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Audio Alchemy Digital Decoding Engine v1.0 Measurements

Sidebar 2: Measurements

The Digital Decoding Engine performed quite well on the bench. It didn't measure as well as some more expensive units, but nothing in the measurements would indicate its budget heritage.

Driving the DDE with data representing a positive-going impulse revealed it to be non-inverting with the front-panel switch in the 0° position, and inverting in the 180° position. No DC was measured at the output jacks, but there was a very low level (2mV p–p) of high-frequency noise (350kHz) always present at the output. Output impedance was 220 ohms across the band, not…

Audio Alchemy Digital Decoding Engine v1.0 Specifications

Sidebar 3: Specifications

Description: Single-box D/A provessor. Conversion: Bitstream, PDM—256x resampled. Data input sampling range: 40kHz–50kHz. Digital filter: 4x. Analog post filter: 3rd-order at 60kHz. Noise shaping: second-order. Inputs: coaxial on an RCA jack, optical on a Toslink jack. Outputs: RCA jacks, 2.75V output level at full scale. Three front-panel indicators: analog/digital power, incoming data lock. Frequency response: 20Hz–20kHz ±0.2dB. Resolution: 16 bits. THD+noise: –90dB. S/N ratio: greater than 93dB. Channel separation: 80dB (no frequency specified). Linearity: ±…

Cambridge Audio CD1 CD player

Four years after its launch, the CD medium would appear to have come of age, at least in production terms. Annual player manufacture is now big business, and there is hardly a major audio brand without a CD machine to its name—even such analog stalwarts as Audio-Technica and Shure have succumbed.

A huge range of models is apparently available—"apparently" because many machines are repackaged versions of a few basic designs. Prime originators include Yamaha, Philips, Nagaoka, Toshiba, Kyocera, Denon, Hitachi, and Sony, these serving certain specific model requirements as determined by…

Cambridge Audio CD1 CD player Test Program

Sidebar 1: Test Program

The Cambridge CD player was subjected to a formal sequence of tests. In the lab, a range of tests was applied to explore the linearity and resolution of the machine. Factors such as shock and vibration immunity, error correction, and the like were all investigated. If A/B assessment is to be attempted, it is vital to determine absolute output levels, and it is well worth checking any deviations in frequency response which might affect the auditioning.

The precise bit resolution delivered is at present academic, as we have not yet been able to…

Cambridge Audio CD1 CD player Measurements

Sidebar 2: Measurements

On the filter 1 setting (fig.1), the response was essentially flat, measuring –0.2dB at 20kHz. On 2, the response fell away beyond 3kHz to –2dB, 20kHz. With filter 3, the output shelved just a little, this being the designer's preferred characteristic. On 4 (1 and 3 depressed), the bass rolled off early by 2dB into our low-impedance chart-recorder loading, while the high treble was slightly depressed—anti-fuzz, perhaps? On 5, the treble rolloff accelerated, while 6—all filter buttons depressed—gave a maximum level of cut at both extremes.

Fig…

Cambridge Audio CD1 CD player Specifications

Sidebar 3: Specifications

Description: Two-box, solid-state CD player.

Price: $2800 (1987); no longer available (2104).
Manufacturer: Cambridge Audio, England. US Distributor: Sumiko, Inc., Berkeley, CA 94705 (1987); Audio Plus Services, 156 Lawrence Paquette Industrial Drive, Champlain, NY 12919 (2014). Tel: (800) 663-9352. Web: www.cambridgeaudio.com.

Keith Jarrett & Charlie Haden: <I>Last Dance</I>

Almost exactly four years ago, I posted a Blog that began like this: "Let's put the main point up front. The new duet album by Keith Jarrett and Charlie Haden, Jasmine (on ECM), is a gorgeous piece of work: all standards, mainly ballads, nothing fancy (not overtly anyway), but such poignancy and quiet passion; it's a glimpse into the intimacy of the act of making art."

A follow-up CD is out now, Last Dance, and I'd describe it the same way. It was recorded at the same session, in Jarrett's home studio, over a four-day span in 2007. But this doesn't sound like an album of rejects; even the…

Laura Cantrell

There’s something huge to be said for longevity in the music business and staying true to your vision, and Laura Cantrell, a singer songwriter with alt country leanings has been making thoughtful, well-constructed records since 2000, but here on her fifth studio record she seems to have hit a higher note. Cantrell has always had a strong but unadorned, almost girlish voice that hovers in a narrow range, but the big difference here is the material, most of which she wrote or co-wrote.

Recorded in her hometown of Nashville (though she lives in NYC) with a band that includes guitarist Kenny…

Miranda Lambert

Recent Rolling Stone cover girl and one time Nashville Star runner–up Miranda Lambert who is most famous for her hell–raisin’ single “Crazy Ex–Girlfriend” is solidly mainstream Nashville country music. As a fan of the genuine country musicians of the past—Hank, Patsy, Lefty, Cash, Haggard, & Jones to name a few—I will admit to having an involuntary gag reflex when it comes to today’s mainstream country music, which is really just bland, over–produced, pop rock with the occasional fiddle or pedal steel if you’re lucky. And yet there are country stars today that know and respect the history…

Estelon's Major Statement: The Extreme Loudspeaker

Extreme, perhaps, in size—6'10" when fully extended (see the linked video below)—and certainly in price ($260,000/pair US price), the Estelon Extreme loudspeaker has arrived at its exclusive US dealer, Audio High in Mountain View and Los Angeles, CA. The brainchild of Estonian designer Alfred Vassilkov, 56, who describes it as the culmination of 30 years of research, each loudspeaker, pictured above with Audio High's Michael Silver, weighs 551.16 lbs (250kg), and measures 31.1" (790mm) wide by 32.28" (820mm) deep.

The speaker's frequency range is claimed to be 20Hz—45kHz, power rating…