New journey - Samsung HD841 Universal Player

Hello.

Based on a recent thread here on Audiogon, regarding a Toshiba 4960 Universal modded by Reference Audio Modifcations (total outlay - $700!) equalling an $11K Linn Unidisk, I have been wanting to purchase the electronically identical Samsung HD841, which I find far superior cosmetically. Sean's announcement of the Samsung HD841 Universal player being offered up as a closeout at Best Buy for $99 drove me to pick up the machine.

Just wanted to put forth my initial impressions of a fun Saturday night spent with the Samsung HD841. In time, I will send it out to someone to mod, and my intention is for this thread to document my journey with the player over time.

I went back to my AtmaSphere M60 monoblocks for this ride, although I had to insert my line level attenuators that I don't normally use as my Granite 657 (a SUPERB audiophile CD player which has at least equalled what I consider the best I have heard) has a variable out. I used two different speakers through the evening, Frieds and Cabasse. Cabling was all Coincident.

First a word on DVD players in general, as a big reason I had zero interest in DVD-A was the requirement of using a video monitor for setup. While I did use this after playing some music, I quickly learned if you can remember a few button sequences, all of the audio functionality I need for the most part can be thankfully done without a TV.

The player weighs a paltry 4.4 pounds so I read, and obviously in carrying it around, it is no heavyweight. Fit and finish is better than a lot of audiophile players I have come across. As is also the case of the remote. While the remote is overly complex for audiophile needs, considering its target audience is for HT and HDTV, I cannot criticize it one nit. Why can't we get as decent a remote when we shell out $4000 on a CD player??? I love the cosmetics of the player, and feel it reminiscent of the Music Hall MMF25 and Jolida J100 players. I will also pay the complement of disc initialization, particularly on SACD, impressed the heck out of me.

Through the night, the player performed mostly without any concern. Though, at one point, I did press some button which illicited some distortion that I feared was a bad tube, but pausing and restarting the player immediately corrected this. Keep in mind that my sonic impressions are of a player during its first three hours of life, and the true nature of this component will not be known until it gets 300 hours under it. I had the player running on repeat all night long, and will do so for probably two weeks. Hopefully, I will get another listening session in this evening. I absolutely cannot wait to hear it again!

Out of the box, the player sounded DEAD. But, I have become more or less accustomed to this with new equipment, and even new tubes. That it was stone cold probably added to this as well, as things were better even after the third song. One of Dan D'Agostino's pieces of sage wisdom is that a CD player doesn't sound its best until it has been on for two days. I more or less concur, and feel they should be left on always.

Let me get to my real complaint about the player first, just to get it out of the way. As I expected of a mass market player without the kind of overbuilt power supply of a serious audiophile CD player, the lower frequencies were not what I consider acceptable. As the night wore on, this got better, and in light of the overall performance of the player, I could probably grit my teeth and bear it. I am thinking that one of the areas a good modder does is correct this situation in a definitive way. Following in this vein, sonic heft was not much in evidence, and if you are someone who really feels this is a major reason you listen to vinyl as opposed to CD, you were not going to have your prayers answered by this player last night. For my own tastes, I kind of hope that the sound fleshes out more during break in, even without any modding.

In comparison to my Granite, obviously, the bass, weight, heft, harmonic richness, and being able to convey the emotion of the music, the Samsung did not take home the prize. I don't care that the Samsung is an order of magnitude less expensive, I had the ability of spending more to get a serious CD player so care only about the result in terms of absolutes. I am judging the Samsung against a very difficult foe to be sure, but that's my unit of measure.

That's about all I can say in terms of negative. To have these feelings regarding a component I paid $99 for is beyond astounding. Let me get this out of the way in short order - please don't shoot the messenger, become angry, or get your bowels in an uproar...

Factoring out the bass extension, impact, and fullness, unless you own a serious (and I mean serious) machine, your CD player is more than likely no better than this little Samsung! What's more disconcerting is that to my ears, most of the Arcams, Cambridges, Regas, Rotels, and Sonys have already been eclipsed. As time passes, don't be surprised if I expand this list.

It's speed was lightning quick. I am not sure I have heard better. I didn't hear any grain, glare, or spit, though the player is definitely in the engaging and lively camp, so it could potentially sound bright in some systems. Complex passages in music didn't faze it one iota. It was definitely a Fred Astaire. The player was dead quiet with or without music playing, and I beleive its low distortion level was of note. Mostly, I heard detail and clarity and a whole lot of speed, though I think it needs to extend at both frequency extremes, which I think break in will mostly, if not fully, address in terms of the treble. It more or less got the midrange right, though I hope for more richness with time, and that, is a true accomplishment. To nail tonality is an impressive feat for me, as I cannot get far past components that just sound wrong to me (sadly, there are more of these than we'd expect). As I have heard on many counts regarding some of the sleeper CD players, this Samsung was not embarrassed by most of what could be thrown its way by more expensive machines.

For fun, I tried the SACD of Sonny Rollins "Way Out West". THIS was reason alone to buy the HD841! The low fequencies of SACD just walk away from CD. Despite my protesting above, I was quite impressed on this disc. From the upright bass, I was able to hear both the instrument's string and body resonances, and I have not had the pleasure of that in the past. In this arena, playing this disc, the sound was superior to my Granite, which can only play the CD layer, in several ways. What I hope will come in time is a bit more blattiness and bite of Sonny's sax.

My wife had me throw in a DVD to see if it worked, and it did so flawlessly. The ability to throw whatever kind of disc I have in my hands and have it sound or look good is something that I feel many of us have longed for since the high resolution formats were introduced. I now have that flexibility, and hopefully, after the mods are performed, first rate sonics for the long term as well.

I spent most of the time wondering how foolish we actually look in the high end. I know people who own nothing in their sytem that costs anywhere near as low as the $99 I paid for this player. Visions of the $11K Linn Unidisk equalled by this player's genotypic twin, the Toshiba 4960, ran through my mind. I wondered if a new day had dawned, making the purchase of an expensive audiphile player passe.