February 2, 2012

  • Tascam CD-355, Part 7

    25 years ago, Australia's Pseudo Echo somewhat surprisingly did a cover of "Funky Town."  The style was modern rock.  I don't know how popular it was in the U.S. at large.  But at my alma mater, Lowell High, it was very popular.

    If you walked by the courtyard, perhaps someone was playing and dancing to "Funky Town."  Back in early 1987, hardly any of us had CD players.  But we were aware of what CD was.  And we salivated at CD changers, which held the promise of 6 hours of continuous music.  Party time!

    Another place which could use the continuous-play capability of CD changers was a retail store.  When employees are busy, who has time to change the music?

    Because the Tascam CD-355 is so cheap, chances are, the interconnect will cost as much as or more than the CD-355 itself.  Bwahahaha!  The Cardas Clear balanced interconnect (above) can buy you 5 or 6 CD-355s! 

    Even the original XLO Signature 1.1 can buy you two CD-355s.  But it does tell us that the CD-355's sound is par for mid-fi, nothing special.  Interestingly, the output level for both XLR and RCA is the same.

    Ow!  What's that noise?!

    As soon as you turn on the CD-355, the unit itself hums.  Loudly.  Therefore, nothing else matters.  My audio buddies and I have cycled through two units.  Regardless of where we've plugged them in, both give off that humming noise.  I suppose you could throw the CD-355 into an enclosed rack, which'll block out the noise.  Nevertheless, this hum is unacceptable, and prevents anyone from keeping the CD-355.  These units are being returned.