Takes All Recordable CDs In Its Stride
 Nov 9th, 2000
(Jun 5th, 2001)
Advantages:
Plays CD - Rs and CD - RWs . Remote control
Disadvantages:
As Henry Ford said - any colour you like as long as it's black .
Recommendable:
Yes
Detailed rating:
Sound Quality
Ease of Use
Look & Design
Range of Features
Value for Money
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  BNibbles
About me:
Add a louder horn to your motor home to make a 'cosy van tooty' Without it, it's just a 'van ordina...
Member since:08.10.2000
Reviews:469
Members who trust:175
Review rated by 7 Ciao members on average: very helpful 
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THIS IS A COMPLETE REWRITE OF SOMETHING, WHICH WITH HINDSIGHT, WOULD HAVE GOT ME LABELLED A CHURNER OF "120-WORD WONDERS" IF I'D KNOWN WHAT ONE WAS AT THE TIME! I bought the Yamaha CDX-496 as a replacement for my trusty Technics machine, which was about 10 years old, and bristling with features. My main reason for upgrading was the fact that the Technics was starting to get choosy as to which make of CD-Recordable disk it was going to play.
Older CD players were built before recordable CDs were even thought of, and since a CD-R does not comply fully with the original specification for an audio CD, play-back could not be guaranteed, until recently that is..... Having a CD-Writer in my PC means that I make a considerable number of compilation albums, and having to choose a particular make of CD-R was limiting me to the expensive ones only.
Buying a Hi-Fi CD-Recorder just to ensure reliable play-back of recorded disks, would have been excessive when I can write them on my PC with greater flexibility. Anyway, that’s how I justified it to myself! (Confessions of An Inveterate Up-grader!)
My first priority was to find a CD-player that actually specified that is was CD-R compatible. The Yamaha is not only that, but CD-RW compatible, which means that I can make erasable compilations as well. At first sight, the Yamaha seems to have a neat minimalist design, with a slim facia and only a few buttons and no knobs to twiddle. It soon becomes apparent, that its wealth of features (mostly relating to its use as a source for recording), are controlled from the remote, which is a long slim affair.
For example, there is the peak search facility – this finds the loudest patch in all of the tracks programmed for playing, and repeats this bit over and over again whilst you set up your cassette deck’s record level. Then you can programme the tape length to be used, in the case of a C90 - this allows the first 45-minutes worth to be played and pauses whilst you turn the tape over – no, it can’t do that bit for you!
Likewise, if you have a Yamaha cassette deck like my KX-580, it can also be used to synchro-start both the CD-player and the recording deck. There is an optical digital output at the rear as well as the more normal twin “phono” leads.
The former can either be used directly into an amplifier, although is usually limited to those with Home Cinema decoders in them, or as a direct “pipe” to a minidisk recorder. I have auditioned both types of connection to my amplifier, and to be honest my “analogue ears” can’t tell the difference. Wake me up when someone comes up with a digital implant to by-pass the ears! I do however, use high-grade “phonos” – er, that’s to my amplifier, not my brain! Sound output is fine with good well-controlled bass and high “highs”. So far, it has been true to its word playing all of my CD-Rs and even my first CD-RW. Oh yes, and it only comes in black, but this will come as no surprise to anyone buying hi-fi "separates".
The appearance has Yamaha’s subdued but efficient look, with a dimmable pale orange display. Thus far, it has proved to be a worthy replacement for my Technics, aping all of its tape-recording features, plus the bonus of playing “burnt” disks. All in an excellent value package at approx £150 from www.qed-uk.com when bought it, but I notice that now it’s available from good old Richer Sounds for around £100 – grrrrr!
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16.07.2001 15:17
Another excellnent HiFi op of yours. I tested the big Yamaha 892 before I bought my Rotel 950, and was rather disappointed by the analytical, metallic sound. But it seems you were looking for certain features in your 496, and tastes very. Cheers, Hans