To all those CD owners out there who haven’t made up their minds about how to upgrade, for the biggest Bang-4-The Buck….

If you are like me and have loads of old CD’s that you’re thinking of giving to your local charity shop and also, generally you think you’re missing something in what you’re hearing from your present system…then read on!

I have a 22Kg Wadia player upstairs in one of my reception rooms that’s connected up to a ‘loads-a-money’ amp and speakers…and for around £8,000 the Wadia is very good indeed, particularly in terms of the sound-stage it throws out (It’s almost as good as the vinyl reproduction that I get off my Voyd Reference turn-table). However, down in my home-theatre room I now have a Marantz CD 17 KI Mk III, which Fidelity Audio has upgraded for something like £1500…and it seems to put the Wadia in the shade in terms of the detail it delivers.

Indeed, it’s SHOCKING!

Other than a $100k Mark Levinson system with huge Thiel speakers that I heard in the US a couple of years ago, it’s probably the most detailed reproduction that I’ve ever heard. However there is a downside…

All those old CD’s have a new life now in that I’m getting what the guys in the recording studio put down…and I mean EVERYTHING they put down! So the charity shop is out of luck now…and my wife will go on complaining about the room that all those old CD’s take up.

You may say £1500 is a lot to spend on an upgrade to a CD player that I bought off E-Bay for £450…and I would agree with you except for the fact that I don’t think anything this side of £5k can touch it.

Finally, you may not agree with me regarding the old maxim: “You will have forgotten the cost in a few months…But you’ll never forget the dissatisfaction of not achieving what you really want!”

So my advice is… Get ready to trust the guys up in Doncaster with your hard earned £1500 and most of all… …GET READY TO BE SHOCKED!!

DAVID INGHAM PhD

DAVID INGHAM PhD | Wales | January 2017