Κώστας Φ.
Truth hurts. Here's a teddy bear.
- Μηνύματα
- 8.978
- Reaction score
- 894
Για διαβάστε να δείτε εργαλείο....
Selectable RAM buffer? Yes please! :respect:
"At the rear, connections are made via gold-plated phono or BNC coax, plastic optical fibre, or balanced XLR-style connections.
The transport is a Philips CD Pro 2 powered by a switch-mode power supply that has its own AC filter. It's re-clocked using what Chord calls "a highly accurate crystal oscillator" before the data is fed to the upsampling and filtering electronics.
This is where the Red Reference begins to show some serious processing muscle. The latest evolution of the Watts Time Alignment (WTA) filter, which has a 4096 tap length, is used to put the squeeze on transient timing errors - something Franks reckons we humans have evolved to become especially sensitive to - and reconstruct the digital data to either 44.1, 88.2 or 176.4KHz (the default setting) sampling frequencies.
The digital signal is converted from 176.4KHz to analogue audio using 1024 tap filtering and a 64-bit digital signal processing core. This is followed by 64-bit seventh order noise shaping, 2048 times oversampling rates and improved pulse width modulated elements. The upshot, according to Chord, is unprecedented low level detail resolution.
The DAC also features selectable RAM buffer technology that sequentially takes in all the data, re-times it and then sends it out giving jitter-free operation. Digital data from other sources can also be fed into the Red via the optical or AES balanced XLR connections.
But Chord know that today's cutting-edge is tomorrow's blunt instrument.
The Red Reference uses Field Programmable Gate Arrays that can be reprogrammed by simply changing the EPROM memory chip. Future-proofing is thus assured, as is flexibility. The provision of digital inputs and outputs means the Red Reference can be both a CD transport and a DAC for other components.
...
No, it doesn't sound like a turntable. In truth, it doesn't sound like any other CD player in our experience, either. It simply gets you closer to the music.
Hot-breath-down-collar close, in fact. In this respect alone, the Red Reference, it seems to us, is worth every penny of its considerable asking price. The stunning design and bullet-proof build complete the seduction, but it's the sound we really fell in love with. We were blown away by it, but you've probably guessed that already."
For
- A true tour de force in design, technology, engineering, build and sound quality
- Brings an unprecedented degree of life, and vitality to CD replay
- Plays to CDs strengths rather than mimicking turntable sound
Against
- Angled transport mechanism makes removing CDs fiddly, and its hard not to finger the playing side
- Very expensive
Verdict
A stunning statement CD player where the statement appears to be that Red Book CD isn't just alive and well, but able to hold its head high in the battle of formats - vinyl included. An extraordinary achievement and achingly desirable.
Full Review: tech.co.uk (σε συνεργασία με το Hi-Fi Choice)
