On Sun, 10 Aug 2003 06:03:28 GMT, "Gary Rosen"
wrote:

"Stewart Pinkerton" wrote in message
...
On 4 Aug 2003 15:15:04 GMT, "Wylie Williams"

Indeed yes - a fifteen-year old Krell or Bryston will be all the amp
you'll ever need. Note however, that CD players only really peaked
about five years ago.

Stewart, in what way would you say CD players "peaked" as recently
as five years ago? What were the shortcomings prior to that?

So far as I can tell, only from the mid-'90s did we have DAC chips
which were better than 18-bit linear, combined with low-jitter clocks
and good power supply regulation, giving outputs that are free from
artifacts above -100dB. Usefully, you need pay no more than a few
hundred dollars for a top-class used player from this period, such as
the Arcam Alpha 9, Audiolab 8000CD, Meridian 506, Marantz CD-17 KI, or
the Sony XA50ES.
--

Stewart Pinkerton | Music is Art - Audio is Engineering