Best analog sounding cd player under 5K

Hi

I will try to describe my experience with the UDP-1.
The rendezvous took place in my friend’s house, Mr Barrios.
His set up is
Mc Cormack UDP-1 Deluxe
Audioquest Panther IC
Conrad Johnson Premier 17LS preamplifier
Audioquest Cheetah IC
Conrad Johnson Premier 12 Monoblocks
Audioquest Sterling(biwired)
Von Schweikert VR4jr
Michael Green Room Tunes
Herbies Audio Lab Tube Dampers in the Powers.
BBC Spikes

To put things in perspective.
Mr Barrios, as me ,listen mostly to rock. Seventies rock of many kinds like Love,
PFM, Le Orme, The Band, The Who, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Elton John, John Lennon, Grateful Dead, Neil Young, Cat Stevens.
Ocassionally other genres could jump into the rig, Jazz a la Monk, Davis or Coltrane.
And very very few times classical music.
Ok. Lets go.

How is it for the sound?

The UDP1 Deluxe had roughly like 200 hours of break in. We start listening to redbooks cds. The first thing I noticed was the great ability of the player to reproduce tight and musical very low bass notes with a good decay, not dry at all. The bass was very detailed and present. The sound was very full bodied and a bit on the warm side of neutral.
This, the bass completeness and precision, is for me the most amazing trick the UDP-1 performed.

But thats not all.

The UDP-1 is a non-tubed machine. The overall sound coming of the Maccormack was very detailed, very articulate, with a good extension on both extremes of the frequency spectrum.

We listened to John Lennon "Plastic Ono Band" Mobile Fidelity redbook and the sound was really something.
The double voice of Lennon on "Hold on” coming from the two VR4s was very clear, actually. You can hear the two voices blending in the air between the speakers. The piano on "Isolation" was heavy with good weight but not the better I have heard.
The voice of Lennon on “Isolation” also had a very good low extension. The soundstage was big and open, and slightly forward with only a little depth.
That’s an issue.
I never had the feeling that the soundstage was very deep but I’m almost sure that it is caused by room acoustics.

We tried another redbook cds of different production years and the UDP1 always delivered a well controlled and accurate sound. The bass was always tight, never boomy and never dry.
Another thing that impress me about the UDP1 is its extraordinary ability to retrieve information.

When we switched to SACDs, the sound became more non-fatiguing.
I doesn’t mean at all that the redbook sound was fatiguing but SACD was a lot more non-fatiguing. It seems like when I listened to the SACD my mind was working less, trying to fulfill the empty spaces between the 1s and the 0s.
SACD by the UDP1 was the most close vinyl like experience coming from a digital source.
It was very relaxing and real.

We listened to Mike Oldfield, Tubular Bells SACD and I think it was very very similar to vinyl.

Next on the spot was Elton John, Madman across the water SACD. We listened to “Tiny Dancer” and "Levon” The voice of Elton John was scaring real and 3d. You could feel the subtle changes coming out of his throat. The guitars were well positioned in the soundstage with good separation.

At last we tried DVD audio. Here I will skip because I really can’t stand the loudness and spectacular flavor of the DVDAUDIO presentation. It is like a very digital experience with a lot of volume and all the instruments and voices attacking at once.
Like a relentless attack. I don’t like it at all. It the opposite of what I define as real sound. I havent heard DVDAUDIO in others hi end players, so I dont know if this is a Mccormack issue. I think is mostly the format being too digital for my taste.

I have to say that at anytime when we were listening to redbook cds, if someone would have told me that I was really listening to a SACD I would have believed. Because the performance of the UDP1 in redbook was so good that the differences between that and SACD were always very short, if any at all. Also, The UDP1 cant decode HDCD,so it reads the HDCDs as normal cds. We listened to 2 or 3 HDCDs we knew very well, and never miss something in the sound. The HDCDs sounded as well as when decoded.

You can’t say that the UDP1 has a tube sound, nor you cant say it has the solid state typical coldness. Is a very good mix of the best of the tube/warm sound and the best of the ss/accurate sound with a foot on the latter side.

During the session I didn’t at anytime feel any shortcoming in the performance of the UDP1. But, there is always a “but”, remember, is a good mix, it has a bit of every side and not a lot of neither.

