Philips Gives Some Special Fillips to Its High-End Audio and Video Line (Issue No. 14 Summer through Winter 1989-90)

Philips LHH1000; Philips CDV488

Does an "ultimate" CD player need to cost $4000? And do you need an ultimate CD player when you have an ultra-sophisticated laser-disc video player? Philips has some answers, and we have some questions.

Let there be no doubt about it--Philips has the ability to do anything it wants to do. When a Philips product is engineered and packaged in a certain way, that is exactly the way the company wanted it. There is enough talent on the gigantic Philips payroll to bring you a Wadia or a Theta or a Krell if that sort of thing were the targeted end result.

(In fact, the CD itself would probably not exist today if it had not been for the vision and stubbornness of Jan D.

Timmer, boss of the Philips consumer electronics complex, who originally fought for the new technology against strong opposition and now, needless to say, walks on water in Eindhoven.) We are pointing this out because we are receiving confusing signals from Philips regarding their current involvement in the ultrahigh-end digital market. They have obviously decided to go after the Wadia/Theta/Krell type of customer to top off their bread-and-butter Magnavox and mid-audiophile Philips-brand sales, yet they also seem to have decided that the 1987 level of technology will be sufficient for the foreseeable future, with 16-bit 4-times oversampling D/A conversion and all the rest. Even their new single-bit "Bit Stream" conversion technology appears to be aimed at some sort of technical parity with the older system (at lower cost) rather than a distinct improvement.

We, on the other hand, after some initial exposure to the latest 18-bit 8-times oversampling architectures as well as to the Japanese MASH single-bit conversion system-not to mention discrete analog output circuitry-are beginning to feel that Philips is becoming perhaps a little too complacent. We are not saying that we have already heard clearly better-sounding CD playback than the best Philips has to offer, but it is our impression that they are not ahead of the game at this point and may fall behind at any moment, if they have not done so already. The ball is in their court.

An in-depth article on CD playback technology will be published in our next issue (No. 15), along with a good many CD player reviews; you can expect more conclusive statements on the subject there, after we have consolidated our test results. Comparisons of the various DAC architectures, old and new, will be one of the features of the article.

As for the high-end video scene, we refer you to Issue No. 12, page 10, for a summary of our philosophy.

The laser-disc player review here is only the beginning.

Philips LHH1000 Philips Consumer Electronics Company, One Philips Drive, P.O. Box 14810, Knoxville, TN 37914-1810. LHH1000 two-chassis CD playback system (LHH1001 compact disc transport and LHH1002 digital-to-analog converter), with LHH1003/RC universal remote control, $4000.00. Tested samples on loan from manufacturer.

The question that arises almost as soon as the LHH1000 system is unpacked and hooked up is-what have we got here that we did not have with the combination of the Philips CD960 and DAC960, at less than half the price? The answer is-heavy-duty, professional-quality construction, obviously "industrial-strength" in all details; a

"smart" remote control that can learn the codes of other remote controls; and, of course, the psychological intangibles that a lavishly packaged, cosmetically distinctive,

"limited-edition" audio component represents to a certain type of buyer. Performance? Outstanding but no better than that of the CD960 and DAC960, or even of the CD960 alone. Subjective sound quality? Just as good-and that means very, very good-but no better.

The circuit boards are gorgeous, but the DAC is still the same TDA1541A S1 "Golden Crown" chip as in the CD960, DAC960, and even the CD880-all of them use the top-grade Philips chip. The analog output circuitry of the LHH1002 converter unit is still not discrete but uses quite inexpensive integrated op amps. In fact, we discerned no special, ultrahigh-end engineering mentality in the electronics of the LHH1000 system (not that we believe that such a mentality is meaningful in all cases). Basically, we are dealing with the Cadillac syndrome here-the working parts are standard Chevrolet/Oldsmobile/Pontiac/Buick, but there are extra little refinements, and the package is more luxurious.

Philips claims that the LHH1000 realizes "a startling 15.75 bits of resolution from the 16 bits available in the compact disc format." We measured 15.5 bits of resolution in the better channel and 15.3 bits in the other. We are convinced, however, that the claim is sincere because in the similarly configured DAC960 (see Issue No. 12, p. 35), we did measure exactly 15.75 bits in the better channel. So 15.75 seems to be the best-case scenario, not the production average. This is one area where the latest 18-bit architectures might offer a tiny improvement. Otherwise we found the output of the LHH1000 to be very clean, although not totally free from minuscule anomalies. The LHH1002 converter unit appeared to have a few millivolts of erratically fluctuating DC offset coming out of it-no big deal. The twin-tone (11 kHz + 12 kHz) intermodulation distortion test showed a very low-level 36 kHz product, something we cannot remember seeing elsewhere but again of no particular significance. All in all, the laboratory bench paints a very satisfactory picture but nothing to take our breath away.

