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One of the first CD player reviews

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January 18th, 2010 Posted in technology

Audiophile wank has spewed from the mouths of reviewers for many years (I’d love to see just how far back this goes — did the press ever talk about the luscious high-end on the first wax cylinders?). For my first exhibit I present this review of the first Sony CD player, from 1983. IN DIGITAL!

Featuring all of your favorite vague adjectives:

… the sound was so opulently gorgeous it almost defied belief! It was a total incarnation of the perfectionist’s wildest dreams: rich, velvety, airy, awesome, liquid, yet incredibly detailed. There were none of the analog disc’s problems. No marginal mistracking, no subtle VTA-error distortions, no disc-resonance smearing, no feedback-induced low-end boom or mud, no ticks or pops or pressing grumbles even at the highest listening levels. And there was no analog-tape flutter or modulation noise or transient-rounding or print-through or hiss.

I’d love a history of these reviews for each new audio technology as it came out.

One Response to “One of the first CD player reviews”

  1. Scott Streff Says:

    I purchased one of these first CD players sold in the US, the Sony CDP101, in 1983. It’s built like a tank and I’m still using it.


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