MINe 109 wrote:

I think my Arcam CD23 FMJ sounds better than my AMC CD8b, although I
ascribe the difference to design, not to magic or "more money." Am I
wrong?


Who knows? What design differences could be relevant to the sound
differences you claim to hear?


If one unit has gross FR variations or audible and unpleasant distortion
artifacts due to its design then I guess you could be correct in your
thinking. I have heard tell of designs where the idea was to roll off
high frequencies, but I'm guessing that very few CD players exhibit this
kind of gross anomaly. In any case, anyone paying extra for missing
highs is being cheated; they'd be better off with something cheaper and,
instead, using tone controls if they have them.


On the other hand, I once read a review in one of the 'high-end' mags:
an amplifier where the 'designer' claimed that changing a bit of
internal wiring on the capacitors (from a few inches of Monster Cable to
a few inches of something else) made a 'big' difference in the amp's
'sound'. If that is an example of the kind of design difference you
mean then I'd say you are probably wrong in your thinking.


michael