Keith G wrote:
OK, this is good.

I have set up the Marantz *tweaked* CDP (£500 new**, apparently) on my
recently-acquired Argos POS stack (where the CD player cost nobbut 70 quid,
IIRC) thusly:

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/cdpcompare.JPG

The output levels have been matched nicely (the Marantz has built-in
attenuation) and I can flick to and fro between them *instantaneously* while
they play, with the amplifier's zapper.

Here it comes.......

With a stark, clear, intimate female vocal/acoustic backing (Regina Lund
'Unique') CD on my *crystal clear* and very revealing Pinkies (Firewood
Horns with Fostex FE103E fullrange drivers) I ABSOLUTELY CAN NOT SPLIT
THEM!!

To me they sound about as *identical* as you could get!! Treble, bass,
background detail (of which there is plenty), 'recording noise' &c. - the
whole works!

Now, I fully appreciate this is unscientific and pretty meaningless as it
stands and that I need to run the same comparison with a few more
discs/other people before it becomes at all meaningful - the usual
invitation to anyone who wants to check it for themselves applies....

....but as luck would have it, the piano tuner's due here sometime between 1
and 2 o' clock. If he'll play ball (he will if he wants to come again!) I'll
run it all past him and will post his responses (sound quality generally and
the two CDPs) here a little later on.

My curiosity about the Argos stuff was brought on by the amp I grabbed a
week or two back to use on the computer. It worked superbly amplifying
computer sound but proved to be useless for recording to the HDD, due to the
absence of a proper Tape Loop - Line Out only and ferocious hum if I looped
the computer back in to one of the other imputs! (Solved this with a dinky
little Pioneer SA-510 amp with two Tape Loops!! :-)

My contention is that it's pretty hard to get really crappy-sounding audio
gear these days (once you get away from plastic boomboxes) and I was
curious - credit to me, I think, for forking out hard cash to find out for
myself when others are content to condemn gear out of hand completely
*unheard*...!!

(From even as far away as the Other Side Of The World it seems!! ;-)


** Well aware that any chance of flogging it to anyone here is well and
truly stoked now!! ;-)


This pretty much agrees with what I'e found. Some few months ago, I
bought a £ 7.00 portable CD player from Argos, as I wanted a portable CD
player for a long flight. I couldn't believe that anything at £ 7.00
could be any good, but I was quite prepared to throw it away after the
flight if it matched my expectations. I still have it!

On headphones, (AKG K270s), I can't hear any difference with my Meridian
player. On using line output, through my main 'speakers I try to
persuade myself there's a difference, but I'm buggered if I can choose
between them. The player is, as you would expect, a nasty bit of
plastic, with as much quality as a polished turd, but nevertheless,
where it matters, i.e. sound quality, bad it isn't.

It illustrates what I've believed for some time that once the basic
audio parameters of low noise, low distortion and wide flat frequency
response are met, there's really very little else that matters.

S.