Haute Fidelite – France
December 2011:
Playback Designs MPS-3 Review (In French)
The CD Player At The Summit
by Patrice Philippe
“WHEN WE RECEIVED THIS CD PLAYER, WE WERE SEDUCED BY ITS DESIGN, BUT COULD NOT HAVE IMAGINED THE GREAT JOY THAT WOULD COME FROM LISTENING TO IT. THIS WAS ALL MORE SURPRISING BECAUSE WE HAD NOT PREVIOUSLY HEARD OF PLAYBACK DESIGNS. WE THEREFORE ENDEAVORED TO LEARN ABOUT THE TEAM AT PLAYBACK DESIGNS AND THE COMPANY’S HISTORY.”
Andreas Koch, Jonathan Tinn and Bert Gerlach founded Playback Designs in 2008. Andreas began his career at Studor Revox in Switzerland in 1982, where he built the first fully asynchronous digital converter, an invention that was patented in 1984. In light of his work for Studor Revox, Andreas was hired by Dolby Labs in San Francisco, where in 1985, he invented the digital signal processing encoder/decoder AC-1 (delta modulator). Used for television transmissions, the AC-1 system was the first digital audio product produced by Dolby Labs. In 1986, Andreas did the work behind the first version of the compression algorithm AC-3, which is widely used to this day. In 1987, he was retained by Studor Revox to manage development of a professional 48-track digital audio ½ inch tape recorder. Andreas continued his esteemed work in Switzerland until his transfer in 1989 to Studor Editech in Menlo Park, California, where he managed a group of engineers that was charged with developing a hard-drive digital recorder for use in professional post-production applications.
In 1993, Andreas was hired by Sony, which moved him to San Francisco in 1997 at which time he oversaw development of the first 8-channel DSD (SACD) machine for recording, editing and mixing. He designed the digital aspects of the first SACD converters, which were adopted as the industry standard. In 2003, Andreas established his own consulting company and provided the digital architecture and algorithms for the digital products of EMM Labs. In this capacity, he designed and implemented various proprietary algorithms to convert sampling frequencies (“SRC”), as well as designed a discreet DAC and unique clock architecture.
Jonathan Tinn is principally responsible for sales and distribution, while Bert Gerlach is an electrical engineer and audiophile who designed the analog output stages of Playback Designs’ products.
Knowing the team and pedigree behind the company, we now better understand the shock we experienced when we listened to this digital product.
DESCRIPTION
The first encounter the user will have with this CD player is above all visual, inasmuch as the chassis is elegant and accomplished, with a large readout that is very easy to read, and understated buttons controlling all major functions on the top front of the chassis. What the exterior design does not reveal, however, is the technology employed on the inside. The MPS-3 is a CD player featuring a DAC using discrete components in a dual differential mode. For those in the know, this type of DAC is rare and featured only in the products of a small handful of the most prestigious manufacturers, such products typically being very expensive. That said, this Playback Designs CD player is characterized not only by its digital-to-analog converter, which we will return to momentarily, but also by its TEAC / Esoteric transport which has been modified to minimize all forms of parasitic vibrations. Because this CD player features a very high performance DAC, Playback Designs has configured it to also function on a stand-alone basis via, among other digital inputs, a USB port, which permits it to be used with other digital sources. In contrast to what is all too customary with today’s digital products, the USB port employed here is a delight to use because it accepts digital sources of up to 24 bits / 384 kHz. (many USB interfaces are limited to 16 bits / 48 kHz.!). This also means that this DAC processes PCM sources at up to 384 kHz. and DSD sources at up to 6.1 MHz. We take this opportunity to emphasize to our readers the importance of the USB cable, especially where it will be used with a DAC of this quality. Our recent comparisons of various USB cables revealed dramatic differences in quality from cable to cable, and it would be a tragedy to limit the potential of this CD player by partnering it with a cable of mediocre quality. In addition, this USB port is best utilized via ASIO. Returning to the numbers, we know that not all 1’s and 0’s are just numbers and that only the sound that results has importance. That is why Playback Designs developed for its DAC an apodizing filter that brings substantial improvements in oversampling to signals that are originally 16-bit / 44 kHz. and 48 kHz. Apodization is a technology developed in connection with optical systems, and while we have not mastered its true technical significance, we understand that it was developed to perfect reception by parabolic antennae. After a bit of investigating, we were able to determine that this type of filter is used by other manufacturers, but only a few. And in order to make this player truly versatile, it features, in addition to the USB input, AES/EBU and S/PDIF digital inputs, and RCA and XLR digital outputs.
