Anthem Cd Views

General Goods

Recently, I took a factory tour of the Sonic Frontiers plant in Oakville, Ontario. It was evident that great care and pride is taken with every product, from initial design to final assembly. During our walkabout, Johnson discussed with enthusiasm the new Anthem CD 1 CD changer - one of a series of products from the Sonic Frontiers budget line. As his company is market driven, he thought a relatively inexpensive audiophile-quality changer would fill a niche in the marketplace. Excellent idea, I thought. But would serious audiophiles accept it? Everyone knows they are a conservative bunch. You could imagine them saying: e"If it's convenient, it couldn't possibly sound good! We don't even like remotes!d". The player did look wonderful, and Johnson's chat intrigued me, so I asked for a review player as soon as one became available. Sonic Frontiers accommodated my request almost immediately.

The Anthem CD 1 uses a single 6922/E88CC tube. It was inserted easily with slight pressure and was unsoiled by using the cotton glove Sonic Frontiers provides. The lonely tube is used in the buffer stage and is said to o"...ensure that the traditional digital 'edginess' is eliminatedt". The CD 1 lived up to its marketing. Smooth, grain-free sound was the order of each day. Some suggest that using different tubes will improve the sound of this unit. I completed the review using only the stock tube.

Using a fine EMI recording of the LPO playing Wagner helped me to focus on the transparent nature of the player. The see-through ambiance was very telling. Orchestral strings sounded lifelike, with wood, horsehair, resin, steel and nylon in tact. No glutinous mass here. The Prelude to Act 3 from Die Meistersinger has some supremely beautiful massed string sonorities. Here, the CD 1 did much to bring the concert hall into the living room. The Anthem shone light through the soundstage with great delicacy, nurturing my predilection for this most elusive of qualities. Its gentle nature caressed and stroked, reminding me somewhat of excellent vinyl. No, the CD 1 did not transport me past the stylus. It did, however, take me to a wonderful place, one where I could immerse in the music completely.

Like most electronic devices, the CD 1 likes to be fed good things. As such, it really enjoyed well recorded CDs. Conversely, discs that were recorded poorly I relegated to the o"for sale " pile. The CD 1 did not suffer this type of recording gladly. Miles' Milestones was a particularly unpleasant example. This particular recording was sweetened somewhat by the rich tonal qualities of certain players currently in house. I prefer nothing but the musical truth (concurrent with my mood, of course!), and in this regard, the Anthem did not disappoint. Playing on the CD 1, the great Miles Davis Sextet was reduced to hollow emoting accompanied by a couple of tin cans.