Blind Shoot-out in San Diego -- 5 CD Players


On Saturday, February 24, a few members of the San Diego, Los Angeles and Palm Springs audio communities conducted a blind shoot-out at the home of one of the members of the San Diego Music and Audio Guild. The five CD Players selected for evaluation were: 1) a Resolution Audio Opus 21 (modified by Great Northern Sound), 2) the dcs standalone player, 3) a Meridian 808 Signature, 4) a EMM Labs Signature configuration (CDSD/DCC2 combo), and 5) an APL NWO 2.5T (the 2.5T is a 2.5 featuring a redesigned tube output stage and other improvements).

The ground rules for the shoot-out specified that two randomly draw players would be compared head-to-head, and the winner would then be compared against the next randomly drawn player, until only one unit survived (the so-called King-of-the-Hill method). One of our most knowledgeable members would set up each of the two competing pairs behind a curtain, adjust for volume, etc. and would not participate in the voting. Alex Peychev was the only manufacturer present, and he agreed to express no opinion until the completion of the formal process, and he also did not participate in the voting. The five of us who did the voting did so by an immediate and simultaneous show of hands after each pairing after each selection. Two pieces of well-recorded classical music on Red Book CDs were chosen because they offered a range of instrumental and vocal sonic charactistics. And since each participant voted for each piece separately, there was a total of 10 votes up for grabs at each head-to-head audition. Finally, although we all took informal notes, there was no attempt at detailed analysis recorded -- just the raw vote tally.

And now for the results:

In pairing number 1, the dcs won handily over the modified Opus 21, 9 votes to 1.

In pairing number 2, the dcs again came out on top, this time against the Meridian 808, 9 votes to 1.

In pairing number 3, the Meitner Signature was preferred over the dcs, by a closer but consistent margin (we repeated some of the head-to-head tests at the requests of the participants). The vote was 6 to 4.

Finally, in pairing number 5, the APL 2.5T bested the Meitner, 7 votes to 3.

In the interest of configuration consistance, all these auditions involved the use of a power regenerator supplying power to each of the players and involved going through a pre-amp.

This concluded the blind portion of the shoot-out. All expressed the view that the comparisons had been fairly conducted, and that even though one of the comparisons was close, the rankings overall represented a true consensus of the group's feelings.

Thereafter, without the use blind listening, we tried certain variations at the request of various of the particiapans. These involved the Meitner and the APL units exclusively, and may be summarized as follows:

First, when the APL 2.5T was removed from the power regenerator and plugged into the wall, its performance improved significantly. (Alex attributed this to the fact that the 2.5T features a linear power supply). When the Meitner unit(which utilizes a switching power supply) was plugged into the wall, its sonics deteriorated, and so it was restored to the power regenerator.

Second, when we auditioned a limited number of SACDs, the performance on both units was even better, but the improvement on the APL was unanimously felt to be dramatic.
The group concluded we had just experienced "an SACD blowout".

The above concludes the agreed-to results on the blind shoot-out. What follows is an overview of my own personal assessment of the qualitative differences I observed in the top three performers.

First of all the dcs and the Meitner are both clearly state of the art players. That the dcs scored as well as it did in its standalone implementation is in my opinion very significant. And for those of us who have auditioned prior implementations of the Meitner in previous shoot-outs, this unit is truly at the top of its game, and although it was close, had the edge on the dcs. Both the dcs and the Meitner showed all the traits one would expect on a Class A player -- excellent tonality, imaging, soundstaging, bass extension, transparency, resolution, delineation, etc.

But from my point of view, the APL 2.5T had all of the above, plus two deminsions that I feel make it truly unique. First of all, the life-like quality of the tonality across the spectrum was spot-on on all forms of instruments and voice. An second, and more difficult to describe, I had the uncany feeling that I was in the presence of real music -- lots or "air", spatial cues, etc. that simply add up to a sense of realism that I have never experienced before. When I closed my eyes, I truly felt that I was in the room with live music. What can I say.

