Accuphase 85 or 75v...or EMC-1?
Of the two players you mention the DP 75V is the better player; I have not heard the DP 85. Depending on your musical tastes; mine being classical, SACD is the way to go. The depth and breath of the soundstage especially when listening to symphonies is truly astounding. I know many people disagree but I believe SACD is here to stay. Chuck |
Hi Jayme! I don't want this thread to digress into an SACD vs Redbook debate. But since it has started, i will add my 2 cents. I have owned 2 SACD players an EMC and a DP75v. No question on DSD recordings, SACD sounds better. However, the titles on SACD absolutely suck and they have been so slow to roll out that many have jumped ship a long time ago. Some will continue to wait forever and maybe it will survive, others like me gave up and got back all of the money invested. The way I look at it, if it ever gets up to speed, I can always come back, but for now it's very dead to me. On the topic at hand, the 75v is the best redbook player of the 3 mentioned. Arguably, the 85 sounds slightly worse in redbook but has the added benefit of sacd. If sacd doesn't interest you, I doubt anyone will claim the 85 is many thousands better sounding on redbook than the 75v, if at all. Again, I feel the 75v bested it in redbook at half the price. I have not heard the new UP EMC but, unless they made the chassis 4 inches less wide, got it to accept CDR's more easily if at all and improved on the world worst remote control, I would not be interested. Finally, all Accupahse products are wired differently on the balanced outputs than US players. Even the Accuphase products destined for the US have the neutral and hot plugs reversed as that is how they are supposed to be wired in Japan. That said, most people here either run single ended, like me, or get custom cables made that invert the polarity in some way. Sounds pretty fine in single ended to me. |
Jayme, My local friend still has his DP75V,so if you are in LA area,please email me at [email protected] ! We can compare the DP85 with his DP75V side by side and let's your ears be the judge. I know there are several owners of the DP85 who previously had the DP75V in Audiogon. How do you guys compare ? |
Ive heard all three CD players, all broken in. The EMC1 is a fantastic player, but not in the same league as the Accuphase. If you can afford a $5000 player, go for a used 75V on Audiogon. As far as the 85v75V goes, i prefered the 85 on redbook. If your decision is based on redbook alone, then you should go for the 75V because you pay for the SACD of the DP85 and the difference in redbook performance does not justify the price difference. Bottom line : you want to get into SACD and have a killer redbook, get the DP85. You want a fantastic redbook player and dont give a toss about SACD, get the 75V. You cant afford a 5K player but still want excellent performance, get a EMC1. Cheers |
Jayme--I had the 75V in for lengthy audition twice, the second time alongside the EMC-1MKIIUP, which has now been superceded by the latest model with a new analog board and additional DAC changes, among 47 upgrades over the MKIIUP. The additional changes are available to MKIIUP owners for an additional $800 from the U.S. distributor. I own Accuphase components and as much as I wanted the 75v added to my system, I and my wife--who is musically trained, has excellent ears and is an extremely critical listener--found the latest ECM player superior to the 75V, which we thought inferior even to our venerable Accuphase DP-55. I have no explanation for this, other than I was expecting the Accuphase player to be superior to the Electro and certainly, heads and shoulders above the 55. It was after a week of comparing the 75 and the EMC that I played the Electro alone. Another week and I put the 75v back into the system with the same results. Multiple changes of ICs made no difference. The 75V I had in for audition was later sold. Other 75v owners have, apparently, been satisfied as well, although I have seen a number of 75s for sale here at AG and elsewhere. Incidently, the 75V is unavailable new in the U.S. and is reportedly being replaced by the DP-77, a 24/192 upsampling/SACD unit costing less than the DP-85, which is 16/44.1/SACD. How much truth there is to the 77, I'm not sure. Different strokes... |
Sorry, but there is no way that the DP-55 is better than the DP-75V. The DP-55 uses the older MMD conversion process vs. the MDS system as implemented in all of Accuphase's latest generation DAC's (including the DC-330). I suspect there was a problem with the 75V you were auditioning or some odd system synergy issue. |
