Eiron wrote:

It's all in your mind, unless you were doing something stupid in the
test such as feeding the Arcam into the tape-monitor input and the
Technics into a line input that was being overloaded.

The Arcam was being fed into the DVD input, the Technics into the CD input.

We're comparing a £99 CD player to a £1,000 DVD player (roughly
equivalent to a £600 CD player). If you want to convince yourself
there's no difference then fine - go and spend the £500 change on CDs.

Ironically if I stick my iPod into its dock and connect that to the same
system it sounds clearer than the Technics when the sound gets "busy".
And that's using the same cable (Cambridge Atlantic) albeit with a 3.5mm
jack on one end.

You could try to demonstrate the effect you think you hear. You have
a decent soundcard so put two short wav files on your website of the
intro and bass from each player. 16/44.1 will do, just keep the gain
the same and use the same leads.

If you're really that bothered (and I can actually be bothered) then
I'll make an analogue copy from the Arcam and the Technics onto CD-RW
using my CD recorder, then rip that. You'd be able to hear the
difference with the soundcard, but the S:N ratio is a bit pants.

Anyway... my friend blames the cable (his argument was that the Arcam
was a "waste of money"), but that's like saying a Ford Fiesta is the
same as an Audi A4, and it's only the tyres that make the difference.

Then again, I drive an A4, and he thinks that was a "waste of money" as
well. Typical Socialist really.

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Glenn Richards Tel: (01453) 845735
Squirrel Solutions http://www.squirrelsolutions.co.uk/

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