EMM Labs CDSA SE vs DCS Puccini

Thank you Rcprince for your help!
I love the EMM Labs sonic signature too, because it sounds very natural and realistic.
I will certainly buy an XDS1 on the second hand market but before I wanted to have opinions of the users of Puccini. Because I never had the pleasure to listen to it but I know that it is a good cd/sacd player too. I know that at this level of performance, the choice between one or the other will be more a matter of taste.
I know Playback Design but it is very difficult to find on the used market, and the prices in France are very high ( bought new it costs 19700 euros or more than 27000 $ !!!) as well as for the XDS1 ( 25000 euros more than 35500 $ ! ) but more easy to find on second hand market with more approachable prices.

So I will be patient !
Again thank you for your participation, it's very kind of you.

Hi ours13
I managed to borrow a Puccini+USB clock, for a couple of days to compare to my then ARC CD5. The Puccini was better but it was marginal and I did not buy it.
I ended up with the playback MPS 5 second hand it is very good, the side by side improvement over the CD5 was obvious straight away - unfortunately it had some issues the seller managed to hide.

It is now fixed fixed and it does sound fantastic. It has a very natural sound, much more so than the dcs. I also had a very long demo over 2 days of the 3 box dcs Paganini. I was not able to compare it directly with the PBack. However on re-listening to the MPS 5 back at my home I much preferred the PB presentation of music. Although the dcs Pag sounded detailed it seemed to lack warmth and weight in the bottom end.

I think the dcs gear sounds a bit digital compared to the playback and I do not like all the extra, dac, clock & up-sample, devices you have to use with dcs. I much prefer a one box solution. The PB is much simpler to operate.

As I expect you know Andreas Koch worked with EMM labs before developing the MPS 5. There are similarities in the physical design of the 2 brands. I have never heard an EMM labs machine but I suspect the sound would be neater to the playback than the dcs sound.

Hi Dctom

Yes, of course, I know Andreas Koch because as you said he was working with EMM labs a couple of years...
In 2013 he has developped for Nagra their new dsd Dac,It's not nothing !

The inside parts of the PBD MPS 5 are very similar as in the Emm Labs Xds1 as well as the implementation of various circuits. So, I think they will have a very close sonic signature. Althought the MPS 5 seems to sound a bit more like vinyl than the EMM labs. this is what I have understood by reading the various comments on the PlayBack Design. Like you I prefer a one box cdp.
Now I am comforted in my choice for my next cd player, I think I will stay with EMM Labs with the XDS1.

Thank you Dctom

The Paganini has a lot of " the usual" rave reviews but when I listened to it, I thought it sounds boring. More or less like 50 other - cheap - Players. Well, I had dCS before, they were quite good but I think something happened ... the former superiority is history. I went for CDSA-SE, it is not colored sonically, excellent with normal discs...there is worse out there...