What is new with the Memory Player?


I have read that this player is the next great source at the online mags. Have others heard this player and is it currently being sold? What are the impressions of those who have heard this machine? Any information would be nice since I have read almost nothing other than what is contained in the magazines. Bob
128x128baranyi
Well I've had the memory player for a week now and finally have some time to provide you with my thoughts.

A few pieces of background first. I have the transport only version. I partner it with a Dream Prism DA-1 DAC (a pro redbook only DAC worth about $8k new – they don’t market this to audiophiles but it’s an incredible DAC). The rest of my system is Bryston and PMC (active speakers). Room is dedicated and designed by Rives Audio, heavily treated with diffusion.

My goal is “live sound”, I want to be at the venue with the artist. I am not into euphoric,/romantic sound - want it raw, real and in turn musical.

Transport I directly compared to the MP was emm labs Phillips version. I have also owned the more recent emm labs combo(SE transport with non-SE DAC) but sold it because I wasn’t happy with the newer emm transport – on Redbook it sounded very” phasy” and artificial to me, definitely not natural/normal. Of interest, I found the Emm SACD performance much better and more natural but wasn’t going to keep the combo for only SACD. I’ve also had an Esoteric P70 in my system for a brief test – an impressive unit but not enough for me to buy one.

In all cases noted above, I use a balanced and BNC digital cables – BNC is connected for so DAC can serve as master clock to slaved transport. This is also how I have hooked up the memory player.

The MP as has been noted in other reviews does not have an impressive build quality for the price. It’s nowhere close to being in the same league as Esoteric’s build quality. It also has some quirks. The way the power cord goes into the unit at the back precludes the use of a higher end cord because of a weird overhang on thee back of the unit – requires a small connector and very thin cord. I have no idea how sensitive the unit is to PC’s, let’s hope not much. Other thing that freaked me out a bit, is the amount of unit vibration, whether playing from memory or the hard drive. I know how troublesome vibration is to sound – reason I bought SRA stands for much of my equipment. Other thing is with the PC remote, it definitely takes a little while to get used to and lacks some features, like categorization of your music beyond Alphabetic. They provided a way of saving a group of music but for the life of me, I don’t know how to retrieve what I saved. The last quirky thing is with their master clock mode, I can’t simply choose it while the player is on like I have with all other transports, I have to shut the unit down, make sure the DAC is on and then boot back up. Despite all of the quirks, the unit is working without a hitch, no technical problems so far – knock wood 

Quirks aside, how does it sound? I loaded a bunch of my favorite music onto the player and let it run for few days on repeat before I sat down and gave a serious listen. I first listened to one of my favorite Neil Young tracks (down by the river) and in certain respects, it was like hearing it for the first time. It sounded far more real, musical and present to me, particularly when the guitar riffs kick in. It was so striking; I had to immediately switch back to the other transport to verify that I wasn’t hearing things. I wasn’t, this was the real deal! I went on to listen to many other pieces of music from female vocals, rock, classical, jazz and instrumental. They all sounded great.

This transport truly does take CD to the next level – better than anything I’ve heard before and this unit is not going back to Nova Physics. In a nutshell, I find that everything played through the MP is more live (in the room) and musical with sounds from across the stage being so well defined, dynamic, solid and layered. It’s as though there is more resolution, timing and decay to everything. I also notice more image depth on most things.

For me, the MP is the final piece of the puzzle, it delivers the musical engagement that I have been seeking ever since getting into this obsessive and expensive hobby. YMMV.
do yu think your dac has anything to do with the soound - if i used a $600 dac would it sound the same do you think?
Is the transport hte main difference.

thanks
Smargo, if the dac did not matter I would be shocked. This is why I am mainly interested in the MP with its 32 bit dac.
Snargo, I guess it really comes down to the weakest link in your audio chain, including your room. In my case, it was my transport. The MP can only shine to the extent that everything down stream allows it to, including your room set up and acoustics. As such, I would try and build a balanced system and not go too deep in any one area.
Now all we need is for someone to tell us how MP transport compares head-to-head against a PC-based transport, and for
Rx8man, how the MP w/32 bit DAC compares to the APL NWO 2.5T.