CD Player

Back in the ’70s, Japanese consumer electronics giants sold hi-fi based on so-called ‘tech specs’. What began as a trend became an obsession, each new turntable being offered with lower claimed wow, flutter and rumble as ‘proof’ that it was superior to the one before. Indeed, some brands took to running ads highlighting the measured performance of components, with straplines to the effect of ‘let the facts speak for themselves’. Back in hi-fi’s boom years, such was the way of the world…

       Then, in the early ’80s, along came Compact Disc. Given that CD players – at least when put together properly – had fairly similar measured performance, manufacturers had to find new ways to capture the buying public’s imagination. And one of these was to highlight the bit depth and oversampling rate of a machine’s built-in DAC.

       For five years an ‘arms race’ ensued, where 16-bit/2x oversampling was bettered by 16-bit/4x and so on. And then, in 1987, Sony shocked the market with a new flagship machine said to offer 18-bit/8x oversampling. It was the CDP-557ESD (sold in the US as the CDP-707ESD).

       This explains why the legend ’18 bit linear/8 times oversampling’ is to be seen emblazoned in capital letters on the player’s sizeable front panel. It was believed that the average buyer would immediately assume this technology to be superior to that of his best friend’s 16-bit/4x machine, and out would come the cheque book. Or so the theory went!

        Nevertheless, this was indeed a formidable CD player, its techno trickery made possible by the use of twin 18-bit Burr-Brown PCM64P DACs paired up. This was an impressive selling point in itself, but it’s actually just one of many striking aspects of the player.