Obviously, I invite others of the participants to express their views on-line.

Pete

petewatt
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I have been adamantly opposed to the DBtesting so advocated my many using the same/different 30 sec. evaluation so strongly urged on Propellor Head in Audioasylum. The test here, however, is more valid and I suspect fun for the participants. As I said, I would have enjoyed participating. Nevertheless, I could not use it for making a buying decision.
Ctm_cra wrote in two posts above:

The APL NWO 2.5T Alex brought with him had 200 hours of burn in as a 2.5 only model. As as a 2.5T it barely had 30 hours.

The Meitner's owner also confirmed that it has surpassed the burn-in time requirement. The DCS and Meridian are regularly used, but I have no specific info to provide. The same goes for the Opus 21.

Guidocorona wrote:

I should like to point out that a TEAC UX-1/X-01 derivative with 200 hrs of playing time on part of the circuit and 20 on the balance is not at all a well broken in device. . . likely 80% of break in is still ahead. How many hrs of playing time had been logged on the other contenders? Next time the shoot out is conducted I suggest all units be fully broken in. The condition would harden your findings.

Hi Guidocorona,

Based on my experience with the APL NWO-2.5 and the 2.5T, I totally agree with your comments about break-in. I heard major improvements on my 2.5 around 250-hour mark and it continued to improve until it was upgraded to a 2.5T at the 370-hour mark (200 hours on Redbook and 170 hours on SACD). Since Alex's 2.5 had only 200 hours, it is likely that its sonic excellence is yet to unfold.

When I received my 2.5T upgrade, I left everything else in my audio system and room unchanged so that I could evaluate (subject to memory and elapsed time) the sonic differences between the 2.5 and the 2.5T. Out of the box, the 2.5T had greater fullness, more defined and explosive bass, more sparkling highs, quicker transients, more harmonic and ambient detail, and it was more involving in the bass region. Since that is based on my memory of the 2.5, take it for what its worth.

Guidocorona, What may be more significantly related to your comments is what happened as my 2.5T burned-in. Between 60 and 70 hours the bass and midrange opened up and became more detailed and more refined; the midrange was now more involving. Although the treble had more sparkle than what I recall the 2.5 to have, it did not have the same level of openness at this point in the burn-in process as the bass and midrange. That is now changing. Today, the 2.5T upgrade part of the 2.5 has 110 hours on it. (The 2.5 part now has 480 hours.) The treble has begun to open up nicely and the continuousness of the sonic landscape is enhanced beyond that of the 2.5. I wait with bated breath to see what further improvements will unfold with the burn-in process.

According to Ctm_cra, as a 2.5T, Alex's unit had only 30 hours. Based on my experience with 2.5T's burn-in, your estimate seems reasonable to me that 80% of break-in for his machine is yet to come. If the 2.5T was properly burnt-in, could this have also been a "Redbook blow-out" as well as an "SACD blow-out"? We'll have to wait for the next round. Hopefully, everyone's player will be fully burnt-in.

Best Regards,
John
Ctm_cra wrote:

The most expensive player evaluated is the latest version of the Meitner and it did not win. Also, recall that each player was assigned a letter code written on a piece of paper and placed in bag. The order of the players was determined by the consecutive order of letters pulled from this process. By chance it turned out the Meitner and APL were last. None of the voters knew the letter assignments, however, until after the comparisons were complete

Okay so this is a fair comparison. Folks always have the tendency to compare cheaper with cheap and expensive with more expensive at most times. Looks like this is not the case. Thanks for the clarification.
Nice read, very informative and insightful on some players I've been wondering about.

One thing I guess I'm wondering....what was the Opus21 doing in there to begin with? I own one modded by Steve, and it's a very nice player, but retails at 1/3 of everything else in the shootout, in some cases 1/4 of the price point....seems to me it's surprising the little guy even got one vote...I'm proud of it for that!

Thanks for the time and write up guys, good stuff!