Best analog sounding cd player under 5K

Alanbrain - Very interested in reading your report about the UDP-1 Deluxe. What is different about the Deluxe versus the original version?

If you can find a lightly used Audio Aero Capitole, buy it. Especially if it is the latest version with the analog passthru.

I own one and it always gets great reviews in audiogon circles. This unit will step aside on occasion whenever someone comes out with another 'wow' product, like EMM and then when the dust settles the Audio Aero comes bouncing back in favor.

This is not to say that the EMM is inferior, just that a used AA Capitole fits your budget and few would argue against it.

by the way what difference does it make what the best sounding cd player is under $5000, if there is a best sounding cd player under $5000, or if there is a "best" sounding cd player at any price ?

suppose someone doesn't like the best sounding cd player under $5000 ? such a quest is quixotic. it accomplishes nothing.

it's like asking for a recommendation for the best wife ?

there is no best wife and there is no best sounding cd player, or amp, or speaker. there is no best component and there is no best stereo system.

all there is is one's preferred component which may not be the best, but who cares.

what is important is trying to help someone find a cd player having the performance he or she desires.

i am going through this process right now, looking for a cd player and preamp, as i have indicated in previous posts.

i am not looking for the best cd player. i would not recognize it even if i heard it. all i want is a cd player that i like.

i have indicated my sonic preferences and have gotten some suggestions. i am thankful for the suggestions. i wish i could listen to 50 cd players in my own system. unfortuantely, some of the players i would like to hear are not yet available.

yes, i am listening to the melody and will be reviewing it.
i am reluctant to comment on it now, until i have submitted my review, ditto the lector .6 .

let's ignore the urge to use the word "better" or "best" and instead focus on what is satisfying to our ears.

Completely agree with Mr Tennis. The thread would have been called "Analog sounding cd player under 5k Advice".
Sometimes we use the word "best" when what we really are trying to say is "best for what I like".
The review of the UDP-1 deluxe is almost finished. I will post it here.

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.