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Laufer Teknik Memory Player 64 - I've Finally Found What I've Been Looking For!


During my three year long search for a good sounding media server, I have listened to many of the top media rated brands: Aurender, Aurailac, Weiss, Lumen, Antipodes, etc. I have even owned some of them for brief periods. Features aside, the main problem I have found with almost all music servers is that they sound overly bright and digital. During my initial search, one of the first things I found was that it was pretty difficult to determine what portion of a given system’s sonic signature was due to the digital source, so I decided auditioning a music server in my own system was imperative. To make matters more complicated, I am also restricted for fiscal reasons from buying some of the very top of the top tier digital gear new, so Audiogon has been my constant partner in this long search. That said, I am happy to be able to relate that I have finally found an end to my search, with a media server that sounds very natural with good high resolution material and pretty darn good even with just ripped Red Book CD - particularly after upsampling - that media server is the Memory Player 64 by Laufer Teknik.

The Laufer Teknik Memory Player 64 is a purpose built audio computer, ripper, data storage and DAC, all housed in casework which looks good beside other high end audio gear. More importantly, the Laufer Teknik Memory Player 64 sounds like music! After reviewing many designs, and finding them lacking, I had honestly resigned myself to going back to spinning silver disks, one by one, or settling for streamer level quality in sound. Subsequently, I had some level of trepidation when I happened upon a device for sale, made by Laufer Teknik, who I had not yet heard of. The more I read about the Laufer Teknik product, the more I was intrigued and wanted to give it a try. The device that had caught my attention was a mint Laufer Teknik Memory Player 64, 16 Core, with DAC and some nice upgrades, for sale on Audiogon by a reviewer who was trading up. The Laufer Teknik Memory Player 64 employees some very advanced methods of dealing with jitter right at the beginning of the chain, which makes a huge difference to the subsequent sound. Honestly, I don’t completely understand how some of their tech works but I can tell you the end result is spectacular and superior in sound to any other media server I have heard and the performance is right in line with the very best digital playback I have ever experienced, at any cost. The features and capabilities of the Laufer Teknik Memory Player 64 are many but the OS is Windows intuitive and JRiver is utilized as the interface for the music library, so the learning curve is gentle to get started. I can not say this about some of the other music servers I have used. Moreover, Sam Laufer is very supportive of his products and has personally provided me assistance when needed. It is obvious that Sam cares very much about his product and his customers! I can relate that I have received a very laudable level of support from Laufer Teknik, with Sam personally helping me with an OS upgrade on more than one occasion. This level of support was very gratifying to receive, particularly on a used product! Additionally, Sam and his partner Mark Porzilli are constantly devising ways to carry their designs forward and offer upgrade paths even to second hand owners like me. Just a great experience all around! I’m positive I could not do justice to explaining the tech which allows the Laufer Teknik Memory Player 64 to sound the way it does, so please see their site if you are interested: https://www.thememoryplayer.net.

So, my search is done for now, at least for this one crucial piece of gear which I plan on using into the foreseeable future. Maybe I’ll entertain the idea of some additional upgrades from Laufer Teknik, such as their upgraded power supply, but other than that I can now finally just relax and enjoy the music.
hollandw
jim204
881 posts
 
I have had all of the Laufer Technik software on my PC and have discovered startling differences in the music that come through my computer. You can start off with a little or a lot and it makes a difference from the very start. I had the pleasure of getting to know Mark Porzilli through him installing his software on my PC. The first set of software goes under the proprietary name Ideas and it comes in three stages. If you can get those three pieces first as that is when you will notice the differencies first. Mark makes a special partition on your hard drive and installs the software there. If you want to just listen to files already on your pc just drag and drop the file to the hard drive and be blown away by the difference in the sonics. Oh I must say also that the software needs solid state hard drives to work properly as platter hard drives are full of jitter and therefor not anywhere near as good sonically. You can though store files on an older drive but just remember to drag a file you want to hear on to the special drive. The new partition uses a defractionalised formatting which is another of Laufer Teknik’s software and as I say when it is all put together it really is a sound you can quickly get used to. There are other things you can get done to your PC and again it involves Mark going on to your machine and sorting out your processor in a way that puts music first, and all superfluous Windows programs and apps are halted with again massive differences in clarity and reproduction. I would advise that you use a separate HDD for your music drive and another HDD for your internet and other day to day work.I have been using the software for over a year now and I can’t begin to tell you the difference it has made to my musical enjoyment. I listen to BBC Radio 3 classical broadcasts and when I listen to the standard I Player and then when I download the same program onto my Defracked Hard Drive it is a totally different audio experience. I remember the first set of Ideas that was put on my pc and I then started listening to files I already had on the PC. I nowadays listen to music through headphones only and on that first night the levels of detail I was getting was incredulous , also I was sitting there with a huge smile on my face and my wife thought I had finally lost it.
I really love Mark and Sam’s software and if you want to create a super DAW you should check out the software for yourself.
hollandw OP
30 posts
 
