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From: karn@petrus.UUCP (Phil R. Karn)
Newsgroups: net.audio
Subject: Re: CD Players; Carver CD Player
Message-ID: <436@petrus.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 1-Aug-85 21:44:44 EDT
Article-I.D.: petrus.436
Posted: Thu Aug  1 21:44:44 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 3-Aug-85 02:48:55 EDT
References: <3339@decwrl.UUCP>
Organization: Bell Communications Research, Inc
Lines: 21

> Is there really any significant differences in sound quality between the lower 
> priced and higher priced CD players?  If so, who makes the best CD player for
> the money?

Despite those who claim all sorts of audible differences between CD players,
a fairly carefully controlled test conducted recently by several net.audio
members (ulysses!smb, hound!rfg, rabbit!jj and myself, among others)
revealed that none of us could discern ANY differences WHATSOEVER between
the CD players tested. In blind A/B testing in which carefully synchronized
players played identical discs with matched signal levels, none of us was
able to do better than chance at telling which player was on at the moment.
The test included players of widely varying prices, both with digital and
analog reconstruction filters.  The results were not unexpected, considering
the almost ruler-flat frequency response characteristic of virtually all
CD players.

In summary, I wouldn't waste my time comparing the sound quality of
different CD players. You should instead shop for price, reliability,
programming features, error correction capability, etc.

Phil