THE CD PLAYER PLUS - Ultra High Fidelity Magazine

Listening Feedback Room
of a MacBook Pro laptop computer, and on coffee break. The dynamics were Some conclusions
plugged the same optical cable into it. anything but natural, and the…aw, the There’s much talk in audiophile
There was a noticeable improve- heck with it.
circles of the inadequacy of USB conment,
though a subtle one. More of the We had one more variation to try. nectivity for high-quality audio. In this
fine detail in Margie’s voice emerged, We own an Edirol UA-25 interface box, limited set of tests, however, USB beat
making the song even more expressive, which we use for digital recording with
and increasing Another the (still imperfect) illu- unique our MacBook feature!
Pro, and which we also use
the optical link, even though the optical
was plugged into a very high-grade
sion that she was there with us. However with our test microphone for instrument converter. What does it mean?
the change of source You didn’t know solve how most all the audio tests. magazines It includes do their both reviews: a DAC a and number its of We were intrigued by the huge dif-
problems. Louder reviewers, passages some remained with doubtful opposite, “reference” an analog-to-digital systems, are assigned converter. reviews ference of between the two TOSLINK
hard and not quite individual natural. components. No optical cable this time. We plugged cables. The no-name cable is going to
A preliminary UHF, conclusion on the was other that hand, the maintains Edirol into actual the reference MacBook systems, Pro’s USB on which pick up a name — our own — and we
the process of all transmitting reviews are music done. over All our connector, reviewers and participate plugged in the each Edirol review. to our The will add it to our Audiophile Store. That
the air is not quite main transparent. article is based on the P-8 concensus, preamp if with there a pair is one, of Atlas but sometimes Naviga- on said, we suspect that we can find far
On the Airport divergence. Express the Montor cables. We then played A Song for You better optical cables yet, and we will go
ster cable had turned And then in a second-best each reviewer gets once to more. write a “Crosstalk,” a personal comhunting
for them.
performance. ment, We plugged which may it into even the disagree It with wasn’t the others. quite the equal of the We also know that it’s possible to
MacBook Pro and There listened is no again. pressure To no to confirm. Eximus playing What you the read original is really CD, what with we get true high-end performance using a
one’s surprise think. it turned And in that a miserable is what makes a sound UHF that unique.
was a little more laid back different connection, namely Ethernet:
performance. The sound was out of and understated. Still, after suffering see our review of the Linn Klimax DS
focus, with a surprising lack of energy, through several listens with optical in UHF No. 84). Ethernet uses packet
and the tone was cold and lifeless. Not cables, we were grateful for what the switching, an asynchronous protocol
good.
Edirol offered us.
immune to jitter and other timing
We wondered, if only fleetingly, what The snare drum had returned from errors.
the laptop’s own converter would sound break, for one thing. The presence was Having come this far, we plan to
like it we plugged an analog cable from vastly better. The piano was particularly continue exploring ways to get better
it directly to our Moon P-8 preamplifier. attractive, and so was Margie Gibson’s sound from music stored on your hard
We didn’t make it all the way through astonishing voice. Her lip and tongue disc. Some improvements will come
the song. The accompanying instru- sounds were audible once more, adding from genuine technological advances,
ments were bunched up, all except for to the feeling that she was there, singing and some from quiet refinements. We’ll
the snare drum, which appeared to be a song for us.
let you know what we find.
What’s not to like? It’s small and affordable,
and it provides a pretty good rendition
of your computer’s stored music.
You may be tempted to herald its arrival
at home with a confident smile, as in Ta
daaa…look, honey, no cables. Expecting overwhelming
praise, you’ll probably have to
settle for a slightly raised eyebrow. Or, filled
with inner pride at an affordable upgrade,
you may casually declare, “Guess what,
honey…no new mortgage.” Two eyebrows.
However it turns out, let your desktop or
laptop sing with its new voice for a few days,
and you’ll love the convenience so much that
the entire family may soon vote to bring
home its twin.
—Albert Simon
It occurs to me that judging the potential
of music-from-computer is like judging the
potential of the Compact Disc by listening
54 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
CROSSTALK
to the Philips CDP-101 of 1982. Though
both are digital sources, the CD is a mature
technology, and computer audio has only just
taken its first steps.
Notwithstanding the uneven results we
heard with the Airport Express, I think it
has huge potential, given its affordable price.
Not many people will add a $2000 laptop to
an audio system, but the little Apple box costs
next to nothing. With a better link, my guess
is that it will deliver on its promise.
There’s something magical about having
all your music just a click or two away. This
is, in any case, the future.
—Gerard Rejskind
Hi-fi was the cool thing to tinker with
in the Fifties, today it’s computers, wireless
networks, digital music libraries. On the
evidence of these sessions, even with a good
modern DAC, you can’t pop your laptop into
your system where your CD player was and
expect even the same quality of sound.
Pretty good digital sound, yes, especially
if you use an optical cable instead of
a wireless link. The Airport Express gave a
good-sized image on Green Blade. The optical
connection via the Monster cable let me
hear that and also the marvellous lift in spirit
at the final crescendo, despite a coloration I
would call “golden afternoon.” The no-name
optical lost the gold and had more detail,
like the breath sounds on A Song for You.
An analog cable from the laptop’s earphone
jack — oh, I was getting tired of this. The
session began to seem long, and I thought
fondly of the reference player.
A computer source may be a worthwhile
step on the way to a great system, but none
of what I heard this time would be a goal I
would aim for.
—Toby Earp