For serious listening, do you really want to digitize analog?
Everything you're about to read needs to be considered in the context of the $675 Lynx L22 soundcard, thought by many to be among the best of its type. However, it's usable in the Intel…
search
Normal playback with Pure Vinyl was always stable. It was only when I was changing configurations, or during rendering operations, that I ran into potentially speaker-damaging problems. According to Robinson, most audiophiles using the software have a dedicated audio computer, which he recommends as the safest way to use his software.
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Macintosh program (requires OS10.5 or later) to rip LPs and edit the resultant files. Offers RIAA and other deemphasis curves.
Price: $299. Pure Music alone: $129. Approximate number of dealers: Sold direct.
Manufacturer: Channel D, Trenton, NJ. Tel: (609) 393-3600. Web: www.channld.com.
Bo Christensen, who was the guiding light behind, first, Primare, then Bow Technologies, graduated as an architect—not surprising, considering his products' drop-dead-gorgeous looks. I talked with Bo while preparing my review of his Bow Technologies ZZ-Eight CD player (see Stereophile, August 1998, Vol.21 No.8), and started by asking him if his knowledge of electronics was self-taught.
Bo Christensen: I don't have much knowledge of electronics. I have a design team, we have a listening panel, so it's teamwork where I contribute ideas...it's a team effort where the circuitry is designed by…
It's conventional wisdom among audiophiles: Small, high-end audio companies build high-quality products in small numbers. Products which are often expensive. But not always. Big mass-market companies build cookie-cutter products in big numbers. They're usually cheap. But not always.
The real world is never that simple. Big companies have the expertise, production facilities, and economies of scale to produce exceptional products if they put their minds to it. And sometimes they do put their minds to it. Sony has been making solid, well-engineered, genuinely high-end CD players…
It did. My first reaction, coming from living with a more expensive player—the Theta Data III transport driving the Mark Levinson No.36 processor—was no letdown. Initially, listening first to Rickie Lee Jones's version of "Under the Boardwalk," from Girl At Her Volcano (Warner Bros. WPCP-3710, Japan), I thought the overall sound excellent, though with a hint of graininess (more powder than grain) at the extreme top end. But that virtually disappeared on further listening. Whether the improvement was due to acclimatization on my part or breaking-in on the part of the Sony I won't speculate,…
On material heavily dependent on ambience, fullness, and overall musical perspective, I have to give the nod to the Sony. On Saint-Sa;dens's Oratorio de Noel, the Sony remained the richer and more full-bodied, with distinctly deeper bass. The ARC's bass was perfectly adequate (particularly if you don't have big speakers), but the Sony suggested the word "awesome" on some of the deeper pedal notes (and this on the quieter, more subtle passages), while the ARC did not. The CD1 had a little more air and inner detailing, but the Sony was better at allowing me to forget that what I was hearing…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Single-box CD player. Outputs: line out, fixed, unbalanced; line out, variable, unbalanced; line out, balanced; digital out, optical (TosLink); digital out, coaxial. Frequency response: 2Hz–20kHz, ±0.3dB. Harmonic distortion: <0.0015%. Dynamic range: >100dB. Power consumption: 28W.
Dimensions: 17" W by 14.875" D by 5" H. Weight: 33 lbs.
Serial number of review sample: 800146.
Price: $3000 (1996); no longer available (2010). Approximate number of dealers: 50.
US Distributor: Sony Electronics Inc., One Sony Drive, Park Ridge, NJ…
Sidebar 2: Review System
Associated equipment used in this review included the Rowland Consummate preamplifier, Aragon 8008 power amplifier, and Energy Veritas v2.8 loudspeakers. Interconnects were TARA Labs RSC Reference from D/A to preamp, and Cardas Hexlink from preamp to power amp. The Energys were, ah, energized through a bi-wire set of Monster M1.5 (bi-wire) loudspeaker cables.
Products for comparison included the Audio Research CD1 CD player and the Mark Levinson No.36, connected with Kimber Cable AGDL digital cable.—Thomas J. Norton
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I suppose it's inevitable that when you measure a lot of audio gear, you tend to look at things a little differently from those who don't. I tend to be a little put off by products that either measure well but sound bad or sound good but measure poorly. I like consistency in my audio equipment, and am most impressed by equipment that shines across the board.
With one exception, the Sony CDP-XA7ES looked so good on the test bench that I'd like to just limit this section to: "Measures great. Go for it." For those of you who insist on more, the details are…
Thomas J. Norton returned to the Sony CDP-XA7ES in January 1997 (Vol.20 No.1):
Differences in sonic character were quite evident when I compared the Mark Levinson No.37/No.36S combination with the $3000 Sony CDP-XA7ES. And the balance was not, in every respect, on the Levinsons' side—the comparisons drew attention to a quality of the Levinsons' sound I haven't remarked on to this point.
With its exceptional resolution, detail, and overall clean, clear sound, the 37/36S did sound rather cool and detached, appealing more to the intellect than to the emotions. Once we get beyond…