Personally, I prefer my sound natural and real.
That’s my goal and that’s why I think the UDP1 is not my cup of tea.
I felt the lack of a more flowing, more liquid sound, and a more organic presentation of the event.
I think it lacks a bit of a more musical soul.

But, the UDP1 is an extremely accurate cd player that, as always, depending on your system and preferences may work for you or not.

For those of the analytical and detailed squad, the UDP1 could become his loyal digital friend.
For those on the relax, organic squad the UDP1 is worth a listen because it has a bit of that, but I don’t think it will be for a long time in their racks.

For the ones who want it all, even at the cost of having only a little of everything, the UDP1 is as near as perfect gets.

Finally, in a system like the one my friend Mr Barrios has, the accurate and dynamic UDP1 has the perfect partner, the Premier 12 with his big and mellow sound.
Like always, listen first, let your ears judge.

I have to clarify one thing. The differences between SACD and redbook on the UDP1 were indeed very short. But, SACD has a special characteristic in his way of represent sound that make its sound more analog like. Maybe a redbook could sound more detailed, clearer and with better bass than a SACD, but the SACD always will sound more natural.. Thats why SACD in the UDP1 is kind of a vinyl listening experience.

Wow, that was a long post. And a good review. Thanks for taking the time to write down your thoughts.

Regards,

While this is long past the OP posting, many people review these threads to gleam information for their current day purchases, as such, I am offering my "limited value" two cents worth based on posters Qs and stated goals ("analog" sounding - or at least the description he specifies as analog sounding).

I have owned several of the units suggested in this posting and recognize the frequency that people often recommend the piece that they presently own, regardless of whether it meets the OP's goals - ie sort of analog sounding. So here it goes:

Resolution Audio Opus 21 with GNSC mods: This is a very nice CDP for the money and one I can recommend, but not for the goals of this poster. It hits much bigger than its price, but will not in my opinion sound "analogish".

Esoteric X-03SE and to a certain degree am bunching in the Esoteric sound here. Again, a phenom. player, but definately not to be confused with analog sounding. A unit I highly recommend but not for the OP goals.

EMM Labs is getting closer to the smoother sound (vs. above 2), but again is not likely to be confused with analog - but probably is taking him half way their.

DCS (now I owned the Purcell and Delius and not their transport). I loved these pieces and feel their performance was exceptional in every regard. I would not categorize them as analog sounding, but pretty darn neutral. I think these units (and their newer and better units which I have heard but not owned) are exceptional and will deliver what most people claiming to want analog really want in a CDP (ie. avoidance of strident, analytical, "harsh" sound).

Audio Aero Capitole is going to deliver what most people who say they are looking for an analog sound are going to like. This is a "sweet" sounding CDP, a little bloomy, definately warm and takes the "digital" edge off. I call this a beautiful sounding CDP for the said reasons, but be careful, is this really what you want all of the time? For some yes, for me no. I wanted more detail too often for this CDP to be truly acceptable to me over the long term (but I like detail). I think those that really want that "analog" like sound will find this most rewarding. My final comment on the AA units is reliability. They are made in France, they are not made well, they break down A LOT and hence they do not hold their value at all. But they are beautiful sounding.

Wadia - no confusion with analog sounding (but I like them).

MF Trivista units - I own the Trivista DAC, no this won't do it for the OP goals. Good, very good for the money, but won't hit his goals. I am assuming the DAC and CD have a lot of similarities, but I may be wrong on this?

All of the above I have owned. These I have listened to:

BAT - won't do it for him, not bad, just not in the same league.

Cary - some are interesting, decent sounding, but in the long run I don't think will meet the long term goals of the OP.

Others I would consider based on 2010:

AMR 77 ($$$) or AMR 777 ($)
Gamut?

We have to remember the under $5000 bit of the question. I would certainly say my GNSC modded Opus 21 fits the bill. However, not dissing the product, just my own unit. I have had more trouble with it than any other product I have owned. It has been back to Steve at Great Northern Sounds, 3 times and that is across the Atlantic! Great credit to him, he has been unfailingly helpful, but I've had enough, I give up. It really did sound great though.
Someone else mentioned the Esoteric SA60 and I and a number of others were able to do an A/B comparison with the Opus and they were markedly different and the Esoteric was certainly in the detailed, cool digital camp, the Opus, warm, more analogue sounding. I took a straw pole at the show demo and everyone preferred the Opus, excellent though the Esoteric was.