dcs puccini, chord red ref, meitner cdsa or nagra

Dazzdax,
I couldnt say whether a top of top of the line vinyl playback or the Scarlatti is better.

The Scarlatti is stunning and I doubt any analogue system has the dynamic range or noise floor of the DCS. The usual complaints people have towards digital playback I dont think exist with the Scarlatti. I guess only you can decide in the end though.

Why don't you try Metronome T2i sig or new transport converter combo T3A/C3A , Spectral SDR 4000 on red book is better then Scarlatti.

Metronome make some great sounding players. The T2i signatrure is good. The Spectral SDR4000 may be good, I havent heard it, but it is the ugliest player in the world closely followed by the Playback design.

No matter how good the Metronome is and the Spectral may be on red book, they cannot compete with a SOTA SACD player playing SACD. Although having said that an SACD is only as good as the recording...

Chadeffect, my friend, the Playback Design MPS-5 is not ugly at all in person. The pictures have not done it justice. When you see it in person I think you'll agree.

I nominate the Chord as the ugliest, funkiest design.

Dave

Hi Dave,
Maybe the pictures i have seen of the Playback design have been unfortunate.
The display looks cheap which is a bad start.

The Chord equipment sure has a look and probably the cd player suffers the worst with the cd lid placed like that. Their amps i have heard sounded very good. I can see why some wouldnt like the fussy design though. Nicely finished when you seem them up close.