CD Player/Transport Reviews

Despite the temptation to find optimum mating components for each of these devices, I felt it was necessary to confine these auditions to a fixed context: Beyond the source components that are the topic of this review, everything in the system was held constant.

The balanced outputs of a Simaudio Moon P-5 preamp were connected to the balanced inputs of a Simaudio Moon W-5 amp by 20' of JPS Balanced Conductors. The amp drove a pair of Genesis 500 speakers via 6' of Straight Wire Maestro II cables. The players or DACs under test were connected by 1m of Cardas Golden Cross to the preamp, and the digital interconnect between transport and DAC was the Illuminati D-60. On hand to help me mediate the competition were a dCS Elgar and a Sonic Frontiers SFCD-1, both longstanding Class A digital components. My so-called "weekend system" consisted of an AR-SRC remote-control line controller, modified Adcom GFA-555 amplifier, and Paradigm Esprit Bipolar speakers with Straight Wire interconnects and speaker wire.—Kalman Rubinson