Carver: I've been attracted to a particular kind of soundstage that was described brilliantly by Harry Pearson years ago in The Absolute Sound. It was a soundstage that had front-to-back depth, extended in a large arc behind and around the speakers, and from time to time could actually produce sound images outside of the limits of the loudspeaker edges. It seemed, when I read that essay, that that was so absolutely correct.…
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Atkinson: To return to loudspeakers, it came as quite a shock when I saw that the first Carver speaker was a planar design. Have you always been attracted to planars?
Atkinson: Do you have many other engineers working with you at Lynnwood?
Carver: I wish. There are only two engineers: myself and Vic Richardson, who's been with me eight or nine years. Since right after the inception of the Carver Corporation.
Atkinson: That's not many creative people for a $25 million company.
Carver: Yeah. We should have more.
Atkinson: A change of subject: The last time you appeared in Stereophile's pages was in response to the amplifier challenge. What was the legacy of that whole business?
Carver: When I started that transfer-function…
DVORÁK: Symphony 9, "From the New World"
WAGNER: Flying Dutchman Overture, Siegfried-Idyll
Jascha Horenstein, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Chesky Records CD 31 (CD only). Bob Katz, remastering eng.; David & Norman Chesky, executive prods. (Original 1962 recordings: K. E. Wilkinson, eng.; Charles Gerhardt, prod.) ADD. TT: 67:30
WAGNER: Flying Dutchman Overture, Siegfried-Idyll
Jascha Horenstein, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Chesky Records CD 31 (CD only). Bob Katz, remastering eng.; David & Norman Chesky, executive prods. (Original 1962 recordings: K. E. Wilkinson, eng.; Charles Gerhardt, prod.) ADD. TT: 67:30
There are over 50 "New Worlds" in the catalog. Whether you have every one of them or none of them, buy this one. It is fat with passion. The great conductor Jascha Horenstein had it; original engineer Kenneth Wilkinson had it; the Chesky Records…
"A reasonable man adapts himself to the world around him. An unreasonable man expects the world to adapt to him. All progress, therefore, is made by unreasonable men."
Although George Bernard Shaw didn't have Naim Audio's founder Julian Vereker in mind when he wrote those words, they seem tailor-made for Julian's audio design style. Rather than make products that conform to what the rest of the audio world is doing, Julian builds them the way he thinks they should be. The result is often, shall we say, idiosyncratic.
Nothing exemplifies this thinking more than the Naim…
In the first release of the CDS, the digital and transport/servo supply rails were regulated only in the player itself with TO-220 regulators. The second iteration of the CDS added four TO-3 regulators inside the power-supply box (footnote 2).
Overall, the CDS's massive and elaborate power supply is impressive. Further, the execution is superb, with a high level of craftsmanship. At Naim Audio, assemblers build an entire component themselves rather than repeating the same operation on an assembly line. This is a more expensive way to build electronics, but the CDS's beautiful, meticulous…
More specifically, the CDS had a natural smoothness and sense of ease, particularly in the treble. This is one player I could listen to for hours without fatigue. The upper treble had a nice sense of air, with cymbals sounding delicate yet not rolled-off. In the lower treble and upper midrange, the CDS was extremely smooth, lacking the glare and grain often heard from digital. Consequently, instrumental textures were well portrayed, with a sense of natural timbres. There was, however, a slight "darkness" in the upper mids and lower treble rather than a crystalline clarity, a characteristic…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Two-box CD player with 4x-oversampling digital filter. Frequency response: 10Hz–18kHz ±0.1dB. Output level: 2V at 1kHz, full-scale (0dBFS) signal. Phase response: linear phase. Output impedance: 100 ohms. Analog output: DIN jack. Protection systems: DC offset sensing, relay muting, laser current interlock.
Dimensions: 17" W by 3" H by 11.8" D (each box). Shipping weights: 19 lbs (player), 33 lbs (power supply).
Price: $7395. Approximate number of dealers: 25. Warranty: 5 years.
Manufacturer: Naim Audio Ltd., Southampton Road, Salisbury,…
Sidebar 2: Review System
The CDS has been my primary digital source for the past month, augmenting the Theta Data transport driving a Theta Generation III, Bitwise Musik System Zero, Kinergetics KCD-55p, or PS Audio UltraLink. Interestingly, the Theta Data/Generation III combination with ST-type optical interface costs exactly the same as the CDS ($2800 for the Data, $4400 for the Gen.III unbalanced with ST-type interface, and $195 for an Aural Symphonics or AudioQuest ST-type cable). All comparisons with the Gen.III and UltraLink were via their unbalanced outputs. The processors also saw…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
The CDS put out 2.12V (left channel) and 2.08V (right) when decoding a full-scale, 1kHz sinewave. This is just slightly higher (half a dB) than the standard 2V output level. Frequency response was flat, though the treble showed some passband ripple from the digital filter. The CDS had no amplitude error when decoding pre-emphasized test signals. Frequency response and de-emphasis error are shown together in fig.1. The right channel is 0.16dB lower in output level than the left.
Fig.1 Naim NA CDS, frequency response at 0dBFS (top), and with de-…
A crime of passion? Depraved indifference to the importance of tuneage? Death by music? The simple fact is that most audiophiles got that way by having too many records. That's right—very few got into this rewarding, non-contact sport because they were aroused by shiny brushed-steel boxes or supersexy speaker grilles. It's because they wanted to hear their piles of music—their Mahler, Monk, or Rick James—sound the best it could. (And, okay, yes: It is cool to show drooling friends your designer gear.)
It's in that spirit that we present our annual "Records To Die For" extravaganza. Each…