Trevor Wilson wrote:

"Eeyore" wrote
Trevor Wilson wrote:
"Laurence Payne" NOSPAMlpayne1ATdsl.pipex.com wrote
"Trevor Wilson" wrote:

**Forget second hand, unless you are prepared to throw a new laser in a
decent exotic machine. IMO, the best value around today is the Harman
Kardon HD970. Brilliant machine for not too much cash. It'll even play
MP3s.

Looked it up.

**A waste of time. Go listen to it. It is a very fine sounding machine.

The "...exclusive sound improvement system based on the
Real Time Linear Smoothing III, optimizing the sound level and
quality" worries me a little. Smacks of audiophile snake-oil. Can it
be switched out?

**Nope. IMO, the good sound of the HD970 is likely to be related to the
excellent DAC used and the very impressive, all discrete transistor
output
stages. Quality OP amps complement the mix.

I look forward to your detailed analysis of why a DISCRETE output stage
performs any better than an INTEGRATED one.

**It doesn't per se. It depends on the topology of the discrete stage and
the topology of the IC. A decent OP amp will outperform a crappy discrete
stage any day.

I'm glad you agree.


It's just yet more marketing ******** appealing to pseudo-technical
prejudices.

**Just listen to one and get back to me. Until then, you are arguing from a
point of ignorance. Don't forget: We aren't discussing some fancy
multi-thousand Dollar CD player. The HK is very modestly priced.

Still doesn't change the fact that the marketing of it is pandering to
quasi-snake-oil (negative) perceptions about ICs.

Graham