What is an Extended Resolution Compact Disc (XRCD), and how is it different from a conventional CD? First, XRCD is not actually a “format” that requires special players or decoding. Rather, an XRCD conforms to ...

Cambridge Audio has engineered some of the most consistently well-reviewed electronics this magazine has covered. Very recently I fell hard for the elite Cambridge Azur separates, the 840E preamp and 840W amplifier [Issue 186]. Editor-in-Chief ...

There is always a danger in talking about a “revolution” in high-end audio. I’m sitting near my turntable as I write this, and listening to an LP dating back to the 1960s. I’m also listening ...

Transport Bit Accuracy Two Theories Explaining Sonic Differences Between CD Transports Robert Harley One of the theories explaining the analog-like sonic differences between CD transports suggests that better-sounding transports produced fewer bit errors. That is, ...

I’ve lived with quite a few of the most ambitious digital-playback products in my twenty-one years as a full-time reviewer, but somehow never managed to audition a unit from England’s Data Conversion Systems (dCS) until ...

My colleague, the estimable Robert E. Greene, implies in this issue that the heyday of analog is finally over thanks to CD DACs like the Benchmark he reviews. For a guy who used to extol ...

Esoteric’s new SA-50 CD player offers a host of features and capabilities unimaginable to the original designers of the CD format. Not just a CD player, the SA-50 will spin SACDs, decode other digital sources ...

Unless you’re designing cartridges the concept of “small” has traditionally had little regard in the high end. Sure every once and awhile a tiny gem of a loudspeaker sneaks in to placate hobbyists with limited ...

Cambridge Audio must employ mind readers. I know it’s got my number. I feel as if Cambridge made the new Azur 550A integrated amplifier and the 550C CD player especially for me—took into account my ...

It may seem odd to many of you that at this particular moment in the high end when media servers and other hard-drive/solid state drive components are hogging most of the attention that I should ...

Editor's Note: Following is a press release we received today (3/16/10) about a new CD player from Vincent Audio. GRAND RAPIDS, MI (3/16/10) -- Vincent Audio has introduced its new C-60 high end CD player ...

I love things stripped to their essence: a Bach partita, a Hemingway sentence, a Matisse drawing, a Margherita pizza. All are simple, uncluttered, and effective. Certain audio components also express a minimalist vibe—a Rega turntable, ...

Cambridge Audio must employ mind readers. I know it’s got my number. I feel as if Cambridge made the new Azur 550A integrated amplifier and the 550C CD player especially for me—took into account my ...

I can’t say that the Boulder 1021 is the best CD player in the world. I haven’t heard them all, and I have not had the opportunity to audition top competitors from Accuphase, Meridian, and ...

The BEE of NAD’s BEE series of components pays homage to its designer Bjorn Erik Edvardsen, who also designed the storied 3020 integrated amplifier that put the company on the map three decades ago. Introduced ...