So sorry for the long delay.....
Gentlemen and Ladies, as with my significant step forward from my exceptional over achieving ODSX to my mind blowing LH Davinci 2 DAC, I have finally found a music server that readily outperforms the exceptional Aurender N10. No, not the Aurender W20; that’s basically the same thing as the N10 with dual DAC outputs and an external clock input for DCS gear (sounds the exact same though, even according to those at Aurender). I am referring to the Memory Player 64 music server.
Sam Laufer’s Laufer Teknic Memory Player 64 retails for around $48-59k depending on configuration and upgrades. What you get for that is a custom designed, custom built computer music server that has been tweaked and upgraded since 2004, and wrung absolutely dry of anything that would even utter the word jitter much less actually try to harbor said fugitive jitter from Sheriff Sam. It also utilizes proprietary tech taking advantage of proper core architecture and a myriad of custom software implementations that combine to offer the user musical reproduction that belies its digital DNA and simply sounds like the finest analog you have ever heard. Sam and his brilliant partners are magicians of the most powerful sort! Sam is a soft spoken gentlemen who wears a gentle smile, has a limitless passion for what he does and a ridiculous enthusiasm for customer service. His customers are clearly all friends and his friends are clearly all happy customers!!
So, how does it sound? Well let’s start, as I do, with build quality. Although it is clearly a modified computer server it wears the outfit of a custom dedicated piece of equipment with a thick front faceplate engraved and beautiful. Conservative but proper for its price and abilities. I did tell Sam I would like to see the enclosure better damped as the sides and top do ring a bit when tapped. But I don’t believe this to affect those zeroes and ones beyond allowing them to harmonize within its dark interior. That said, at the price it should not ring. Other then that it is what you would expect, a meticulously implemented modification of a computer. What your paying for is the magic in those bits, not the bits that hold the bits.
I spent hours on the phone with Sam. We eventually decided to go all out. I mean, ALL OUT!! Upgraded microprocessor of the licketly splittest type (read - mind numbingly fast processing), upgraded usb card with upgraded clock and dedicated linear power supplies for each section of the board and sub boards, trinkets of Bybee, and a multitude of software tricks and trade secrets to make it all go doh-ray-mi on command. And boy can it sing!!!!!
Sonically it is a tour’de’force. It humbled the mighty N10 instantly and Sam kept upgrading it and improving it from there. So much quieter.. SO MUCH QUIETER!!!! I heard deeper, further, wider, more dynamically, more naturally. The MP64 disconnects the music from the speakers, and the room, and just makes it float in front of you connected only to the performers that the microphone had disconnected it from upon recording. Lows are taught and better. Mids are full and textured, and better. Highs are extended without harshness and lack any sibilance while retaining trailing edges and are, well, better!!!
That complex, dimensional, layered reproduction of texture and harmonics that the best analog rig extracts is there. I don’t know how. But it’s there.
Although I do still want to hear the Baetis and the SGM and a few other high end digital sources (and I know the reps for those products read this thread and are reading this, so I say this with great respect for our friendships and their time), I doubt that they can rival the level of reproduction the MP64 has achieved. I never say never, and I always keep an open mind, but I am skeptical the MP64 can be bested. We shall see.....
Is there a magical symbiosis between the LH Davinci2 and the MP64? Maybe. Are both at the cutting edge top of their game? Unquestionably.
That ALL said I have not mentioned the fly in the ointment. The N10 uses Aurender’s wonderful software. It’s not Roon, but it’s nicely integrated and once you get used to it, works flawlessly. To get the absolute most out of the MP64, you have to use either JRiver or Fubar, and if you want to utilize Tidal it has to be through its own App. All controlled via a desktop mirroring App on your iPad; or to improve the sound further, just use a mouse and monitor. Roon can absolutely be used on the MP64, but it won’t squeeze that last bit of magic out the way JRiver and the Tidal App will. I have not yet tried Roon, and I imagine it still sounds amazing and would better the N10. But I won’t say it flatly as I haven’t heard it yet. So from a use standpoint, it’s not as seamless as the N10. But work is underway to implement Roon and several other resources at full capacity; yet the hurdles are higher then most understand technically so we wait patiently for them to work their magic and fix the only “issue” I can come up with, if you can really even call it an issue. To reiterate, it WILL run Roon; but according to Sam it just won’t sound as good as using JRiver or Fubar, or the dedicated Tidal App for reasons he explained and I sort of understand. Lots of technical stuff involving cores and jitter and little purple digital trolls and goblins. But it works. And it works well!
Those who have been following me know I do not offer praise unless it is well earned. Sam has earned my praise, my respect, and my appreciation!