Hi toetapaudio, et all. Unfortunately, I don’t have any experience with the platforms you are using or Laufer Teknik any-jitter technology run outside of their platform. That said, it makes sense that employing their tech on other well wrung out platforms would yield good results. After all, their product is at hart a specialized computer. Since I purchased my MP, I have upgraded various components within it and with each change to the already great sounding platform things have gotten better. Power supply upgrades have been particularly effective! I’m not sure how I would go about upgrading these things on my own but Sam Laufer offers custom power supplies for the sound cards and DACs in his MP, so it would follow that they could be employed in other systems as well but you would have to contact him and ask about it. Sam is a really nice and knowledgeable guy and easy to work with. The other thing I have done is to upgrade my power cord to one from Snake River Audio and internal SATA cables to well shielded custom ones from Pachanko. I’m pretty novice at tweaking audio PC but have just done some of the same things that I would try with any piece of Audio gear, which is to say improve power quality and reduce EMI noise. Power delivery tweaking has really been a great opportunity for me to wring a lot more performance out of my system. One of the other things I have done, which makes an inexplicable positive difference on my digital streaming sound, is to upgrade the power supply and power cord on my Verizon FIOS gateway/router. It sounds nuts to suggest that upgrading the power supply at that point would make a difference but think of it as upgrading the power supply to a digital source. I got the idea from another Audiogon member and it is discussed elsewhere in this forum. I’ll find and post a link for you.
hollandw OP
30 posts
 
Sorry, I can’t find the thread on upgrading router power supplies but it was pretty simple. Here is an excerpt from an email conversation I had with a friend, which elaborates on the topic:

Digital gear responds very well to better power, be it a good power filter, power cord or dedicated power supply. You heard what a big difference just changing the one power cord on your Simaudio streamer/DAC made. The router/gateway device is at heart a piece of digital audio gear when you stream music to your high end system through it. Using a power supply to drive this piece of gear that has more to it than the bare data transfer minimum of the OEM wall wart just sounds better. Is it because there is a 2 pound transformer in it rather than a 2 ounce one? Or, is it the added ability to use an audiophile power cord and fuse - or a sum of all these things? I don't know, but Iknow it sounds better. Better bass, imaging, pretty much everything. I can't believe I never thought of this before now! The power supply is about $60, with the plugs, etc., a few bucks more. Though you will need a volt/amp meter and soldering iron if you don't have them. If you are running a G1100 wireless gateway/router, from FIOS, you need a 3.5MM X 1.35MM DC power plug. The whole build is just making two solders to wire on the end of the plug, setting the appropriate voltage inside the power supply by turning a little dial until 12V is reached on the multi-meter, and connecting it all up.

Anyway, this may be pedantic to some of you but it was pretty interesting to me that it made a difference and directly related to one aspect of getting good sound from computer based audio.
vernonwtx
53 posts
 
I started using the MP in 2010, and upgraded to the MP64 16-core summer 2017. Huge difference (including using as a preamp). I tried to best it (within my budget) on LP... Nakamichi Dragon CT, ZYX Universe II, Silent Source Music Ref 2 Phono Cable, Aesthetix IO Signature w/ 2 separate power supplies, lots of NOS tubes, etc... recording on MP64 at 32-215 verse RED CD upsampled to 32-196. I can then very quickly A-B compare the files. The upsampled CD still better sounding. One of these days, I will record all my LP’s, sell LP gear, and upgrade to 32-core. Hope this helps.
sevenoranges
15 posts
 
I have been using the MP in various iterations through the last several years. I can definitely echo the above comments that the unit has just gotten better and better with each iteration.
However the latest version 2018 is just amazing... 
and I have listened to music systems all my life!
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