REVIEW: Mccormack UDP-1 Deluxe

Hi

I will try to describe my experience with the UDP-1.
The rendezvous took place in my friend’s house, Mr Barrios.
His set up is
Mc Cormack UDP-1 Deluxe
Audioquest Panther IC
Conrad Johnson Premier 17LS preamplifier
Audioquest Cheetah IC
Conrad Johnson Premier 12 Monoblocks
Audioquest Sterling(biwired)
Von Schweikert VR4jr
Michael Green Room Tunes
Herbies Audio Lab Tube Dampers in the Powers.
BBC Spikes

To put things in perspective.
Mr Barrios, as me ,listen mostly to rock. Seventies rock of many kinds like Love,
PFM, Le Orme, The Band, The Who, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Elton John, John Lennon, Grateful Dead, Neil Young, Cat Stevens.
Ocassionally other genres could jump into the rig, Jazz a la Monk, Davis or Coltrane.
And very very few times classical music.
Ok. Lets go.

We tried the machine using his four soft shoes(stock feature) above a maple like wood of almost 4 inches thick. The wood was resting on 3 BBC spikes. One in the front at the center of the transport and 2 in the back at the sides. The spikes were resting on the rack.
This way we accomplished a better separation of instruments and a clearer midrange. The overall presentation of the musical event was better this way.

How is it for the sound?

The UDP1 Deluxe had roughly like 200 hours of break in. We start listening to redbooks cds. The first thing I noticed was the great ability of the player to reproduce tight and musical very low bass notes with a good decay, not dry at all. The bass was very detailed and present. The sound was very full bodied and a bit on the warm side of neutral.
This, the bass completeness and precision, is for me the most amazing trick the UDP-1 performed.

But thats not all.

The UDP-1 is a non-tubed machine. The overall sound coming of the Maccormack was very detailed, very articulate, with a good extension on both extremes of the frequency spectrum.

We listened to John Lennon "Plastic Ono Band" Mobile Fidelity redbook and the sound was really something.
The double voice of Lennon on "Hold on” coming from the two VR4s was very clear, actually. You can heard the two voices blending in the air between the speakers. The piano on "Isolation" was heavy with good weight but not the better I have heard.
The voice of Lennon on “Isolation” also had a very good low extension. The soundstage was big and open, and slightly forward with only a little depth.
That’s an issue.
I never had the feeling that the soundstage was very deep but I’m almost sure that it is caused by room acoustics.

We tried another redbook cds of different production years and the UDP1 always delivered a well controlled and accurate sound. The bass was always tight, never boomy and never dry.
Another thing that impress me about the UDP1 is its extraordinary ability to retrieve information.

When we switched to SACDs, the sound became more non-fatiguing.
I doesn’t mean at all that the redbook sound was fatiguing but SACD was a lot more non-fatiguing. It seems like when I listened to the SACD my mind was working less, trying to fulfill the empty spaces between the 1s and the 0s.
SACD by the UDP1 was the most close vinyl like experience coming from a digital source that I have listened to.
It was very relaxing and real.

We listened to Mike Oldfield, Tubular Bells SACD and I think it was very very similar to vinyl.

Next on the spot was Elton John, Madman across the water SACD. We listened to “Tiny Dancer” and "Levon” The voice of Elton John was scaring real and 3d. You could feel the subtle changes coming out of his throat. The guitars were well positioned in the soundstage with good separation.

At last we tried DVD audio. Here I will skip because I really can’t stand the loudness and spectacular flavor of the DVDAUDIO presentation. It is like a very digital experience with a lot of volume and all the instruments and voices attacking at once. Like a relentless attack.

I don’t like it at all. It the opposite of what I define as near real sound. I havent heard DVDAUDIO in others hi end players, so I dont know if this is a Mccormack issue. I think is mostly the format being too digital for my taste.

I have to say that at anytime when we were listening to redbook cds, if someone would have told me that I was really listening to a SACD I would have believed. Because the performance of the UDP1 in redbook was so good that the differences between that and SACD were always very short, if any at all.
I have to clarify one thing. The differences between SACD and redbook on the UDP1 were indeed very short. But, SACD has a special characteristic in his way of representing sound that make its sound more analog like. Maybe a redbook could sound more detailed, clearer and with better bass than a SACD, but for me the SACD always will sound more natural.. Thats why SACD in the UDP1 is kind of a vinyl listening experience.

Also, The UDP1 cant decode HDCD,so it reads the HDCDs as normal cds. We listened to 2 or 3 HDCDs we knew very well, and never miss something in the sound. The HDCDs sounded as well as when decoded.

You can’t say that the UDP1 has a tube sound, nor you cant say it has the solid state typical coldness. Is a very good mix of the best of the tube/warm sound and the best of the ss/accurate sound with a foot on the latter side.

During the session I didn’t at anytime feel any shortcoming in the performance of the UDP1. But, there is always a “but”, remember, is a good mix, it has a bit of every side and not a lot of neither.

Personally, I prefer my sound natural and real.
That’s my goal and that’s why I think the UDP1 is not my cup of tea.
I felt the lack of a more flowing, more liquid sound, and a more organic presentation of the event.
I think it lacks a bit of a more musical soul.

But, the UDP1 is an extremely accurate cd player that, as always, depending on your system and preferences may work for you or not.

For those of the analytical and detailed squad, the UDP1 could become his loyal digital friend.
For those on the relax, organic squad the UDP1 is worth a listen because it has a bit of that, but I don’t think it will be for a long time in their racks.

For the ones who want it all, even at the cost of having only a little of everything, the UDP1 is as near as perfect gets.

Finally, in a system like the one my friend Mr Barrios has, the accurate and dynamic UDP1 has the perfect partner, the Premier 12 with his big and mellow sound.
Like always, listen first, let your ears judge.