As more audio enthusiasts migrate toward or begin to think about downloading and playing high-resolution audio files via music servers, players sporting multiple DAC inputs will become more popular, and single-purpose players will disappear. Buying a digital disc player with no DAC input today, particularly…
Use the Facilities
Everything about using the CD 303T was to like. Discs loaded quickly, the transport worked smoothly in all modes, and there were no surprises from the remote…
The CD 303T's sound when playing 16-bit/44.1kHz signals was never less than complimentary to every disc played, even those that were warm and midbass-heavy, or slightly…
Description: SACD/CD player with wireless IR remote control, HDCD decoding, switchable upsampling frequency (CD playback only), and tube and solid-state output stages. Tube complement: four 12AU7 (or ECC82). Plays SACD, CD, CD-R, CD-RW. Digital outputs: AES/EBU via XLR, S/PDIF via RCA, TosLink. Analog outputs: 1 pair balanced (XLR), 1 pair single-ended (RCA). Digital inputs: USB, S/PDIF via RCA, TosLink; can accept sample rates up to 192kHz. Control inputs: RS-232 port via 9-pin D-subminiature connector. Frequency ranges: 2Hz–22kHz (CD), 2Hz–100kHz (SACD).…
Analog Sources: Continuum Audio Labs Caliburn, Cobra, Castellon turntable, tonearm, stand; Audiostone turntable; Graham Engineering Phantom II, Thales tonearms; Ortofon A90, Lyra Delos, ZYX R-1000 Sigma 2-X cartridges.
Digital Sources: Playback Designs MPS-5 SACD/CD player–DAC, Camelot Roundtable Anagram Technologies DAC, BPT-modified Alesis Masterlink hard-disk recorder, Sooloos music server.
Preamplification: Manley Steelhead, Einstein Turntable's Choice, Abbingdon Music Research PH-77, Boulder Amplifiers 1008 & 2008, Vitus MP-P201 Masterpiece…
I measured the Cary Classic CD 303T SACD Professional Version player with Stereophile's loaner Audio Precision SYS2722 system. (See www.ap.com and "As We See It" in the January 2008 issue.) For some tests, I also used my Audio Precision System One Dual Domain and the Miller Jitter Analyzer. Complicating the task was the range of operational options offered by the Cary: tube or solid-state output stage; balanced or unbalanced output; CD or SACD playback; one of six oversampling rates, or none; external S/PDIF or USB data inputs. To have fully characterized this…
Just a reminder that, after a long absence from the catalog, this remarkable 1966 performance of Das Lied is back in print. The only performance available with a baritone instead of an alto, this remains the most affecting I have heard. Bernstein evokes from the VPO a primeval, brooding darkness that I've heard from no one else, and Fischer-Dieskau emotes as if born to sing the "…
Not long after midnight on Saturday/Sunday night, July 7/8, 1956, it became apparent to those in the know that 57-year-old Duke Ellington's daring bid to revive his failing career by playing the closing set of the third Newport Jazz Festival had failed. The concert was supposed to have ended at midnight, and some people were already heading for the exits.
Yet moments later, Ellington's band was…
But if all is done right, there is nothing the analog interconnection scheme can do…