Playback Designs MPD-3

How funny.....it would be less expensive over the long haul if we had a different hobby/passion/addiction. Are you near a dealer? It's worth a listen, whether you are in the market or not. I think as more and more hear what's possible, more manufacturers will be going back to the drawing board.

If you like vinyl, I haven't heard anything that comes closer to my ears. To those who have been raised on MP3's, there is a "listening curve"....my niece sat and listened for a while and then it just snapped, playing some of her music for her through my system and the Playback Designs she was totally digging it. Then through the turntable she understood why it was so different. Good luck.

10-19-11: Rockitman
10-17-11: Ghasley
The playback designs upsamples everything to 6.1 MHz DSD so it sounds amazing, spacious, ALOT of air around the performers.

too bad there isn't an option for Native playback. I find upsampling to degrade the sound of redbook.

Right on. Fortunately there are alternatives, such as a DAC that has dual DAC chipsets, with automatic detection and no performance degradation, for the best of both worlds, with no need for conversion.

10-19-11: Ghasley
How funny.....it would be less expensive over the long haul if we had a different hobby/passion/addiction. Are you near a dealer? It's worth a listen, whether you are in the market or not. I think as more and more hear what's possible, more manufacturers will be going back to the drawing board.

If you like vinyl, I haven't heard anything that comes closer to my ears. To those who have been raised on MP3's, there is a "listening curve"....my niece sat and listened for a while and then it just snapped, playing some of her music for her through my system and the Playback Designs she was totally digging it. Then through the turntable she understood why it was so different. Good luck.

I live in upstate NY...A high end doldrum...I would have to go to NYC to audition, yet store auditions don't necessarily give you the whole picture when we are talking about high end dac's where sound quality differences become more subjective....it is critical to hear the dac in your system. It would behove dealer's to buy said DAC themselves and loan it out demo with credit card security of course. If hi-end dealers got that through their heads, they would sell a lot more units...Not marketing rocket science considering the intelligence level of people with $$$ to spend on expensive gear. My Pass dealer does this and he probably sells the most Pass gear in the country. The Boutique Mfg'd/Distributors are hurting themselves by not providing this level of service and disclosure of technicalities on why their equipment is conceived in such a way and constructed better than said competition...OK rant off. :-}

I got a chance to listen the the Playback Designs MPS-3 (CD Player version of the MPD-3) at RMAF 2011. I was both very impressed and slightly disappointed at the demonstration setup.

They had an Ampex ATR-100 Tape Deck, an MPS-3, as sources. They were hooked up to darTZeel CTH-8550 integrated amplifier and Evolution Acoustics MMMicroOne Speakers.

They played Harry Belafonte, Live at Carnegie Hall on tape first. It sounded absolutely amazing, with excellent dynamics. I'd say it sounded as good as, if not better than some very good record setups.

They then played the same track, using a 24/196 version, upsampled to DSD, through the MPS-3.

While it didn't sound as good as the tape, it wasn't that far off. The presentation was perhaps a little bit more forward than the tape version, more detailed in some areas, yet perhaps a little less "analog" and warm.

My main concern with their setup was that they chose not to use regular CD Playback in their demonstrations. They only used high resolution files, so I didn't get to observe how good it could be for regular CD's.

Secondly, it didn't seem that the gain between the tape deck or the MPS-3 was matched or equalized. So the MPS-3 seemed a little bit "hotter".

The speakers were also very impressive and super high resolution.

- I'd love to hear more from those who've had a chance to test out MPS-3 or MPD-3 capability on regular Redbook files...

- Is it forgiving of bad recordings? Is upsampling the true magic bullet?

My ideal is if bad recording sound listenable and good recordings sound great.

Disclaimer: I have not heard a cd played back through a MPS3 using its in board transport, only my computer to a MPD3 DAC. I'm probably splitting hairs but I consider the MPD3 taking the data fed from a source as RE-sampling to DSD, not upsmapling. Since this is the first DAC to attempt this, the semantics of the terminology will probably cause a few to roll their eyes.

In my preious DACs, with few expections, i preferred playback in its native sample rate. I found upsampled 16/44.1 files sounded better to my ears without upsampling. I found 24 bit files upsampled were sometimes better, sometimes no, when utilizing upsampling.

I have experimented with the MPD3 and i prefer native sample rate files fed to the MPD3 and let the DAC RE-sample the data from PCM to DSD. As far as the sound, i could not be happier but then again, i don't have a Studer Reel to Reel for comparison. As far as level matching...the output from the MPD3 is a bit "hotter" than my vinyl rig....but I compensate by just turning the volume down a bit.....;)