Project RPM 9

Project RPM 9 turntable. $2400

When do you review a turntable? A CD player, amp, or loudspeaker, can be set down, plugged in, revved up and auditioned. They are what they are, give or take. Vinyl spinners, on the other hand, are what you make them. Not only are they unbearably sensitive to placement, there’s cartridge choice, tracking weight, belt tension, head-shell alignment, vertical tracking alignment, and anti-skate, to name not all. Any of these may be adjusted, tweaked, set and re-set until the cows have been and gone again. So, at any given moment a turntable represents only one possible state of too many to contemplate. And the question remains: which set of compromises should be reviewed?

In the case of the Project RPM 9, the answer turned out to be the one that fell out of the box. After 40 minutes assembling and installing the handsome devil, including fitment of my Goldring 1042 cartridge, I bunged the spindle-weight down on a record and let it twirl. And it sounded great. Having defied science so outrageously, I chanced my arm by making one small adjustment to the arm height, and it sounded greater. Since then, I’ve listened to dozens of discs over three weeks, and only in the last couple of days have I bothered to experiment with alternative settings, none of which constituted a worthwhile improvement.

Others might not be so lucky, but I suspect most users find the RPM 9 surprisingly ready to please. Everything needed to get it nicely sorted comes packaged with the parts of the player itself. Alignment protractor, spirit levels, even a special spacing template to ensure the outboard motor is the correct distance from the fat acrylic platter, it’s all there. I simply screwed in the feet, put the platter on the sub-assembly, popped the motor down nearby, slung the rubber belt around the platter, bolted in and fettled my cartridge, and it was done.

Assembled and dressed the RPM 9 is visually striking, though not in the league of exotica from Clearaudio, SME, or Michell. Devoid of a cover, the tone-arm seems frighteningly exposed and I could never really relax in its proximity. The chunky little motor tower together with the matt-finished Perspex platter topped by the heavy spindle-weight look suave, but somehow the silver-grey chassis betrayed its origins as a slab of MDF.

Flat out

Normally I spin my LPs on a Garrard 401 mated to an antique SME tonearm. The music that emerged from the Project via my Plinius Jarrah phono-stage immediately impressed as more tangible, detailed, and dynamic. The leading edges of snare drum and plucked guitar were noticeably better defined, as was the separation of instrumental parts. However, a comparison between a spanking new $2400 turntable and an op-shop refugee from the 1960s may strike you as something short of decisive.

It would mean more to measure the Project’s performance against a respected CD player in a similar price bracket. I happened to have the Musical Fidelity A3.2 at hand. To make the most accurate direct comparisons I lined up original vinyl pressings and CDs of Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, Alan Parson Project’s Tales of Mystery and Imagination, XTC’s Oranges and Lemons, and Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds.

Now, bear in mind that the RPM 9 and its sexy carbon-fibre tone-arm should properly be kitted out with an expensive moving-coil cartridge. Good though my Goldring is as a moving magnet design, it can certainly be bettered and the results of the back-to-back should be read in light of that fact.

In comparison to vinyl courtesy of the RPM 9, CDs sounded somewhat recessed, the performances less present, and ultimately, to use a cliché, less organic. The Musical Fidelity CD player should not be faulted, however, for the A3.2 rates well in these departments. The Project also distinguished itself with a more fluid and agile bass and a stronger understanding of pace, rhythm and timing.

A more accomplished CD player might peg the Project back here (See this month’s review of the Arcam FMJ CD33), but the RPM 9 also revealed bass textures that CDs replay is hard-pressed to match. Unexpectedly I couldn’t pick a winner in terms of resolution, but, more predictably, in the digital discs’ favour was the total lack of tracking noise associated with dragging a small rock around a gritty plastic trench.

The RPM 9 didn’t make a big deal of surface noise, but could not conceal it. Instead the music was communicated with enough immediacy to make the underlying crackle and occasional pop no more distracting than the sound of an appreciative audience at a live concert. In this respect, cartridge choice and disc condition will make a critical difference.

The verdict is plain enough. With its funky looks and accomplished handling of records placed in its care, the RPM 9 represents great material and sonic value for money. If you want a turntable that encourages the extra time and care vinyl playback demands, for no more than the price of mid-ranking CD player, look no further.

http://www.audioenz.co.nz/2003/project_rpm9.shtml

Naim CD5x

Naim CD5x CD Player, $5000

You may not have heard Naim equipment in action, but only those who believe the pinnacle of sonic achievement is a subwoofer capable of paralyzing household pets can be forgiven for not knowing Naim Audio by reputation. Emerging as a force to be reckoned with in the 1970s, this British outfit is known for (a) its ability to unearth the rhythm and drive in the apparent vacuum of a solo flute recital, (b) dedication to excellence in construction, (c) a pathological hatred of RCA plugs, and (d) a strange fascination with green.

