From: soucie@bnr.ca (John Soucie)
Subject: Audio Alchemy and Transports
Originator: tjk@csd4.csd.uwm.edu
Reply-To: soucie@bnr.ca (John Soucie)
Organization: Bell Northern Research, Ottawa
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 1992 14:05:18 GMT


 Most or all of these questions may have been adressed already but I just
decided to upgrade my CD player so I am kicking myself for not paying attention
the first time!
 I am interested in possibly getting the Audio Alchemy Digital Decoding
Engine(DDE) and was toying with the idea of mating it with a lower cost but
decent CD player which would be used as the transport. The types of models I was
looking into as a transport were the Pioneer PD-7700 with the Stable Platter
Mechanism or a JVC XL-Z441TN(this was a suggestion of the salesman selling the
DDE). In Canada the combined price would be around $800 for either. The DDE goes
for around $500 up here. Also there is the Marantz CD-52 which has a switchable
coax out that is supposed to be decent. The Pionner & JVC have optical out.

 My question is, does this reasoning make any sense. The salesman said he though
the improvements from the DDE far outweighed any minor defficiencies which might
be a result of the less than state of the art transport. This made sense to me
but....after reading a few reviews on the DDE it was not obvious that this unit
was that far ahead of some of the other mid-priced CD players like the Adcom,
Arcam Alpha and my too other alternatives the Pioneer PD-9700 or the highly
rated Rotel RCD-965BX. Considering I can get the PD-9700 for about $550 and the
Rotel for $650 I get the impression that the Transport/DA Conv may not
necessarily sound any better than these two units costing a couple of hundred
bucks less.

 Does anybody have any experience with the DDE and any opinions on the seperate
cheaper transport(at least you get all the goofy extra features found on the
cheaper CD players!)
 Also does anybody have any opinions on the Pioneer Stable Platter Mechanism(the
turntable!). Is this a gimmick or is it a good way of getting good performance
from a lower buck player. The concept seems quite good to me but, you
know......MARKETING. The salesman said it was lousy and that JVC was better and
more stable(the store was a high end outfit and JVC was their only low $$$
Japanese line they carried, so he didn't have much choice in what to show me).

 Also what about the pros and cons of the Optical Digital Out versus the Coax
Digital Out. Some people have been telling me the optical is inferior unless you
get the AT&T setup($$$). Is this true. I figure even if I don't get the seperate
D/A the Rotel or PD-9700 would at least serve me well as a transport when the
even newer D/A's come out in a couple of years. If the coax out is the only way
to go then the PD-7700 and the JVC are out and the Marantz(or other coax out
machines) is the correct choice or alternative with the seperate D/A box.

 Back to the Audio Alchemy DDE.....anybody know anything about this I2S bus
(inter-IC Sound) that it has. It claims that it makes it upgradable(plug and
play!) so the DDE "never!" becomes obsolete. Does this mean that they will build
little modules with the latest bitstream DAC that will utilize the internal
logic in this box. Does that mean the internal logic will never need upgrading
(they have thought of everything!). Sounds like a pipe dream gimmick to me.

 By the way my system consist of a Rega Planar2, Sumiko Blue Point, Dolan PM-1
preamp(which is a $2500 Canadian preamp...now defunct), PS Audio Model 2C Plus
Amp and soon to be purchased speakers (probably 3A MM...great speakers but you
don't get them in the U.S I think, or PRO-AC Studio 1 MKII,....or....)

       Any opinions would be appreciated
 .
--
The opinions expressed here are the                 John Soucie
opinions of the author and in no way                soucie@bnr.ca
reflect the opinions of Bell Northern
Research.



Newsgroups: rec.audio.high-end