Mike, I'm in trouble. I have had the Ancient Audio Lektor Prime on audition for one week now, and I want to keep it! The trench between Lektor V and Prime is blatant and actually wider than I recalled from hearing the Prime at the dealer's many months ago. In fact, upon first hearing it in the second system, it was clear I would want to evaluate its merits in the main system and be prepared for a clash of Titans, that are not dissimilar in overall sonic character btw. I soon found out the Prime has a clear cut preference for balanced output. Quite audibly, so anyone interested in this machine should make sure the amp caters for that, or some of the cdp's potential will remain uncovered. Unfortunately - from a wallet's perspective - the dealer brought some Argento Serenity XLR and loudspeaker cable to the audition as well. Hence, I could feed the Prime's signal in balanced mode directly into the Tidal Intra amp. Btw, I found a trace of "uneasiness" in the combination of Virtual Dynamics Revelation with Argento Serenity cables, very difficult to put in words but the overall character seemed somehow "off-ish", anyone experimenting with mixed cable looms will have encountered that sort of thing. So, in went the Serenity speaker cable, and I'll take my comments from there. Where there had been some opaqueness in comparison with the AMR CD-77 in my first trial with unbalanced ic's, the player was now "there" with a liquid, organic richness that was at the same time clear and detailed, joyful yet graceful. Hi hats and plucking of strings on Carla Bley's "The Lost Chords Find Paolo Fresu" for instance sounded extremely live-like with perfect timing; on John Patitucci's "Line by Line" in the vibrant first track "The Root" there is a multitude of little noises and twist, lots of things going on in those four minutes and the Prime showed them all with ease embedded in a beautiful musical flow with a convincing soundstage. Patricia Barber's "Modern Cool" features atmospherically dense tracks and the Prime conjured that up with all drama and - it had to come - emotion. Yes sir, this is one of those machines that does music as opposed to sound (first and foremost quality of really good gear imho). Yet, that record also showed some of the sometimes subtle but present differences with the AMR CD-77 (played in unbalanced mode through the Tidal Preos preamp). In direct comparison, with the Prime the finger snaps were somewhat "castanetty", also Mrs. Barber's voice had a hue more seductiveness with the AMR. That the AMR excelled with voices was confirmed listening to Christina Pluhar singing on "Monteverdi - Teatro d'Amore" or David Sylvian's mesmerizing voice on a number of beautifully fragile tracks as well as the more robust work with Robert Fripp. Another area where AMR had the edge was bass. Don't get me wrong, the Prime is very good at it, it has slam to offer, it can sound really "earthy" but without a trace of thickness or smearing. But AMR just seems to go deeper and is more visceral. I should mention the Prime's open design, some cd's are unfortunately so excentric - something I noticed for the first time and a real shame - that you can hear them spin in pauses between tracks, so perhaps you will not want to sit directly next to the cdp (you don't have to, the remote controls the volume and track choice), the machine itself is perfectly silent, though.
Excellent, irresistible performance, comfortably beyond most of the better-known stuff I've heard. Still, if I were forced to choose just one cdp, it would be AMR. Given that both machines are in the same price league, should the choice be obvious to everyone, then? Absolutely not. Because at its comparable price, you get the Prime's ability to feed directly into the amp. Second best solution, I hear someone say, not with this machine! The integrated amplification stage is so good, you don't need anything else in the way. In fact, I should revisit all threads on cdp's with variable output and post how good the Prime really is in that respect. On top, it features one additional input to make use of the preamp section with an additional source, if needed. If you intend to keep the system simple, therefore, pair this cdp with as good a balanced amp as you can afford (on the savings for a preamp, an interconnect and a power cord). Something like an Electrocompaniet SW 400, Einstein TLTD or, of course, Ancient Audio's own Single Six blocks - depending on your speakers' needs - keeps leaping to my mind, but the Prime will accompany even the greatest. For my own system, I will reactivate the Kharma Matrix MP150 mono blocks (phew, happy I didn't sell those) and will purchase the Argento Serenity XLR and speaker. As I said, I'm in trouble, ... but I must and will have this machine.
