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Blind Shoot-out in San Diego -- 5 CD Players

On Saturday, February 24, a few members of the San Diego, Los Angeles and Palm Springs audio communities conducted a blind shoot-out at the home of one of the members of the San Diego Music and Audio Guild. The five CD Players selected for evaluation were: 1) a Resolution Audio Opus 21 (modified by Great Northern Sound), 2) the dcs standalone player, 3) a Meridian 808 Signature, 4) a EMM Labs Signature configuration (CDSD/DCC2 combo), and 5) an APL NWO 2.5T (the 2.5T is a 2.5 featuring a redesigned tube output stage and other improvements).

The ground rules for the shoot-out specified that two randomly draw players would be compared head-to-head, and the winner would then be compared against the next randomly drawn player, until only one unit survived (the so-called King-of-the-Hill method). One of our most knowledgeable members would set up each of the two competing pairs behind a curtain, adjust for volume, etc. and would not participate in the voting. Alex Peychev was the only manufacturer present, and he agreed to express no opinion until the completion of the formal process, and he also did not participate in the voting. The five of us who did the voting did so by an immediate and simultaneous show of hands after each pairing after each selection. Two pieces of well-recorded classical music on Red Book CDs were chosen because they offered a range of instrumental and vocal sonic charactistics. And since each participant voted for each piece separately, there was a total of 10 votes up for grabs at each head-to-head audition. Finally, although we all took informal notes, there was no attempt at detailed analysis recorded -- just the raw vote tally.

And now for the results:

In pairing number 1, the dcs won handily over the modified Opus 21, 9 votes to 1.

In pairing number 2, the dcs again came out on top, this time against the Meridian 808, 9 votes to 1.

In pairing number 3, the Meitner Signature was preferred over the dcs, by a closer but consistent margin (we repeated some of the head-to-head tests at the requests of the participants). The vote was 6 to 4.

Finally, in pairing number 5, the APL 2.5T bested the Meitner, 7 votes to 3.

In the interest of configuration consistance, all these auditions involved the use of a power regenerator supplying power to each of the players and involved going through a pre-amp.

This concluded the blind portion of the shoot-out. All expressed the view that the comparisons had been fairly conducted, and that even though one of the comparisons was close, the rankings overall represented a true consensus of the group's feelings.

Thereafter, without the use blind listening, we tried certain variations at the request of various of the particiapans. These involved the Meitner and the APL units exclusively, and may be summarized as follows:

First, when the APL 2.5T was removed from the power regenerator and plugged into the wall, its performance improved significantly. (Alex attributed this to the fact that the 2.5T features a linear power supply). When the Meitner unit(which utilizes a switching power supply) was plugged into the wall, its sonics deteriorated, and so it was restored to the power regenerator.

Second, when we auditioned a limited number of SACDs, the performance on both units was even better, but the improvement on the APL was unanimously felt to be dramatic.
The group concluded we had just experienced "an SACD blowout".

The above concludes the agreed-to results on the blind shoot-out. What follows is an overview of my own personal assessment of the qualitative differences I observed in the top three performers.

First of all the dcs and the Meitner are both clearly state of the art players. That the dcs scored as well as it did in its standalone implementation is in my opinion very significant. And for those of us who have auditioned prior implementations of the Meitner in previous shoot-outs, this unit is truly at the top of its game, and although it was close, had the edge on the dcs. Both the dcs and the Meitner showed all the traits one would expect on a Class A player -- excellent tonality, imaging, soundstaging, bass extension, transparency, resolution, delineation, etc.

But from my point of view, the APL 2.5T had all of the above, plus two deminsions that I feel make it truly unique. First of all, the life-like quality of the tonality across the spectrum was spot-on on all forms of instruments and voice. An second, and more difficult to describe, I had the uncany feeling that I was in the presence of real music -- lots or "air", spatial cues, etc. that simply add up to a sense of realism that I have never experienced before. When I closed my eyes, I truly felt that I was in the room with live music. What can I say.

Obviously, I invite others of the participants to express their views on-line.

Pete

petewatt
newbee
4,093 posts
 
Interesting A/B results. Exactly how are they significant?

I guess the differences in high end products, especially SOTA products, are so gross that you can clearly hear all, or at least the most meaningful, of the differences between the the various contenders in a short period of time, ignoring such things as component synergy, individual preferences, ad infinitum. I wouldn't have thought that, but we have the result. APL is 'king of the hill'.

I will take Alex's advise and 'take this for what its worth'. After all it didn't cost me anything.
tbg
5,263 posts
 
An interesting test. I wish I had been there. With regard to the skeptics, how many owned APL units, and why was Alex there?

What do you make of getting split votes?
soundmagic
3 posts
 
Sorry audiovile, but for full disclosure you should point out that you do rep competitive CD players. Nice try though.
ctm_cra
86 posts
 
I am lucky to have been a part of this San Diego event and I have no vested interest in any of the digital players evaluated. Thanks for the nice summary Pete. Unfortunately I could not attend the LA comparisons due to a prior commitment.