Once upon a time, Naim built the amplifiers that Englishmen of a certain sensibility plugged their Linn turntables into. These days, besides some fabulous amplification systems, they also build speakers, tonearms, home theatre processors, and other weapons of aural seduction. While Naim has retained its belief in the fundamental importance of musical timing and energy, the consensus in the reviewing community seems to be that they’ve moved away from a full-frontal-assault approach to music-making, and have since learned the virtues of soundstaging and tonal subtlety. Let’s see if that is in fact the case.

Under interrogation

This month we’re confronted with the CD 5x, at $5,000 the company’s second CD player, after the CD5i previously reviewed as part of a system. First impression: heavy. Not only is the internal power supply clearly up to the job, but the casework is a nice solid alloy casting, so this is a machine that will not undermine its own talents with a flimsy, vibration-prone box. Second impression: RCA output plugs! On a Naim! The DIN plugs so beloved of the company are still there, because Naim sincerely believe they improve the performance of the player, but, probably with great reluctance, RCA plugs have now been made standard-issue.

Third impression, after power-up: green. The body of the machine is an understated charcoal black, but the glow from the logo and buttons remains steadfastly bioluminescent. Last impression, prior to auditioning: the manual swing-arc CD drawer. Put the remote down, there’s no eject button on it: you have to open and close this one with your own sweaty mitt. The glass-reinforced drawer swings outwards with a gentle tug, you remove the magnetic puck on the spindle and position your disc, replace the puck and swing the drawer closed. It recalls the romance of setting an LP spinning on a turntable, and completely defeats the regular mechanised plastic tray in style and assuredly in substance.

System virtue

We should not make the mistake of appraising this CD player in isolation, however. Naim adheres to a philosophy of incremental upgrades, especially with regard to power supply, so the analogue circuit in the CD5x can be powered separately to the digital circuits by external supplies in the form of the Flat-Cap 2 ($1750) or Hi-Cap ($3200). Experience suggests each upgrade – while not cheap – would yield a significant performance enhancement.

A rose by another Naim?

Is this another model in the Naim tradition of old, thrilled to play rock, but just too impatient to manage a chamber concert, and uninterested in the ambience of a listening space? In short, no. Once warmed-up properly (allow several days on repeat play), the CD5x immediately impressed with a tangible musical presentation that reminded me at once of a well-sorted record-player. There was no hint of coldness or flatness – indeed I see the word ‘organic’ in my listening notes.

Not only did the CD5x impart music with genuine body, it showed no signs of favoritism. Well, it’s true to say Naim has not lost its special way with energetic musical genres, but now it doesn’t matter if that means rock, jazz, symphonic, or electronic. I’ve not heard The Prodigy’s Breathe reproduced with so much intensity, yet a quiet little song like Bungalow from XTC was no less captivating. Better still, quaint little acoustic pieces by The Penguin Café Orchestra, featuring hushed voices and an assortment of oddly-tuned detritus, were delivered in a perfectly judged manner.

Sum of all perfections?

Shortcomings were few. Compared to Arcam’s similarly priced CD33, the Naim required a little more effort on the listener’s part to separate out different instrumental strands. The soundstage, while impressively wide and solid, and with discernible height, did not strike me as especially deep. There’s no digital output, but these days you’d be spending at least twice as much on a transport if you use a separate DAC. While I’m at it, I might also take a swipe at the remote – you really shouldn’t have to search to find the ‘play’ button.

These quibbles amount to little, however, next to the Naim’s undoubted ability to do what CD player of this price should, and that’s not sound like a CD player.

http://www.audioenz.co.nz/2004/naim_cd5x.shtml

Musical Fidelity A3.2

Musical Fidelity A3.2 CD Player and A3.2 Integrated Amplifier. $2999 each

It’s standard practice to start any review of Musical Fidelity gear by making a jocular remark about how often the company releases new products. I would never stoop so low.

Probably already obsolete by the time you read this, the A3.2 CD player and integrated amp are reviewed here as a partnership, with additional comment on their individual merits.

