Playback designs followup?

I know this is going in another direction, but I heard the Playback Design and It wasn't my cup of tea. At the time I had a Marantz SA7 and greatly preferred the sound. Since then I've given up my CD player in favor of a Modwright Truth Transporter with upgraded vintage tubes. I greatly prefer the sound, not to mention the convenience.

Arthurp: The unit you heard breifly was, as you know, not close to being broken in. You know that and you need to read his question more carefully. I do not believe you are either "original users and others who are very familiar with this player".

PD defense force assemble!

After having the mps-5 since June of 08 I find this player to be one of the best players I have owned or heard.

The updates have added even more to the Musicality & versatility of the player.
Our small group has done a few a/b comparisons with a few other high end players,( as in some of players mentioned above ) both stand alone & stacks.
The Playback imho has out performed all of them. Mind you that this is subjective as we all know, but I felt that the MPS-5 was getting as close to analog as I've heard a digital player get to date.

The Marantz SA7 was in the same system with the PD MPS-5 at the last RMAF. I was in the room several times when we switched between the PD and the Marantz. NOT ONE person preferred the Marantz. When you watched the body langauge of the groups, six or eight people would immediately recognize the superior openness of the PD and say things like, "wow".

The Marantz is pretty good for the money and is free of digititus, but it's not in the same league as the PD. Check out the Marantz threads. About half the owners immediately start thinking of modifying their units. That's never a topic about the PD.