Audiophilepure

Read Here

“When the recording contained it, there was no shortage of low-bass information from the Apollo. In “Almost Like the Blues,” from Leonard Cohen’s Popular Problems (Columbia 88875014292), the (presumably synthesized) bass line was entertainingly deep and full, as could also be said of Joe Ayoub’s electric bass in “Samson in New Orleans.” No stranger to the obvious, I also reached for Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s 1962 recording of Strauss’s Also sprach Zarathustra (RCA Living Stereo/JVC JMCXR-0011). The introduction’s famous low C, played by the double basses and organ, was adequately strong—rightly or wrongly, other CD players, such as the above-mentioned Sony, give it a little more weight—but where the Rega really shone was the same note at the work’s end, now plucked by the double basses and set against a B triad from the woodwinds. That low C had what I thought was the precisely correct weight and a beautiful sense of touch, not to mention superb pitch certainty.”

Read zhere

“But the design feature that is a standout for me has to do with the PD70-AE’s capacitors. These are no ordinary off-the-shelf caps. Instead, they were custom made for Pioneer and one huge reason why this player sounds so good and so different, from any of Pioneer’s previous flagship machines.

Connections are laid on and include one pair of gold-plated RCA outputs, one pair of gold-plated XLR outputs, one coaxial output, one optical output, one coaxial input and one optical input.”

Read Here

“Why would you want to add noise to the data stream? Using dither is a well-known technique in digital products to help improve resolution at very low signal levels. Here it only works for 16-bit signals, letting 24-bit streams pass unaffected.

With CD, we prefer the sound with the added dither as there’s a slightly greater sense of solidity and overall subtlety.”

Read more at https://www.whathifi.com/chord/blu-mkii/review#9BIpqQOvvikuhwqz.99

Read Here

“This model embodies the philosophy and technical standards behind TAD’s dedication to conveying all the passion contained within music. Testifying to this is the latest development derived from our top-end, highly praised TAD-D600 disc player: the Ultra-High C/N*1 Master Clock UPCG*2. To ensure precise reproduction with no tonal changes, TAD focused on minimizing low frequency distortion caused by noise from the clock itself occupying the same spectral region. Designed to achieve a pure low-noise signal approaching the upper limits of audibility, our highly innovative master clock is featured in this model.

READ HERE

“I found the HA-1 to be more musical on the low end and more reserved on top than the flat neutral 9018 of the Burson 9018 Conductor. Here, I have almost no reference point for the newer 9038Pro used in the UDP-205. I can say that I think it has more of a shared tonality to the HA-1 of old than anything else. So, in other words, the 9038PRO here in front of me with whatever other parts are in there, sounds more like the HA-1’s 9018 circuits than anything else I can think of.”

Read Here

“. Upscaling audio isn’t anything new but most implementations are rudimentary and sound contrived. The Chord Blu Mk. 2 presumably applies a holistic waveform algorithm to determine how those data points are generated (not just based upon a couple of sample points at a time) and with this, we should get the most analog digital sound EVER. Although the data points are technically artificially recreated, hopefully, what we hear is what we should’ve been hearing from our recordings.”

Read Here

” The term “audio” comprises both the technology involved and the resultant sound. Insofar far as music reproduction is concerned, what’s the point of digital audio if the end result is audio shite? Measurements can provide engineers data about certain parameters of performance and suggest changes that should improve the outcome but, in the final analysis, it is our ear that determines the truth of the thing.”