Out of the box they make a striking design statement, although you may find it an over-statement. The giant volume knob of the amp, and the overwrought aluminium and chrome fascias are an acquired taste which, against my will, I acquired. Both units are sturdy enough, but not built to the standard their front panels would have you believe.

The important business is going on inside these boxes, anyway. The A3.2 CD features onboard upsampling from 44 to 96kHz, while the matching amp deploys dual-mono circuit configuration. Given this information one should expect a nice clean sound right up to the very highest frequencies, with above average image presentation.

However, earlier mid-range Musical Fidelity equipment had a reputation for making warm, rose-tinted noises, and this should be factored into any pre-judgment of the combo’s performance. What did the listening reveal?

Proof of the Pudding

Perhaps not surprisingly, auditioning found truth in both lines of prediction. The A3.2 duo played with considerable panache, yielding a finely detailed sound with notably snappy response to transient impulses in the music. The somewhat over-lovely and over-blown character of earlier Musical Fidelity stuff was absent, and the pairing’s presentation could even seem a little on the cool side. Despite this, there remained a hint of the old Musical Fidelity in the slightly blunted and softened bass.

While the combination produced a commendably transparent, neutral, and engaging sound, testing each product individually highlighted certain deviations from perfection that a prospective buyer should consider.

Upsample this

The CD player, as noted, robbed a little bite from the bass. Its upsampling feature makes a subtle but discernible difference, in the form of added air and resolution in the treble without added edge to cymbal crashes, violins, or over-driven guitar amps. The projected image was solid and deep, but seemed a bit centre-bound in the lateral plane.

Rhythmic subtleties, such as the sometimes-buried contribution of background percussion on Leftfield’s Leftism, were nicely handled, and generally the player showed a deft hand at teasing out the strands of complex musical passages. Always of great importance, the reproduction of vocal textures was particularly good.

While the A3.2 CD player provided a full-bodied presentation, a slight lack of drive or urgency was also apparent. I found myself wondering whether the price tag of the A3.2 CD was entirely justified by the sound quality, and decided eventually that the aesthetics, ergonomics, and build quality probably did enough to tip the scales in favour of value-for-money.

Amplified knob

To its credit the A3.2 amp pumped out clean, if ever-so-slightly anemic music when fed a line level signal. Not daunted by high volumes, it hit hard and fast, but the bass performance was not what I’d expect from a 115W/channel device.

Somehow the lowest registers failed to make their mark, which is quite puzzling. It was as though the amp rolled-off too soon, failing to communicate all the known low frequency information on familiar discs.

The phono-stage took this under-nourished quality on a notch. Perhaps due to an over-zealous warp filter, music off vinyl didn’t carry enough bodyweight to make an impression. Set against my Plinius Jarrah, the onboard stage clearly produced a more wiry sound. Perhaps my Goldring moving magnet cartridge was an unhappy match, so a more expensive moving coil design might have been more satisfying.

Like you, I’ve read reviews of these items that big them up ferociously. This is a good mid-bracket CD/amp combination, but not a pair of high-end performers on the cheap. If the look of these boxes does not rock your world, a less glamorous system might yield comparable sonic rewards and save you some cash.

On the other hand, if you’re not a bass-head and prize musicality in the midrange above all, I’d happily steer you back this way.

http://www.audioenz.co.nz/2003/musical-fidelity_3-2.shtml

Philips launches new DVD/ Super Audio CD player

announced a new DVD and Super Audio player combined for under £150. The new DVP720SA includes 5.1 channel SACD playback, DivX compatibility and PAL progressive scan to the budget sector of the DVD market.

Offering support for high-resolution displays such as LCD, plasma and projectors, the DVP720SA features both PAL and NTSC progressive scan to deliver flicker-free images.

The new deck also provides multi channel SACD performance, while those without Dolby Digital, DTS or Dolby Pro Logic II equipped amplifiers can use the player's built in decoders.

Heading the list of compatible formats is playback of 3.11, 4.x and 5.x variants of DivX, which is widely used on the Internet in movies, trailers and music. Playback also includes MP3 CD, JPEG CD, CD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW and DVD-R/RW discs.

Other key features include Smart Picture and Sound modes, a five-disc memory resume, NTSC-PAL conversion and a zoom facility.

Connectivity options include component video output delivers both interlaced and high-quality PAL/NTSC progressive scan pictures, an RGB Scart and S-video connections. Users can choose between optical and coaxial digital output for multichannel movie enjoyment while 5.1 analogue outputs are required for 5.1 channel SACD playback and for those wishing to use the built in Dolby Digital, DTS and Dolby Pro Logic II decoders.

