CD Player/Transport Reviews

I once told Stereophile publisher Larry Archibald it might be worth, say, a 10% loss in sound quality with CD not to have to jump up and turn over the damned record. Sometimes a CD saves you from popping up twice—Mahler's Fifth or Bruckner's Seventh on a single disc instead of three LP sides—or three times—Mozart's Magic Flute on three CDs instead of 6 LP sides. That might be worth a 15% sacrifice.

I don't know that you will need to lose even 10%. Unless, of course, you have a turntable like a Versa Dynamics 2.0 or a Goldmund Reference.

Now, if only the cost of CDs would come down.

That may happen soon. The New York Times reports a growing CD glut. (Goody-goody. Goody got it and he has to get rid of it.) Joe Epstein, of Berkshire Record Outlet, hints of impending CD cut-outs. (How do you "cut out" a CD? Gouge a hole in the edge of the disc?) The Wall Street Journal reports that GE has developed a new resin, which will make it possible for CDs to be molded quicker—that should worsen the glut! And sale prices for "full-price" CDs have already dropped to as little as $9.99 per disc in New York.

There's more encouraging news.

Designers such as Dan D'Agostino, of Krell, and John Bicht, of Versa Dynamics, are turning their attention to CD. Both Dan and John are looking into transports—or rather, the whole "front end" retrieval system, which includes the laser assembly. Audiophiles may be paying as much attention to CD transports as to turntables . . . and perhaps as much money! Expect to see top-loading players with innovative clamping and damping mechanisms, which may obviate the need for such devices as CD Rings (footnote 1).

The transport does make a difference—or, to put it another way, not all digital outs are created equal. Recently, at Definitive Hi-Fi in Mamaroneck, NY, a few of us Thursday night 'philes were listening to CDs through Mike Moffat's Theta outboard digital processor. We tried different players. There were differences. It's hard to say something definitive (ouch), but subjectively it appears that sturdier players retrieve the encoded data with fewer errors. Sony transports sounded particularly good.

Now, some promising players.

These players—from Magnavox, Adcom, Yamaha, and Onkyo—are in four different price ranges. Strictly speaking, none is competitive with any of the others, so all comparisons will be "unfair." But what the hell? What's interesting is what you can get for your money, and whether it's worth spending the money for a more expensive player. If you're expecting a survey of players in a particular price range, forget it. No one could listen to them all, anyway. More interesting to make unfair comparisons. And more in the spirit of The Audio Anarchist.

Most of my listening took place through the line stage of the Forte Model 2 preamplifier. Three of the players, all except the Magnavox CDB582, had variable outputs, so I auditioned these directly into a Threshold SA/3 or B&K ST-140 power amp. Interestingly, the B&K amplifier was better at revealing differences than the Threshold. Interconnects were Discrete Technology Platinum and the very promising new Audio Prism Ultima ($160 retail for a 1m pair). Speaker cable was $5.75/yard Naim Cable, which sounds at least as good as, if not better than, some very costly cables with bullshit stories attached to them. Speakers were MartinLogan Sequels.

I ran the dropout tests of the second Pierre Verany test disc on each machine. I also tested a couple of damaged discs in each player. Then I sent all the machines to Santa Fe, except for the Onkyo, which weighs 60 lb. Santa Fe already has another DX-G10. So the Onkyo DX-G10 John Atkinson measured is not the DX-G10 I heard.

Magnavox CDB582: $249
This machine is basic and uncluttered—no frivolous features like Favorite Track Selection, unless you count the headphone jack with no volume control. It comes with an uncluttered wireless remote, but lacks digital out. The transport looks improved over previous generations of inexpensive Philips-made players, and the drawer lets you use 3" CDs without adaptors.

Soundstaging was good, but not spectacular. It shrank during tough-sledding passages, like the fourth movement of Tchaikovsky's Manfred (get Riccardo Chailly's stunning performance—London 421 441-2). At the same time, dynamics became compressed—as they do, say, on a cheap receiver. Bass extension was good for a player in this price category, but the bass was not particularly tight.

Resolution of low-level detail was fair—I have yet to hear a Philips-made machine with really great resolution. I think the Philips fog helps explain why modified Magnavoxes have enjoyed such popularity.

But it wasn't the fog that bothered me so much. My sample of the CDB582, furnished from a dealer and not via North American Philips, exhibited a roughness and coarseness on strings that I don't recall hearing with, say, the Magnavox CDB650. And, as of early January, you could still find CDB650s around, here and there, in small quantities, for around $270. That is a buy!

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Footnote 1: The problem with CD Rings is you can't always remove them without disc damage if you change your mind . . . or change players and then change your mind. We need to see hard evidence—tests, not testimonials—as to what CD Rings do or do not do when used with a variety of players. You might try piggybacking a CD-Ringed disc—or a ringed Mod Squad CD Damper—atop a naked disc. Warning: this will not work in all players, and might jam some. If my ears are not mistaken, you get an effect similar to ringing each individual disc without actually having to do so.