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LONG LIVE THE CD!!!

CD is and always has been capable of the very finest audio replay available, but CD players haven't been; it the case of 16 bit digital audio we definitely SHOULD have been blaming the messenger for the past twenty+ years.

Just lately I've been reading reviews of the Memory player which re-reads a CD player until 99% of the information has been successfully retrieved, and almost to a man the reviewers seem to believe this to be one of if not THE best source components available, and a significant step up from conventional CD players.

Now while I'm pretty immune to hyperbole after being underwhelmed by supposedly revolutionary components or technology (SACD for instance), I would say that IF the Memory player is the quantum leap in 16 bit replay the reviewers would have us believe, it would perhaps demonstrate that CD players do not retrieve anything like all the information from a CD, and that error correction IS NOT capable of making a silk purse from a pig's ear.

TEAC's VRDS transport mechanisms are designed to enable more accurate tracking of a CD's pits by the laser and must cost more than most CD players on their own, but the result is a solidity and depth to audio replay which stomps all over the myth that lightweight CD-ROM drives are quite sufficient for state of the art CD replay.

CD is easily capable of putting musicians 'in the room' once you get a competent player, but for too long the major manufacturers have tried to persuade us that multi-format players are masters of all when they're masters of none.

For the best CD replay you need a solid, well engineered transport with quality components and the best DACs.
Upsampling/oversampling are no panacea and are a sideways step, a different taste which excited the pallet briefly.

Now however, like SACD and DVD-A, these technologies are being coughed up like a great big hairy fur-ball to be flushed down the toilet with the contempt they deserve.

VIVA LE CD!!! :0)



Best Regards,
Chris redmond.


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