Esoteric DV-50: Any cdp's Significantly better?

Saxman, apart from the EMM transport I met all of your conditions in urging me to listen to the EMM system. It is not that I disliked the EMM as I did dislike the dCS gear, I just thought other unit were better and cheaper. If I get a chance, however, I will relisten to the EMM digital front end.

Luke,
Thanks for the post. I think that several times during this thread it went far off course, perhaps because the stated intention of finding that 'perfect' player was never fulfilled. In fact, there were weeks at a time where no progress whatsoever was made in that regard. And then most of the main players abandoned the quest midstream, leaving the rest of us wondering what the heck they concluded about the various players.

So no offense meant. I think we were simply attempting to combat the boredom and/or disappointment with the thread with a bit of humor. That is, until one of the original group might happen along and resume the focus of the thread. Unfortunately, that wish never materialized.
All the best,
Howard

I certainly am still on my quest. I am reworking my system presently, and still waiting for the Modwright 3910. I will have the APL, Modwright, and TRL. Maybe an Exemplar at some time, but I believe I have what it takes to compare. I do invite those to audition in my home stating the middle of next month. I have been trying to fine tune my system for a while now, and keep $$$$. Lates additions include electraglide statement II revised revision X 3, BPT sig 3.5, anti cable speaker wire, Reimer Teton speakers, and I am working now on multiple interconnects. Maybe a Hydra 8 soon too. Basically between, work, my daughters Bat Mitzvah, next week, and audio, my head is spinning. My quest continues.....good luck on yours.

Gotta love Audiogon

Wow!!! I don't know how i missed this thread or all the fun, but it was very entertaining & educational to read. Not only in terms of who likes what best, but in terms of human nature and how we first perceive things and then how we deal with them.

As a side note, 711 may have been very vocal about his "love" of the APL 3910 and overly critical of AVguru's initial "sound" with the stock DV-50 in place. At the same time though, AV never refuted and in fact confirmed that 711's APL 3910 sounded far more lifelike with much greater dimensionality in his system. The fact that AV had espoused much the same "vocality" for his love of the DV-50 prior to being exposed to the APL and ModWright units seems to have been somewhat overlooked. Nothing wrong with "loving" a product, so long as things are kept in perspective.

The one conclusion that i've come to is that some people really like the products that they have. The thing that i have to take into consideration here is that some of these people have had way more in-depth experience with many different players than some of the others in this comparison. As such, i have to grant those with a wider level of experience a bit more weight in their opinions and findings. As we all know, having time to get to know each component on a long term basis, and realizing all of the various strengths, weaknesses and quirks, is vital to how happy you will be with the unit in the long run.

As to the charges being levied against Alex / APL working with shills on this forum, i do not know the man nor have i ever talked to him. The fact that Tvad and Brainwater, who have no axe to grind and are both honest individuals, speak highly of this player tells me a lot of what i wanted to know. This is not to say that the APL is necessarily the best player out there ( i have NO idea and there probably isn't a "best" ), but that there are "honest" people praising the worthiness of this machine and of Alex's work. I know that Tvad has been both honest and critical of the components / cabling that he's tried in the past and spoken of publicly. One look at Brent's componentry and installation should tell you where he's coming from. Obviously, Brent has no reason to promote a product that he doesn't have complete faith in as he could afford whatever it is that he wants. Coming from such a source, his recommendation of the APL modified units speaks volumes to me.

Other than that, it would be nice to have a really well organized "listening session" with a diversity of sources. Only problem that i see is that it would be hard to standardize a test where some machines are XLR based, some are RCA based, etc... On top of that, different machines may have different output impedances and "load up" differently into various cabling / preamp combo's.

As such, the results from any such test would strictly pertain to how well things "jive" in that specific installation using those specific components. Nothing more, nothing less. The fact that personal preferences, differences in listening acuity and seated listening position throw further variables into the equation only makes such a test "less than authoritative". None the less, i do think that such "tests" can be fun, educational and provide a great source of info for others to learn from and follow along with. As such, i'd like to offer a big "THANK YOU" to all of those that contributed their time, effort and componentry to making this happen. It was a blast, even if i read the whole thread in less than 24 hours : )

Brian: Out of curiosity, did you listen to your G&D / Entec front end in comparison to any of these? I'd be curious as to your thoughts on the subject. Drop me an email if you want to discuss this privately.

This brings something to mind that i'd like to point out though. That is, i've always said that a "good" basic unit that is "lovingly modified" could easily beat a more expensive, mass produced machine. The results of this thread tend to support those previous comments. Sean
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PS.... I would have liked to have seen something from Ric Schultz / EVS in this "pile-up", but it may have only added one more voice / point of contention to deal with. This is not to say that Ric's units are as good / better than the others out there, just that i personally would have liked to see what others thought of them and how they would have stood up under direct comparison. Having dealt with Ric in the past and having owned several of his products, i'd like to think that he's capable of "hanging" with the big boys. I was glad to see one of Kyle's partially modified units compete, which provided yet another source of diversity to the comparisons being made.

Sean, based upon my limited exposure to the other units I'll keep the G&D/Entec but am always open to suggestions. We didn't listen to the combo except for a while before the other players were put in, and not all were present to hear it. Anyone wanting to hear it is welcome to come by and compare it against theirs or my turntable - a Rockport was used as a reference for voicing the G&D/Entec.

I find some of the other posts to this thread to be (pick as many as you wish) misleading, entertaining, confusing, indignant, funny, misguided, and/or having vested interests. And some others are informative and insightful. Yet some feel an obligation to defend their choices to the death but deny it. Life's too short for that. One shouldn't forget it's all about the music and enjoying it.

Brian