CD Player/Transport Reviews

Adding the 820S immediately produced a substantially improved and more inviting sound that, rather than to dissect and analyze, I just enjoyed and chalked up to "improved listenability with fewer digital irritants." And after living with the 820S for a few months, removing it made the differences even more pronounced—glaringly so.

In general, adding the 820S tightened the bottom end and removed smear and edge from the top, while improving high-frequency extension and the sense of air around instruments. Instrumental three-dimensionality improved, and microdynamics were particularly enhanced, probably as a result of the far lower noise floor—though I didn't hear "blacker blacks" as such, which wasn't surprising. The 650D, on its own, already produces black backdrops.

More specifically, among the tracks I listened to was the 24/96 download of The Smithereens Play Tommy, a just-plain-screaming, fun, well-recorded remake of the Who's "rock opera" (E1 2003). "Overture" opens with the familiar cymbal crash and guitar chord. With the 820S in the system, I noted the clarity of the cymbal crash and shimmer, and the distance between it and the guitar chord. In many ways, the sound reminded me of the original UK vinyl pressing, on Track. An inviting depth, spaciousness, and three-dimensionality produced a desire to turn the volume up, up, up.

This being a hi-rez file, I expected all of these qualities to also be audible without the 820S. They weren't, beginning with that opening crash and chord, which were harsh and mushed together. The spaciousness, while still greater than from the CD, was flattened, and with things mooshed together, even at 24/96, that old digital harshness returned, causing me to turn it down, down, down. This was a major difference.

The 24/96 download of Malcolm Arnold's Tam O'Shanter Overture, from Witches' Brew, with Alexander Gibson and the New Symphony Orchestra of London (LP, RCA Living Stereo LSC-2225), went from sounding pretty good (if hardly LP quality) to drab and dimensionally flat, with the rumbling timpani indistinct. When the cymbals crash just before the trombone solo, I had to turn it way down.

In "It Wouldn't Have Made Any Difference," from Alison Krauss's album Forget About It (CD, Rounder) the woody rim shot that "popped" so distinctly with the 820S in place softened, as did the bass-line transient, which turned the low end to mush. I was surprised by the big difference on a pop recording,

Sounding soft to begin with, but firm enough to hold together through the 820S, Tarika Sammy's lilting "Revire," from A World Out of Time: Henry Kaiser and David Lindley in Madagascar Vol.2 (CD, Shanachie 64048), fell like a poorly executed soufflé without the outboard power supply.

This exercise made me revise my negative opinion of Robbie Robertson's remix of the Band's Rock of Ages included in Live at the Academy of Music 1971: The Rock of Ages Concerts (3 CDs, Capitol UME 6 02537375271). While I could still do without the remix's panned drums, the edginess heard through the 650D alone turned into a more natural transient clarity electronic "etch" with the 820S that you often hear at live events. The original still has a pleasing warmth, and more of the hall's acoustic—or warmer artificial reverb—but with the 820S, the remix had greater bass muscularity, three-dimensionality, and dynamic punch.

Artur Rubinstein's performance of Chopin's Piano Sonata 2, "Funeral March" (CD, JVC XRCD), sounded soft and somewhat murky without the 820S. Attacks were indistinct, the recording space mixing with the instrument's lower register. With the 820S, the piano was more clearly defined within the space, attacks were sharper and more natural, and overall three-dimensionality produced a vibrant, muscular sonic picture worth listening to—the sorts of things that "vinyl colorations" seem able to reproduce with far greater ease. I played the LP (RCA Soria Series LDS-2554), and while it was somewhat closer to the XRCD with the 820S powering the 650D, the vinyl presented a piano between my speakers, with harmonics and keyboard attack the CD couldn't begin to approach (though it had fewer pops and clicks). Even the recording's producer, Max Wilcox, might have taken time out from screaming at me for liking vinyl to notice. (He did that to me once at Avery Fisher Hall. I liked it.)

Richard Strauss's Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks and Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet, with Charles Munch leading the Boston Symphony Orchestra, is one of the most valued RCA Living Stereo vinyl releases, especially for its well-focused images and soundstaging. Again, the CD's picture (CD, JVC XRCD) was flatter, with less distinct images, with the 820S removed, and much better with it in.

"Dream Toon," from Repercussion Unit's DDD recording In Need Again (CD, CMP CD 31), is a Zappa-like percussion frenzy (minus Zappa's humor) featuring marimba, vibraphone, tabla, frying pans, mixing bowls, triangles, and everything but a Veg-O-Matic. It sounded great either way, but with the 820S powering the 650D, attacks were faster, cleaner, more precise—yet images were rounder, better textured, less cardboardy. Dynamics on this track and album were insane.

The 820S steeled instrumental attacks without producing unwanted edge definition. It made sustain more generous and greatly enhanced decay—no surprise there, with the delivery of the promised blacker backgrounds. The result? Far better rhythm'n'pace, and vastly improved image specificity, soundstaging, transparency, and dynamics. The sound was substantially better in every way. The improvements were not at all subtle.

Conclusion
My advice to owners of Simaudio's Moon Evolution 650D: Go to your dealer and get an 820S to take home and try. Put it on a credit card if the dealer doesn't trust you, but be prepared to drop $8000—I don't think you'll be returning that 820S to the store.

Yes, adding an 820S almost doubles the 650D's cost—but in my opinion, adding it more than doubles the 650D's sound quality, which will more than double your musical enjoyment. And, as in the Hokey Pokey, that's what it's all about.