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CD has become the audio format of choice, and today's CD players offer
crisp, clear sound as well as a wide range of programmability, anti-skip
technologies, and other advanced features. Find out what to look for in
a CD player, whether it's a basic portable model or a high-end HDCD-compatible
200-CD changer.
Compact-disc technology has come a long way. Touted in its early-'80s
infancy as offering "perfect sound forever," the format drew fire from
casual listeners and audiophiles alike for its "cold" or "lifeless" sound.
By the mid-'90s, however, improvements in digital mastering (such as perceptual
coding) and CD playback technologies (better digital-to-analog converters,
or DACs, higher over-sampling, reduced "jitter") had raised the standards
for CD quality so that CDs could reproduce most of the information found
on high-resolution analog and digital masters. The late '90s witnessed
a surge in the popularity of HDCD (High-Definition Compatible Digital),
a mastering format that encodes 20 bits of information on standard 16-bit
discs. HDCD discs sound great on any CD player and even better--at once
more natural and more dynamic--when decoded using an HDCD-equipped CD
or DVD player.
Sound quality aside, the convenience of CD over other formats is undeniable.
CDs are much more portable than the 12-inch LP record and offer far easier
track-search capability than the cassette tape. Modern technological improvements
include features such as CD-Text, which tells CD-Text-enabled CD players
the artist and track information for a given disc, and anti-skip technology
for portable players that let you take your music jogging and driving
without unwanted interruptions in the music. This guide will help you
decipher the characteristics of different kinds of CD players and aid
you in choosing the right one for your needs.
One important question any CD listener must face in this day and age is
whether to buy another CD player or simply invest in a DVD (digital versatile
disc) player that will play CDs and DVDs. While the current crop of DVD
video players does a fine job playing CDs, most of them do not play recordable
CD-Rs or CD-RWs. Most DVD video players are also designed as stereo components,
not portables, so you might find a portable CD player will still come
in handy for the car or backpack.
Another CD/DVD issue to consider is the fact that only a few DVD players
currently offer HDCD decoding. While not all CDs are HDCD-encoded, an
increasing portion of them are (it depends largely on the producer's taste
and an album's recording budget). Even though an HDCD-equipped player
is not required to play HDCD-encoded discs, you may want to bear this
factor in mind if you're a connoisseur of high-quality playback.
Additionally, many dedicated CD players sound better than DVD players
at the same price point when playing standard CDs. Why? A $300 CD player
has a lot less to work to do than a $300 DVD player. Many might argue
that since CDs and DVDs are both digital formats, differences in playback
quality will be negligible, but most people still rely on the analog outputs
of CD or DVD players, making the performance of any "digital" device just
as subject to differences in sound quality as other audio equipment.
Of course, the better the DVD player, the better the sound will be, from
both CDs and DVDs, and our reviewers listen with this in mind. In general,
we recommend separate CD and DVD players when buying in the $300-and-under
region.
There's one more consideration before buying a CD player. Two new disc-based
audio formats are about to be introduced: SACD (Super Audio Compact Disc)
and DVD-Audio. SACD will offer high-resolution two-channel playback; DVD-Audio,
while also capable of high-resolution two-channel playback, will focus
mainly on high-resolution surround-sound. Each of these formats will require
new hardware and new software, none of which will fall into the
realm of "affordable" any time soon--but keep an eye on these formats
as they emerge.
With portables, a key consideration is headphone quality; be sure to see
how our reviewer rates the headphone audio. Other important features to
consider when shopping for portable CD players are:
Check the type of batteries it needs (standard or rechargeable), how long
the batteries last, and how many you'll need.
Many portable units offer not only a headphone output, but a separate
line-level output as well (unaffected by the volume control), allowing
you to easily plug into any component (or car) system for listening in
different environments.
Portables with anti-skip protection usually provide bewteen 10 to 40 seconds
of buffer memory. The more memory the player has to guard against bumps,
the more ruggedly you can use your player.
If you're using small headphones, you might want bass boost or a "loudness"
switch to give a little more heft to your music.
Many players offer this these days.
