CD Player/Transport Reviews

My longstanding one-box reference CD player, the Accuphase DP70-V, was on hand for this evaluation, as was my new reference, the Wadia 16. I also had access to a Krell MD-10/Reference 64 combination and PS Audio's Reference Link driven by the Lambda transport. Other recent digital visitors to my system included the Sonic Frontiers SFD-2, the Theta Generation V/Data Basic 2 combination, and the Audio Research CD1.

Control preamplifier references included the Mark Levinson No.38, Krell KRC-2, Audio Research LS5 Mk.II, Audio Synthesis Balanced Passion passive control unit, as well as some of the digital sources fed directly into the power amplifiers. In addition to a pair of Krell KAS-2s, these included a Krell KSA-200S, an ARC VT150SE, and a Conrad-Johnson Premier 8.

For monitoring, while some work included the Quad ESL-63, the bulk of the evaluation was carried out with the Wilson WATT/Puppy 5, which exhibits a welcome degree of synergy with the KAS-2, the main power amplifier involved in the tests. Cables included Transparent Music Wave Reference and Ultra, van den Hul Revelation and The Second, plus various pure-silver designs from Siltech, including FTM-4 and LS4-180.—Martin Colloms