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Thoughts and perceptions on the sound quality of Accuphase Digital Products

Hello Audiogoners - and I have a quick question that came up in a recent conversation I had with a dealer as well as with a friend of mine. High End single box CD / SACD players are seen as being limited these days due to the increase in  streaming, but companies such as  Esoteric, DCS and possibly Vitus to just name a few are still making and developing this technology. My question is ; '' where does Accuphase stand on this subject,,,,, '' Do we look at Accuphase as being a leader in the making and development of high end single box CD / SACD players '' ? I read where for their 50th Anniversary they came out with the DC / DP 1000 separates which is CD / SACD player that is supposed to be really, really good. ( but, at a price )  The DP 750 received great reviews and just came out with the newer version the DP 770. 

I owned the Accuphase DP 720 at one time and it was a very musical player and yet detailed at the same time. Also, Accuphase has lowered their prices here in the US due to somewhat of a change in their distribution here and hopefully it will gain some better traction in sales and at a better price than before. With that said, and being very familiar with Accuphase products ; '' is it time to look at Accuphase Digital products seriously and consider them just as good or even better than the Esoteric , DCS players that are out there now '' ........your thoughts and thank you in advance.  

garebear
chadsort
17 posts
 

Don't forget that there is also now the newly-launched Esoteric Grandioso K1X SE, which have major upgrades internally for the discrete parts, and you also have a further upgrade path for adding on a Grandioso G1X master clock, which again brings it up another level.

 


 

garebear OP
1,062 posts
 

…….thank you chadsport and your points are well taken and other friends of mine have expressed the same sentiment . One actually said to me ; “ why don’t you keep the Grandioso and add the Esoteric PS 1 power supply “‘ ? That has occurred to me and put a thread on here on the sonic merits of this change and it was all positive . So that may be an alternative. 

phillyb's avatar
phillyb
394 posts
 

Keep in mind sounding more laid back than Esoteric means it might be more real and natural sounding, Esoteric sound is direct in your face. Not a bad thing if you like that type of reproduction which means like all audio it is a personal taste like cooking with spices. In my many years of experience, if you buy a CD player and then stick with the Japanese designers, they are more reliable, and more advanced than boutique manufacturers that use OEM parts to build those, I've owned them and all had problems early on, and needed to go back for repairs and adjustments. My one Sony that I gave away to a friend was still going strong after 15 years with no problems at all. My SCD1 was 10 years old when I sold it and it is still going strong. My Esoteric's K03. K01 is still in service. Digital players are a strong point of Japanese companies. Looking inside the Sony SCD1 was a marvel to see the quality and design. Stunning. Never owned one that was built like that player was. Marantz SA10 is a superb sounding player also with their own design of the music mastering system. 

toronto416
173 posts
 

When discussing Accuphase and Esoteric cd players, should one not also add Luxman to the list of excellent Japanese brands?  The Luxman D-10x and D-07x look promising.

breezer
117 posts
 

And TAD, too.

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