Digital replay. Have I experienced an epiphany, or just a healthy dose of reality?

[Neil McCauley]

Hello again.

Is it daft to spend over £4k on a digital replay device?

I'm asking, because of two very recent experiences which have caused me to reflect on the reality of ‘value’ in a market sector which is rapidly evolving – by which I mean that quality is increasing while retail prices are declining.

From my perspective, this is unique in its acceleration in the audiophile arena. Only digital replay has experienced this quality : price ratio change so rapidly. You won’t find it with speakers of amps to the same degree. Anyway …

Experience #1

I plugged in some of my old and cheap spare CD players into one of my state-of-the-art systems. Frankly, given the vintage and the pitiful prices for these discontinued units on e-bay (various Denon, Yamaha and Meridian and so on), the sheer value was extraordinary. My top of the line CD replay was (and I guess that because of my job I know precisely what to listen for) superior – but not dramatically so – in this context.

Admittedly comparing new to used skews the perception somewhat, to say nothing of the outdated thinking that the source is always ALWAYS (sometimes shrieked in a Glaswegian accent) the primary consideration. But, the surprise is what it is.

Experience #2

My CDs, recorded onto my Apple Mac using a very inexpensive on-board (recent replacement) CD/DVD reader/writer is very good indeed. To anyone other than the seasoned and dedicated listener, I now doubt if the differences between the Mac and the CD played through an expensive new CD player would be noticeable nor significant.

My conclusions – so far ….

Is that Stereonow Ltd might soon evolve into being a specialist in speakers (Harbeth only) and amplification (LFD only) and might give up selling any digital replay items. Obviously I’ll keep my state-of-the-art CD machine for replay purposes during demos.

In a nutshell then …

I think the writing is on the wall for the retail of expensive CD machines. But I might be wrong. It happens.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thank you

HP
enquiries@Stereonow.co.uk