cd

I know that I prattle on at great length about records and the virtue of vinyl and rail against CD’s and other forms of digital music. But like a bunch of other people I got seduced by CD’s in the 80’s. In the ensuing decades I amassed a reasonable collection of discs representing a wide and eclectic diversity of music. And even though I prefer playing and listening to vinyl, there are still some of those CD’s I want to listen to as well. The problem is that my CD player packed it in.

So I went shopping for a replacement. There is a good deal of conflicting chatter out there regarding CD players. Some would argue that the average human ear cannot distinguish the sound quality difference between an extremely inexpensive unit versus a high end audiophile machine. And there are others that argue the toss over the best DAC’s. But, what exactly were the criteria that would meet my needs? Obviously one thing is sound reproduction; however if we listen to some of the pundits that may be a moot point in most cases. So what besides sound comes into play? I don’t require any fancy control features, yet these seem to come standard on many models. Even less important to me is to be able to plug in other digital sources such as USB drives, and portable music players and iPhone’s. These also appear hard to avoid. I want a player that is mechanically sound. I have some limited space requirements where my gear is, so that needed to be a consideration. Another factor is appearance. Unfortunately I look at my equipment more than I get to listen to it, so it has to look the part, sitting there on the stereo bench. And lastly it needs to have a quality that I struggle in conveying in words. It needs to present a certain feel or subtle gravitas. Something that usually doesn’t always come with one of the popular brands.

Just for kicks I decided to ask myself the question: what exactly is high end when it comes to CD players? Well up in the stratosphere you are looking at things like the Metronome Technologie Kalista. This is one exotic machine, which would not look out of place on a starship.

 

Specifications:

Dynamic Range 175dB

Distortion -140dB Max

32 bit internal

24 bit external

Weight: 38kg without the stand which is another 30kg

Interesting Feature: Continuous ground from the disc surface to earth

Location: France

Price: $70,000

 

Now if you are looking for something a little bit more traditional looking there is always the player from Burmester Audio. Very Teutonic.

 

     

Specifications:

Weight: 60lbs

Interesting Feature: Belt Drive plus the body is machined from a solid block of metal.

Location: Germany

Price: $50,000

 

Down the scale even further and more into the ‘affordable’ audiophile region one can look at something like the offerings from Luxman

 

 

Specifications:

Dynamic Range 132dB

Weight: 22.5kg

Interesting Feature: 9mm thick chassis/Luxman started business in 1925

Location: Japan

Price: $24,000

 

Even closer to the realm of the possible is this beauty…

 

 

The totally retro look of McIntosh is what attracts me to this player.

Specifications:

Dynamic Range 100dB

Weight: 28lbs

Interesting Feature: Classic retro look. Also I think Bob Weir owns one.

Location: USA

Price: $4,500

 

But alas, those are really all just fantasy from my perspective. For people of more modest means such as myself I need to look at something a bit more realistic. I had read good reviews and had talked personally to an owner of a cd player from Cambridge Audio; a company based in the United Kingdom. It sounded like this would be a unit that would suit my needs and budget.

 

Specifications:

Wolfson WM8278 DAC arranged in 2 Pole Sallen-Key Butterworth filter topology. Capable of 24-bit/192kHz audio (fancy stuff)

Signal to Noise Ratio: 99dB

Weight:  10.6 lbs

Interesting Feature: See below

Location: Designed in the UK/Manufactured in China

Price: $550

I chose a reputable online retailer that I have had great success over the years to order from. True to form the player arrived in a few days. I eagerly unpacked it and set it up. It looked very nice and just fit in the spot I had for it. I had two CD’s selected as being the ones I wanted to listen to first. The Jefferson Airplane’s classic; Surrealistic Pillow, and a really amazing CD by Ken Vandermark. The Airplane won out. I powered the unit up and pressed the button to open the tray and out it slid… about 10mm then it stopped! Huh? I pressed the button again and it closed. Try again and the same thing happened. Third time it opened right up. In went the cd and I closed the tray. Pressed play and right in She Has Funny Cars. Sounded great. But that tray was vexing me. I played around with it for a bit and sometimes it would work just fine and other times it would only open part way. Then it would just open or close on its own accord without me touching anything. I was not really too impressed considering what I paid for this thing.

 

I called up customer service and got the old “unplug the power for ten minutes then try again”. Really? This had all the appearance of a tray transport or alignment issue, not a computer glitch. But, nothing to lose I suppose. I did that and guess what? It worked just fine. I played the Vandermark, and some Coltrane drank some scotch and called it a night. In the morning I figured some Ralph Stanley would go down nicely with my coffee, but the problem was back. I got on the phone with customer service again, and they sent me a return authorization as well as had a replacement unit on its way. Again, all it took was a few days and the new unit was there. I repeated the whole procedure, but this time with some Frank Zappa. Same f#$%ing problem! Now I was a bit pissed. The customer service people were all very understanding and apologetic, and I was getting my money back, but this was a very frustrating experience.

When I talked to the manufacturer in the UK they suspected that they may have been damaged in transit. Look mate…these things are made in China, like many other items, and they must be designed to weather the trip from there to wherever in the world that they are being shipped to. I don’t believe that was the issue. I believe it was either faulty assembly/inspection in the factory or a poor design that would account for this problem. Needless to say I unfortunately lost all confidence in Cambridge Audio. Twice burned I would be hard pressed to buy from them.  It’s back to records for me for the time being…