I have a Master Edition and had the standard which I returned. I can’t make the comparisons to anything else unfortunately other than to themselves. Without a doubt the Master Edition is absolutely a better sounding component to the standard DMP A6. Running them both into analog inputs of my 300B tube amp (or my Yamaha S2200) aligning up some tracks from Tidal or Qobuz and A/Bing the pair instantly shows that they did their homework with the Master Edition. The Master sounds more realistic, the soundstage has more depth and separation with instrument placement. The Standard sounds much flatter like all the people in the band are just standing next to each other in comparison. Things like cymbal hits just sound more realistic and taper off slower. I think female voices from Diana Krall sound incredible and just flow out of the speakers very naturally. The bottom end is tighter with more definition to the bass. Where I didn’t find a lot of difference between the two units was when playing some late 90s rock. Think, Rage against the Machine, Nine Inch Nails, Incubus. Part of that may be the quality of the recordings? I’m not sure. I still think that even to the untrained ear it sounds better, it’s just not as big of a difference as say, with some thing like in Etta, James, Uncle Lucius (Keep the Wolves Away), or the entire Darkside of the Moon album.