In terms of sound quality, we discern no difference between the Philips LHH1000 and their lower-echelon CD players using the S1-grade DAC chip (CD880, CD960, DAC960). Unfortunately, we did not have for comparison a good player with a Precision Audio D1 analog board in it, which might have sounded ever so slightly sweeter, if indeed our original perception of it was accurate (see Issue No. 12, pp. 35-36). We still believe that the top-of-the-line Philips CD sound has not been clearly surpassed by any other manufacturer's product, an opinion that could change very rapidly because said Philips sound is certainly not superior to the best offered by a number of others-and we have yet to test some of the top contenders.

Of course, when it comes to visual and tactile satisfaction, the LHH1000 is vastly superior to all the excellent sounding sheet-metal-and-plastic boxes that are the great boon of our digital age. A die-cast aluminum alloy chassis, a computer-like LCD readout on your remote control, or even just a push button with a really solid feel can make a life-style statement. So, if $4000 is small change to you, go ahead and buy the LHH1000. You will not be sorry. There is no reason to eat your heart out, however, if you decide against the expenditure.

Philips CDV488 Philips Consumer Electronics Company, One Philips Drive, P.O.

Box 14810, Knoxville, TN 37914-1810. CDV488 combination CDJvideodisc player, with RC488CDV universal remote control,

$1300.00. Tested sample on loan from manufacturer.

As we stated in our first review of a high-end video product (Issue No. 12, pp. 10-11), we are convinced that the marriage of high-quality audio and video is the wave of the future in home entertainment systems and that the future has already begun. This remarkable new Philips component represents just such a marriage, this time on one chassis, and we are rather excited about it. We are aware, of course, that laser videodiscs are not exactly the prime medium for movie rentals and such, but they are clearly the best prerecorded video medium as far as color fidelity and sharpness of image are concerned, and with a digital sound track they are the dream medium for opera in the home. Furthermore, as we shall see, the videodisc player part of the CDV488 is practically a free gift to the purchaser in view of the unit's capabilities purely as a CD player.

The fact is that the CD playback performance characteristics of the CDV488 are virtually identical to those of the three times costlier LHH1000. We say virtually because some of our measurements of the CDV488 resulted in exactly the same figures and others in ever so slightly better figures. For example, the resolution in both channels was 15.5 bits, not just in the better channel, and the output was totally clean on all tests, without even the tiniest anomalies.

No die-cast aluminum alloy chassis, to be sure; no proliferation of power transformers; no separation of digital and analog all the way to the AC wall outlet; but the DAC is the same S1-grade Golden Crown chip; and the remote control is even more elaborate, LCD window and all, because it also has to incorporate all the videodisc functions. As for the sound of the CDV488, we found it indistinguishable from that of the other four upper-echelon Philips models, although a round-robin of ABX comparisons (which we had no intention to endure in this particular case) could conceivably have revealed mini differences of no musical consequence, except perhaps to the self-flagellating tweako contingent. Overall, we think the CDV488 represents at least a $750 value as a CD player, so you are getting a state-of-the-art videodisc player for $550-not bad at all.

That videodisc player will, for openers, play optical discs of any size and format in existence, without adapters.

The tray has the right-sized dimples to accommodate 3", 5", 8", or 12" discs, and the player automatically adapts to CAV (constant angular velocity) or CLV (constant linear velocity). There is an S-video output that feeds separated luminance and chrominance signals from the player's proprietary high-resolution processor into the S-video input of your TV receiver or monitor-if it has one. This helps to keep colors purer and reduces interference artifacts. The claimed 440 lines of horizontal resolution raised our eye brows a bit; our video testing facilities are not quite ready yet, but others (Ed Foster, Len Feldman) have measured the video bandwidth of the CDV488 and have not reported that good a figure. Even so, the horizontal resolution is better than that of any VCR, including the S-VHS decks; we have never seen its equal. Philips has a demo disc in their 12" CD Video format, presenting a movie called Flyers, which was originally filmed in IMAX, a super-resolution system with a film frame 10 times the size of the standard 35-mm movie frame. This disc, played on the CDV488, gave us a dual thrill: the best color picture we have ever seen on our screen, with stupendous definition and color fidelity (not to mention fantastic digital sound) and stunt-flying sequences that we are still not quite willing to believe. As for special digital effects, the CDV488 offers perfect freeze-frame and slow-motion even on extended-play (CLV) laser discs; the jog/shuttle control on the remote unit allows frame-by-frame viewing as well as 1/2-speed to 10-times-speed forward or reverse. Strobe and mosaic effects are also available.

So-are you about to buy a CD-only player? Think.

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[adapted from TAC 14]

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Also see:

Records & Recording: All Kinds of Good Stuff: Catching Up on Our Backlog of Demo-Quality CD's

Various audio and high-fidelity magazines