Spectral SDR-4000S

I have the Spectral 4000S since 12/05.
It is a wonderful unit & beats the EMM Lab combo in musicality. I liked it better than the Remeiyo unit from Japan.

It is however bettered by the Apl NWO-1

To Mburnstein

When I listen to the Spectral 4000S in an all Spectral System ( 30 SL Ref Preamp & Four 360 Ref Amps & Avalon Oriris system ), as good as it sounds, I still consciously aware that I am listening to HiFi, indeed very very good Hi Fi.
The APL NWO-1 takes it to the next level of just being there ! There is no digital glare at all. It compares very favorably to an excellent Analogue system in the same set up.

However, system matching is also very important as like any thing else. It will only be as good as the weakest chain.

APL NWO-1 is the unit custom made by Alex Peychev at APL hifi.
It starts out life as the Esoteric UX-1 universal player with everything else removed except for the transport . The rest ( master clocks, upsampling, 10 AKM DAC's per channel with 6H30 class A tube outputs.

Interestingly, the Spectral SDR 4000S aslo starts out life with Esoteric Transport( P3) but custom built DAC discrete output stages by Keith Johnson.
Both are incredible sounding machines. I prefer the APL NWO-1 but I do own both units.

The spectral SDR 4000S has wonderful midrange and a pitch dark background separating the vocals / instruments.

The Reimyo has also wonderful midrange. Even though it has a very wide global soundstage, the vocals and instruments just dont separate out as naturally