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Recording of December 2009: <I>The Astounding Eyes of Rita</I>

Anouar Brahem: The Astounding Eyes of Rita
Anouar Brahem, oud; Klaus Gesing, bass clarinet; Björn Meyer, bass; Khaled Yassine, darbouka, bendir
ECM 2075 (CD). 2009. Manfred Eicher, prod.; Stefano Amerio, eng. DDD. TT: 53:31
Performance ****
Sonics *****

For many in the new world, the sinuous melodic lines and infinite variety of dark harmonic shading produced by the exotic oud define the term "Middle Eastern music." And when it comes to players of that ancient instrument, only a handful, Hamza El Din for example, have ever been as internationally well known as the…

dCS Puccini SACD playback system

It's now 10 years since the launch of the two high-resolution audio disc formats, SACD and DVD-Audio. Yet, perhaps partly because both were hobbled in various ways to please the record industry, perhaps partly because too many supposed hi-rez releases sounded no better than CD, and perhaps partly because record retailers weren't sure how to display the formats to their best advantage, neither took off in any substantive way. DVD-A disappeared, and SACD survived only as a niche format for high-quality classical releases in both two- and multichannel forms. As we got deeper into the same…

dCS Puccini SACD playback system Page 2

But there was trouble in paradise. The Philips transport mechanism used in the P8i proved, over the long haul, to be as unreliable in the dCS player as it was in contemporaneous SACD players from Krell and Musical Fidelity. The Puccini, therefore, uses a high-quality transport mechanism from Japanese company Esoteric, the UMK5. Though an expensive part, it has so far proved bombproof in use.

Discs are loaded on an elegant, slim drawer mounted on the right of the player's gracefully carved front panel. The central blue LCD display is, thankfully, large enough to see from my listening…

dCS Puccini SACD playback system Page 3

When the Puccini is clocked by the U-Clock, the former's display shows a pair of meshing gear wheels that solidify when lock is achieved. To decode USB-derived data, one of the U-Clock's S/PDIF outputs must be connected to the Puccini player's digital inputs. When you hook up the U-Clock to your computer, it identifies itself as "dCS Puccini Clock" and, somewhat confusingly, both sample-rate LEDs on the front panel illuminate.

The U-Clock will handle USB data with sample rates from 32 to 96kHz and bit depths up to 24. The U-Clock acts as a master clock when the Puccini is playing SACDs…

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Even so, Sonata didn't approach Zenph Studios' recent re-creation of Rachmaninoff performing his arrangement of Kreisler's Liebeslied, from Rachmaninoff Plays Rachmaninoff (CD, RCA Red Seal 748971). Recorded by Richard King with three DPA4006 omnis, this is perhaps the best recording of a piano I have heard. Upsampled to DSD by the Puccini and clocked by the U-Clock, there was a richness, a believability to the sound of the restored 1909 Steinway D on the Simaudio-driven Aerial 20T V2s that almost made me forget I was listening to recorded sound. Almost.

The Puccini's low frequencies had…

dCS Puccini SACD playback system Specifications

Sidebar 1: Specifications

dCS Puccini: Drawer-loading, dual-laser SACD/CD player with digital volume and balance controls, and upsampling of CD data to DSD or PCM. Digital inputs: 2 S/PDIF on RCA jacks. Word clock In/Out (TTL) on 75-ohm BNC jacks. Digital outputs: 2 S/PDIF on RCA jacks. Analog outputs: balanced on XLR jacks, unbalanced on RCA jacks. Maximum output level: 2V or 6V, selectable. Output impedance: 3 ohms balanced, 52 ohms unbalanced. Frequency response: 10Hz–20kHz, ±0.1dB, Filter 1, CD and SACD playback. Channel separation: >80dB, 20Hz–20kHz. Noise: <–100dB, 20Hz–20kHz…

dCS Puccini SACD playback system Associated Equipment

Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment

Digital Sources: Ayre C-5xeMP universal player, Meridian 808i.2 CD player, Apple Mac mini & MacBook for media storage & playback with iTunes 9.0.
Preamplifiers: Parasound Halo JC 2, Simaudio Moon Evolution P-8.
Power Amplifiers: Parasound Halo JC 1 monoblocks, Simaudio Moon Evolution W-7.
Loudspeakers: Aerial Acoustics 20T V2, Aerial Acoustics 5B, PSB Synchrony One, Totem Acoustic Mani-2, Acoustic Energy AE1 Mk.III Reference Special Edition.
Cables: Digital: Kimber Illuminations Orchid AES/EBU, Stereovox CV2, AudioQuest VSD-4 S/PDIF,…

dCS Puccini SACD playback system Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements

I examined the measured behavior of the dCS Puccini using the Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see www.ap.com and "As We See It" in the January 2008 issue), as well as, for some tests, my Audio Precision System One Dual Domain. To examine the performance of the U-Clock's asynchronous USB input, I drove it with the USB 2.0 output of my MacBook running OS10.4.11, playing WAV files using Bias Peak 6.2.

The Puccini had the best error correction I have encountered, not suffering from occasional glitches in its audio output until the gaps in the data spiral of…

dCS Puccini SACD playback system dCS Puccini v1.20 firmware upgrade

dCS Puccini v1.20 firmware upgrade, October 2010 (Vol.33 No.10):

Since I reviewed this $17,999 SACD/CD player and the matching $4999 U-Clock for the November 2009 issue, it has been my workhorse for both reviewing duties and listening pleasure. The U-Clock's ability to accept USB data in an asynchronous manner has allowed playback of computer files via iTunes, using the Pure Music front-end app, to equal the sound of optical discs in my system. High-resolution downloads—such as John Butt and the Dunedin Consort's new recording of J.S. Bach's B Minor Mass (24-bit/88.2kHz FLAC, Linn Records…

ATC SCM 11 loudspeaker

The venerable British company ATC Loudspeaker Technology was founded in 1974 by Billy Woodman, and is famous within the professional community for developing the first soft-dome midrange driver, and for their well-regarded line of active (powered) studio monitors, the user list of which is a veritable Who's Who of mastering engineers. ATC loudspeakers are all still made in the UK, and were a favorite of the late J. Gordon Holt.

I requested a pair of ATC's SCM 11 passive monitors because its price of $1750/pair in real cherry veneer (or $1850/pair in black ash) fit into my quest…