Clik here to view.
dCS Rossini Player & Rossini Clock
It has been 20 years since I first became aware of the British company Data Conversion Systems, which manufactures audio products under the dCS brand. Rather than use off-the-shelf conversion chips,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Bang & Olufsen Beogram CD-X CD player
The Danish Bang & Olufsen firm is the undisputed leader in audio when it comes to dramatic product styling and ease and versatility of use. Their designs have won more design awards than those of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
EAR Acute Classic CD player
In Stereophile's January 2016 issue, I began a series of reviews of $10,000 CD players and transport-DAC combinations: an informal and serial survey, the goal of which was to gather, over time, the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
NAD 5000 CD player
The $499 NAD 5000 looks nothing like most inexpensive CD players. Its plastic trim doesn't look cheap. It doesn't look expensive either, but it certainly won't be embarrassed to show its face in polite...
View ArticleClik here to view.
NAD 5425 CD player
One of my favorite parts of writing for Stereophile is reading all the heartfelt letters our readers take the time to write me. There's nothing I like better than to kick off my boots, stretch out on...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sony CDP-R1/DAS-R1 CD player
Two of the most cherished terms in the lexicon of high end are "no holds barred" and "cost no object." These are usually applied, together, to the most expensive version of something currently on the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Hegel Music Systems Mohican CD player
Someone on Audio Asylum wrote, "When it comes to hi-res audio, Herb is a babe in the woods." This is true, though probably not in the way this person imagined. High-resolution master David Chesky has...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sonographe SD-22 CD player
While many of the "modded Philips" firms simply replace the plastic "Philips" or "Magnavox" logo with their own after completing all their internal circuit mojo, for the Sonographe SD-22 ($895),...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Bryston BCD-3 CD player
The English saying "putting the cat among the pigeons" has an obvious meaning in a general sense, but when applied to commerce it conveys something more specific: bringing to market a product that will...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sony CDP-X555ES CD player
I'll give the Giant Japanese Conglomerates one thing: they build their CD players like Humvees. The Sony CDP-X555ES ($900) exudes pride in ownership; from the simulated-wood side panels to the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
PS Audio DirectStream Memory Player universal transport
The first time I heard a CD player in my own system was in 1983, the first year of the format's introduction in the West. CD players were generally hard to come by, but I had a friend who worked for...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Music in the Round #87: Oppo UDP-205
For some months now, I've lived mostly without music. To survive the dust and grit of the renovation of our Manhattan apartment, all electronics had to be covered with heavy plastic, the speakers...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Naim CD5 XS CD player
By no means could I undertake a survey of candidates for Your Last Perfectionist-Quality CD playerso far, my ongoing series of reviews has focused on models from Audio Note, Bryston, EAR, Luxman, and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
NAD Masters Series M50.2 digital music player
Back in May 2014, I reviewed NAD's Masters Series M50 Digital Music Player ($2499) and M52 Digital Music Vault ($1999 with 2TB storage). At the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show, NAD announced the M50.2,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
MBL Noble Line N31 CD player-DAC
MBL's Corona C15 monoblock has been one of my amplification references since I reviewed it in 2014, and as I've been reviewing DACs the past year or so, it was high time I spent time with one of the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
AVM Ovation MP 8.2 CD player-D/A processor
For all its faultscomplex grammar, inconsistent rules of pronunciation, burdensomely endless vocabularyEnglish has proven itself a commendably plastic language. This is good for audio enthusiasts, in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sony CDP-X779ES CD player
Sony's first CD player, the much-maligned CDP-1 (reviewed in Vol.5 No.10), did all the things we'd been promised from CD except deliver perfect sound. It met CD's incredible claims for frequency range...
View ArticleClik here to view.
SOTA Vanguard II CD player
The Greek myth of Odysseus has always been a favorite of mine. For an audiophile looking for a CD transcription system under $2500, it seems to be an especially appropriate metaphor. Almost all the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Meridian 263 D/A processor & 200 CD transport
Whoever invented the adage "Good things come in small packages" wasn't into high-end audio. Most high-end products are huge and heavy, with massive power supplies, thick front panels, and battleship...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Rega Research Apollo CD player
I've been looking at this all wrong. My recent informal survey of ca $10,000 CD players has been based on two assumptions: that the people reading those reviews would be looking for their last-ever CD...
View Article