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MUSE Erato II - Anyone using this player?

I have an opportunity to own MUSE's top player, the Erato II. However, the only print references to the Erato II I can find are the double review in HiFi+ (same review on-line at AV-guide), a Stereophile CES 2008 Show Report with no performance related comments, and an article indicating that Stereo Times reviewer Jan Petter Egidius uses the Erato II as his reference. There is no specific discussion here or at AA, and there is only one posted virtual system that uses the transport version, and none listed that use the player version. The two HiFi+ reviewers seemed to like it with a few operational caveats, but their reviews were not what I would call all-out raves. I would be interested in hearing feedback from any who have heard the Erato II player in their own system, a friend's system, or even at a show like CES. Thanks.
mitch2
mitch2 OP
4,076 posts
 
Amazing, that not a single person that posts on this forum or on Audio Asylum has heard a player that Roy Gregory of HiFi+ calls,

"a performance marker against which other products should be compared, a benchmark in the truest sense of the word."
chayro
3,004 posts
 
Maybe Roy Gregory has the only one.
mitch2 OP
4,076 posts
 
Good one Chayro.
mds's avatar
mds
119 posts
 
The only reviews I have found are for the Polyhymnia @ Stereophile & Eleven @ Secrets of Home Theater. I quess you will have to call the designer.
mitch2 OP
4,076 posts
 
Mds, thanks for looking and posting here.

I have also seen those reviews. The designer told me the Model Ten (which I owned) would be superior to the Eleven (for redbook CD playback). The designer also considers the Erato II superior to the Polyhymnia for CD or DVD playback and for video. The only benefit of the Eleven and the Polyhymnia are that they also play SACD, which the Model Ten and current Erato II do not. Therefore, I suspect the Model Eleven and Polyhymnia reviews would not be good indicators of how the Erato II sounds. Since I would not have a chance to audition the Erato II before owning, I was really hoping a couple of folks here had given the Erato II a run in and could compare it's sound to one or two of the usual suspects around the same $7K price range.
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