The DVP720SA is super-slim (measuring just 46mm high) and is available now for £150.


http://www.pocket-lint.co.uk/news/news.phtml/345/1369/view.phtml

CD Player Woes

Almost everyone possesses a cd player in some form or the other. Some have the portable cd discman, the system for the automobile and when at home, there is the cd home audio system. But say upon purchasing that audio system, most users of that high tech stereo may have thought it to be the most long lasting system ever. And say everything is fine with the audio system of your choice, but a couple of years down the road of time the cd player part of the stereo fails.

Things that happened automatically when a music cd is inserted into the cd tray are not happening anymore. Like maybe the cd player is no longer able to read the cd and that phrase that has not been seen before is suddenly displayed on the cd player. That phrase being: NO DISC. Something that may astonish the user at first, because there is a cd in the cd player. So what’s a person to do?

He/she might rush down to the nearest retail store to purchase a cd cleaning device. And after making such an exciting purchase, for the customer thinks he/she is going to be able to listen to his cds once again, he makes a quick trip to his cd player. So he follows the instructions carefully that’s on the package of the cd cleaning disc and enthusiastically places a music cd in the tray after the cleaning. But all is still not well.

For the cd player that has just been cleaned is still not reading the music cd that is in the stereo system. Should one take comfort in knowing that at least the radio/tuner part of the system still works, or should he/she consider purchasing a new system to replace the non working cd player? Then as the owner of the cd player takes one more look at the cd cleaning package he/she notices some advice he/she was unaware of before.

That bit of advice being, that the cd player should be cleaned after every eight hours of playing time. Does anyone really keep track of how often he/she might play or listen to his/her music cds? What if a person forgets he/she is supposed to clean the cd player after every eight hours of use.

Well, there is one important thing cd player owners can do. They can keep the music cds clean or free of dust, for that cd cleaner that has been purchased probably also came with a lint free cleaning cloth to keep dust of the cds themselves. For that dust that’s on the cds is what accumulates on to the laser lens in the cd player over a period of time, thus making the laser lens in the cd player unable to read the cds.

So the cleaner the cds, the cleaner the laser lens in the cd player will be. Some people may try literally blowing the dust away from the cd, but that might make the dust particles settle back on to the cd. So for best results, just clean the cds with a lint free cloth to ensure the life of that precious cd player.

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=2059

Numark AXIS 9 Professional Tabletop CD Player

The AXIS 9 is Numark’s new flagship tabletop CD player. Featuring an enhanced interface that employs a touch-sensitive scratch wheel, the AXIS 9 delivers incredible response. With unprecedented realism in digital mixing and scratching, an array of effects that can be used simultaneously, and a built in Beatkeeper™ with auto-synchronization the AXIS 9 will unleash the digital DJ in you.

Touch-sensitive jog wheel for real time scratching

Multiple DSP effects with direct access including reverse

Saves up to 3,000 cue points in memory, transferable to compatible units

±6, 12, 25 and 100% pitch control

±100% KEY LOCK with key control

Built-in Beatkeeper™ with auto-synchronization

2 complete seamless loops with 3 hot stutter starts

Adjustable startup and braking speeds

CDR compatible

Recessed rear panel, fader/remote start and relay

48 seconds of buffer memory for Anti-Shock™

Transport bay illumination light, all-rubber buttons

User-upgradeable; sleep mode to extend laser life


http://www.bananas.com/productdetail.asp/pid_1668/productname_Numark-AXIS-9-Professional-Tabletop-CD-Player

Clarion's DXZ475RC: drip proof CD player for your scooter

Can't stay away from your music? Well, here's a mobile CD player for you. The Clarion DXZ475RC is a drip proof CD player especially designed for motorcycles, boats and scooters.

Well, you can fret not when you're cruising on your scooter and it begins to rain. The unit features a HumiSeal moistureproof coat that - as the name suggests - prevents the water from getting into those bad places. The remote can be snapped onto the handle bars so you can operate it with relative safety. The manufacturer says that they will be releasing an iPod interface unit. Anyway, this fits into a standard 1 DIN and has a rated output of 19W x 4 (makes us wonder where those four speakers will be).


http://gadgets.qj.net/Clarion-s-DXZ475RC-drip-proof-CD-player-for-your-scooter/pg/49/aid/85964