Douglas has a half-dozen or so bands going at any one time, each with very different ensembles, and he gears his compositions and projects to the specific traits (or personnel) of each. For instance, the music for his Charms of the Night Sky group (trumpet, violin, bass, and…
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Those who follow this space know of my enthusiasm for the music of trumpeter Dave Douglas: his plangent tone, his spine-tingling way with minor-chord intervals, his knack for evoking joy, melancholy, romance, and a host of other emotions—sometimes all at once—without dipping so much as a toe into sentimentalism.
"So, what are you reviewing these days?" my friend Mark e-mailed me recently.
"A CD player," I said.
"They're still making those?"
Yes—and better than ever, for the most part. But I understood Mark's confusion. When a "Vote!" question on the Stereophile website asked readers what digital source components they used, a surprising number responded that they did not, or hadn't bought a dedicated player in years. Topping the list were computers and universal players.
Heck, even I had relegated the superb Simaudio Moon Evolution SuperNova CD player to duties in…
And my beloved combo of Mac, Bel Canto, and Musical Fidelity? Not quite so detailed, not quite as crisply harmonic, and maybe, just maybe, a tad lighter in the loafers. I loved the NuForce's way with the bottom end.
One disc to rule them all
I then installed the CDP-8 in my big rig and compared it with my longtime reference disc player, Ayre's C-5xeMP, in a system comprising Vivid's G1Giya speakers and Luxman's C800f preamp and B100f monoblocks. Heck, that system has cables that cost more than the NuForce—a lot more. While I can't say that the CDP-8 smoked the Ayre in this hi-rez…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: CD player with remote control. Digital outputs: S/PDIF on BNC and RCA. Analog outputs: RCA (1 pair). Maximum output level: 2.7V at 1kHz. Frequency response: 20Hz–20kHz, ±0.3dB. Channel separation: >110dB at 1kHz. Signal/noise ratio: >100dB. THD: 0.004% at 1kHz, 0dBFS. Output impedance: 100 ohms.
Dimensions: 8.5" (220mm) W by 1.8" (45mm) H by 14" (360mm) D. Weight: 7 lbs (3.2kg).
Serial Number Of Unit Reviewed: 0401012.
Price: $1450. Approximate number of dealers: 29.
Manufacturer: NuForce, Inc., 382 S. Abbott Avenue, Milpatis, CA…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital Sources: Ayre Acoustics C-5xeMP, Luxman DU80 universal players; Simaudio Moon Evolution SuperNova CD player; Apple PowerMac G5, Apple Mac mini with 250GB LaCie & 2TB Infrant Technologies NAS hard drives; Benchmark DAC1, Bel Canto USB Link 24/96 USB-to-S/PDIF converter, Musical Fidelity X-DACV3 D/A converters.
Preamplifiers: Ayre Acoustics K-1xe, Luxman C800f, NHT PVC.
Power Amplifiers: Luxman B100f, Parasound Halo JC 1 (all monoblocks).
Loudspeakers: NHT M-00, Thiel CS3.7, Vivid G1Giya.
Cables: USB: EntreQ Discover. Interconnect:…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
To measure the NuForce CDP-8 CD player, I used 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.
The NuForce CDP-8's maximum output level at 1kHz was 2.58V, which is 2.2dB higher than the standard 2V. This player will sound louder in any comparison with another product, something that will need to be compensated for. The output impedance was to specification, at 100 ohms across the audioband…
Manufacturers' Comment
Editor: Thank you for taking the time to review our CDP-8 CD player. We are humbled by Wes Phillips' very positive response to the CDP-8, and by the company he chose to compare it with. Both Benchmark and Ayre Acoustics are companies we really respect.
We are also embarrassed and chagrined by the poor jitter measurement. We had felt that the basics of performance were addressed by design, and have been applying our effort at listening and making decisions based on listening. Like Wes, we had not noticed any significant degradation in the sound, so we had no…
Stereophile.com was feeling a little bit old.
We'd have to go back to September 2005 to recall the last major changes made to our website. It was then that we began adding our forums and blogs, which moved slowly at first, went through some growing pains, and finally became some of our most popular online destinations. About a year later, we made other minor revisions, altering the look and feel of our site to make it friendlier, more attractive, and easier to use.
These were all great moves, but the nature of the Web demands near-constant renewal. The time had come for some…
At a time when the heads of most record labels barely know how to play a record, let alone make one, Manfred Eicher—owner, founder, and inspiration of ECM Records, which celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2010—has been intimately involved in the making of nearly 1200 of them. How many, though, can he actually remember working on?
"When I listen back to them, I know the story of every record," he says without a smile or a moment's hesitation. "There is never an easy record. Every record needs a lot of input and concentration and dedication and passion to be made, that's clear.…
While ECM's wider fame may be built on a small number of recognizable names like Jarrett and Pärt, as well as guitarist Pat Metheny and keyboardist Chick Corea, it's a catalog populated in large measure by unknown, more experimental, or esoteric artists that Eicher has found and signed. His persistence in finding new talent is perhaps the most impressive aspect of his genius.
That ongoing artists and repertoire (A&R), like everything else at ECM, is an Eicher responsibility, and over time the question has loomed ever larger: What intuition does he use to hear and then travel the…