I don't get it.... This unit has a one disc memory and plays the disc from memory, not directly from the disc.
In effect, this is a one disc music server.
Am I missing something or is this just the ultimate in audiophile marketing hype?
I don't think you are missing anything. Any lo-fi cd player, and I believe any $20 computer cd-rom drive, not to mention any audiophile-caliber digital transport, has a solid state buffer memory (aka cache) through which the data coming off the disk is passed, before being clocked out at a fixed rate which is not subject to the (very large) variations in the rate at which data is retrieved from the disk.
The only relevant difference that I can glean from PS Audio's literature is that their memory is 64mB, which is much larger than typical. But I fail to see how the larger memory size would convey any benefit, assuming that the disk-reading mechanisms are performing in a half-way reasonable manner. The 64mB, by the way, is nowhere near large enough to cache an entire disk (which may be up to 700mB or so). PS Audio's writeup describes it as being able to store "up to 3 minutes of music," which is in the right ballpark.
I have no doubt that it is a very well engineered and good performing player, but its descriptive literature is misleading and disappointing at best.
Regards,
-- Al