Linn Unidisk or Musical Fidelity kW SACD or ???

Oldpet,
No, I have not heard the Classe SACD-2, yet. That is now at the top of my audition list. The MF demo unit was working this morning. Must be a problem with an overheated circuit or do-dad. Anyway, it is going back to the dealer.

I'm honored to have the opporunity to help break in my dealer's brand-spanking-new KW SACD this weekend --- it's changing sonically almost by the hour, becoming better and better.... The sound is absolutely stunning already --- I've never heard as much detail, dynamic range, or as deep a soundstage as this player produces, and I've done a large amount of auditioning of the high-end players. It also pulls more texture and detail out of the bass nether regions than I've heard before. It really does almost sound like vinyl, especially on SACD. The most amazing part is that it makes CDs sound SO good --- they're absolutely NOT digital-sounding (unless, of course, it's a terrible recording or mastering).

As far as the tube or solid-state output stages, so far I like the tube output stage better. Music just has more body through it, especially vocals. It perhaps sacrifices the absolute minutest bit of detail, but just overall sounds better than the solid-state output.

Anyway, I've just got a couple comments for those others auditioning one/considering one.... I have 2 beefs with the unit:

(1) [BIG BEEF] The drive mechanism is so dang noisy that in quiet passages, I can hear it quite clearly from my listening position (which is about 7 feet away from the KW in one of my 2 systems). With all the ventilation holes in the top, the unit just makes a lot of noise.

(2) [SMALL BEEF] It takes about 25 seconds to load up and play a CD, all the while making all these nasty-sounding noises that are clearly audible per my point (1). It takes only about 10 - 15 seconds to load an SACD. My best guess is that the player must try to recognize discs as SACDs first, fail a few times, then read them as CDs.

Oh, and just so you know, be careful moving this thing around -- it weighs about 45 pounds (oof!) and is fricking huge! (19 inches wide, 18 inches deep, almost 7 inches high). And please note that you probably won't want a rack shelf right near the top of this thing --- a tremendous amount of heat (for a CD player) comes out of the ventilation holes on the top....

Overall, it's an outstanding player. I'll be serious time comparing it to the other player I've got in my house at the moment (a Copland CDA 822, which is also a stunning player for CDs) today. If anything interesting happens, I'll write again....

FWIW, I auditioned the Classe SACD 2, the Linn 1.1, the Ayre C5xe, Esoteric X-01 (and Dv-50), as well as a couple of other front runners...for the money the Ayre was far and away the most impressive. All cdp's were run balanced through my BAT electronics. Some sessions were longer than others and I was only able to a/b the Ayre against the Esoteric, but IMS the Ayre was a wonderful performer and I would recommend this cdp to anyone who needs an SACD/DVD-A/Redbook platform.

I ultimately purchased a new Capitole II and am very pleased with its performance. BTW, the AA Prestige has been about to be released "in a couple of weeks" for more than a year; one of the reasons I bought the Capitole is the trade-up that my dealer guaranteed me for the Prestige.

Islandear,

I've been watching for the Audio Aero Prestige, too. Based on the great reputation of the Capitole, it promises to be a good unit. I have been speaking to the distributor, Globe, and a dealer on the west coast. Both tell me that the Prestige has just shipped from France and should be available for a demo in New England (where I am) in mid-July.

However, I think I may have found my new player. I have had the new dCS P8i in my system for the past couple of days and I am shocked at how good it sounds. Sure, for the money, it had better sound good, right? But I had no idea how good digital could sound until I put this player into my system. I was half-expecting, half-hoping that it would not create this big of a difference. That way, I could be content with a more reasonably priced unit. But this dCS unit was a HUGE upgrade in my sound -- amazing 3D sound stage, incredibly well-controlled bass and silky smooth treble where cymbals sound like...cymbals! Seriously, I was floored. Redbook CDs were particularly good, due I suspect to the fact that the P8i upsamples CD to DSD. My wife would come into the room and just seem me with my jaw agape and shaking my head in disbelief.

If I can work out a decent deal with the dealer, I am going to get one. I expect that the AA Prestige will be quite good, but I love this unit. Besides, the dCS will allow me to run a digital coax from my whole-house music server into it and access its DAC.

I've found the information very interesting because I'm also looking for a new SACD. I was using a Krell Standard (bought used) and had problems with the tray that got stuck. I've also had a Shangling T200 for about 20 months: excelent livelike sound. But, its not reading only SACDs and is mistraking hybrids. Where I live there's no chance of auditioning these players so I have to rely on the opinion of my friends, on reviews and on the web. I've had good reports on the MF kW. The dCS its tempting but it's price is almost twice of the others you have in consideration. The Shangling is a tube sacd, this is perhaps the reason of its livelike sound, very impresive. This drives me more towards the tube like the MF and the Audio Aero. I hope you continue with your reviews.