MULTIFORMAT DISC PLAYERS

MULTI-FORMAT DISC PLAYERS

In late 2003, I decided it was time to explore the possibility of obtaining a player which would allow me to play other formats; DAD, DVD audio and SACD.  I was tired of attending CES, hearing some interesting music, and finding it was available only in something other than vinyl or CD (or, as we have to refer to it now with the plethora of media available, Red Book CD).  Ideally, as audiophiles, we would like to find a machine that will play all formats and still sound superior on regular CD.  That was not really possible with any of the products out there, meaning a good, dedicated CD only player is still required for any aspiring high-end system.  I’ve heard a superb SACD system that sounds average, at best, when CD’s are played through this otherwise fine sounding SACD player.  Now that may no longer be true with recent new releases by Linn and Ayre.  With both of these players running around $5-6000, it may be possible to have everything you need in one box, but that’s grist for another mill as these units were not available when I went shopping…not to mention I hadn’t planned on spending the money necessary to replace my current CD system.

My plan was to search in the $1000 – 2000 range for a reasonably good player that might eventually find it’s way into my video system.  A product that would allow me to sample some of these new formats before taking the bigger financial plunge.  After a lot of on-line comparisons, I found a Pioneer Elite DV-47Ai for a good price on e-bay.  Last year, Peter Fiskio, Jim Maher and I did some listening comparisons and, as expected for the price level, not all of the new formats excelled; quality seemed to be disc dependent.  We had a few titles on all three formats, vinyl, CD and SACD (or DVD audio).  We found, unanimously, that each format took turns sounding best, although if CD was the better format, it always sounded better on my dedicated CD system.  With the Pioneer, I found that DAD sounded best on this player, followed by SACD with DVD audio and CD swapping 3rd and 4th place depending on the disc (XRCD always sounded great).

Peter, Jim, Harley and I have had a lot of discussions on the merits of the various formats (let’s not even get into the latest DVD format war).  I have come to the conclusion, not exactly shared by all of us, that any  muti player will, by default, favor one format over another.  An SACD player that also plays all formats should sound better with SACDs.  Just as a DVD based player will sound better reproducing multi-bit discs.  The Pioneer at least, seems to bear this out.

Ah, but we’re not finished!  Due to a rather long story which I’m not going to go into here, I was recently able to upgrade my video system.  Part of the upgrade included a Denon DVD-2910 Universal Player (The Pioneer still hasn’t migrated from the audio system).  So now we have two players to audition head-to-head at the meeting at my house on Tuesday.  I will bring the Pioneer player out of my He-Man audio only system so a side-by-side listening comparison can be made.
Of course the dedicated audio system is also available to play with.  For all you first timers, here is a brief description of the system.

Over the years, I have moved from a lush-sounding all tube conrad-johnson  system with a melodic midrange to a more detailed and, I hope, evenhanded frequency response.  

A Benz Micro Silver Signature cartridge is mounted on a SME IV tone arm, which, in turn, is mounted on a VPI HW19 Mark IV turntable with stand-alone motor.  This rig is upgraded via a VPI power supply and a custom-built (with Harley Day’s assistance) and engineered (with Mike V’s assistance) mounting shelf that further isolates the motor.   The vinyl signal continues through a Pass Labs Xono phono stage and then to a Pass Labs X2 pre-amp.  A Bryston 3B ST power amp handles amplification.  Digital reproduction starts with an Audio Alchemy Digital Drive System.Pro feeding a Meridian 563 processor.  The digital signal is balanced all the way through the system to the amp, which, I think, allows the Meridian to more effectively do its job.  The speakers were built by Harley Day, using a pair of Scan-Speak 6” 15w8530 drivers with a Scan-Speak D29/9800 metal dome tweeter (does that sound like Jim’s speakers?).

Most of this equipment sits on a homemade copy of an Arcici Suspense Rack.

See you on Tuesday!   Please bring SACDs, DVD-As (Vs?) and, if possible, their CD or vinyl equivalents for comparison.  

Russ Garvey (and Judi)