Review: Playback Designs MPS-5 CD Player


Category: Digital

Playback Designs MPS5 Review in a headphone-only system.

I've had my Playback Designs MPS5 for a few days (just in my headphone system now) with about 8 hours of break-in and did finally did some serious listening and wanted to post some first impressions. I formerly had the EMM SE transport/dac pair. I have only used redbook CDs. I have SACDs but have not tried them yet. I probably should have waited until it broke in some more, but I thought I would just
post what I heard so far regardless.

The system: Ray Samuels B52 tubed headphone amp, Sony MDR-R10 phones, all Stealth Indra ICs (RCA), Hydra 8 power conditioner, Wolff Bohica 2 power cord on the cdp. (A Kimber PK10 Palladium power cord is on the B52 amp.)
The EMM pair was swapped out for the PD player with no other changes to the system.
I tried the cd player directly connected to my B52 amp and also with my Mac C46 preamp between the player and the B52 for remote
volume control capability. (I used to do the same thing with my EMM pair. It works very well with only the slightest bit of indirection that is actually euphonically pleasing. The Mac C46 preamp is a very fine piece, IMHO.)
The B52 amp has cryo'd Tung-Sol and Mullard driver and gain tubes (5687s and 12AU7s).

The PD player is completely non-fatiguing with no digital glare or grain, but still has excellent detail and image solidity.
It handles older, harsh, tipped-up CDs extremely well.
My early Beatles and Motown discs which used to scream and screech and made me long for my analog days are now fully listenable, with each musical element well striking a perfect balance between definition and refinement.

I think the EMM has somewhat more image density and midrange saturation, but at the cost of a piercing top end
(and some upper-mid ringing or overhang) on lesser discs. (I sometimes used the tone controls on the Mac C46 preamp to roll things off.)

I felt the EMM was bit more detailed but would also transmit
a whitish cast to the presentation. With the PD player, the highs and upper mids are clear with but not smoke-alarm like at all, which was sometimes the case with the EMM with lesser or popular-music or obviously equalized CDs. The EMM was much more up-front, like you were sitting right there among the
performers, while the the PD player puts you a bit further back. While that could be very involving with the EMM, it had a downside on
some CDs, which could shout. I feel that the EMM was pulling everything it could out of the CD, for better or worse, and
that made me anxious at times. The PD player is more controlled, or let's say trying to present things in a very civilized fashion that
is my memory of how my former analog system sounded (now long-departed). It presents the truth, but not the unvarnished digital truth
that can be hard for me to take. (I guess I'm telling myself "you can't handle the truth"...).

Vocals are nicely rounded and appropriately sized with real character and no grain or etch.
At the same time, the voices sound natural, like real people.
Everything is nicely fleshed out with good density and no hard edges that allows things to blend well.
Objects are placed realistically on the stage with nice layering, but there is no artificial cavernous or
overly binaural feeling through the headphones. Mids have no ringing or overhang.
I would not call the sound super-fast, with the hard edges that sometimes creates. It has bit of softness that
is very pleasing to my ears. (Some of this may be the effect of the tube amp, especially with the tubes I use.)

Brass is clear and precise but not painful or thin. Strings are not screechy or rough, but still open and clear.
Percussion smacks just the right amount. Piano has a kind of golden, liquid plink.
Nothing makes me wince, which has never happened with digital before. But, just to emphasize, things are never dull.

Bass is natural and "just there," not boomy or pushy, just a pleasant but firm, tight foundation that is part
of the whole musical picture. I have to say I love the bass. The Sony R10s have bit of intrinsic softness in the bass,
but the PD player firms it up and deepens it.

The overall feeling is one of balance, with no part of the spectrum standing out.
That balance is between relaxation and excitement, and the player gets that compromise just right.
I never found myself either leaning into the sound or turning it up to hear more,
nor did I find myself recoiling from any abusive sounds and there for lowering the volume.
It's a Goldilocks behavior.
It feels as if the designer has carefully tuned the sound to be inviting while dialing out the digital defects.

There is a wonderful sense of ease but with all the information I could want, but never TMI (too much info).
The player just made me want to keep listening, and never be afraid to
pull out any one of my old CDs and wonder what evil lurks within it.
At least from my initial listening, the fear factor is now gone from my
entire collection. I've always had in the back of my mind reverting to analog in some form, but I have no
need or desire for that now.

Some former players I have owned: CAL Icon 2, Meridian 508.24, Sony SCD 777 ES, Accuphase DP75V,
and the EMM pair (non SE and upgraded to SE). For the record, the Meridian was organic but not too detailed and
had muddy bass, the Sony was bland but had decent bass, the Accuphase was my favorite for a long time (with great staging) but
sounded weak and pinched compared to the EMM, and I really liked the EMM, especially for its bold, dense,
saturated mids and smooth vocals, but, as noted above, had some problems with unregulated highs and some glare on popular music that sometime led me to tone controls.

