In October i bought a new Cambridge Audio 'Azur' 540C CD player (NOT
the 640C, about which the seller/advisor--whose audio expertise is
established--said the difference between both models is "not that
huge"). So i chose the 540C over the 640C (although the latter
undoubtedly surpasses the 540C as it has better D/A Converter).
However, i chose the Cambridge over CD players from Nad, Rotel and
Denon. Nad and Rotel were out of reach for my budget; the Denon models
were not as interesting as the Cambridge; for about the same cost,
there definitely is more music for my money in the Cambridge product.
BTW, Cambridge has a new, entry-level CD player in their current
'Azur' series, the 340C (D/A Converter is NOT the Wolfson as found in
the 'bigger brothers').

Right out of the box, the 540C does not sound "full steam". As with
most units, before break-in, it typically sounded analytical and a bit
sterile. The sound was somewhat recessed. The manufacturer recommends
at least 36 hrs for break-in (this may vary from unit to unit though).
My immediate impression was that the soundstage of the 540C was more
forward--at least when compared to my previous CD player, a moderately
good Technics SLPD10 cd changer. Switching from the SLPD10 to the
540C, i hear the difference between reasonably good mid-fi and the
entry-level haut-de-gamme of the Cambridge. Obviously, the Mash 1bit
D/A Converter and relatively low cost parts of the Technics
(Panasonic) are miles away from the 24bit/192kHz Wolfson--not to
mention superior quality of parts and sturdy aluminum construction.
The 540C has reasonably deep and tight bass, the highs are extended
and clear without being harsh; soundstage is three-dimensional and
well-focused. It has no problem whatsoever playing my various CD-R's.

The more i listen to this cd player (the 540C), the more i acclimate
myself to its "character". Typically, the sound is less aggressive,
less edgy, than my previous cd player. The back wall goes a few feet
away; more subtle details are revealed. Of course, the next logical
step will be to improve the rest of my stereo equipment: the Technics
SAEX140 receiver will get out of here! I am now considering buying an
integrated amp, next year. The Nad 320BEE is among my first choices,
but their horsepowered 370 and 372 amps are also worth consideration.
There's also the Cambridge 640A amp about which i know nothing. And if
i'd have enough bucks, the second-hand market offers pure high-end at
an affordable price. I particularly look forward for jewels such as
the Classe Audio CAP-151 integrated amp. There's also some of the
Bryston stuff which i find interesting. I will also probably seek to
improve audio cables (interconnects).

I would appreciate your comments about those components. If you have
suggestion to make about integrated amps and audio cables to best suit
and, i hope, pull the maximum out of my cd player, let me know.

jean c (Canada)

"J." wrote ...
Right out of the box, the 540C does not sound "full steam". As with
most units, before break-in, it typically sounded analytical and a bit
sterile. The sound was somewhat recessed. The manufacturer recommends
at least 36 hrs for break-in (this may vary from unit to unit though).

With all respect, if you believe in "break-in periods" for electronic
edquipment, and magic cables, you may wish to find a newsgroup
where such fanciful things are more readily discussed.
Perhaps you were looking for news:rec.audio.opinion?

"J." wrote in message
om...
In October i bought a new Cambridge Audio 'Azur' 540C CD player (NOT
the 640C, about which the seller/advisor--whose audio expertise is
established--said the difference between both models is "not that
huge"). So i chose the 540C over the 640C (although the latter
undoubtedly surpasses the 540C as it has better D/A Converter).
However, i chose the Cambridge over CD players from Nad, Rotel and
Denon. Nad and Rotel were out of reach for my budget; the Denon models

snip
jean c (Canada)


I agree with Mr. Crowley. This is at least 98% ego stroking. This person
would be as readily fooled in a double-blind test as most of us would - we
just don't go on about such minor and often fanciful "differences" in the
sound of components which are essentially neutral in character, like cd
players and amps.

Try rec.audio.opinion and rec.audio.high-end, or whatever it's called.

Mark Z.

I do not want to disappoint you, but this is mostly a load of crap about the
break in stuff. Ether the specs are there, or they are not there. I have
heard about this break-in crap with cables, switches, speakers, and even a
desktop lamp!

As for the specs of the decoding, these machines are very close to each
other. The very small differences are measurable using the proper laboratory
diagnostics equipment and set-up. This is not something you can easily hear,
unless the quality of the unit being evaluated is very bad.

Most of what you are going through is physiological, from how this was sold
to you. As for this break-in crap, what is really happening, is that the
user is getting broken in. This means you are getting used to how the unit
sounds to you on your sound system.

