Esoteric DV-50 vs. Accuphase DP-75V

I had a brief session with the Esoteric and although it’s a decent machine capable of playing different formats, the Wadia 861 walked all over it on redbook CDs. In direct comparison the Wadia was more relaxed, smoother and way more refined; simply in an entirely different league. A few months back I had a chance to compare the mentioned Wadia with the Accuphase DP-75V and let me tell you, the Accuphase is in a league of its own: even more refined than the Wadia, more detailed, harmonically rich and very, very analog-like sounding. It’s my reference for redbook CDs and will probably remain so for a long time.

It is not a like with like comparison. DV-50 shall lose to DP-75v in redbook CD performance as it is a universal player which offers every aspect of music format access:
SACD Stereo/Multi;CD;24/192;DVD-V;DVD-A;MP3,etc

Perhaps you can try SACD format comparison with other SACD players in market. Not that far in difference.

About the DV-50- in audio- it is all about the driver that is controlling the hardware. A skilled driver will achieve A+ performance with the DV-50. An average driver will dismiss the player as "decent".

Agree with Reb1208.

I brought a DV-50 with the intention that it will be only used for SACD, DVD-A and DVD-V. For the red book CD, I had a Wadia 270 + 27ix system.

In the first week of usage, the DV-50 is just so so. However, after a week of intense running-in, the sound improved tremendously. Then I started to take the DV-50 serious.

I enabled the CD-direction option, turned off the video circuit and display, added a grounding wire to the pre-amp, put the DV-50 on a proper auido platform. Then the sound improved to another level.

SCAD play back from the DV-50 was already better than the Wadia playing the CD layer. The CD play back of DV-50 was still behind that of the Wadia. Basically, the DV-50 CD play back is too bright and the low frequency lack enough control and was misty. At that point, I also noticed that I have to use a rather low volume setting in my pre-amp for the DV-50. It seemed to suggested that the voltage of the output of DV-50 is too high.

I immediately changed to use the RCA instead of the XLR output of my DV-50. Bingo! It solved most of the problems. After a few more days of running in, the CD play back from DV-50 is still behind that of the Wadia, but by not much.

I was surprised, excited and considered that it might not be worthwire for keeping the wadia combo. So I sold the Wadia combo together with my ML 380S pre-amp and brought a ML 32 pre-amp. I can tell u that the preformance of DV-50 + ML32 is way better than that of 270+27ix+380s.

I forgot to mention that I acheived the best result by using the XLR out of the DV-50 and setting the ML 32 to have a zero grain for that XLR input.

Very interesting, you seam to have perhaps followed my posts over at AA about my experience. Teac should allow for a voltage trim for the two channel outputs in cd direct mode. The voltage trim thru the main menu will not keep it's setting when switched to cd direct. However, I bet there is some "secret" code that could overide this. Maybe someone could investigate this.

Oldlee- I have made a change that I now use full gain from my pre-amp. I use dynamic speakers- bi-wired. Use copper interconnects. Multi-solid core to mids-highs. But now use a copper/silver hybrid to woofers---- wooahhh!!! Perfect match for the DV-50 bass. Bass plays higher up in freq response- is musical- and I'm absolutely thrilled.

Hi Reb1208,

I remeber that sometime ago I did read a post on similar topic in AA mentioning the weakness of DV-50 and how it can be handled. When I faced the same problems myself later on, that post in AA (most likely yours, but i am not 100% sure) definitely arose in my mind and help a lot. Your contribution is well appreciated :)

Thank also for sharing the speaker cable trick with us. Unfortunatedly, I cannot be benefited from it as my amp (ML432) does not have biwiring binding post.

Hi, all you need is (1) set of (5) way binding posts on your
amp. Use (1) cable with spades the other with banana plug.

Take care.