Clare Newsome:
I wouldn't say 'smashes' - most AV kit is lucky to match the stereo performance of dedicated music kit at a third of the price.
However, the Arcam is, indeed, better than most: I believe when we originally reviewed it that we compared its CD performance to its sibling CD73 CD player, which at the time was £400 (when the DVD player cost @£1000). Incidentally, that self-same excellent Arcam CD player can now be picked up for
£250.
hmm that is somewhat different to my experience.... In my experience the DV135 is a far better cd player than that. I previously owned the Arcam CD72T (the predecessor to the CD73 and also an award winning £400 CDP) however, when i compared its performance to the DV88 and DV88+ i found both these DVD players to be superior in sound quality. The DV135 is considerably better than both the DV88 and DV88+ as a CD player so i would personally rate its performance as significantly better than the CD73 - even by going so far as to compare it CD93. but this is just my opinion...