CD Player/Transport Reviews

I beg the reader's indulgence for a moment, but I feel compelled to articulate my feeling (apology, if you like) regarding the current state of the long-playing record in this country. I know, this is supposed to be a review of CD players, but please be patient. I feel the tone of my review and the subsequent recommendations will mean more with this brief background confession.

I have been told and have read that analog recordings and LPs will sing their swan songs during the early years of this decade. If so, many will call me foolish for continuing to invest heavily in records and the front-ends to play them on. New LPs no longer exist in stores here in Santa Fe, and the two-hour round trip to Albuquerque, always tedious, is downright dangerous during winter snows. A vinyl junkie like myself has therefore to rely on mail-order sources for his fix. Gone is the joy of browsing a store's record bins and the thrill of discovery of that elusive slab of vinyl.

Consequently I frequent garage sales and religiously visit used-record stores. With my VPI record-cleaning machine and VPI/Eminent Technology front end, all but the most abused LPs become playable and enjoyable.

But why all the fuss, when it's so much easier to drop in to the local CD emporium and grab a handful of the silver devils and be done with it? Because I grew up with LPs and have a strong attachment to them. An LP is a physical entity to me, more so than CDs will ever be. Yet I do find myself listening to the silver slabs more frequently these days, and enjoying them more. Much new music I enjoy is not available on LP, and the rate of deletions of older LP catalog is approaching the speed of light. CDs are hot—they can be found in shopping malls, music stores, and former record shops.

The operative word here is "found." Music, in its kaleidoscope of styles, is more important to me than the medium by which it is reproduced. Naturally, the less artifact between me and the music, the stronger I'm touched. So here I sit with a couple of handfuls of CDs and two excellent CD players, with the task of explaining to the reader which player I prefer and why.—Guy Lemcoe