Compact Disc may be under threat from internet downloads, but so far sales of discs are keeping up, thanks, conversely, to internet retailers. There's absolutely no doubt that CD continues to be the most popular music carrier and will probably remain so for a while yet, and the idea of spending a couple of thou on a CD player is still far from ridiculous, if you enjoy true hi-fi sound.
The players in this group span a narrow range of prices in a well-established and important part of the market. There's no point pretending that in raw ‘sound per dolalr' terms they can compete with the best $800-odd players, but then seen in terms of an investment in several years' listening pleasure the extra $1500 or so to buy one of these is easily justifiable as an absolute quality improvement.
We don't often review CD players at widely varying prices alongside each other and it's not always obvious what the advantages are in dearer players. It's certainly nothing to do with features, as the only things extra any of these six players on test here bring to the party is balanced output. Build quality and consequent pride of ownership can certainly be a part,
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but as for sound there's typically no single aspect that shows a vast improvement. Rather, the overall ‘being there' feeling is the beneficiary. It's simply easier to forget that you are listening to a machine rather than live musicians.
SACD and DVD-Audio were supposed to enhance that feeling even further. What's happened to them? We've not been offered a DVD-A player in a while and no new SACD spinners crossed the radar while we were assembling this group. In a way, it's a shame that neither seems to have achieved critical mass, but then with manufacturers finding new ways even at this late date to improve CD replay any disappointment is tempered somewhat.
It's interesting that most of these players use a ‘real' audio CD mechanisms rather than a computer-type CD-ROM drive. The latter have some advantages in use and manufacture but are a pain in many ways. Some are infuriatingly slow to load a disc, and many emit a quiet but not quite inaudible rhythmic ticking noise, which is like Chinese water torture. It's comforting that the big players who make transports see audio-only CD players as a continuing market. With that in mind, let's continue with the test.
First up: Arcam DiVA CD192...
