All I can say is that we have heard that music 100s if not 1000s of times on 100s if not 1000s of different configurations of that system. The bay window and high-ceiling is actually a plus [for most large speakers] which is why they design concert halls like that.

So, as you might expect, the demo was much more informative for us than it was for you.

It is my opinion that PD and Emm Labs are diverging and have different goals. If I were to be so bold, I would say that Emm Labs has been perusing high fidelity and PD high musicality - or at least a cross product between the two. Therefore comparing the EMM Labs TSD1 + DAC2 versus Playback designs MPS-5 makes less sense than one might at first suppose.

Of the things we have been enamored with of late: Nordost ODIN, the Lamm ML3 and the TSD1/DAC2 are high fidelity landmarks. The Audio Note Kegon Balanced amps are a cross between the two. The lovely Kharmas are, for example, high musicality.

And I am with Tom, we are so glad you are enjoying the PD so much.

Take care,
Mike.

I’m sincerely happy that you are getting so much enjoyment out of the PD. It must be a killer player!!!

Best,
Tom

Mike, how anyone would know how DSOTM is supposed to sound is beyond me. It’s great music and engineering and all out of phase on purpose. I think that your bay window, high ceiling location of the Coltranes added to the distortion. For example, the Branco vocal was floating around over the left speaker and I now know that it should have been firmly centered between the speakers. With Radiohead and Pink Floyd that speaker placement adds to the dramatic impact, but for simple stereo recordings it was confusing and distorted. I was slow to realize this until I re-listened in my own system and realized that your big room. Given the confusion I was mainly focusing on timbre and macro dynamics.

Still, it was fun and informative to me.

Dave

Of course this is just speculation on my part and an actual fair comparison should be done to draw any conclusive conclusions …… but with the above post of the PD vs. EMM single-box being an indication on how the 2 units compare, then I would have to conclude from my experience with the EMM single-box - the EMM silver badge DAC6se/CDSDse - and the new EMM DAC2/TSD1, is that the new EMM duo is just on a whole another level of fidelity.

best,
Tom

Thanks for your comments - and the stand-up way you presented your case on the forums. I know it can get pretty aggressive out there - and the PD’s primary promoters are some of the most aggressive of all.

Even though we honestly prefer the CDSA [for everything it doesn’t do wrong, if nothing else] and the Audio Note digital, for that matter [also for everything that is doesn’t do wrong, for what better definition is there of perfection in high-end audio than Do No Harm?] - I think we understand each other and that this is all pretty darn good sounding equipment. I mean, this ain’t Wadia [can I say that? . I know, I know - they are working on improving their sound - and it is actually getting better. Soon, all their previous fans will have to find something else ear-scratchingly horrible to tout as the best.]

The CDSA has become the Gold Standard in players [and at $11.5K it is unbelievably reasonably priced - I got my not-state-of-the-art Levinson 39 for $6500 in 1996 which is more than $11.5K in today’s poor dollars]. Like Nordost Valhalla, Mercedes, the Matrix, etc., every product has to compare themselves to, and try to unseat, the standard bearer. To attempt this ‘unseating’, there is just a whole lot of misrepresentation [aka lying. I think this word has to come back into common usage given the current state of dialog on the net and TV] - which confuses the people who can not get access to the product to really scope it out without buying it first.

As for Radiohead, and Pink Floyd to a lesser degree, we have heard that track on 100s of systems - and so we are most familiar with what ‘right’ should be - and it is a test track that is very complex in its simplicity.

So those tracks were mostly for Neli and I - we are used to getting an immediate reading of a system very quickly using these tracks - but you are right, we should have played more vanilla music - and specifically music that we all three of us are very familiar with. Here’s to better planning next time!

Thanks again for bringing up the PD.

Take care,
Mike

I frankly wasn’t paying as much attention to micro dynamics as you, evidently, so I can’t really comment on your observations in that regard. We probably should have played a little more Mahler on both to really focus more on dynamics, both massive and micro.

Mike said and I said it and now I’d like to re-emphasize that these are first impressions based on listening for a limited amount of time on a very revealing system. The time spent really raised a long list of things to investigate further, rather than resolving much. I think that we totally agreed about the PD seeming slightly more forward in its overall presentation.

I was astounded by the images on the CDs and SACDs with lots of phase-play (Pink Floyd and Radiohead) and while those are incredible fun, it’s absolutely impossible to define a “right.” The Branco CD was stunning, presenting Branco’s voice in a very unusual way in my experience. (Is there phase-play going on there? No matter, I ordered two of her CDs on Thursday.) Anyway, I’d love to have pulled out a few more of my female vocalists to see if I noticed any of the same differentials.

Oh, the other thing that we all agreed on, without reservation at all, they’re both great players. One is kinda vanilla and one is kinda chocolate, but neither is that far away from the other.