Marantz High-end Audiophile Test Demo Sacd

[Flaviana Bresee]

This is because of my very limited experiences with digital sources in general. I actually have much more experience with digital LPs than CDs. The digital components I am most familiar with have mainly been very modest in price. Fortunately for all of us, my associates have had some relevant and extensive experience with Digital Sources and they are quite generous in sharing that information.

Unfortunately, it also subtracts those aspects of the sound which are the vital essence of music; the conveyor of individuality and emotions. That is why Digital, at present, is more intellectually than emotionally satisfying. This is especially true for those audiophiles who are very familiar with excellent analog sound.

However I, an analog-oriented audiophile at present, still believe that at some point in the future, digital will be superior overall to analog, and even possibly in every single way, and I look forward to that day.

IMPORTANT ADVICE: Never turn off any* digital equipment. It usually takes around 2 days of playing for it to "break in" and sound optimum. Once turned off, you have to go through the entire cycle all over again. Accordingly, do not judge digital equipment unless it has been on and operating for at least 48 hours. This is true for even "budget" players.

I've delayed writing this for months now, but I've run out of excuses, so here it is: After more than 3 decades of false hopes and frustration, I've finally heard a digital source that I actually enjoy listening to and, importantly, without a serious and disqualifying regret that it wasn't analog instead. First some important background...

I can still remember the first time I ever heard a digital recording. I believe it was on a CBC station playing Beethoven's 9th Symphony, recorded in Japan. At the time, I was really excited about hearing something that was supposed to be superior to anything else I had experienced, but it didn't take long for me to become profoundly disappointed. The sound reminded me of mediocre solid-state amplification, with washed out harmonics and a thin, dry analytical sound. In short, it was awful. Soon after, the Telarc records became available, and while they had some definite virtues, they also had easily noticeable faults, which kept them from joining the top ranks of recordings. Then, of course, came the first generation of CD players.

The first generation of CD players came out around 2 years after I opened my audio store in the early 1980s. I had no chance of becoming a dealer since the early models came from companies that preferred they weren't sold in a tiny specialty shop. As it turned out, it didn't matter because I was, once again, unimpressed by what I heard from these original players (and I wasn't alone of course). Still, I must emphasize that I was again prejudiced in favor of the early CD players, because of the hype, enthusiastic anecdotal evidence from some customers and the fact that these players weren't hybrids like digital records, but the purest form of this new technology. However, when a customer brought the first Sony player in my store and played it for me and some other people, I heard the same sonic problems I had heard before on the CBC. Some of the other customers heard what I did, but the owner of the player did not back down from his claim that the Sony was far superior to anything available in audio from the past, and that we just couldn't accept a "breakthrough" when we heard it.

Within the next few years, that same scenario repeated itself many times, and with the exact same results. In the end, I didn't carry a CD player in my store until the late 1980s, more than 5 years after the first players became available. (It took the MSB player to finally end my boycott. This was because I could sell it without losing sleep.) In fact, my store ended up being the last analogue holdout in Toronto and my reputation for being an "audio eccentric" became even more established because of this. Not only didn't this bother me at the time, I still feel some satisfaction to this day that I held out for that long, and feel history has proven that my digital-sceptic perspective was correct at that time.

During the 1990s, my focus was almost entirely on analogue software, which became a priority (if not a panic) when it seemed, for a while, that analogue hardware might even be on its way out or, at the least, completely marginalized. Digital sources improved somewhat during this time, but at a snail's pace. In my store, I primarily sold budget CD players, such as from NAD and Rega etc. The more expensive models which I heard, such as from Wadia, Manley etc, were better for sure, but they still did almost nothing for me, outside of disappointment. So I sold them either either used, meaning trade-ins (at large discounts of course), or as a special order. Then came the Internet explosion in the late 1990s, which I soon realized would be both a challenge and an opportunity for me at the same time.

Since I still owned an audio retail store when I began this website, I decided to both market the components I was representing while also posting all my audio and musical experiences I had the time to share. I even decided to include my audio philosophy and perspective on creating a deeply satisfying audio system. However, I had a serious problem when it came to the evaluation of Digital Sources, since I had limited experience with them and very little interest in catching up. Considering how many different subjects I felt I had to write about at the time, I decided to rely on my most trusted friends ("Associates") to help me in this one area. Since I trusted these people with my own purchases, I felt I could relay the same information and judgments they provided me to other audiophiles, even strangers, without the fear of being hypocritical. Accordingly, my Reference Digital Sources file ended up being dominated by my friends for something like 15 years. Shortly after I started the website, I left the audio business (and Canada) for good, but I decided to not only keep the website going, but to expand on it as far as my capabilities would allow.

For around 15 years, I received regular updates about various Digital Players from my group of associates. My responsibilities were to flesh out, question, edit and expand on their reported observations, evaluations and results, in order to give them an understandable perspective, sense and continuity. During this period, there was also a transition from (dedicated) Redbook to CD/SACD players, which began in earnest in 2008 and became obvious in 2009, when the top "Reference" models became dominated by just one company, Esoteric, which specializes in SACD players. Earlier, in 2007 to be specific, we had one final Redbook Shootout, which included some of the finest players available. And, consistent with the history of this website, we had unambiguous ("Winners and Losers") results. Unsurprisingly, this article provoked a vicious attack on this website, myself personally and my associates personally. (More on this personal attack below, since it is directly connected and highly relevant to this article, or I wouldn't have brought it up in the first place.)

As for myself, the best digital sound I heard was at the 2004 CES, but I still felt it was far from impressive, and what I heard included the highest quality digital master tapes and some players that cost (far) more than $ 20,000. After these serial frustrating experiences, I decided there was no way I was going to invest in an expensive digital player myself, no matter what deal I could get using my audio connections. Then came 2012, and I felt that maybe something now existed that I could finally take a serious risk with. The specific player that intrigued me was the latest generation, top-of-the-line, single-box CD/SACD player from Esoteric; The K-01.

While waiting for a deal on the K-01, I regularly made a Google search of it every few months, to keep up with K-01 related discussions and maybe I could even get lucky and find one I could afford. While doing so, one website led to another, as usual, and somehow I ended up on the APL website. The first time this happened I left immediately because of my prior negative experiences (see below). However, the second time I landed there I decided to seriously check out the website, since there could be something of interest and value, regardless of the source. It was there that I discovered APL's NWO series of 8 modified Esoteric players that had come out periodically beginning in 2005, with continual updates and improvements, and finishing in 2010 (the NWO- 1, 2, 2.5, 2.5T, 3GO, 3SE, 4SE and "Master", the final iteration of the series).

But how would I ever find one of them that I could actually afford (with direct sales only, there wasn't even a wholesale price)? It seemed an impossible task, considering both their singular selling price and extreme rarity, but audiophile fickleness was on my side! I had now given up on the K-01 and subsequently stopped looking at the Audiogon ads, but then I found out that APL had their own tiny "For Sale" section on their forum. I decided to check it out and, to my pleasant surprise, there was actually a used NWO-Master for sale!

To begin: I used an IsoTek disc (on "repeat" for many hours) to optimize the performance of the APL. I don't know why, but the IsoTek was able to noticeably improve the APL in virtually every area of performance, more so than any other break-in device I've ever used, on any electronic component. In fact, without the IsoTek, or something equivalent to it, I don't believe it is even possible to hear the APL "at its best". I also used Herbie's Tube Dampers on the two signal tubes, which stick out at the back of the chassis. Now to the meat...

c80f0f1006