The Compact Disc was launched in 1982, but the four decades since have seen an alphabet soup of similar-looking shiny discs including major formats like DVD, SACD, DVD-A, and Blu-ray Audio. As each new format arrived, hardware manufacturers scrambled to keep up, developing machines that could play just about any disc you could throw at them (or, rather, insert in them). The result was a bunch of "jack of all trades" disc…
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They say a jack of all trades is the master of none. While this expression is typically used to describe people, it also works for machines that play 5" optical discs.
What can it play?
While the CDT3's user manual claims compatibility only with standard CD, CD-R, and CD-RW, I was curious to see if it could play the other types of discs that are supposed to be playable on a regular CD player. In addition to a few CD-Rs and CD-RWs I had burned several years ago on my Alesis Masterlink, I tried a handful of hybrid SACDs to see if reading the CD layer might cause difficulties, and I tried the CD side on a couple of DualDiscs. Because they are double sided, DualDiscs are slightly thicker than standard CDs, which can cause loading problems with some…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: CD transport supporting CD, CD-R, CD-RW with 3.12" dimmable OLED display, front-panel push buttons and remote control. Digital outputs: 2 S/PDIF (RCA and BNC), AES3 (XLR), 2 I2S (HDMI/LVDS and RJ45/LVCMOS). Reference clock input and output 10MHz on 75/50 ohm BNC. Output resolution: Direct (16/44.1), 4× oversampled (24/176.4), switchable. Power requirements: 110–120V, 220–230V, 50/60Hz, set at factory. Power consumption: 50W; 1W standby.
Dimensions: 17.0" (430mm) W × 15.0" (380mm) D × 5.9" (150mm) H. Weight: 48.5lb (22kg).
Finish: Silver or…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital sources: Audio Note CDT2, Oppo UDP205, CD transports, Denafrips Terminator II DAC, Audio Note DAC3 Signature DAC.
Preamplification: PrimaLuna DiaLogue Premium, Croft Vitale.
Power amplifiers: Audio Note P2-SE Signature, Belles 150A, Conrad-Johnson Classic Sixty.
Integrated amplifier: Pass Labs INT-150.
Loudspeakers: Quad ESL-57 electrostatic speakers with Gradient SW-57 subwoofers, PSB Synchrony One loudspeakers, HSU Research TN1220 subwoofers (2), SVS SB-2000 Pro subwoofer.
Cables: Interconnect: Cardas Neutral Reference, Cardas…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
The most meaningful test of a CD player or transport is of how well it deals with disc errors. I examined the Jay's Audio CDT3-MK3's performance with the Pierre Verany Digital Test CD, which has tracks with single or double gaps in the data spiral. It successfully played tracks with gaps up to 1mm in length, but when the gap was 1.5mm or longer, there were audible glitches. The Compact Disc standard requires only that a player cope with gaps of up to 0.2mm. The Jay's transport copes well with damaged CDs.
Next, I examined the amount of timing uncertainty—…
Back in the 1950s, Cesare Sanavio, then a new electronics graduate with a specialty in output transformers for tube amplifiers, began his career in radio and television, traveling to various locations outside his native Italy to apply his expertise. Eventually he settled in Paraguay and started designing tubed sound systems for public installations, teaching his son Luciano the art. A few years later, Sanavio and his family returned to Italy. There, he worked as a consultant to several hi-fi companies. Finally, in 1994, drawing on decades of accumulated knowledge of tube-amplifier design and…
The 845–O/96 combination
I began my audition with the two-way DeVore Fidelity O/96 loudspeaker (footnote 1), a rich, warm, incisive speaker that uses a 1" silk-dome tweeter and a 10" paper-cone woofer and sounds good with every amplifier and in every room I've heard it in. It was a natural fit for the Mastersound.
I began my audition with the two-way DeVore Fidelity O/96 loudspeaker (footnote 1), a rich, warm, incisive speaker that uses a 1" silk-dome tweeter and a 10" paper-cone woofer and sounds good with every amplifier and in every room I've heard it in. It was a natural fit for the Mastersound.
I had to push my reference DeVore Fidelity O/96 loudspeakers back 6" to optimize coherence and clarity; once I did that, the system sang. The 845 wowed me with its immense soundstage, which I attribute partly to its aforementioned silence: the long decay of reverb tails…
Sidebar 1: Mastersound's Vicenza Conservatory Project
In late 2021, after "two years of contacts and exchanges," Mastersound and the Conservatory of Vicenza "Arrigo Pedrollo" inaugurated a new listening room at the conservatory, which was founded in 1867 within a 13th-century monastery. The project, which was conducted in partnership with the conservatory's director, yielded a listening room equipped with Mastersound amplification and Sonus Faber Olympica Nova II loudspeakers (footnote 1). (Sonus Faber is based in the province of Vicenza.) Advantages flow both ways: Students get to enjoy…
Sidebar 2: Specifications
Description: Tubed integrated amplifier with single-ended, class-A output stage and auto bias. Tube complement: two Psvane HiFi Series 845B, two JJ ECC802, two TungSol 6SN7GTB. Inputs: two pairs XLR (balanced), four pairs RCA (unbalanced). Outputs: two sets of speaker binding posts corresponding to 4 and 8 ohm transformer taps. Negative feedback: 0dB.Power output: 30Wpc into 8 or 4 ohms (14.8dBW, 11.8dBW). Frequency response: 8Hz–40kHz (±0dB). Output impedance: 4, 8 ohms. Input impedance: 50k ohms. Input sensitivity: 1.0V RMS for full output. Power consumption:…
Sidebar 3: Associated Equipment
Analog sources: Acoustic Signature Maximus Neo turntable with Acoustic Signature Neo TA 1000 tonearm and Maximus MCX3 MC cartridge; Kuzma Stabi R turntable, Kuzma 4Point tonearm, and Luxman LMC-5 MC cartridge; Thorens TD 124 turntable with Jelco 350 S tonearm and EMT TSD15 N MC cartridge.
Digital sources: HoloAudio May DAC, Sonore opticalRendu, Roon Nucleus+, Small Green Computer power supply, TRENDnet switch, Apple iPad mini.
Preamplifier: Tavish Design Adagio phono stage, Shindo Allegro line stage.
Power amplifier: Shindo Haut-Brion.
…