McCormack RLD-1 Platinum Edition: A nice surprise

Hi All,

I recently had my RLD-1 upgraded to Platinum Edition status by Steve McCormack. I thought I'd write something about my experience to people who might be curious, and as appreciation for his work.

The upgrade took about 2 months to complete. When it arrived, it took about a week to settle in, and lose it's initial edginess. Each night of settling in, however, it got better, and now it's unbelievable. When people talk about how his upgraded amplifiers "can compete with amps at any price", the same thing can be applied to his RLD-1 upgrade. The decent enough preamp to begin with is now startlingly better. In all honesty, while not as refined, the only preamp it reminds me of is the Boulder 1010. I say this because that same sense of ease and presence that the Boulder has is also part of the RLD-1 Platinum's presentation. The Boulder is better, but the RLD-1 shares that one important (to me) aspect.

You'll also get a "you feel like you're on drugs, but you're not" feeling. You get vastly more resolution, more refinement, and a greater sense of ease and liquidity; bass is deeper and faster, too. The soundstage is incredible. The other aspect of the new presentation that I really like is that it's now receded a bit more. Before, it was a little too forward-sounding for my tastes, and now it's set back beyond the speakers.

A new (retail) RLD-1 and Platinum Edition upgrade will cost about $3000. I seriously cannot think of another preamp at that price that can bring this much to the table. McCormack should sells this upgraded preamp as a stock "RLD-2" for $5k, and it would compete quite nicely.

One note, though, if you're considering the upgrade, ask Steve about possibly getting the WBT RCA plugs put on *both* the CD and Aux/Phono inputs, if you use both sources. I only got one on the CD input, and didn't think to ask him about adding another. It's slightly more relaxed going through the WBT inputs.

Best,