[The Quality Guru]

How is the sound, usually, out of these? I ask only because I came across a really odd situation. To make a long story short, my Dad's Harman Kardon CDR20 CDP/recorder (rather expensive, too) had a headphone jack that sounded absolutely pitiful and unlistenable, with distortion like you wouldn't believe- and then I tried a 7-year old Denon DCM-777 CDP containing sound from its headphone jack that absolutely mutilated that of the HK CDR20; I mean, it was a pretty big difference. Does the Harmon Kardon sound so bad just because they seriously skimped on the headphone jack and put in a cheapy, or what - I just find it odd that this jack would sound so bad on a $500 CD recorder/player, also when it would be customary to listen on headphones while monitoring the CD recording. I just find that alittle strange.

Also, both of these players, both the HK and the Denon, have adjustable volume for the headphone jacks; are these just little potentiators that adjust the volume or something more sophisticated, like a mini amp?


Thanks.



EDIT: Spelling and a few sentences were changed