Whoa, whoa there horsie, you're confusing pleasant and musicalwith excellent. The CD 2's a fine little machine, comparable, as you
suggest, with the Meridian. But it's far short of the Levinson 39 and
light years short of the Linn CD 12 and the unmentioned Naim CDS 2.
It's also inferior to the Wadia 7/27 and Sonic Frontiers 3's. It isn't
even as good as Naim's "middle of the line" CDX/XPS. I know we're in fairly
subjective country here and that there are plenty of folks out there
still arguing heatedly that no one can hear a difference among cd
players. But my ears tell me a decidedly different story. There are
very audible differences among players, and there are several which
can be both highly musical and highly resolving at the same time,
believe me. Unless you're already married to the ARC, I suggest for
openers that you at least audition the Naim CDX/XPS -- if only to give
yourself a little more experience of what is possible with 16/44. To my
ears the ARC (and Meridian) are compromises, based on their designer's
loss of faith in the medium. There's better out there, a good deal
better.

Several months ago I auditioned the ARC CD2 in my system for several days.Its a nice CD player, but it did not have some of the air on piano that I wanted.

I don't think it is comparable to the NAIM CDX. Also, I think that, overall, the Meridian 508.24 is a better player than the CD2. The ML 39 is overrated in my
humble opinion, the CD2 is more musical.

In summary, the CD2 is a fine CD player, but certainly not one of the four best players currently available.

The best cd player of the moment with the Ml 39 (too expensive). Great clearity, deep bass and soundstage. I forgot the vinil!!!

Clarity, smoothness, Immediacy

No HDCD

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.

Similar Products Used:

Copland 266

Very neutral, full musical range reproduction. It does not add to the music, or take away from it. It just gives you what is on the disk.

cheap remote control, lack of HDCD. Skimpy owner's manual

This is a great sounding (or non-sounding) CD player. I am very happy with it. I was not planning on spending what I did on it, but once I heard it... It plays music without effort. If a piece has a lot going on, I can separate the instruments if I wish, but I don't have to. No frequency range calls attention to itself. Nothing sounds congested. I have used it with all types of music and enjoy them all.

Now for the controversial part of my review: I got curious about the uproar over using an after-market power cord with it. FI magazine in early 1999, I believe. How could a power cord make that much difference? I asked my dealer and he grinned. I should have known then that I would be in trouble!

He lent me the $600 Transparent Audio Reference power cord. I plugged it into my CD2 and my understanding of its capability took a nose-dive into the carpet. Greater transparency, greater frequency range, deeper. firmer bass, higher highs, greater depth and image placement. An outstanding CD player became even better. Much Better. I bought the power cord, even though it was so expensive, and have not regretted it for a moment.

Similar Products Used:

Denon DCD-S10
Phillips CD-960

Given the opportunity to build my system from scratch, I choosed the ARC LS-15 driving the VT-100 with several CD players in mind. And CD2 won the most musical CD player in the $3k to $5k range. The list is an impressive one - Krell, Proceed, Wadia, and Meridian. Besides the Wadia which gives a better presentation and image, CD2 is the most musical of the group albeit some slight grain on top. But in a right system, CD2 will melt your soul and make you listen to music, not stereo system.

I buy my ARC CD2 for about 4 months ago. I am truly satisfied with the performance. Before buying I auditioned it in the ARC local dealer with the LS-5 Mk3, the DAC3Mk2 and the VT-150SE, all ARC gear. With Dunlavy SC-IV speakers. In this case I try both the CD2 as a CD player and as the transport with the DAC3Mk2 before the pre amp. When using the tube DAC3Mk2 as the D/A converter, the sound fell more soft and thick at the midrange and treble. When use as a CD player, the sound have a little bit more grain in the midrange and treble but only slightly.

Now I am presently using ARC Reference 1 pre amp at my home with the CD2 but I didn't buy the DAC3Mk2 because from two new unit sent to my home, The DAC3Mk2 doesn't work at all. Later on the dealer told me that one of the power supply cable in the DAC3Mk2 have disconnected from their soldered joint point perhaps while in shipping. But given that it cost $4000,and it happen to two (2) new sealed in the box unit, I refuse to buy it. Amazingly the third one from the dealer that they use as a demo work perfectly well.

