Jim Anderson does great work, much of it for major labels. He works almost entirely with jazz artists tho, whose recordings generally haven't suffered from the loudness wars as much as pop albums have. Jim was just made president of the AES late last year, so hopefully can bring some change to...

Quote: Originally Posted by Scrith I think a much easier approach to this jitter problem (rather than resampling to work around it) would be to create a buffer (perhaps 1 second worth of audio at the current playback rate) that contains not only the data but information (for each 16-bit...

I can't speak for the SA8001, but I got an SA8003 in for review earlier this week. At some point I'll schlep it over to my Benchmark-owning friend's house for a comparison, assuming he'll have me. So far the unit sounds quite nice, but any component can fool you for a week.

Jim Austin compared the SA8001 to the Benchmark in Stereophile last October: Quote: To my ears, the SA8001 (in "Red Book" mode) was every bit the equal of the Benchmark DAC-1 (using the SA8001 as a transport) ... In long-term listening I really had no preference; some days I preferred...

Much depends on what headphones you are using. I compared The CD5001 headphone output to my Gilmore Lite...with Sennheisers HD-580s (high impedance, voltage hungry), they were about equal. With Grados (low impedance, current hungry), the Gilmore was noticeably better. If all I wanted to...

Check out this thread. It has a list of worthy turntables available for under $100...a great resource as you wade through Craigslist/eBay listings!

Quote: Originally Posted by memepool Just by using the words "To test whether the sound improves upon that of a belt-drive unit" as opposed to "a Thorens TD125II" surely he is making exactly such a generalisation. I agree the phrase is poorly worded, but given the context I think...

Overall, you make a good critique. However, I think you need to cut the guy some slack in a few areas: Quote: Originally Posted by memepool Quote: Why does KAB start with the SL1200? .....we are talking 10dB+ better rumble specs than anything else I know of and peak wow and...

Quote: Originally Posted by ssportclay In order to compare two turntables properly, one must use the same cartridge and the same TONEARM! To do otherwise is a complete waste of time. When I use the term "turntable" I (and most other people) refer to a turntable/tonearm...

Quote: Originally Posted by memepool Interesting read but there are some glaring problems with his methodology. Firstly he is testing the Technics SL1200 with the stock arm against a Thorens TD125 with an SME 3009S2. Comparing carts between 2 decks with different tonearms is a...

Quote: Originally Posted by searchenabler my first and fore most objective is to see just how much difference, audibly(not just graphs), under blinded conditions, can be present, comparing a sub optimal(technically) vintage arm/system to a supposedly very high quality modern arm/system...

Quote: Originally Posted by gyrodec Nice to know I'm not the only true geek around here. On Head-Fi? Are you kidding me? How could there be any doubt? In an off-topic fit of nostalgia, I looked up the Cray X-MP on wikipedia. It had less than 8% of the raw power of an Intel...

Quote: Originally Posted by gyrodec They are reassembled into audio data immediately prior to sending to the DAC by a CRAY MP that is oriented along a lay-line that runs through my server room. Way to go with the vintage gear! Do you find it sounds warmer than modern stuff?

Quote: Originally Posted by blackburn Annnnd.... good news everyone, Marantz just updated there site with the new CD5003!!!!!! enjoy only $349! My only question is: Is the audio quality of this beast updated? Impossible to tell from the marketing copy. One thing's for...

Quote: Originally Posted by blackburn I've narrowed it down to these three cd players: the Marantz CD5001, Oppo 980 and the Sony CD-CE595. I own the Oppo and the Sony, I had the Marantz in for review for a few months. Honestly, the SQ of these three is so similar you would do...

Quote: Originally Posted by bigshot If you only have a few records, there's no reason to spend a lot on a turntable until you know that is the format you want to concentrate on. Get a good used turntable and a midrange cartridge. This is great advice. Getting input from...

This is far and away the best bargain in digital audio. I'd buy another, but I already have one I use every day and a back-up!

Quote: Originally Posted by tru blu Dewey Redman...truly unique player. Anyone who cares should check out Dewey on Old and New Dreams (I prefer the one recorded for Black Saint) or In London. Serious! I've only heard Old & New Dreams' ECM eponymous recording...someday I'll...

Quote: Originally Posted by Spadix The CD5001 sounds interesting if it sounds good. How would you describe its signature? Have you tried it with HD-600? My "official" review is here. I have the HD-580s, a very close cousin to the '600s.

I was going to recommend the Marantz CD5001, it sounds great with Sennheisers, but if 'ya got the coin I'm sure the SA8001 is excellent as well, as Comfy and Silver mentioned.

I voted for Henderson, just so he wouldn't go without any votes (someone should do the same for Byas and especially Prez). I don't really have a favorite, if I did it would probably be whoever I'm listening to right now. There is so much diversity in tone & approach to the instrument, I...

Quote: Originally Posted by Coltrane Enjoy. Thanks! Downloading as I type this.

Quote: Originally Posted by deeplove Is VBR better than regular 320kbps? No. VBR (Variable bit rate) algorithmically lowers the bit rate in the parts of the music where it (theoretically) won't matter. If done well, it should sound the same but with a smaller file...

Quote: Originally Posted by DLeeWebb I would love to see Tom Waits. Is he going to tour the U.S. soon? Is there someplace to find a tour schedule? As a matter of fact: YouTube - Tom Waits Press Conference ;-) Quote: Originally Posted by Dutchess of York Its...

Rhapsody is 160kbps WMAs. I haven't used MusicGiants, and they're not a monthly subscription service, but they offer "Super HD" downloads which, according to their marketing materials, are "encoded at a much higher quality than a normal lossless audio track". FWIW...I tend to think of the...