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From: dw@rocksvax.UUCP (Don Wegeng)
Newsgroups: net.audio
Subject: Re: shopping for a cd-player
Message-ID: <1059@rocksvax.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 25-Mar-85 09:03:50 EST
Article-I.D.: rocksvax.1059
Posted: Mon Mar 25 09:03:50 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 26-Mar-85 11:07:00 EST
References: <4430@ucla-cs.ARPA>
Reply-To: dw@rocksvax.UUCP (Don Wegeng)
Distribution: na
Organization: Xerox: Henrietta, NY
Lines: 41
Summary: 

I have had the pleasure to compare several different models of cd players
at a local audio shop (Sound Concepts, for those of you in Rochester).
I can't remember the specifics of which preamp, amp, etc. were used, but
they were definitely high end stuff (mostly Mission, I believe).

The cd players that I listened to were made by Yahama, NAD, and Mission.

The test we performed was not perfect, but it was very interesting.  It
was an A/B comparison between the cd and lp versions of the same recording.
In general, the turntable (a Mission, I believe) sounded better than the
cd.  The high frequencies (such as strings) were much more harsh on all of
the cd players that I listened to.  I also noticed that the mid range was
not always as pronounced as on the lp (this varied between cd players).
We listened to a large mix of cd's, some being analog recordings, some digital
(the cd's came closer to the lp on these), etc.

My final conclusion was that a $2K turntable sounds better than a $800
cd player.  Of the cd's, the Mission sounded much better than the NAD
and the Yahama.  However, I was not interested in paying for the remote
control unit (I'd rather pay for better electronics to reproduce the
music).  The NAD sounded almost as good as the Mission, and cost ~ $300
less ($500).  The Yamaha sounded pretty poor, in my opinion.

I finally bought the NAD unit.  Sure, it doesn't sound as good as the
Mission cd (or the turntable), but on my less-than-high end equipment
the difference in sound quality isn't that great.  I also believe
that I'll end up buying another cd player in a couple of years, for I'm
convienced that cd's have not reached their full potential.

/Don

-- 

"Ah yeees, when the ships were wood, and the men were steel."

arpa:	Wegeng.Henr@Xerox.ARPA
csnet:	Wegeng.Henr@Xerox.ARPA
ns:	Wegeng:Henr801C:Xerox
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