weiserb

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
3.67 of 5, 3.00 votes

Price Paid:  $1700.00 from Onliine

Summary:
I have listen to my friends $ 20,000.00 Krell KPS 25 and great length. While it is better,it not worth the extra $$. The Krell has a wider soundstage and the music seems to float out of it. Its an awesome player. The Audio Research is my choice for the best cd player under $ 2,000.00 . The ARC is very well made , I and my friends have several and they don't break! They have a smooth relaxed sound, which I find true to the music. Never harsh or agressive. ARC is also one of the finest companies in high end audio. Give them a call with any questions or concerns and they are ready to help. I like the fact that it matches their phono and preamps too!

Strengths:
Great all around performer!

Weaknesses:
Plastic remote,and not a lot of programming features but who cares its all about the music!

Similar Products Used:
Krell, Sony, Sonic Frontiers

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
Sorry to say: This CD player is not what I expected. I was considering exchanging my Parasound DAC 2000 / CDP 2000 combination for a ARC CD2. Having had the CD2 in my setup, I realized that the CD2 does not in any way better the feeling of coming close to the musical event that one get with the Parasound combination. Definition is lacking. Bass is not very defined. Honestly a dissappointment given ARC´s fine reputation in pre- and power amplifiers.

Strengths:
Good looks.

Weaknesses:
Not especially defined in top registers. Bass somewhat ill defined.

Similar Products Used:
ARC VT 100mkII, ARC LS2bmkII, ProAc 3.8 Parasound DAC 2000 / CD/P 2000, Copland 289, Primare 30.1, Micromega Stage 6.

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
This is review of Audio Research CD3 (not in data base). It is the first top loader from ARC. It is really first class player. Very detailed and clean sound. Right out of the box it sounds a little hard, but after few days it sounds sweet. If you are considering Audio research with Thiels you should use not bright cables. System: Audio Research VT100MKII amplifier Audio Research LS25MKII preamplifier Audio Research CD3 player Thiel CS 2.3 loudspeakers MIT Oracle V4 speaker cables.

Strengths:
One of the best player avaliable today. I like design of CD3.

Weaknesses:
Without CD in player you can't close the door with magnetic clamp in place. Can not turn off display. Cheep remote control.

Similar Products Used:
Proceed CDP, Marantz

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
The few who have given this fine product less than an outstanding (5) rating are obviously looking for a certain sound rather than looking for a player that faithfully reproduces what a disc has on it. While I would not argue that this is the finest in existance, it is easily among the top 5...arguably even the top 3 players available. It does not abound in features, but then at this price point, programability is not the first thing one looks for...but rather sound. If you must have programability, buy an after market remote and play around with the codes for various Phillips players since this is a Phillips drive. I found that the codes are in the machine, it''s only that all the buttons are not on the supplied remote. The sound, I would describe as spacious, accurate and detailed...yet without the grating clinical nature you hear in some digital sources. I used this player with both Dahlquist Dq-30i''s and NHT 2.5i''s both of which can be bright if paired with the wrong equipment. With the CD-2, they both sounded glorious. What compares? The new Wadia, possibly the seperate Levinson drive and processor and with the right equipment, the big krell player. All of them cost more than the Cd-2 and the differences don''t come close to justifying the price.

Strengths:
Soundstage, detail, imaging and pace.

Weaknesses:
programability if that''s important to you.

Similar Products Used:
Audio Research CD-1, Rega Planet 2000

Summary:
To begin with, I love my Copland CD player, but I have for a long time wanted to hear the Audio Research CD player, and thanks to Ken at Audio Nexus in Summit NJ, I had a fair hearing mated with Audio Research pre/power. It was amazing. With the Meadowlark Shearwaters, I listened to the St. Paul Choir psalms (Hyperion) I heard acoustic detail that had one-to-two seconds greater "hang time" for the vocals, giving the truer sense of detail sounds in St. Paul's Catheral, London. Vocals had greater magic, and orchestral was powerful and fully complex, even at lower levels-- details were revealed to me for the first time. This is an amazing machine, and if more people heard it and bought it, we wouldn't be playing crazy mind games wondering what to do about CD, HDCD, DVD or Super CD-- or wait for the winner (?). This IS super CD, and you have it now in its perfection with Audio Research. Don't go nuts wondering what to do. If you're like me and have a lot of CDs, you're going to need a good CD player. Boys (and girls) this is it!!! Thanks to Ken at Audio Nexus, a gentleman and music lover.

Strengths:
Clarity, smoothness, Immediacy

Weaknesses:
No HDCD

Similar Products Used:
Copland 266