By-the-way, all consumer CD disks are using 16 bit encoding at the sound
studio for the sound content. The sampling is 44.1 kHz. The total bit width
is 24, including the CRC, and checksum data. Therefore, if you were to use a
high grade studio unit that can work at 48 kHz, you will only be able to
have it work in the 44.1 kHz mode for decoding the CD's you buy in the
store. Therefore there would be no point for you to buy such a player,
unless you were pressing your own studio grade CD disks from live music.

The player cannot decode any source material unless the sample rate,
protocol, and the bit width is matched. Since you are buying all your CD
disks in the music store, your player has to decode them just like any other
player. The D/A converters in the high end machines may have some extra
refinements, but I have my doubts of being able to hear these differences,
unless the machine being compared to is of very poor design.

With a sampling rate of 44.1 kHz that is used in the recording and in the
playback, the maximum high frequency that is possible to reproduce would be
about 20 kHz or maybe a few hundred Hertz higher. This is with an
oversampling of 4X. Most consumer players are using more than 4X sampling,
therefore the distortion would be a bit lower. . The maximum low frequency
that the CD player can reproduce is about 5 Hz, on a good unit.

Anyways... This is only my opinion from my personal experience, from
servicing CD players over the many years that I was working in the service
business. Most of my service work was for recording studio equipment, and
for some high end consumer equipment.

Your best test would be to take home the more expensive player that you did
not buy, and run it in to an A / B switch with the one you have. Make a high
quality copy of the CD disk that you want to use for your reference. Insert
the 2 identical disks, and start the two machines at the exact same time, so
that they will be as close as possible in sync. Have someone switch between
the two machines with the A / B switch (not you doing the switching), while
you are listening. Try to guess which machine is playing. If these are good
machines, I have my doubts you will hear any difference, unless the one you
bought is a very poorly designed machine.


--

Jerry G.
==========================


"J." wrote in message
om...
In October i bought a new Cambridge Audio 'Azur' 540C CD player (NOT
the 640C, about which the seller/advisor--whose audio expertise is
established--said the difference between both models is "not that
huge"). So i chose the 540C over the 640C (although the latter
undoubtedly surpasses the 540C as it has better D/A Converter).
However, i chose the Cambridge over CD players from Nad, Rotel and
Denon. Nad and Rotel were out of reach for my budget; the Denon models
were not as interesting as the Cambridge; for about the same cost,
there definitely is more music for my money in the Cambridge product.
BTW, Cambridge has a new, entry-level CD player in their current
'Azur' series, the 340C (D/A Converter is NOT the Wolfson as found in
the 'bigger brothers').

Right out of the box, the 540C does not sound "full steam". As with
most units, before break-in, it typically sounded analytical and a bit
sterile. The sound was somewhat recessed. The manufacturer recommends
at least 36 hrs for break-in (this may vary from unit to unit though).
My immediate impression was that the soundstage of the 540C was more
forward--at least when compared to my previous CD player, a moderately
good Technics SLPD10 cd changer. Switching from the SLPD10 to the
540C, i hear the difference between reasonably good mid-fi and the
entry-level haut-de-gamme of the Cambridge. Obviously, the Mash 1bit
D/A Converter and relatively low cost parts of the Technics
(Panasonic) are miles away from the 24bit/192kHz Wolfson--not to
mention superior quality of parts and sturdy aluminum construction.
The 540C has reasonably deep and tight bass, the highs are extended
and clear without being harsh; soundstage is three-dimensional and
well-focused. It has no problem whatsoever playing my various CD-R's.

The more i listen to this cd player (the 540C), the more i acclimate
myself to its "character". Typically, the sound is less aggressive,
less edgy, than my previous cd player. The back wall goes a few feet
away; more subtle details are revealed. Of course, the next logical
step will be to improve the rest of my stereo equipment: the Technics
SAEX140 receiver will get out of here! I am now considering buying an
integrated amp, next year. The Nad 320BEE is among my first choices,
but their horsepowered 370 and 372 amps are also worth consideration.
There's also the Cambridge 640A amp about which i know nothing. And if
i'd have enough bucks, the second-hand market offers pure high-end at
an affordable price. I particularly look forward for jewels such as
the Classe Audio CAP-151 integrated amp. There's also some of the
Bryston stuff which i find interesting. I will also probably seek to
improve audio cables (interconnects).

I would appreciate your comments about those components. If you have
suggestion to make about integrated amps and audio cables to best suit
and, i hope, pull the maximum out of my cd player, let me know.

jean c (Canada)

On 27 Nov 2004 10:47:18 -0800, (J.) wrote:

I would appreciate your comments about those components. If you have
suggestion to make about integrated amps and audio cables to best suit
and, i hope, pull the maximum out of my cd player, let me know.

You've been reading too many hi-fi magazines :-)

Laurence Payne wrote
You've been reading too many hi-fi magazines :-)

Yeah, you're absoluetely right
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