As CD followed CD on the upsampling dCS front-end and the Sony SCD-1 SACD player, it became…
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"Wish (Komm zu mir)" set out a female vocal palpably suspended between the utterly invisible JMlab Utopia loudspeakers—very organic, a real reach-out-and-touch-me experience. The powerful, transient-rich bottom end swayed and hip-hopped along, drawing me smack into the ambience of the film again, as if I were back in the movie theater. Perhaps it wasn't real instruments in real space, but listening to Run Lola Run that day evoked the experience of seeing the film. Something to think about.
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Tubed line-stage preamplifier. Tube complement: 8 BAT 6H30 Reflector SuperTubes. Inputs: 5 balanced on XLRs. Outputs: 2 balanced on XLRs (pin 2 hot). Tape output: 1 on XLRs. Maximum voltage gain: 17dB. Volume-control resolution: 0.5dB steps, 140 steps total. Frequency range: 2Hz-300kHz. Minimum input impedance, each phase: 100k ohms. Output impedance: 200 ohms. Minimum power-amplifier input impedance (with optional Six-Pak): 3k ohms. Noise: -110dB unweighted. Distortion: 0.005% at 2V RMS output. Crosstalk: -95dB at 10kHz. Maximum output: 50V RMS.…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog source: La Luce turntable; SpJ tonearm; Koetsu Rosewood Signature Platinum, Forsell Air Force One, van den Hul Grasshopper IV Gold cartridges.
Digital sources: dCS 972 D/D converter, dCS Elgar (at 24/192), Sony SCD-1 SACD player, Burmester 969 and Forsell Air Reference CD transports.
Power amplifiers: Linn Klimax Solo 500 monoblocks, Accuphase M2000, Forsell The Statement.
Loudspeakers: JMlab Utopia.
Cables: Interconnects: Cardas Golden Reference, Synergistic Research Designer's Reference Active Shielding, XLO The Limited, TARA The One…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
The VK-50SE didn't invert signal polarity unless its polarity button was pressed, meaning that the XLR jacks are wired with pin 2 hot. Into a 100k ohm load, the maximum voltage gain was a little higher than specified at 18.55dB, which is inconsequential. The volume-control setting for unity gain was "106." The tape outputs didn't appear to be actively buffered, just isolated with series resistors, so tape recorders should be left on or disconnected when not in use.
The BAT's input impedance measured a high 220k ohms, and its output impedance at 1kHz was…
Someone once said that if you build a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door. Well, this month, we will see not one but two better mousetraps, in the form of Sony's and Philips' Super Audio CD and the DVD Forum's DVD-Audio. Both are intended to replace the humble CD, now in its seventeenth year; both offer higher-resolution digital audio; and both offer multiple channels. To accompany SACD, Sony's $5000 SCD-1 two-channel player is now on sale (and will be reviewed in the November Stereophile), while Panasonic has announced October sale dates for two DVD-A players, the $1000…
The CD-303/200 is a stout, handsome unit with a thick front panel of black-anodized aluminum (silver is also available) and a beefy, epoxy-coated aluminum chassis. Even the remote control—a heavy aluminum unit with multi-function, backlit buttons—screams "Quality!" Curiously, however, the remote is clad in chrome plate, rather than brushed aluminum or anodized black to match the player. The coup de grace is the CD-303/200's transport mechanism, a Philips CDM12, which is good enough as is; Cary addition of a thick, machined drawer warmed this metallurgist's heart.
The Cary is…
One nit I pick with the CD-303/200's midrange, particularly as it moved into the upper midrange and lower treble, was that its power and presence sometimes seemed almost too much—right on the edge of being too forward. With some discs, vocal transients seemed just a bit edgy, or the faintest hint of steel would creep into massed violin crescendos. There's a nice trumpet entrance about eight minutes into the Romanian Rhapsody that showed off all of the Cary's presence and precision, but it seemed to have a balance that was tipped a bit too much toward its leading edge and contrast, without…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: CD player with HDCD decoding, optional upsampling to 24/96, digital input and outputs, and analog outputs. Digital inputs: 1 S/PDIF (RCA). Digital outputs: 1 S/PDIF (RCA), 1 optical (TosLink), 1 AES/EBU (XLR). Analog outputs: 1 pair unbalanced (RCA), 1 pair balanced (XLR). D/A conversion: 2 Burr-Brown PCM1704u-K. Digital filter: Pacific Microsonics PMD-200. Analog filter: third-order Bessel. Output level: variable, maximum level user-selectable; 3V/6V unbalanced or 6V/12V balanced. THD at 1kHz: ±0.0009%. Output impedance: ±100 ohms. Frequency…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog source: VPI TNT Mk.V-HR turntable-tonearm, Grado Statement Reference cartridge.
Digital sources: Simaudio Moon Eclipse, Burmester 001 CD players.
Preamplifier: VAC CPA1 Mk.III.
Power amplifiers: VTL Ichiban, Mark Levinson No.20.6 monoblocks.
Loudspeakers: Thiel CS6.
Cables: Interconnect: Monster Sigma Retro Gold, Nirvana SX Ltd., Wireworld Gold Eclipse II. Speaker: Audience Au24, Nirvana SX Ltd., Nordost Valhalla, Empirical Audio. AC: Audience, Synergistic Research.
Accessories: Finite Elemente Pagoda equipment rack; Nordost ECO3…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
As supplied for review, the Cary player had a maximum output level of 5.94V from its balanced XLR jacks, 3V RMS from the unbalanced RCAs. The latter is 3.5dB higher than the CD standard's 2V, a very audible difference in A/B comparisons. (All the measurements were taken with the volume control at its maximum.) Neither set of outputs inverted absolute polarity, and the source impedance was usefully low, at 99 ohms unbalanced and 198 ohms balanced. (Both figures remained the same across the audioband.) The CD303/200's error correction was superb, the player coping…