It comes with a delightful aluminum remote control that features all of the customary commands.
LISTENING:
We mostly listened to the MPS-3 as a CD player, because that is the way we initially encountered it. We were advised to allow it to warm up for at least one hour prior to listening, and we were also told of the very long break-in period for this product – it requires several months of use before reaching full performance. Its owner must therefore be patient, especially because this player sounds remarkable right out of the box.
Timbre: Thanks to its remarkable DAC and transport, this player brings intense emotion to the listener that is characteristic of the very best turntables used in the highest resolution systems. The music is so fast, clear, transparent, approachable and magnificently timbred that we were overcome. On A Furtive Tear by the jazz singer Izzy, this player was absolutely analog-like in bringing forth intense emotion. The perception is that we have moved into a new era and that CD’s finally, and digital music generally, have finally reached maturity. This CD player is all about fluidity – it is natural, filigreed, and possessing great beauty of timbre.
Soundstaging: The stage thrown by this CD player varies according to the recording and is never monotone. Most of the time, it is both wide and deep, and allows the listener to precisely locate each player and to perceive different layers of space front to back. Of course, this only works with good sources, whereby we are able to move from a two-dimensional presentation to 3D, with depth taking on new meaning. The listening environment wrought by this player is of the very highest quality and equates to the concert hall or the recording studio: the illusion is perfect. The effect was also that we had changed speakers.
Dynamics: The dynamics of this player set the standard for this category, whether it be macro or microdynamics. The energy of the music is expressed without restraint, the micro-details are even more natural, and the overall clarity and speed subjectively perceived lend a feeling that we are listening to a perfect system. The initial attack of notes is ultra-vivid and sharp, and the decay is pure enjoyment. In addition, the MPS-3 never overdoes it – it is never outrageous, it is never gratuitously spectacular, and it serves the music without restraint, without trying to over flatter upon first listen at the expense of caricature in the long run. In the album Orchestrion by Pat Metheny, the instruments are absolutely sublime in their realism and beauty of timbre. Each encounter with this player is memorable when the recording is up to snuff.
Transparency: We have been unable to find a weakness in this player. In addition to its superlative imaging, timbre, and dynamics, its transparency is equally present. With track after track, good records are so natural. Silences are so profound and the effect so serene that time passes without notice. When listening to a high resolution (24 bits / 192 kHz.) recording of Monty Alexander performing “Calypso Blues” as a tribute to Nat King Cole through the USB input, the transparency, the clarity, and the immediacy of the piano is a leap forward compared to the normal quality of this already exceptional recording. Disc after disc, track after track, file after file, sounds appear on full display, for example, palms on the skin of percussion instruments, fingers on strings, breath in the reeds, bow on the string of a violin, sticks on cymbals, the carnal nature of a voice, and so on. This is the signature of the ultra high end, and while not a discovery per se, it is unusual to see such performance at this price point.
VERDICT
The Playback Designs MPS-3 is truly a bargain, its very competitive price bringing ultra-premium performance to the disposal of more music lovers who will now have access to the ultimate dimension in musical reproduction. With this CD player, we are able to resolve more musical information than can be achieved by almost any other CD player on the market, but it does so while retaining a beautifully musical coherence that features emotion, fluidity and naturalness. As it is also a DAC featuring a state-of-the-art USB port, it brings to its happy owner new horizons for hard-drive music at the very highest level. Finally, notwithstanding all the good that we can ascribe to it, it must be said that the MPS-3 is the entry level player of Playback Designs, whose top-of-the-line player, the MPS-5, performs at an even higher level and plays SACD discs in stereo.
Patrice Philippe
SYSTEM:
Electronics: ATC SCA2 Preamplifier and FM Acoustics F-30 B Amplifier
Speakers: P-E Léon Maestral
Cables: Purist Audio Design Corvus
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