The"new" look Capitole

The Prestige is a universal player.DVD SACD,CD and
will be every bit as good on redbook as the
Capitole.The Capitole is a Redbook cd player
although it will allow DSD decoding like DCS
and Accuphase.Since there are only(that I am aware of) 2 DSD transports
available currently this is pretty much a non
issue. The Prestige release is still to be
determined and would expect sometime late
summer.There will be 5 "new look" Capitoles at the
Montreal show.From the folks at Global Marketing
they say it is actualy superior to the current
model.First shipment is due tomorow,has to clear
customs,have the Montreal show 22nd through the
24th and realisticaly after the 25th is when we
dealers will get them. Assuming all pieces are
shipped they will have none left as they are
already backordered for the second shipment.

Sat- you're right. I spoke to Globe recently- the first North American shipment is spoken for. Now- that doesn't necessarily mean they are all SOLD (to consumers), however maybe dealers such as yourself have just bought them all up, knowing they will sell...

I heard from someone who has been doing extensive comparisons between the two capitoles that the old one is actually slightly better. Now i am kinda skeptical but what he says is that the new version presents more detail but is also more mechanical sounding and less natural. The older one has more bloom and ease but presents slightly less detail. For 2000.00 dollars more i expected the new one to render the old one obsolete. This person also does sell audio aero and he is a dealer so he is not biased towards another company has anyone heard anything else about the new player. I'm about to buy one and im not sure which version to get, but right now im leaning towards the older model. Thanks

I wonder if the dealer that Lordgorian described simply prefers a classic tube sound (as found in the "earlier" 24/192 Capitole), since he thinks the new Capitole is more detailed but "less natural". IMO the earlier version is a bit too euphonic, and could actually use more detail in the sense of greater transparency, extended top end, and tighter bass. Of course, in their attempts to add all this, Audio Aero may have screwed up a very nice player.... but I haven't heard the new version... have only auditioned the "earlier" 24/192 (in home).

Ral, i tend to agree with your comments regarding the slightly "euphonic" nature of the Capitole when i compared it to my Linn CD-12. the slightly "tubey" sound added bloom and layering at the expense of detail and texture.

the main culpret here seemed to be the volume control on the "old" Capitole. when i used the Capitole volume control "all the way open" and instead attenuated with my Placette RVC the detail and texture increased closer to my CD-12 at the expense of some bloom and layering. this indicated to me that the volume control on the "old" Capitole is somewhat "colored" (a bad thing to me but maybe not to everyone in every system)......the question is "is the volume control in the "new" Capitole more neutral?

if the new Capitole has a more neutral volume control many that need or like the "color" of the "old" Capitole volume control for proper tonal balance in their system may prefer the "old".

i have been told that some 192/24 Capitole owners have "bypassed" the internal volume control and improved the performance by adding an RCA output before the volume control......this lines up with my experience. if you do the math Audio Aero can't put a world class volume control in this machine.

i do think the "old" 192/24 Capitole is maybe the 2nd best cd player i have ever heard in any case.