Playback Edelweiss in the house

“Hard to think of immediate competitors.”

@metaldetektor

To your point, this segment of the audio industry is rapidly evolving. I replaced my digital front end comprising EMM Labs DA2 and Aurender N20 with Merging Technologies +player.

The +player is a impressive piece on its own even before you consider the external power supply and clock options. I really appreciate the fact that +player eliminates the need for external device like Nucleus to run Roon core. The onboard internal CPU runs RoonCore and is controlled by Roon remote app on a tablet or smartphone. All this simplicity, the DAC’s superlative transparency and realism comes at a bargain price of $14K 😊

In terms of the straight DAC, the closest competitor that I offer is probably the Rockna Wavedream Signature with the XLR priced above at $17K and SE edition below at $12K.  It is one of the more detailed units I have heard and delivers an impressive soundstage.  It is perfectly neutral yet is still very musical.  Obviously it is a ladder so it will have a different presentation.  

I do not have the two units side-by-side at the moment but they feel quite competitive based on my initial listening.  I am sure I will get to do a side-by-side at some point and that will be most interesting.  

I enjoyed the playback design mps-5 for many years and the company is quality and Andreas is a genius.  Its unfortunate that the prices are so high nowadays for this sort of top of the market digital.  Luckily I mostly spin vinyl and listen only occasionally to digital with modest budget dac like benchmark and chord so sold my playback design.  If you like to spin discs and you got the money though Andreas and Playback Designs is a quality bet.

So two SACDs arrived yesterday and I got to listen casually to them; Dave Brubeck and The Cars.  I am noticing some more top-end sparkle and the soundstage sounds larger deeper than I anticipated for 65 hours of break-in. 

The unit has been on and off for days with the volume turned off on my integrated amp.  I actively avoid listening during these break-in stretches to make any changes more noticeable.  

At the moment, this unit is a hair forward of neutral.  I will do a side-by side compare but I feel like tonally it is about where the Weiss is.  Detail remains unprecedented.  I am wondering if my amp is a bottleneck and am looking forward to getting my AGD back as it is a bit more refined.  

Keep us posted on Playback Designs. I know you had another thread about different dacs, but any comparisons to Meitner would be welcomed (at least by me) :-)