My Modwright Sony 999 Review:
Hi All,
I've had the better part of a week now to get my Modwright player warm and toasty as well as somewhat broken-in. I've been playing many discs each day and leaving it on all night in repeat mode to try to get some hours on it. It's changed quite a bit since I first got it. There are a few areas where it is clearly superior to my Linn table and Clearaudio cartridge combo. It's not a direct comparison though. They are very different without one necessarily being better than the other. However, the Modwright is better in several important ways. The soundstage remains huge. It is larger than that with vinyl without smearing the sound elements at all. This is Redbook I'm mainly talking about. SACD ranges from simply more of the same to jaw-dropping magic, depending on the recording.
On the ModWright an ensamble such as the one playing behind Diana Krall on her Girl in the Next Room hybrid SACD is clearly placed next to and behind her in a very definite arrangement. This effect solidified during the break-in process. While the stage is huge, transporting me in my smallish listening room to her venue on the recording, the various human and instrumental voices can be reliably pointed to in space. Moreover, the interactions of voices really strike me as themselves representing distinct purposeful sounds while still allowing me to hear the individual notes within the blend. When Diana sings, or Linda Eder or Michael Feinstein for that matter, I hear the whole voice from my position which seems to be about two rows back. The main voice quality, along with nasal and chest tones, along with pacing and breathing give me the sense of having the artist delivering directly to me what he wants to express. All this time, the other instruments on stage retain their solidity andcontribution to the overall picture.
I've only been once through, at this point, Volume II of Oscar Peterson's remixed SACD series. It is utterly rivotting. You find yourself in a live venue where the trio plays. The plucks of the string bass simply exist in your space off to one side while you clearly and indidivudally hear the hammers in Oscar's piano striking their wires. When the wires are struck, it sets up marvelous resonance in the wood of the piano body which itself drives the next note. On this SACD, the spacial depth is unlike anything I've heard on a home system.You can hear Oscar humming to himself behind the keyboard, you can hear his stool squeak as he turns to make visual contact with his band mates You can hear his nails striking the keys and you can hear snippets of conversation in and around the crowd.
Every disk I"ve played as revealed orders of magnitude more information compared with the best I've ever heard before. The tonal balance is also stunning. I can't imagine wanting to listen to digital sources without tubes in the analog stage ever again. The upper midrange sparkles, but isn't bright. harmonies and overtones go on and on. Bass is extended and articulate. This player does everything right.
The bottom line is that all the effects I've mentioned above come seamlessly together to provide a totally involving and emotional experience.
On the down side, I'm having my suspected weaknesses in the rest of the audio chain made really clear to me. Fortunately, this is a front end I can really work with. I'm going to be needing more moxy in the power amp before too long.
If I get into the position of being part of a shoot out here in the DC area, I"d love to hear some of the other big contenders. For now, at 20% of the price of the Esoteric X01, I'm really hard pressed to worry that the X01 will be a whole lot better. STill if I get the chance I'll be there to hear it. I apologize if I seem a bit too enthusiastic, but this is the most excited I've been about a piece of audio gear in a long long time.
Peter
