After setting up my system in the new house recently, my friend (who
knows a lot less than he thinks about audio) wanted to know exactly why
I'd spent £1,000 on a DVD player. (Actually I spent £530 on it, but
that's another story. It's still a £1,000 DVD player.) And he was
insistent that there was no way it could be worth the £900 price premium
over the Technics 590 player.

Firstly I pointed out that the Technics is a CD player, it doesn't do
DVDs like the Arcam. Therefore a fairer comparison would be the CD92.
Which I believe uses the same DACs as the DV79 for its analogue outputs.

So I rigged up a little test, and played Duelling Banjos from Hayseed
Dixie's "Hot Piece Of Grass" CD. (Don't ask, if you don't already
know... just... don't!)

Started on the Technics. Intro sounded fine, but when the acoustic
double bass kicked in the sound just went muddy and confused.

So I switched over to the Arcam and played the same track. Much better.

Switched back and forth a few times, the Arcam wiped the floor with the
Technics.

Which is to be expected.

My friend's comment? "Oh, but you're using a Cambridge Atlantic
interconnect on the Technics and a Chord Cobra III on the Arcam, of
course it's going to sound better."

Just thought I'd share that with people. For the record, while you can
hear a difference between the freebie rubbish cable and the Atlantic on
the Technics, nothing above the Atlantic makes any audible difference.
On the Arcam it does make a difference, but for the purposes of that
quick test it didn't matter. (No, I don't want to go into the "it's all
in your mind" arguments here so don't even bother, it's not relevant to
the point above.)

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

IT consultancy, hardware and software support, broadband installation