Digital Drive: REVIEW: Harman Kardon CDR 30 CD Player/Recorder by nickwh

Model:	CDR 30
Category:	CD Player/Recorder
Suggested Retail Price:	$699
Description:	Dual-Drawer CD-R/RW Recorder With HDCDÂ® and MP3 Decoding
Manufacturer URL:	Harman Kardon
Model Picture:	View

Review by nickwh ( A ) on June 20, 2003 at 13:32:20
IP Address: 146.184.0.71

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for the CDR 30

I purchased this unit used on Ebay for $250. I consider this to be a pretty good deal, considering the lowest new price I could fine on the Internet was $399. This model has since been replaced with the CDR 26 (which has less functionality), but you can probably still find it from overstock or used.
The style is typical H/K, so it will match your other H/K components. It has an impressive feature set, including 96K/24-bit DACs, HDCD decoding, MP3 decoding with on-screen display, and 4x dubbing capabilities. I have used all except for HDCD. The recording works flawlessly, I have yet to make a bad disc. Dubbing is quite intuitive, however I have not made custom compiliations yet so I cannot comment. Using the mandatory "Audio" CD-R's, the sound quality is the same as the original, at least to my ears. There are coax, optical and RCA input and output options for each side. The dual players allow for disc-to-disc relay play (like a tape deck) as well has playing two CD's to different amplifiers (for multiroom playback) at the same time. The remote control is split up left and right to represent the two sides of the player, pretty intuitive.
My main gripe about this product is the horrifically low 1V output of the RCA connections. The standard is 2V, so you can imagine how much lower the volume level is with this source. Why would this design fly in such in expensive unit? Also, the power button is mechanical, unlike Harman's other units. When you push the button, it completely shuts the deck off instead of going into standby mode. For that, you have to use the power button on the remote. Annoying. One last thing, the drives take longer than normal to spin up a disc, which is a noisey process.
A decent package, I am happy with it for the money I paid. If I spent the full retail price, my review may have been a little less rosey.
SPECIFICATIONS: Signal Format
Playback Sampling Frequency : 44.1kHz
D/A Conversion : 96kHz, Multi-Bit Delta-Sigma Conversion
Oversampling : 128 Times
Playback Specifications
Frequency Response : 2Hz -- 20,050Hz
Playback S/N : 100dB
Playback Dynamic Range : 100dB
Playback THD : 0.005%/-88dB
Analog Audio Output : 1V RMS, Â±2dB
Digital-Coaxial Output : 0.5Vpp/75Ω
Headphone Output : 0.5V RMS/32Ω Load
Record Specifications
Digital Input Sample Rates : 32kHz -- 96kHz
Recording S/N â€“ Analog : 91dB
Recording S/N â€“ Digital Dub Mode : Equal to Source
Recording S/N â€“ Digital External Source : Source --10dB
Recording Dynamic Range : 91dB
Recording THD : 0.005%/-85dB
Analog Input Sensitivity : 330mV RMS 47kΩ = 0dB
Digital Inputs (Direct Recording) : 44.1kHz, Â±100 ppm/min.
General
Power Requirement : 100~240 V AC, 50~60Hz
Power Consumption : 26 Watts
Dimensions
(H x W x D) :
Width : 17.3" (440mm)
Height : 4.4" (112mm)
Depth : 14.2" (363mm)
Weight : 10.6lb (4.8kg)

Product Weakness: Low line-level output, noisey, slow loading drive mechanism
Product Strengths: DACs, MP3 and HDCD decoding

Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier:	H/K AVR 220
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	None
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	H/K CDR 30, DVD 5
Speakers:	Dynaudio Audience 42
Cables/Interconnects:	Monster/Kimber Kable
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	Rock, Alternative, Metal, Pop
Room Size (LxWxH):	13 x 14 x 8
Time Period/Length of Audition:	4 Months
Other (Power Conditioner etc.):	Monster PowerCenter AV800
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner

Product Weakness:	Low line-level output, noisey, slow loading drive mechanism
Product Strengths:	DACs, MP3 and HDCD decoding