Well I've had the memory player for a week now and finally have some time to provide you with my thoughts.
A few pieces of background first. I have the transport only version. I partner it with a Dream Prism DA-1 DAC (a pro redbook only DAC worth about $8k new they dont market this to audiophiles but its an incredible DAC). The rest of my system is Bryston and PMC (active speakers). Room is dedicated and designed by Rives Audio, heavily treated with diffusion.
My goal is live sound, I want to be at the venue with the artist. I am not into euphoric,/romantic sound - want it raw, real and in turn musical.
Transport I directly compared to the MP was emm labs Phillips version. I have also owned the more recent emm labs combo(SE transport with non-SE DAC) but sold it because I wasnt happy with the newer emm transport on Redbook it sounded very phasy and artificial to me, definitely not natural/normal. Of interest, I found the Emm SACD performance much better and more natural but wasnt going to keep the combo for only SACD. Ive also had an Esoteric P70 in my system for a brief test an impressive unit but not enough for me to buy one.
In all cases noted above, I use a balanced and BNC digital cables BNC is connected for so DAC can serve as master clock to slaved transport. This is also how I have hooked up the memory player.
The MP as has been noted in other reviews does not have an impressive build quality for the price. Its nowhere close to being in the same league as Esoterics build quality. It also has some quirks. The way the power cord goes into the unit at the back precludes the use of a higher end cord because of a weird overhang on thee back of the unit requires a small connector and very thin cord. I have no idea how sensitive the unit is to PCs, lets hope not much. Other thing that freaked me out a bit, is the amount of unit vibration, whether playing from memory or the hard drive. I know how troublesome vibration is to sound reason I bought SRA stands for much of my equipment. Other thing is with the PC remote, it definitely takes a little while to get used to and lacks some features, like categorization of your music beyond Alphabetic. They provided a way of saving a group of music but for the life of me, I dont know how to retrieve what I saved. The last quirky thing is with their master clock mode, I cant simply choose it while the player is on like I have with all other transports, I have to shut the unit down, make sure the DAC is on and then boot back up. Despite all of the quirks, the unit is working without a hitch, no technical problems so far knock wood
Quirks aside, how does it sound? I loaded a bunch of my favorite music onto the player and let it run for few days on repeat before I sat down and gave a serious listen. I first listened to one of my favorite Neil Young tracks (down by the river) and in certain respects, it was like hearing it for the first time. It sounded far more real, musical and present to me, particularly when the guitar riffs kick in. It was so striking; I had to immediately switch back to the other transport to verify that I wasnt hearing things. I wasnt, this was the real deal! I went on to listen to many other pieces of music from female vocals, rock, classical, jazz and instrumental. They all sounded great.
This transport truly does take CD to the next level better than anything Ive heard before and this unit is not going back to Nova Physics. In a nutshell, I find that everything played through the MP is more live (in the room) and musical with sounds from across the stage being so well defined, dynamic, solid and layered. Its as though there is more resolution, timing and decay to everything. I also notice more image depth on most things.
For me, the MP is the final piece of the puzzle, it delivers the musical engagement that I have been seeking ever since getting into this obsessive and expensive hobby. YMMV.
