dsj@rabbit.UUCP (David S. Johnson @ ) (08/22/84)
(Is there really a first-line gobbler?) I recently auditioned the new Revox CD player, switching between it and the Yamaha CD-X1, and between it and the new NEC player. (This was at Stuart's Audio in Westfield NJ). Compared to the Revox, the Yamaha had a subjectively flatter image (less ambience information), and also tended to get a tad harsher (pianos and voices), especially as the volume went up. The NEC, on the other hand, was essentially undistinguishable from the Revox, although the salesman claimed to detect a difference. (There certainly is a difference in price: Yamaha $500, NEC %1000, Revox $1150.) The explanation for this may just be in the sampling technique: NEC and Revox use the Philips quadruple oversampling method, whereas Yamaha does just double oversampling. If this is the case, then something like the $650 Marantz 54, which also quadruples, may be the best buy. I haven't heard or seen it, however, and decided to go with the Revox for its programming features and more solid-seeming construction than the NEC. The NEC is awkward to use because all the controls are in a pull-out drawer rather than on the front panel (they detach for remote control operation, but I didn't think I'd use than much.) After I'd ordered the Revox and was asking about servicing, the salesman mentioned that a number of Yamahas had been in the shop because of laser alinement problems. (Since it was AfTER the order, I tend to place more credibility in it than the claim he made, before the sale, that "many" of his customers had traded in their Yamahas for Revoxes.) When the unit arrives, I'll post my "in-home" evaluation to the net. David S. Johnson, AT&T Bell Laboratories.
rcd@opus.UUCP (08/25/84)
A couple of notes on the Yamaha and NEC CD players: I mentioned in a
previous article that a friend had come across a marginal CD that some
players wouldn't handle. I tried that CD on the Yamaha CD-X1 and it had no
trouble tracking it. However, the NEC player wouldn't even consider
playing it--it never got past the point of trying to read the track/index
data (that is, the data that tells it track locations and times). You
could hear the poor little servo hunting around. This was one of the
reasons I didn't buy the NEC player; the other was that it seemed
overpriced ($1300 when I was looking, not counting any haggling I might
have done).
While looking at the Yamaha, I found one misfeature--not serious, but
annoying and stupid: If you program it to play a particular set of tracks,
it plays them in physical order rather than the order you entered them.
For example, if you ask it to play tracks 3, 8, 5, and 1 it will play them
in the order 1, 3, 5, 8. I didn't know memory was so expensive!
--
Dick Dunn {hao,ucbvax,allegra}!nbires!rcd (303)444-5710 x3086
...Nothing left to do but smile, smile, smile.