Most players will let you program anywhere from 20 to 32 tracks
This feature lets you randomly cycle through the disc until all the songs
have been played.
Some players let you play one track or all tracks repeatedly. A-B repeat
lets you cycle a segment you've defined.
This feature lets you play consecutive snippets, usually 10 seconds, of
each of the tracks on a disc.
With this feature, the player will search for the loudest part of a track
or disc to help achieve optimum quality when taping.
These days, CD technology is commonplace enough that you'll actually see
portable CD players in the $50-and-under category, which was the going
range for low-end portable cassette players some 15 years ago. Don't expect
too much from this price range--basic features and less-than-stellar sound
quality--but you'll get at least basic CD-player functionality.
The average price for a decent portable disc player is about $100-200,
for which you should expect good digital-to-analog converters (the chief
arbiter of any player's sound quality), features like programmability
and random-play, extended battery life (10 hours or more from two or four
AA batteries), and some form of anti-skip protection to guard against
interruptions in music playback due to jostling or bumping.
More expensive players will offer more features, better build quality,
and sometimes, though not always, better sound. Features can include longer
anti-skip buffers, longer battery life, equalization (such as bass boost),
AM/FM radio, and spiffier headphones.
There aren't too many single-disc players coming out these days, largely
due to the fact that DVD players also play CDs--but in many cases a stand-alone
CD player can still give you the best CD sound quality for your dollar.
Single-disc players share many features of multi-disc players; look for
a remote control, multi-track programmability, random play, a headphone
jack, and some form of digital output.
Multi-disc players offer the convenience of loading and playing multiple
discs, freeing you from getting up to change discs every time one ends.
If you have a huge collection (200-plus discs) but want multi-disc playback
features like shuffle-play (randomized play across all discs), you might
want to consider a five- or six-disc carousel or cartridge player, which
would grant you playback flexibility without completely disrupting whatever
filing system you've devised for your library.
For smaller collections, a 25-disc or 200-disc CD changer and player might
permit you to store your entire collection inside the CD player, simplifying
your storage needs. If you buy a changer large enough for your whole music
collection, you'll be able to set it for continuous random play for a
personalized-radio-station effect. Here are some features to look for
in multi-disc players:
Remote controls are a necessity with any CD player, but especially those
that hold more than one disc. A good remote will let you program multiple
discs.
This feature lets you randomly cycle through the disc until all the songs
have been played.
Some players let you play one track or all tracks repeatedly. A-B repeat
lets you cycle a segment you've defined.
This feature lets you play consecutive snippets, usually 10 seconds, of
each of the tracks on a disc.
With this feature, the player will search for the loudest part of a track
or disc to help achieve optimum quality when taping.
Being able to use headphones is important if you have roommates or want
to keep the sound low for other reasons. Headphone jacks with a volume
control are the most convenient.
This feature allows you to organize and play your music by whatever groupings
you choose.
This feature lets you plug a PC keyboard into a multi-disc changer in
order to store information about each disc or group of discs.
This handy feature lets you change other discs without interrupting the
playback of the one you're listening to.
Look for either coaxial or optical digital output. This feature lets you
use an outboard digital-to-analog converter to handle the conversion duties,
either for convenience (as when using a home-theater surround processor)
or for better sound (depending on the quality of the converter supplied
with your CD player). You can also use a digital output to feed a digital
recorder like MiniDisc or recordable CD.
Home CD players have also come down in price over the years, and you get
a lot more for your buck than you used to. For $100 or less you can get
a decent-sounding home player with full programmability, multi-disc capacity,
and even a remote control. What you won't find at that price level are
durable build quality and high-grade parts such as state-of-the-art digital-to-analog
converters, coaxial digital-audio outputs, advanced error-correction techniques,
jitter-reduction circuitry, and HDCD (High-Definition Compatible Digital)
processing.
These "extras" usually add up to longer-lasting and better-sounding CD
players, and for these you'll be looking at players in the $200-600 region
(and up). It's true that $600 is more than you'll pay for many DVD players,
but if you're serious about sound quality, you'll generally find that
your CDs sound better on a higher-end dedicated CD player.
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