CD Player/Transport Reviews

Manufacturers' Comment

Editor: I was completely baffled by Art [Dudley]'s assessment of the Acute Classic CD player. "[G]rainy" in no way describes what I have heard from any of EAR's digital products—quite the opposite. I don't mean to say that Art didn't hear what he heard. Again, quite the opposite—I have the utmost respect for his hearing and his writing.

The fact that John Atkinson's measurements corroborated what Art was hearing was the first clue that something was wrong with this particular player. When I ran the measurements past Tim de Paravicini, he responded that the problem may very well lie in the output of the unit. JA measured a bit over 6.5V at the balanced outputs, a bit under 6.5V at the unbalanced outputs. Tim reports that the output should not be more than 5V, and that the distortion he measured could be due to this.

To be fair, please allow us to submit another sample of the player, so that you can publish a Follow-Up. I am certain that both your measurements and Art's assessment of the Acute Classic will turn out differently.

Regarding the headphone output, its impedance was a deliberate choice on the part of Tim de Paravicini to accommodate professional headphones, which tend to be higher in impedance than domestic headphones. Conceding that most users of the Acute Classic are likely to own low-impedance headphones, he is taking your comments to heart. The impedance at the headphone output of all future units will be 5 ohms, and existing units can be easily converted should the customer desire.

Thank you.— Dan Meinwald, Proprietor, EAR USA

We have agreed to audition and measure a second sample of the EAR Acute Classic CD player, for a Follow-Up to be published in our March 2017 issue.—John Atkinson