Cambridge Audio azur 640c CD player - initial impressions
So, anyway, there I was on Saturday afternoon listening to some music instead of listening to my HiFi (you lot remember that, right?
) when there was a small "pop/crunch" from my CD player, and the music cut off. Then a bit of painful sounding whirring, then nothing.
Ah.
My faithful Rotel RCD-865 had finally thrown a rope over the rafters and hurled itself off the desk.
New CD player required.
Right, now I was more than happy with the sound I'd had, which means one of two things:
1) I must be either a crosseyed clotheared nitwit who can't tell good HiFi from bad, or
2) I can hear OK but I'd got just up to the level where I had a sound I liked, was satisfied with, and didn't feel the need to improve too much more.
Either way, I wanted something of a similar standard to my old Rotel, £300 worth about 12-13 years ago. And, since I'd got a minidisk recorder in the interrim, an optical out was something I wanted. So I went off to my local Richers (stop the booing) and asked them what they had that fitted my brief. Obviously, they tried some flannelage, and good luck to them, it's their job and that, but to be fair, rather than trying to tell me that their "exclusive" brands were the best, the first player they recommended was an NAD, the BEE thingy. But fine words butter no parsnips, it didn't have an optical out, it was a non-starter. I then went through the list of what they did have that fit my criteria, and commited the cardinal hi-fi sin of "OK I'll have one of those, then" thinking that, it's got good reviews everywhere, it's the right price/feature set/availability etc.
I know, I know, some of you are holding your head in your hands now, some of you are saying "won't somebody think of the children", etc. but sod it, I just wanted a decent CD player to continue the sound I'd had. So, anyway, I plumbed it in, turned it on, whacked in a disc, pressed "play" and hoped it sounded similar enough to my old one to not make me think, oh well, but to be fair, I had high hopes.
As soon as the first notes of the music (Goldfrapp's "Lovely Head") came out of the speakers, I froze. Even in the first couple of seconds, straight out of the box, before the 36 hours warm up they recommend on a sticker on the casing, there were all sorts of things in there I'd never heard before. You could hear the end of the whistling loop, the utter black for a beat, then the new loop starting, the drums kicked in, but all of a sudden you could hear the hihat being worked on the snare beat as well as the brushes. And there was bass, loads of bass. And in a good way.
Hmm... wasn't expecting this big a jump in sound. Let's try something a bit dirtier, see how that works. "Young Soul Rebels" by Dexy's, specifically "There, There My Dear". Blimey, that trumpet's definitely hiding somewhere in the room, but I'm buggered if I can see him. Very good, very good indeed.
OK, last one, "Led Zep Remasters" and "Kashmir". Shit! Duck! We're being mortared! No, hang on, it's just John Bonham. Blimey, my cheeks ache. I've just been smiling for about 7 minutes solid.
Initial impressions are "encouraging" to say the least.
So, anyway, there I was on Saturday afternoon listening to some music instead of listening to my HiFi (you lot remember that, right?
) when there was a small "pop/crunch" from my CD player, and the music cut off. Then a bit of painful sounding whirring, then nothing. Ah.
My faithful Rotel RCD-865 had finally thrown a rope over the rafters and hurled itself off the desk.
New CD player required.
Right, now I was more than happy with the sound I'd had, which means one of two things:
1) I must be either a crosseyed clotheared nitwit who can't tell good HiFi from bad, or
2) I can hear OK but I'd got just up to the level where I had a sound I liked, was satisfied with, and didn't feel the need to improve too much more.
Either way, I wanted something of a similar standard to my old Rotel, £300 worth about 12-13 years ago. And, since I'd got a minidisk recorder in the interrim, an optical out was something I wanted. So I went off to my local Richers (stop the booing) and asked them what they had that fitted my brief. Obviously, they tried some flannelage, and good luck to them, it's their job and that, but to be fair, rather than trying to tell me that their "exclusive" brands were the best, the first player they recommended was an NAD, the BEE thingy. But fine words butter no parsnips, it didn't have an optical out, it was a non-starter. I then went through the list of what they did have that fit my criteria, and commited the cardinal hi-fi sin of "OK I'll have one of those, then" thinking that, it's got good reviews everywhere, it's the right price/feature set/availability etc.
I know, I know, some of you are holding your head in your hands now, some of you are saying "won't somebody think of the children", etc. but sod it, I just wanted a decent CD player to continue the sound I'd had. So, anyway, I plumbed it in, turned it on, whacked in a disc, pressed "play" and hoped it sounded similar enough to my old one to not make me think, oh well, but to be fair, I had high hopes.
As soon as the first notes of the music (Goldfrapp's "Lovely Head") came out of the speakers, I froze. Even in the first couple of seconds, straight out of the box, before the 36 hours warm up they recommend on a sticker on the casing, there were all sorts of things in there I'd never heard before. You could hear the end of the whistling loop, the utter black for a beat, then the new loop starting, the drums kicked in, but all of a sudden you could hear the hihat being worked on the snare beat as well as the brushes. And there was bass, loads of bass. And in a good way.
Hmm... wasn't expecting this big a jump in sound. Let's try something a bit dirtier, see how that works. "Young Soul Rebels" by Dexy's, specifically "There, There My Dear". Blimey, that trumpet's definitely hiding somewhere in the room, but I'm buggered if I can see him. Very good, very good indeed.
OK, last one, "Led Zep Remasters" and "Kashmir". Shit! Duck! We're being mortared! No, hang on, it's just John Bonham. Blimey, my cheeks ache. I've just been smiling for about 7 minutes solid.
Initial impressions are "encouraging" to say the least.
