I own the MPD-3 and installed it in my system this summer. For a short time, it was side by side with a Berkeley Alpha DAC. The Berkeley is now gone although to be fair, the Berkeley was fed via a Wireworld glass toslink cable and the MPD-3 via a Locus Polestar USB cable. With that disclaimer. It is the best DAC I have ever heard in my system, having owned most recently in ordera a Wadia 581i, a McIntosh MDA1000, a Berkeley Alpha, an Audio Research DAC8, a Naim and a Berkeley Alpha again.
Sound wise out of the box it was very good and to my ears matched up nicely with the Berkeley but then a break in took hold the Playback Designs began pulling away by a small margin, which began to be a large margin. Characteristics you should expect. Very analog, deep and wide sound stage, frequency extremes continue to stretch beyond my expectations and the bass delivery is excellent and deep. Dynamics seem to be much better but that may be a result that I am occasionally playing back natively DSD files recorded from vinyl, so that may be part of the perception.
I can't recommend highly enough...it is a plug and play setup.....mac mini via USB is my source and I use the single ended rca outputs. I am not a pro reviewer so please ask specific questions and I will do my best to answer them. If you are shopping in this price range you owe it to yourself to demo one....the ARC, Berkeley, Wadia and Naim are all superb DACs but the Playback Designs is in a different weight class altogether. |
It kills the Berkeley on rebook but again, it's apples to oranges. The playback designs upsamples everything to 6.1 MHz DSD so it sounds amazing, spacious, ALOT of air around the performers. |
Rockitman, I was in your camp as well....a bona fide play it back in its native sample rate kind of guy.....until I heard the MPD-3. the playback designs upsampling all the way to DSD is something of a revelation. You should listen for yourself, you might change your opinion. One simply can't make a blanket assertion until you hear it for yourself.
Suteetat, I too use the Korg to archive vinyl in 5.6 mhz DSD. I then use the supplied Audiogate software and create the song files in 2.8 DSD, a Mac mini (snow leopard) and Pure music software. You drag and drop the files into Pure Music once and they create an itunes bookmark.....then play them back like any other itunes music. |
Rockitman, indeed the Playback Designs is entirely different. I may be splitting hairs here technically but upsampling on your PS Audio(which I have heard although not in my system) and the MPD-3 resampling from whatever the native sample rate directly to DSD is simply crazy good. The PSAudio (and most other DACs) will upsample in PCM to a higher rez PCM format....basically just moving the noise into a different frequency spectrum. Resampling from a native PCM sample rate directly to 1 bit DSD removes so much of what we dislike about digital rather than just moving it. My opinion only, but it is so different and analog like that I believe you would be pleasantly surprised.
best wishes and happy listening. |
How funny.....it would be less expensive over the long haul if we had a different hobby/passion/addiction. Are you near a dealer? It's worth a listen, whether you are in the market or not. I think as more and more hear what's possible, more manufacturers will be going back to the drawing board.
If you like vinyl, I haven't heard anything that comes closer to my ears. To those who have been raised on MP3's, there is a "listening curve"....my niece sat and listened for a while and then it just snapped, playing some of her music for her through my system and the Playback Designs she was totally digging it. Then through the turntable she understood why it was so different. Good luck. |
Disclaimer: I have not heard a cd played back through a MPS3 using its in board transport, only my computer to a MPD3 DAC. I'm probably splitting hairs but I consider the MPD3 taking the data fed from a source as RE-sampling to DSD, not upsmapling. Since this is the first DAC to attempt this, the semantics of the terminology will probably cause a few to roll their eyes.
In my preious DACs, with few expections, i preferred playback in its native sample rate. I found upsampled 16/44.1 files sounded better to my ears without upsampling. I found 24 bit files upsampled were sometimes better, sometimes no, when utilizing upsampling.
I have experimented with the MPD3 and i prefer native sample rate files fed to the MPD3 and let the DAC RE-sample the data from PCM to DSD. As far as the sound, i could not be happier but then again, i don't have a Studer Reel to Reel for comparison. As far as level matching...the output from the MPD3 is a bit "hotter" than my vinyl rig....but I compensate by just turning the volume down a bit.....;) |
Khrys, such as this hobby is.....i have not heard the DCS gear lately....nor when I did hear it was it in a system with which I was familiar. Sometimes we take a pass on all of the equipment in a given system that doesn't strike our fancy, which was the case when I briefly demoed the DCS gear. I dont even remember what else was in the system at the time.....the whole thing was too analytical for me at the time....very unfair on my part but nonetheless....
The DAC8 is very good. I owned one and enjoyed it. It was in a system fronting Shindo amplification. I would not consider the DAC8 in the same league with the Playback Designs MPD3 but everyone has different taste and priorities. To be fair, I have had both Naim and Berkeley dacs since I had the ARC and each was different. If I had never heard the Playback Designs, I would be happy with the ARC or the Berkeley, with the ARC getting the nod for its USB performance over the Berkeley(havent heard Berkeleys new external box usb adapter). I believe the MPD3 is clearly superior to the above units. If you want all of the audiofile hyperbole, take the warmth of the ARC, the PRAT of the NAIM, the precision and flow of the Berkeley and combine all of these positive virtues and you get to about 80-90% of the Playback Designs MPD3. Go listen to one, arrange a demo, you may love it but YMMV. Regards. |
I use a Playback Designs MPD3, I finally posted my main system for those keeping score at home. |
No hiss here, dead quiet. I had my MPD3 connected via XLR (currently running single ended) and it was a black background to say the least. For your reference, I use a Cardas clear M power cable into a Running Springs Audio Jaco conditioner. The problem is likely elsewhere although I guess anything is possible with electrical components. Do you live in an area with difficult power delivery? Especially when summer is concerned, sporadic voltage fluctuations could trigger a number of anomolies. Peace. |
