ( Montreal & Quebecers & Ontarios & Yellow Knife folks )

But, we replaced Hockey with shuffleboard and wacky-tobaccy

Tony in Venice

rschryer's picture
Submitted by rschryer on September 14, 2020 - 7:01am

...for old people" in Venice?

When I get old. :-)

Ortofan's picture
Submitted by Ortofan on September 14, 2020 - 1:51am

... any of the pre-recorded cassette tapes from Telarc?

tonykaz's picture
Submitted by tonykaz on September 13, 2020 - 10:11pm

It feels that we are now sailing into the uncharted waters of the 21st Century.

Audio Journalism, coming to my Mailbox, probably has less editorial content than the Audiophiliac YouTube operation of Steve G.

Format wise: I visited my nephew working on the Kevin Costner Montana TV series. I got to see part of the editing and sound gear. They maintain outstanding sound quality ( of course, digital ) . They are constantly improving their gear. Stereophile's Mr.Kal R would probably be staggered by what these Pro Audio folks work with on a daily basis and the performance results of their output.

Where are 'we' little, personal audio people, going to be in 5 years?

I was amazed at 2011 RMAF gear and digital's change to 24bit ( which I still haven't embraced now that my hearing is drooping at both ends of the audible range but corrected yet still dubious )

The iPhone designers have conquered.

Y'all Analog Planet people seem more Curators than Fortune Tellers but I hope that you will work to accurately forecast the next brief future reveals.

Bring us insights, pa-leeeeeeze.

Tony in Venice

ps. I keep forgetting that .1, old age is get'n me. ( I wonder if I can actually hear it ? )

canyelles's picture
Submitted by canyelles on September 11, 2020 - 5:47am

Maybe your idea of audio bliss is listening to the equivalent of computing with an early analog computer, but it's not mine.

DWOOD's picture
Submitted by DWOOD on February 2, 2021 - 1:38am

Bow Technology may be finished but Lars Moltke, their CTO is still servicing hardware and also has a new DAC available for the ZZ-8. I have a Wizard which had it installed last year.

Here’s a link to the Facebook page. If you scroll down a bit you can see my player being upgraded.
https://www.facebook.com/bowtechnologies

Here’s a link to his site where he describes the upgrade and occasionally has things for sale
http://www.molit.dk/index.html

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