Have your say & ask the experts

In the latest WHF this CD player gets a 1 star rating! they dont seem to like it at all, however, the same CD player has just got 5 out of 6 in French magazine "Diapaison".

 How can this be?
 

Lost in translation? 

 It's a UK company.

I'm frankly astonished that any impartial reviewer in any country could find five stars out of six for it. I personally found Cambridge Audio's Azur 540C v2 (£200) a nicer-sounding machine, and certainly a better built one.

£650 spent on Cyrus's five-star CD6S or £600 on the one-star Saxon? There's easily a four-star gulf between them.

Miller, Is that you?  A mad Thai dude here!  I don't think the latest Diapaison Mag is out yet but yes, I have been told that the Player score 5 out of 6. 

The player will be priced  very differently overseas than it is in the Uk, making it a slightly different performance-per-pound  proposition against its  rivals. Cambridge Audio, for example, is only a budget brand here in the UK,and sells for much higher prices overseas.

However, even at a far better performance-per-pound ratio, the Saxon we tested would not have gained more  than another star  or possibly two. Which doesn't make  it a five/six in anyone's book.

But then I don't  know how the French mag  tests. The fact that everyone seems to know its test results before  they're published doesn't inspire me much (the first manufacturers know of our star ratings is when they read the issue along with everyone else).

[quote user="Clare Newsome"]But then I don't  know how the French mag  tests. The fact that everyone seems to know its test results before  [/quote]

Even if the rumour is true, I can't see too much problem!  You review the gear how you hear it so the other publisher!  I mean so many time WHF and HFC have a clashed on reviews about the same product (and both are UK base!).....off my head, a few year back, Tannoy sensy DC1 where HFC give them product of the year and WHF only gave 4 stars and very recently HFC didn't like the Cyrus pre-power very much but WHF gave the combo super test award.  If we all have the same taste in Hifi, Julian Richers would be even RICHER!

 That's true but such huge differences are very odd.

Mate, read here

I'm off to work but it's nice to meet you in here, nice and friendly forum, may be you will come back.

 This place certainly seems to have improved since the last time I was here about 2 years ago.

There's easily a four-star gulf between them.[/quote]

 Hi Simon,

 I'm interested to know what this 4 star gulf is?I do find the star system quite confusing as it seems to change quite regularly,so I'm curious how do you determine exactly the 'gulf' between the two players are?If it's so bad,I'm sure 100% you could spot the difference in a ABX of  a Cyrus ,Cambridge and a Saxon,personally I find it hard to believe that Saxon and talk electronics have forgot how to make a decent CD player and price it accordingly.As mentioned on another post,they can never compete with Cambridge Audio,no small British firm can, Cambridge are excellent,but they are massed produced in China,small British firms don't have that luxury.

It's a very competitive market these days, if they cant compete then they will have to find a way of competing or they will not suceed. Reviewers cant just say "oh well it's not very good but it's a small company made in UK so I'll give it 2 extra stars. What good is that going to do? I would say rating would be even more crazy if that was the way they did it. You have to review products same way for everything. I dont like this "let them off because they're small" nonsense that some people seem to be coming out with.

 Also how directly related to Talk Electronics is Saxon anyway? And what happened to Talk Electronics? Where have they gone, not seen any products from them for a while, is there a reason for that?

Saxon is a sub-brand of Talk, but that doesn't make it have the same characteristics/performance.

After all, Ferrari is in the same stable as Fiat, but you wouldn't expect cars from the different brands to perform the same way!

It's a very competitive market these days, if they cant compete then they will have to find a way of competing or they will not suceed. Reviewers cant just say "oh well it's not very good but it's a small company made in UK so I'll give it 2 extra stars. What good is that going to do? I would say rating would be even more crazy if that was the way they did it. You have to review products same way for everything. I dont like this "let them off because they're small" nonsense that some people seem to be coming out with.

 Also how directly related to Talk Electronics is Saxon anyway? And what happened to Talk Electronics? Where have they gone, not seen any products from them for a while, is there a reason for that?

 Marantz seems to have managed to make a highly competitve player - that beats the £250 Cambridge Audio and even knocks it down a star, as readers of the current issue will know - for £270, without the Richer Sounds backing....

Yes, Marantz is a larger, Japanese company, but it realises what it takes to compete in this cut-throat market.

And I beg to differ about the differences in CD players - the Marantz was clearly the better player in that recent test: so much so that it took two players down a star, AND makes it tougher for higher-priced players to justify their existence.