CD Player/Transport Reviews

Sidebar 1: Associated Equipment

The system included the Klyne SK-5A preamp, Aragon 4004 power amplifier, and VMPS Tower II/R loudspeakers.

Connecting cables were by Monster: M-1000 interconnects and M-1 loudspeaker cable. There was one exception: Straight Wire LSI was used with the Audio Concepts player in the comparisons. An explanation is in order for this. Recall that in my recent review of several CD players, I determined that the solid-state Audio Concepts player sounded best with Straight Wire LSI cables, while the California Audio Labs Aria seemed to prefer the Monster M-1000. The LSI brought out the openness and transparency of the Audio Concepts (at the cost of an occasional dryness and fine graininess), while use of the LSI with the Mod Squad somewhat enhanced the upper-end detail at the expense of midrange definition.

I tried all four possible combinations of cables and players; if you start figuring up the number of possible permutations with three or more different cables, you'll know why I didn't try more than two—JA really didn't want this review as a Christmas present. I compared these two machines using dissimilar interconnects, deciding to use that cable with each machine which I felt presented it at its best.—Thomas J. Norton