Back to the Sooloos and some recent releases from HDtracks.com. First the classics: the entire Rush catalog has been issued in 24/96. The sound ranges…
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But details are what DAC reviews are all about, and that was certainly the case here. Using the Meridian Sooloos music server via the Romulus's S/PDIF input and my Macbook Pro via USB, I cued up several tracks of classical, jazz, and world music that I also had on CD, to assess the input and transport options. I heard little difference; I prefer hard-drive–based media to CDs, but these differences, if any, were too close to reliably call.
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Tubed CD player with S/PDIF (coaxial and TosLink), AES/EBU and USB digital inputs. Tube complement: two 12AX7, two 6DJ8 or 6922. Audio data accepted: 16, 20, 24-bit word length with sample rates of 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4, 192kHz. Maximum output level without optional volume control installed, RMS: 4.8V balanced, 2.4V single-ended. With volume control installed: the volume setting for standard 2V (SE)/4V (balanced) output is 80. Setting for the same output level as a non–volume-control unit is 82 (2.5V SE, 5V balanced). Output impedance: 300 ohms…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital Sources: Apple MacBook Pro computer (2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM, 320GB HDD) running OS 10.6.7, iTunes 10.6, Sonic Studios Amarra 2.5, Songbird 1.9.3, XLD; Western Digital 2TB NAS Device; Oppo BDP-103 universal Blu-ray player; Sooloos/Meridian Digital Media System (Control 15, TwinStore x3); Apple iPad 2, 3 (or "New iPad" or latest or HD or Retina or whatever); Apple iPod Touch 1G; Apple iPhone 4S.
Digital Processors: Benchmark DAC1 USB, M2Tech Young & Palmer DAC & power supply, AudioQuest DragonFly USB DAC, Wadia 121decoding…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I examined the Aesthetix Saturn Romulus's electrical performance with Stereophile's loan sample of the top-of-the-line Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see www.ap.com and the January 2008 "As We See It"); for some tests, I also used my vintage Audio Precision System One Dual Domain. For USB tests, I used my MacBook Pro running on battery power and the Romulus set to USB2.0. I played back test-signal files with Bias Peak Pro, using Apple's AudioMIDI utility to make sure that the sample rate and bit depth were correctly set for each file.
The Romulus's error…
Now entering its fourth decade, the Compact Disc player seems to have reached a stage of maturity where the best models within a given price range will sound pretty much alike. The technology of the Compact Disc itself is set, its possibilities and limitations are well understood; and the designers of CD players who figure out how to stretch the former and finesse the latter wind up at about the same sonic place (again, for the same price), even if they've taken different routes to get there. What distinguishes these players in the marketplace tends to be not so much their sound quality as…
Not so with the CD9 and the Cipher. In fact, if you crept into my house, swapped out one for the other without telling me, and put on a disc that I know well, I probably wouldn't notice anything amiss unless I listened very closely, and even then the difference would be small; if you revealed the substitution and told me I was stuck with it, there was no going back to what I had before, I wouldn't be upset; I might even shrug.
When I did my first A/B comparison of the players and found them sounding more similar than any two components of any sort that I'd ever heard in my system, I dug…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Top-loading, remote-control, tubed CD player with optional upsampling, two digital reconstruction filters, and digital inputs/outputs. Tube complement: four 6H30 dual triodes (analog stage), one 6H30 and one 6550C (power regulation). Digital inputs: S/PDIF (TosLink, BNC, RCA), AES/EBU (XLR), and USB. Bit depths handled: 16 and 24 bits. Sample rates handled: 44.1, 88.2, 96, 176.4, and 192kHz. Digital outputs: BNC, AES/EBU. Analog outputs: single-ended (RCA), balanced (XLR). Frequency responses: 3Hz–96kHz, +0/–3dB; 20Hz–20kHz, ±0.15dB. Signal/noise:…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Source: VPI Classic turntable & tonearm, Lyra Delos cartridge.
Digital Source: Krell Cipher SACD/CD player.
Phono Preamplifier: Nagra BPS (battery-powered).
Integrated Amplifier: Simaudio Moon Evolution 700i.
Loudspeakers: Revel Ultima Studio2.
Cables: Nirvana
Accessories: Bybee Technologies Signature Power Purifier (not with amplifier or, sometimes, CD players), Black Diamond Mk.4 Racing Cones (sometimes not used), Audio Desk Systeme LP cleaner.—Fred Kaplan
Sidebar 3: Measurements
To measure the Audio Research Reference CD9, I used Stereophile's loan sample of the top-of-the-line Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see www.ap.com and the January 2008 "As We See It"); for some tests, I also used my vintage Audio Precision System One Dual Domain. To test the CD9's performance via USB, I used my MacBook Pro, running on battery power, with ARC's supplied USB2.0 driver (v.2.03.14), and played test-signal files with Bias Peak Pro, using Apple's AudioMIDI utility to ensure that the sample rate and bit depth were correctly set for each file.
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The third iteration of SME's 3009 is one of the most versatile tonearms around. For the same reason, it is also one of the most tedious to set-up because, since every parameter is adjustable, every parameter must be adjusted.
Unlike most arms with plug-in headshells, the SME has a plug-in arm, which accomplishes the same thing but places the additional mass of the plug and socket back near the tonearm base, where its effect on the cartridge-system effective mass is minimal.
The arm is available with an optional viscous-damping system, presumably for the benefit of those…