But, you may ask, how did it sound? The one-word…
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To achieve those goals, Rowland went one step beyond the Concentra's integrated-circuit output devices. The 302 uses proprietary power modules by Bang & Olufsen Powerhouse a/s. Although these devices use digital circuitry, they are claimed not to be class-D amplifiers. [I believe that as they do use a switching output stage, it is not incorrect to refer to them as class-D.—Ed.] Furthermore, the 302's power supply is of the power-factor-correcting sort. The result is an amplifier that remained cool no matter what demands I made of it.
"There are two kinds of fools: One says, 'This is old and therefore good.' The other says, 'This is new and therefore better.'"—Bob Katz
I've been lurking on some of the Internet newsgroups recently. It's an interesting experience: If you want to experience audio life as it might be if Stereophile did not exist, you should subscribe to rec.audio.high-end. Despite the newsgroup's title, some of its most vocal denizens seem to have both little interest in high-end audio and much faith in their own belief systems. If I were as sure about one thing as these cyberspace cowboys appear to be…
At what point does a high price become exorbitant? When do you start doing double takes, to make sure you haven't mentally moved a decimal point? When do you look at something and think, "No matter how good it may be, it's just not worth that much money"?
A few years ago, if I were contemplating CD players, I would have answered those questions confidently: "Anything over $1000." Then the Wadia 830, at $2500, rewrote my rulebook. Next, there was the original Simaudio Moon Eclipse, and the Oracle, and the Wadia 861, and...before I knew it, $5000, $6000, and maybe even a bit more…
I experimented a bit with cables, but mostly used Audience's Au24 interconnects and speaker cables. However, when I ran the 001 directly into either amp in the balanced configuration, I used Wireworld's Gold Eclipse II. Power arrived via FIM outlets, MIT's ZCenter and ZSystem conditioning system, and Audience PowerChord AC cords, and was further treated when I installed AudioPrism's QuietLine filters in each of the house's circuits. Everything but the amplifiers and turntable was supported in a Finite Elemente Pagoda equipment rack; the speakers were supported by footers.
Listening: Phase…
Perhaps Trish made the most telling assessment of the Burmester. One evening, when were listening and talking about the 001's characteristics, she said, "Oh, you're right, but I don't care—I love it. With the Burmester, when you're not around, I'm always in here listening to music. Without it in the system, the only time I listen is when you are. I think about listening, but somehow, it just doesn't seem that appealing...it's just not worth the trouble."
Listening: Phase Two
One of the Burmester 001's selling points is that, with its switching capability, variable output, and…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Remote-control CD player with external data inputs, switchable digital filter, and volume control. D/A conversion: proprietary, DSP upsampling to 24-bit/96kHz and digital filtering prior to D/A conversion. Output level: variable, or fixed at 4V at 1kHz (0dB balanced, 2V unbalanced) or 8V at 1kHz (0dB balanced, 4V unbalanced). THD+noise (1kHz, 0dB): ±0.0025%. Output impedance: 75 ohms unbalanced, 150 ohms balanced. Frequency response: 10Hz-20kHz, +0.1dB, -1.1dB. Digital inputs: 2 S/PDIF (RCA), 1 AES/EBU (XLR) w/transformer, 1 optical (TosLink).…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog source: VPI TNT Mk.V-HR turntable-tonearm, Grado Statement Reference cartridge.
Digital source: Simaudio Moon Eclipse CD player.
Preamplifier: VAC CPA1 Mk.III.
Power amplifiers: VTL Ichiban, Mark Levinson No.20.6.
Loudspeakers: Audio Physic Virgo III, Thiel CS6.
Cables: Interconnects: Nirvana S-X, Nordost Valhalla, Monster Sigma Retro, Audience Au24, Wireworld Gold Eclipse II. Speaker: Nirvana S-X, Nordost Valhalla, Monster Sigma Retro, Audience Au24. AC: Audience PowerChord, Synergistic Research.
Accessories: Finite Elemente Pagoda…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
As it has an external data input, I was able to test the Burmester 001 with both 16-bit CD data and with external 24-bit data, sampled at 96kHz. The volume control operates in 60 steps, but with digital data at 0dBFS (the maximum level), the player's output clipped at volume-control settings above "54." The output level at this setting was 6.495V from the balanced jacks, 3.234V from the unbalanced, which is 4.2dB higher than the standard 2V. The output impedance was commendably low, at 66.2 ohms from the unbalanced RCAs, this doubling to 132 ohms from the balanced…
Back in 1984, when I still had all my hair and began listening to digital audio (wait a minute...), I was disappointed with the compact disc. Most of that disappointment came from the format's musical performance, which was poor, but a portion of my dismay came from realizing that my days as a hands-on hobbyist were numbered: I was used to selecting and setting up my own turntable, tonearm, and cartridge, but a CD player defied such involvement. Plugging it in and playing it were all that I or most anyone else could do.
Small consolation came when the first outboard D/A…
In other words, you can have up to 173ps of jitter in the digital domain before it distorts the analog waveform. However, if you apply that same mathematical distribution to an 8x-oversampling scheme with its 20-bit word length, you'll see the timing-error threshold drop to 1.35ps. The point being: Oversampling makes your waveform vulnerable to such a low level of jitter that the jitter can't realistically be avoided or removed. Interesting—and I'm extremely curious to see what John Atkinson uncovers in his measurements of the Shigaraki system.
There are no big ease-of-use issues here,…