Theta Compli vs Esoteric DV-50

DBLD,

AVGURU here. Read the thread right below yours " Esoteric DV 50: any cdp's better?" In it I talk about how the DV 50 ranks against a bunch of players including the Theta Compli. Should give you your answer.

Gotcha. When I posted my question you had not gotten to the Compli yet. I have been following your thread with great interest. I still bought a DV-50 last week.

If I could kill this thread, I would since it is now redundant.

Dave

I have had the opportunity to audition both the Esoteric DV-50 and Theta Compli players in my system recently.

DV-50:
- 1st rate build quality (including the remote); inspires confidence;
- very detailed sound, yet airy and open; found it particularly impressive with DVD-A, perhaps less so with SACD, but I am not yet very familiar with these high-rez new formats;
- whilst redbook CD played on the DV-50 is really quite good and definitely not clinical/un-musical, it lacked a bit of emotion/palpability for my taste;
- solid if perhaps a tad "washed out" picture/video quality; I guess it can be improved by tweaking settings

Compli:
- ok build but not really 1st class (VERY cheesy remote); feels more like an "artisanal" production
- amazingly good redbook CD sound: vivid, delicate, very involving and emotional. Wow! Trumps the DV-50 in my humble opinion.
- SACD and DVD-A: quite good, if again not that dramatic in their qualitative difference (is this a general observation or just me being deaf?)
- DVD-V: very solid performer (the Pioneer heritage?), without the expensive SDI & ultra sync options; don't know if they worth their salt.

Overall I am highly impressed with the Compli so far and found it to be a top contender in the jack of all trades category (curious about the McCormack UDP1).

Would love to hear it with the Gen VIII DAC, as it performs so well on its own that it seems like an promising challenge: how can the sound be $10,000 better (I know this gets exponential)?

Happy to answer any questions, feedback ... Thanks!

I have both a Compli and a GenVIII. I am very satisifed with both. This combo killed my former Cary rig (306/200 and slp2002 preamp). Remember that GenVIII is not only an outstanding DAC, but also an incredible good preamp.

Since Theta still hasn't come up with any solution for digital highrez output, I guess there now are dedicated SACD players, maybe like the new Cary, that beat the Compli on SACD.

It would have been interesting to hear the Cary 306 SACD through the balanced analog inputs on the GENVIII.