Goldmund Introduces First High-End Blu-ray Player ($16,900)

[Shane]

Goldmund, makers of the world's most extravagant and technologically advanced systems for audio-video purists, introduced today the company's first Blu-ray player, the Eidos 20 BD. With the announcement of the Eidos 20 BD, Goldmund becomes the first high-end audio/video manufacturer to issue a Blu-ray player.

The Eidos 20 BD embodies the Goldmund high-tech refinement that has made the Swiss-based company a leader in the audiophile community for the last 30 years. Goldmund signature features found on the Eidos 20 BD include...

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[MarkyMark]

I've learned so much from this forum and I am curious to learn more from the knowledgeable membership. Being an electronic/computer design engineer of some 35 years I thought I understood how things worked. While high quality circuitry and components can have a great impact on analog signals and, say, turntable dynamics, here we are talking about a digital system that doesn't get "analog" until the TV set's pixel display.

"the "AC-Curator" power supply circuit which dramatically improves picture and sound stability and dynamics" -- It's unclear what the benefits are here. Is the improvement anything that can be seen or heard? While there is read jitter, most of it would seem to be irrelevant after the frames are assembled in memory, processed, and sent on their way over HDMI at 24/30/60 fps that I assumed were re-clocked internally, rather than "as they arrive."

"and the "Mechanical Grounding" construction which removes from the player mechanism [from] spurious vibrations blurring the video signal and increasing jitter." -- I didn't realize that walking by the DVD player would make the picture blurry. The DVD player's head is constantly moving in two dimensions tracking slightly warped discs and moving along continuously tracking a track that is constantly moving "out of view." Again, the data comes in as it's gathered from the disc with jitter and delays but assembled and sent along at regular intervals according to an internal clock. Perhaps this player will withstand someone hitting it on the side with their fist, but is this really necessary?

"uses the "Goldmund "Magnetic Damper," a device lowering the reading errors, a feature that previously was exclusive to Goldmund's highest end devices." -- this I can understand, especially with the higher density of Blu-ray. What might be the benefit here? 10% improved success of reading past a scratch or finger smudge? or 1%?

And I'm also wondering... when bad data gets into the digital stream, how is it normally handled? Does the DVD player take an errant pixel or series of pixels that it knows are bad and sets them to the same as adjacent pixels (or audio samples?) Is the effect barely visible or is it obvious? How do different players handle bad data?

Thanks for any insight.

Mark Hernandez
San Diego, CA

[Dryancey]

Send me two of them............

[stevekaden]

Obviously, this player is about $15,900 of status and about $1000 of substance. Sure, it's the best of everything internally (or so it would seem) and in low quantity it would be very expensive to build...but purely this is a player of estetic design and the status thereof over practical. The technical words they use though, do make me cringe.

I went to a B & O presentation to sales people about 35 years ago, that is what they taught. The design (and I loved theirs) gave a sense of status and pride and they nailed their niche.

This, in my humble opinion is not all that beautiful. But if money were just no object at all, and I had the matching interior design, why not?

[Braden]

The decision used to be between buying a Blu-ray player or an HD-DVD player. Now you have to decide between a Blu-ray player and a new car. This has got to be confusing to consumers

[Richard]

If you check into this company deeper you will find they are competing with Runco, actually going beyond, providing top of the line equipment with their one stop Home Theater design, installation and product benefits. Yep, ya better come with deep pockets.

Is this player better? What about all that design nonsense? Audiophiles have dealt with this for a long time and it is part and parcel of the high end market. It probably is better and what you preceive as nonsense has real benefit. The big question is whether or not it is $16,200 better than an Oppo and PS3 combo as just one reference point. When you go from grade B to grade A you are entering the world of diminishing returns on your investment. The more you spend the less you gain. It is a market reserved for the wealthy.