Compact disc
Compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony and released in 1982. The format was originally developed to store and play only sound recordings (CD-DA) but was later adapted for storage of data (CD-ROM). Several other formats were further derived from these, including write-once audio and data storage (CD-R), rewritable media (CD-RW), Video Compact Disc (VCD), Super Video Compact Disc (SVCD), Photo CD, PictureCD, CD-i, and Enhanced Music CD. The first commercially available audio CD player, the Sony CDP-101, was released October 1982 in Japan.
Cambridge Audio
In 1985 a major innovative step was made with the launch of the CD1, the world's first two-box CD player. At the time this CD player was widely recognised as the best player available and its design featured many new ideas and a ground-breaking specification. Apart from putting the DAC stages into a separate case, the transport was mounted on a lead beam suspension to reduce disc reading errors; a unique audio stage offered the choice of six alternative playback filters; and the digital-to-analogue conversion was performed by six matched DACs to give linearity down to −120 dB at a time when most players were only linear down to about −94 dB.