Any way the midrage and treble grain from the CD2 while configured as CD player,that I heard before in the dealer show room, diminish significantly in my home. Maybe because I am using ARC Reference1 preamp instead of the ARC LS5Mk3 in the dealer.

In the future I would like to buy either ML no36S DA converter or the new generation of ARC tubed DA converter as long as they add HDCD capabilities.

The summary is the CD2 is a good CD player that doesn't necessarily need outboard DA converter if you have a good preamp that can soften the midrange just a little tiny bit. Also make sure that you have a good voltage from your home AC outlet. Because a drop on the voltage could cause this unit to suddently turn off by it self.

I am sneaking in a review of the AR CD-1. It can be had on the used market for a little over $1,000. I have really enjoyed listening to it and recommend it for someone who wants to spend in that price range. I have not heard the CD-2. I am going to go with the Meridian 508.24 which I think sounds outstanding and which I found for a reasonable value used. See my review of it.

The LP's I found to be very musical and I loved the sound of them exceptthey did not have any dynamic range, and MOST LP's had alot of "HISS" during
the quiet moments of music so you could not hear the instruments fully. Plus
there was the problem of keeping the LP's clean to prevent "SNAP-CRACLE-
and POP". Then came the CD player. They were quiet, and the dynamic range
was fantastic! But the down side of the CD was the instruments did not sound
realistic. The funtamentals were there but the harmonics were missing.
The CD just was not musical. And when multiple instrument were playing
the imaging was smeard and distortion resulted. This I found true with
all CD players. Then my dealer highly recommended to listen to the higher
priced CD players because I thought all CD players would sound bad.
Well I was proved wrong, The first high priced CD player I listened to was
the Audio Research CD1 and was just shocked at the sound. It was very
musical, The instruments just sounded REAL, (I listen to Jazz and Rock Music)
along with the quietness and dynamic range of a CD. To me now the CD sounds
better than any LP I ever heard. I continued to listen to the high priced
CD players: Mark Levenson, Krell, Audio Research, Wadia, and found them all
to sound GOOD. I listened to them with different music and found that I liked
a different one with different music...They all just sounded "GOOD",,,,,,
So since I live in Minnesota it was a easy choice,, Audio Research.
By the time I saved enough money to own one, the CD2 was now available.
I have owned the CD2 for 2 years now and enjoy it more each day.
Please listen to the high end players,, you will find it money well spent.
It has paid for itself over and over again.

Current system:
Audio Research LS22
Audio Research VT100 mkII
Audio Research CD2
Magneplanar MG 3.5
NBS Master II Interconnects "Balanced"

Good Luck and Happy Listening

Smooth presentation of material, especially live-recorded piano and guitar

price is high for a cd-only player

I was in New York for business and made arrangements to audition some products not available in my home town. The dealer's room was dialed in well for proper sound reproduction(which is more difficult these days to find). I must thank them for the courtesy they extended to me knowing I was from Florida (thank you Bob, at Audio Visions in Babylon)

I asked to use the room which would have similar equipment to mine at home. It consisted of Theil CS2.3, Classe SSP25 Preamp, Classe CA201 amp, and Audioquest cables. The Theil speakers were the limiting factor since they were not full range. Therefore, I limited my music selections to those which would not expose the Theil's lack of deep bass.

After 3 hours of listening between the Classe CDP1.5, CAL CL-15,and the AR CD-2, I have definite opinions of each. I found the Classe to maintain a laid-back "music hall" presentation which was too slow in some passages for my tastes. The CAL presented a more forward sound; not harsh but it probably would not work as well in my system (NHT 2.9 speakers are slightly brighter than the Theils). Now to the AR CD2. The AR delivered the best of both worlds between the Classe and the CAL. It did not gloss over the detail I crave and prevented the harsh digital choppiness that CD's can sometimes cause compared to vinyl. It is on my short list to purchase if the "one box" CD/DVD solution from Proceed does not audition well.

I will definitely buy this product from Bob at Audio Visions next time I travel to NY if the Proceed doesn't work out. His service is why local shops need our business.

Similar Products Used:

auditioned Classe CDP 1.5, CAL CL-15 at dealers room