Well, I finally got to listen to the Memory Player (as a "transport") in my system using both my Audio Logic 2400 and EMM Labs DCC2SE DACs, and compared it to both my Forsell and EMM Labs CDSD SE transports. The Forsell (through the Audio Logic) clearly sounds the closest to vinyl, but the MP was equally good at conveying the emotion of the music, had a definite analog-like ease to it and presented more detail in a more focused way than the Forsell (though if you can't abide digital and only listen to analog the Forsell/Audio Logic combination is the closest thing in digital that I have heard to a good turntable). The Forsell had a slightly larger soundstage in terms of height and width (again, like a good analog rig), though the MP seemed to be better at portraying the depth on the recordings. On a well-recorded analog piano recording (Moravec's Chopin Ballades on VAI) it was a toss-up, the Forsell blooming beautifully like a good record on a good TT, but the MP doing a little better on the attacks and almost matching the bloom. The MP did a good deal better than the Forsell on large-scale orchestral works, being better at unraveling very complex orchestral scoring.
The EMM Labs transport, through the EMM Labs DAC, sounded closer to the MP (more focused than the Forsell), but still was not its match. Decay of instruments and hall ambience was reproduced better by the MP. In particuar, both transports most noticably fell a little short in the highs (cymbals, flutes, violins), where they sounded a little "hashy" and slightly distorted in comparison to the MP, and, in the case of the EMM Labs, lacking that three-dimensional body. As a result, you can play the MP louder on material with a lot of high frequency content without any strain or edginess, which I have heard with every transport I've used in my system. Bottom line is that the MP just sounds more like the real thing, and more "right", than the other transports in my system.
In answer to the original question in this thread, both the EMM Labs and Audio Logic DACs worked very well with the MP, and I could recommend them both, the Audio Logic being a little more lush and romantic, the EMM Labs having extraordinary resolution and deep bass.
By the way, in case you're wondering, I took some hybrid SACDs and put them into the MP, then listened to the MP playing the CD layer against the SACD playback of the EMM Labs transport, both through the EMM Labs DAC. I still preferred the SACD but the difference was much less than I have ever heard. SACD's smoother highs offset the advantage the MP had in that area on conventional CD, and SACD reproduction of ambience was just slightly better than the MP's, another area where the MP clearly bested the transports on Redbook. But the MP was very, very close to sounding like SACD--extremely impressive. If it could decode the SACD layer of a hybrid disc, I imagine it would sound amazing.
Also, out of curiosity I played the same discs from the hard drive of my Yamaha music server through the two DACS. While the sound was good, it lacked the detail, three-dimensionality and ease of the MP. I have always preferred the sound of my two transports to the Yamaha, which I principally use for learning music or background music for parties rather than more serious listening. The Yamaha just doesn't quite have the "rightness" that I heard through the MP. I imagine a very sophisticated music server would be a fairer comparison, but I do not have that setup in my home.
Sorry if this is a little off topic, but I know some of you wanted to get this report, hope it's of interest.
