New Resolution Audio Opus 21

I FINALY got the Opus 21 here to the house as of yesterday afternoon. It was
shipped in a very nice wooden shipping crate, well padded with foam inside.
Strange thing though, it has a hinge on the top lid on one side, with 2 velcro straps
on the opposite side holding it closed. All one would have to do to open it up is to
simply pull lightly on the 2 strips and it opens right up... I was shocked to see that
they did not nail or screw the lid down to prevent theft during shipping!
I first hooked it up and plugged it into my childs small stereo system in the other
room to an aux. input to make sure it was functioning properly. All seemed to work
well, so I turned it off after checking out all the functions, and it made a VERY loud
pop followed by a HORRIBLE high pitched squeal that lasted for a second or so. It
warns in the owners manual to be sure to turn off your amp first, so I will be certain
to do so before shutting the player down, or else I guarantee that it will do serious
damage to your speakers.
For starters, it still has the cheap, plastic remote like the CD-55 did, but now with
far fewer buttons. They have eliminated the polarity reversal button that the CD-55
had as well. It has a much larger display on it now, and a 4 position dimmer for the
display as well, being bright, medium, low, and no display. They also have done
away with any indicator at all on the unit that lets you know that it is decoding an
HDCD.
I have put about 20 hours on it so far, and it sounded pretty good right from the
start. The first thing I noticed is that it is that I heard far less noise with it hooked
direct to my tube amp than I did with the CD-55... that was a much welcome
change. The background during music is also noticeably quieter, and details seem
to be a little bit better as well. I am also noticing a bit deeper and wider
soundstage, with more 3-D "air" than the CD-55 had. So far, the sound has changed
just a little bit since arriving, and I will give it a few more days of breaking in
before I say for certain what its final characteristics are, but so far, so good... I will let you know more in a few days.

Thanks for the post Bigshutterbug, please keep us updated! :)

Chris

I have had the player for over a week now, and it seems to be done breaking in so far from what I can tell. As I stated when it first arrived, it does have a lower noise floor and a blacker background than the CD-55. It also is a little bit
smoother on the top end than the CD-55 was, and is not quite as bright up there. The detail is a bit better as well, maybe from the lower noise floor, maybe just more detail.
I am also noticing a little more body than the CD-55 had as well. It is easy to notice that they are cut from the same mold so to speak, and the differences are subtle but there.
I have had some trouble with the unit tracking discs, but it has not been major. It has stopped playing 5 times now, not a skip or jump, but it has just randomly frozen on random spots on random discs as if on pause. The display just shows the track and minutes/seconds where it stopped, then when I pushed play again, it starts back over on track one just fine...maybe just a small quirk that will go away after time I hope. The drive makes a slight "whirring" noise when spinning as do most computer disc drives, and it can be heard in a quiet room from about 8 foot away, but you don't notice it if the music is playing at fairly low levels. Not a big deal... I hope this helps, and I will check in again in in another week or so as time goes on.

My experience has been very similar to the others. I have a Cary 306/200 which I had compared the Opus 21 with and found the Opus 21 to be superior in detail and smoothness.
To me the Opus just sounds much more musical than other players I have heard. Listening to Norah Jones, for example, on both the Cary and Opus 21 was quite amazing in pointing out the differences. The Opus 21 sounds clearer while the Cary sounded a tad brighter.

I really like the Opus 21 and think it's a steal for the asking price.