I'd be curious to hear what other owners hear with more break-in on the MPS-5.
rgs92
What power cords are Playback Designs owners using?
I tried some of the ones I have lying around and found
my old 5-foot Kimber PK10 Palladium works well now.
It has a very controlled bass, especially the the upper bass
around 70hz.

By the way, just to update, things have improved nicely with more break-in, with more detail but not too-much-info.
The MPS-5 has that great quality of the best equipment where
it doesn't seem to have any real character of it's own that I can identify. The music is just there with no emphasis in any one area.
The break-in process seemed to get it there. At first,
I thought the mids shouted a bit and the upper bass was
somewhat loose, but everything has tightened up now.
I love the way it portrays the real character of vocals,
with all sorts of interesting inflections, but still never
sound buzzy or artificial or mechanical.

And the MPS5 does a great job with boundaries of each instrument (and vocal)--they are not hard-edged like a
cut-out on piece of paper, nor are they smudged. They
just blend perfectly into the atmosphere around them.

Speaking of the atmosphere it creates (and this may be
a coloration after all), I would not say there is super-
clear air around the venue it creates, but I mean that
positively, because too much clarity can be too stark
for me. Instead, there is a touch of humidity that is
just right and binds everything together into a coherent
scene.

Of course, there are differences from CD to CD, but I believe I am hearing the qualities of the recording. I almost think I am hearing different players with different CDs. However, as I mentioned earlier, it does seem to cure problems with bad CDs better than any other player I have owned.

Most of this is with standard redbook CDs, but SACDs really shine. The Boston SACD on the PD player is spellbinding.
The rawness and
hashiness is translated into an open, jewel-like portrayal
of purity. It shows how music that could
take paint of the walls with harsh high frequencies can
be tamed into musical bliss. I think this is far better than the LP version, to the best of my memory.

OK, thanks for reading my rambling...
I use the Jena Labs Model One active powercord ... I've always loved this PC over anything else I've auditioned. You should try new feet too (I use the Apex's, fantastic).

OK, mine has one week of solid burn-in today, that is about 175 hours as I write this. I'm so glad I got this player ... not that the CDSA is no good, but the MPS-5 is sooo much better, so clearly, its unbelievable!

Rgs 92 said:

"Speaking of the atmosphere it creates (and this may be
a coloration after all), I would not say there is super-
clear air around the venue it creates, but I mean that
positively, because too much clarity can be too stark
for me. Instead, there is a touch of humidity that is
just right and binds everything together into a coherent
scene."

I hear this on CDs with my MPS-5 and think it is a very slight, euphonic "bloom" added to RBCD playback. It makes some of my previously unlistenable CDs quite enjoyable. I think it's a purposeful artifact that's combined with the benefit of upsampling the RBCD. I'm guessing that upsampling alone isn't enough to do this much magic with RBCD.

I only propose this after comparing the SACD layer to the CD layer of the same recording in several examples and comparing RBCD to SACD of the same recording for the two or three that I have. The SACD playback doesn't have this artifact and doesn't need it, because things are so realistic as is. There's a very slight bloom added with RBCD. Given the choice, I've always preferred the SACD version to the SACD, due to the greater clarity and closer proximity to what I imagine is the recording's "ideal."

Great report, BTW, and thanks for sharing.

Regarding powercords, we hope to compare several at RMAF, including Cardas Gold Ref, the Shunyada Anaconda and perhaps one or two others.

Dave
Dave and Mtkh, Thanks for that and the suggestions.
And thanks for confirming my impressions.
I'll look into the suggestions.

My intuition is that the PD likes
cabling with a firm grip on things, as opposed to anything
that will mush things up or hide things or soften impact
to cover other blemishes.
I think that's why my Anaconda VX cord,
which I used in the past to cope with digititus, was not the best match, because the PD didn't need it. The upper bass
was too soft. Similarly, the Wolff Bohica cord has some bloom that adds some nice liquidity and presence to a dry component,
but again, the PD didn't need it.
The Kimber PK10 Palladium cord is the king of grip, but can be too
bright and biting, and that was a problem when I had
it with previous players. But it surprisingly works
well with the PD, as the bass and mids are spectacularly
controlled and natural, and the highs, while a little
more prominent than the other cords, are clear but not
biting or piercing. Nevertheless, I still think a better
power cord is out there.

I'm guessing that the PD likes neutral cables.
as it has a little bloom of its own (as noted above).