Harman Kardon CD491 (1991)

The Harman Kardon CD491 is a single-disc CD player introduced in 1991. The spec sheet is well preserved across several databases. The historical record around it is nearly empty: how it was received, what it cost, where it sat in the lineup. What we know is technical, and it's consistent.

At the heart of the CD491 was a 1-bit dual D/A converter, the kind of conversion stage that was becoming standard for the era's higher-end players. The electrical specs are solid: frequency response 2Hz–20kHz, signal-to-noise ratio 100dB, dynamic range 96dB, channel separation 96dB, and line output of 2V. Total harmonic distortion is listed at 0.003% in most sources, though one database (hifi-wiki.de) gives 0.0035% — a minor discrepancy that doesn't change the picture of a clean, well-measuring machine.

The most distinctive feature on paper is the digital connectivity. The CD491 offered both a coaxial and an optical digital output and a coaxial and optical digital input. The inputs were genuinely uncommon on a CD player of 1991. That means it could work as a digital hub or processor in a system, not only as a source. Most contemporaries didn't offer that.

Beyond the specs, the record thins out fast. No original price survives in the research, no dimensions or weight, no transport mechanism details, no owner reviews or professional test reports. The CD491 appears in Harman Kardon's own advertising of the period - an Audio (April 1984, p.59) campaign touted the deck's "ultrawideband" response and inaudible 0.025% wow-and-flutter. That ad copy predates the 1991 CD491 and appears to reference the cassette deck lineage rather than this specific player.

Known specifications: