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From: wjm@whuxk.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.audio
Subject: CD.sq.wave.response
Message-ID: <241@whuxk.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 2-Aug-83 10:45:57 EDT
Article-I.D.: whuxk.241
Posted: Tue Aug  2 10:45:57 1983
Date-Received: Wed, 3-Aug-83 23:52:43 EDT
Lines: 25

Tis true ... we don't really know (yet) what quantifiable parameters that can
be objectively and reproducibly measured on a lab bench affect CD sound.
Is 1kHz square wave response significant ? Is the cut off (due to a 44.1 kHz
digital sampling rate) at about 22 kHz (and the effects introduced by the
player's low pass filters in the D/A converter significant?  At present, we
don't know but I think one of the key points is that we'd better find out.
Last night, I received in the mail a blurb from Linn Products (who are not
exactly unbiased, given that they make high-end analog record playing equipment)
presenting some British hi-fi magazine A/B tests between a Linn Sondek TT with
Linn Ittok arm and Linn cartridge (with a Linn head amp) feeding the same
preamp, power amp, and  speakers as the Sony CDP-101 CD player.  They then A/B'd
CD and LP versions of the same works (both classical and popular) mostly EMI
European releases.  The panel preferred the Linn setup to the CD's.
I am not against CD's (far from it, I'm looking forward to a virtually scratch-
proof, warp-proof medium that is also free of surface noise (CBS take note))
but I want something that compares favorably to the best analog recordings
(some of which are digitally mastered, and almost all are cut at half-speed)
like Telarc, Nautilus, Mobile Fidelity, and Sheffield, when played on a high
end system costing the same price ($1K - 1.5K) as today's CD players (like
the Linn, or a Sota with a good arm, or a Mission 775/774).  The thing is
now to find the characteristics that define superior performance in a CD player
and to present those in a  test report.
                                                     Bill Mitchell (whuxk!wjm)
Disclaimer: the opinions expressed here are my personal ones, and not necessarily
those of my employer, Bell Laboratories..