What is new with the Memory Player?

To Bigamp,

I got my Memory Player back after George did a couple of upgrades to my player, which I got during HE 2007, and right after the show we were too busy putting the sound rooms back together again.

Anyway there is more to the Memory Player than what you surmise: for one: the software is quite different than EAC and a ram disc is still ram setup as a virtual space on the hard drive, which means you will still have timing errors.

There are a lot of hidden tricks which they are doing.

On the Memory Player you rip the data without ECC to the Memroy and then load the Memory onto a hard drive to store the data, then on playback you reverse the process.

You can playback from the Hard drive which Bigamp would be working exactly as you describe, you can also playback from memory which sounds much superior! I did those tests this weekend.

The Memory Player sounds like no other digital source I have heard, it really sounds like you are listening to a live recording!

How is their DAC? Or, do you use another one , feeding it from the memory player?
Also, is there a way to use a hard drive to load the songs to the MP? The reason I'm asking is that I am going to computer-based audio in some way shape or form, and I'm trying to figure out the best way to do it.

Thanks,
David

Audiooracle:

Anyway there is more to the Memory Player than what you surmise: for one: the software is quite different than EAC and a ram disc is still ram setup as a virtual space on the hard drive, which means you will still have timing errors.

Actually, a ramdisk is the opposite of what you describe. A ramdisk is a virtual hard drive IN RAM. It's a chunk of RAM that appears as a hard disk to the computer. They're fast, because they're RAM and there's no disk access (and no timing errors). And since the ramdisk RAM is reserved and contiguous, no other data is mixed in with the music data.

I believe MTU has been using ramdisks to play songs since the late 1970s. And I believe they offered Apple II software/hardware that allowed manipulation and playback of songs from ramdisks in the early 1980s.

I'm not trying to knock the MP. If it sounds great, then great. It's definitely a step in the right direction for audiophiles who don't want to mess with PCs.

I recently had the great pleasure of hearing Clement Perry's reference system featuring the Dali Megaline. I have been listening to systems from the early days of high-end audio and this was only the second time that I was overly impressed with what I heard. The first was one of my earliest introductions to the high-end sound with a system featuring the Beveridge electrostatic many years ago.

Mr. Perry's system, if I understand it correctly, is all digital from the source right up to the final stages of the Behold amplifiers that drive the Dali. The source, and the reason that I am responding in this thread, included the Memory player.

I have been an almost exclusive analog person my whole life. I never liked any digital that I heard. The first hint that digital has come of age was at the recent HE 2007 show at the Hilton in New York City. In particular, to my ears, the Sound by Singer rooms demonstrated how good digital can be. Both the Zanden digital and the dCS digital beat the sound from the turntables easily. In fact in the VTL/Escalante room the same tracks were played side by side- a digital vs. analog shootout. Digital won in my opinion.

Then I heard Mr. Perry's system. Somehow he has crossed the border into making a system sound real rather than just sound good. I have heard many mega buck systems over the years and while many have sounded good none have invited comparison to the sound of live music. This is a singular achievement that Mr. Perry has accomplished and in the digital domain!

The Memory player, being a part of the source of the system, had to have been a major reason for what I heard. Low level details, micro and macro dynamics and great space and air in the soundstage were easily and effortlessly heard. Previously only analog could do this. IMHO, no longer is this the case.

The memory player helps get one closer to the elusive sound of real live music than any other source I know of today. Those who have heard Mr. Perry's system know what I am trying to convey. It takes only seconds to hear it, the superiority of the sound is that evident. It is really hard for this analog devotee to say this but I now know the future does lie in digital. The memory player is leading the way. Maybe someday it will not just be a dream but we all will be able to get some sense of the sound of real music in our homes.

Got it...http://www.stereotimes.com/CD121406.shtml

Took me a while, but googled Mr Perry's review...makes for interesting reading for those (like me) who would like to understand more about this player. This review gives more details about what it is that the MP does, like the way the laser reads data from the CD until its perfect. But obviously not every technical detail, like the software, but some references to their white paper.

So, what's happened for the past 6 months? Have sales of this player stagnated, orders on hold, patents still pending, production problems...who knows.

Will keep following it's progress!