It is important to note the rationale behind the simultaneous voting via simple show of hands. This was done immediately after comparing any two players on a given track. We quickly, without discussions, listened to another track and evaluated the same two players. This approach guaranteed that no discussions took place until the comparison of each pairing was complete. All participants agreed that if discussions occurred prior to voting, comments from more outspoken, influential or respected individuals can potentially impact how others vote.

Both tracks used to evaluate the players are highly regarded reference recordings of acoustic performances and the recording process used minimal mic'ing and no compression. The first recording used had a mezzo soprano solist and choral ensemble with cello, oboe, flute, harp and organ accompaniment. The second track is a dynamic orchestral piece with lots of tempo, mood and dynamic contrasts using full orchestral ensemble as well as varied, individual instrument passages.

As to individual system preferences, we were split with about half using solid state gear while others had tube equipment. A few routinely connect their digital player direct to their amp and the rest use a preamp. This variance may account for the closeness in only one set of results, those between the Meitner and the DCS. However, in nearly all other pairings the results were fairly conclusive.

I'll try to answer some open questions and/or provide additional info...

Nsgarch - The AC regenerator (not only a passive filter/conditioner device) is the PS Audio Multiwave II+ and was set in Sine mode at 120V and 120Hz.

Ghostrider45 & Tedmbrady - Careful level matching was done for each pairing using a test disc with uncorrelated pink noise. Measurements were made with a highly sensitive, calibrated, pro spectrum analyzer with memory, averaging and EQ setting functions. [No EQ'ing was done and no equalizer was in the system. This is a feature on the analyzer that determines where FR adjustments should be made if one were to use an equalizer in their system]. Volume levels were matched in all pairings, except in one where a differential of no greater than 0.5dB was the best we could do.

Krisgel & Tedmbrady - For now let's just keep the focus on the digital players as our group worked really hard on keeping all other variables constant. The PCs, ICs and rack used, including the platforms on which the units stood, etc., were identical for each player. As to the system used, suffice it to say that it is full range and has been tuned, upgraded, improved and tweaked for the last 6-7 years and the endeavor to dial it in continues. This system is the same musical and well-resolved gear that has been consistently used by our local audio club in prior digital and other comparisons. At 20Hz and at 16.5kHz it is -3dB (-6dB at 20kHz) as measured at ear level from the LISTENING POSITION. Anywhere else in between 20Hz - 16.5kHz is virtually flat, with a +1.5dB measurement at 80Hz as the only thing worth mentioning. These measurements were done using the same uncorrelated pink noise track and spectrum analyzer mentioned above. [As an aside, we really should be demanding that reviewers provide similar FR measurements of their systems from their listening positions.]

Tedmbrady - We did not have access to the output impedance values for most of the players. So your question about the front end gear having an "issue (impedance, etc.) with the back end of the signal chain (preamp, amp, speakers)" remains open. However, level matching was strictly applied throughout all comparisons. Additionally, no performance issues with any unit occurred that would have made us look further into impedance or other incompatibilities.

Overall, it was a terrific, fun-filled 6-hour session. Thanks to the participants and especially to their significant others who tolerated our absence during this Saturday event. We had doubts about being able to get through all the comparisons across 5 players, using two different recordings, and doing so in a consistent, level matched and blind process. We not only accomplished this, but also had time for additional experimentation and listening. I find it very interesting that the results in a different system using completely different recordings mirrored those of the blind comparisons.
ctm_cra
86 posts
 
Tbg - Two of the five voters own APL modded Denon 3910. Alex was there because he brought the NWO 2.5T. But he did not vote, provided no commentaries during the comparisons and was not involved in the set up.

Because of the above, the player that started each pairing was scrambled/varied to as to keep the voters on their toes. This random selection of which player goes first when using either track 1 or track 2 was applied after the first pairing when it was obvious which player was used due to its location on the rack (even though it was covered and the voters could not see it). So after round 1 no one was really sure which player was playing despite where each unit was located on the rack. You can imagine how careful one must be to accomplish this. Thanks to the aid of a couple of blankets and remote controls when available, we were able to. In other words, we loaded both players simultaneously and started and stopped them similarly. Only one player had the CD of interest and was connected to the preamp. The other was connected but was playing a different disc as a "dummy" unit. We even switched the input connections for the players to be sure that there was no consistency in how one player was connected to the preamp. Now because they were kept from being seen, the voters could not see the front panels that would have shown which player had which track. It would have been great to have two copies of each CD we used. Please let us know if have suggestions on how the process can be improved.

The order the following day (when I could not attend) was completely different from that on Saturday. Despite this, their results were similar to those of the blind format.

As to the split votes, we really did not have time to hear out why some voters like one player of the other. The close results between the DCS and Meitner, for example, could easily have gone the other way with a different group of voters. However, in two sets of pairings - DCS/Opus 21 or DCS/Meridian - the results were virtually conclusive. The DCS is quite a player. The latest version of the Meitner performed well enough to earn the votes it received against the NWO. Along with the NWO 2.5T, this trio were in a performance class above the Opus 21 or the Meridian units.
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