Products of the Year

Meridian 508.24 CD player ($2995, reviewed by Wes Phillips, Vol.21 No.5, May 1998 Review)
Z-Systems RDP-1 digital preamplifier/equalizer ($5000, reviewed by Kalman Rubinson, Vol.21 No.7, July 1998 Review)

Finalists (in alphabetical order):
Audio Research CD2 CD player ($3495; reviewed by Wes Phillips, Vol.21 No.4, April 1998 Review)
Balanced Audio Technology VK-D5 CD player ($4500; reviewed by Jonathan Scull & John Atkinson, Vol.21 No.5, May 1998 Review)
Bow Technology ZZ-Eight CD player ($7500; reviewed by Michael Fremer, Vol.21 No.8, August 1998 Review)
Krell KAV-300cd CD player ($3500; reviewed by Wes Phillips, Vol.21 No.4, April 1998 Review)
Mark Levinson No.39 CD player ($5995; reviewed by Wes Phillips, Vol.21 No.4, April 1998; John Atkinson, Vol.21 No.5, May 1998 Review)
Naim CD 3.5 CD player ($2150; reviewed by Wes Phillips, Vol.21 No.7, July 1998 Review)
Rega Planet CD player ($795; reviewed by John Atkinson, Vol.21 No.2, February 1998 Review)
Sonic Frontiers Transport 3 & Processor 3 ($6999 each; reviewed by Shannon Dickson, Vol.21 No.10, October 1998 Review)
Wadia Digital 850 CD player ($4950; reviewed by John Atkinson, Vol.21 No.5, May 1998 Review)

The voting for Digital Source mirrored the biggest industry trend in the digital arena. 1998 was not a good year for separate CD transports and digital/analog processors, but proved a banner year for single-box CD players (nine of our 11 candidates for Digital Source of 1998 were all-in-one players and the sole separate contender, the Sonic Frontiers pair, was nominated on the basis that it be used via its exclusive I²S datalink). This trend only partially reflects the public's unease over the future of the 16-bit/44.1kHz CD standard as it awaited a DVD-Audio standard; far more significant was the widespread availability of standalone players capable of performance rivaling that of the finest separates offered just a few years before—players like the Meridian 508.24. The Meridian extracts slam, presence, and a remarkable amount of detail from CD, and our correspondents were justifiably enthusiastic about it.

They were also excited by the Z-Systems RDP-1 digital preamplifier/equalizer—a product category that didn't even exist a few years ago, but that will prove most significant in the future. The RDP-1 is flexible and functional; not only does it serve as a digital preamplifier (it accepts only S/PDIF or AES/EBU digital data sources), it is also a transparent and powerful parametric equalizer capable of unobtrusively compensating for shortcomings in loudspeakers and source material alike. "The tone control for the digital age," Kal Rubinson called it, and our correspondents agreed.