ACCUPHASE DP500 REVIEW

For what its worth.

So there it is, nicely placed in the rack ready to play.

Hit the button and …
Now that’s not what I expected!

Oh yes it’s all there all right.
You know what I mean, those Hi-Fi terms, imaging, correct tone, good timing, highs that well, go high and lows that … you get the point.

And yet, something was missing.
Was there a softening of the leading edges?
Was I missing detail?

I played around a bit as my system is in a new room.
Place the speakers a little closer to each other. Reduce the toe in by a few degrees.
Well, that is better. Not that things have changed dramatically but there is more focus now, a slightly more up-front window without losing any depth.

Still I wondered. There was still something not quite right.
The culprit turned out to be a power line conditioner.
Once removed and replaced with a simple Signal Cable power distribution board and hey presto. Yet not the ‘hey presto’ one would normally expect.

What had happened and I believe it happened right at the beginning and the changes I made only brought out more of the same, is that I wasn’t listening to Hi-Fi.
I was listening to music.

All the chasing of the tail looking for more of this and less of that! Pin sharp imaging, razor detailing, sounds spectacular.
Well they don’t matter any more. They never really did, but too much of this Hi-Fi hobby is consumed listening to equipment and honing that ultimate Hi-Fi.
The victim inevitably is the music.
But not anymore!

I don’t know if the Accuphase DP500 is the best CD Player in the world.
I am not sure that it has better imaging than those other players.
I know it doesn’t present detail in the forthright manner that my previous CD Player did (Audionet ART V.2).
I really don’t care.
Because here I am sitting with a grin from ear to ear listening to music.
Thank God the Hi-Fi has disappeared and with it I would venture to guess the disease of Upgraditis.

The music you see can’t get any better.