Yamaha’s CD-S2000 and A-S2000 audiophile CD combo has been announced for the discerning Australian. It’s a masterpiece of retro design and pristine, two channel sound.
I’ve listened to it, and it sounds pretty damned good. There’s a full range of sound that you don’t often get from a setup without a subwoofer. It looks fantastic, and smells pretty awesome too. If it weren’t so heavy, it could almost be considered pantsworthy.
But part of me wonders exactly how much of a market there is for this type of product in the day and age of the iPod. Considering that the A-S2000 has an RRP of $2,999 and the CD-S2000 costs $2,599, would you be happy to spend more than five grand on a CD setup?
Sure, it does play back SACDs too, and you can opt to go for one or the other and not the combo, but in today’s market of declining CD sales and digital downloads, is a high-end CD player obsolete? When a 160GB iPod sets you back $479 and lets you store a large music collection in lossless, I know where my money would be headed (if I had money to spend, that is).
[Yamaha]