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"If you're seeking a high-end player to wring the best from your CD collection,
perhaps the last dedicated player you will ever buy, then this should top your
shortlist." HI-Fi Choice Jan 2004 As one of the world's first true up-sampling CD players, the Thunder 3.1 represents the leading-edge in CD technology. This player has been developed in association with Anagram Technologies in Switzerland in order to take advantage of their vast experience in manipulation of digital signals. The technology comprises of two main parts - interpolation and up-sampling. Interpolation in essence is the re-description of 16 bits of data into 24 bits - 8 bits are 'added' to the combination. Up-sampling is effectively a massive increase in the number of times a particular data 'word' is described per second - this increase goes from 44,100 times per second to 192,000 times per second (or from 44.1kHz to 192kHz). As a result each data 'word' has approximately five times the amount of information or detail and therefore results in much greater accuracy than a normal CD player relying on conventional technology. Conventional logic would dictate that if data were sampled five times faster, then the resulting sound will be five times faster with a much higher corresponding pitch. This would only be true if the input to the up-sampler were in sync (or synchronous) with the output from the up-sampler. In the application of this technology in the Thunder 3.1 there is a massive memory buffer in the middle which allows for the input and output to be asynchronous - ie. not in sync with each other. Therefore as a result what goes in in terms of speed and pitch comes out the same! In the interpolation process, 8 extra bits are added to the existing 16 bits. If this is plotted on the graph, most normal or cost-effective interpolators will join the extra bits to those existing with straight lines. However this method is highly inaccurate and leads to a hard and clinical sound. Straight lines destroy nuances and subtle harmonies - music becomes less musical as a result. The technology used in the Thunder 3.1 is proprietary to Anagram Technologies and effectively joins the extra bits in a mathematical curve - music is most immediately improved by a vast improvement in low frequency detail. Given the extra bits of information and the ensuing mass of information emanating from the DAC, the analogue part of the CD player has to be redesigned in order to reproduce this improved output. Consequently, a highly accurate current to voltage converter stage was developed in order to reproduce the dynamics and musical timing with the greatest accuracy. Particular attention has been paid to the power supply which now benefits from its own dedicated mains transformer. This is the key to the Thunder 3.1's subjective performance, which is more akin to the standards set by the very best SACD players. Simply put, music is more musical, double-basses sound like double-basses, and Jimi Hendrix can really now be heard giving his guitar some serious stick! The press seem to agree with What Hi-Fi? awarding the Thunder 3.1 CD Player 5 Stars in its review over the summer of 2002. And Gramophone Magazine described the player as '...one of the greatest of its genre..'! Whilst Hi-Fi Choice and Hi Fi News magazines have both awarded it their top accolade of ‘editors choice’. Listen and you will believe.
Key Benefits
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