Review in AUDIO magazine (Germany), November 2003
CD player Accuphase DP-67

The Real Thingby Joachim Pfeiffer

Today's one-for-all players are threatening a traditional hi-fi species, namely the purebred CD player. Accuphase however are about to stop this trend.
You'll have to get used to this: more and more these days the market is flooded bydigital players which not only can play back CDs but also DVD-Video and -Audio, or SACD
dual- or multi-channel, and sometimes, as a side job so to speak, also digital formats like MP3,etc. (you name it!). No doubt, this is going to become an every day's situation. Likewise you'll
have to get accustomed to the fact that these machines will most likely crash as often as thePC in your office. It's because these new high-tech tools are, strictly speaking, nothing butcomputers, handsomely packed in a case with typical hi-fi looks. Now, should you, dearfriends of the discriminating hi-fi guild, have absolutely no interest in this questionable futureand instead would rather savour music at the highest level then I've got just the right offer foryou: a CD player from the house of Accuphase of which the internal components have been
made for nothing but to play back conventional silver disks, in stereo nevertheless.
Well, the engineers at Accuphase really had a go. Nearly all that's expensive andsonically superior was given to the DP-67. Obviously, an unspoken goal was to offer anadequate alternative to the DP-75V which is going to be discontinued. After all, this likewise"CD only" out-of-this-world player came with a hefty price tag, whereby the look-alike DP67 merely fetches a good price, which can be considered an almost modest price for acomponent from Accuphase.
From the laser unit to the analogue output stages, this machine really knew how toconvince us from a technical point of view. A fully digital control circuitry of the mechanicalsection allows the optimisation of the servo performance for each individual CD in order todrastically reduce the error rate and, as a side effect, enhances long-term operation stability byeliminating the influence of ambient temperature fluctuations. Also quite sophisticated seems
the employment of an ultra-compact RF amplifier being integrated in the laser pickup unit.
This special amplifier is augmenting the originally very low signal from the laser in order tomake it more resistant against ambient noise interference. Actually, both measures have one
thing in common, namely that the error rate is substantially reduced as well. No doubt, aprecise error corrections is fine, but it's better still if there is nothing at all to do for it.
The D/A converter stage, dubbed MDS++ by Accuphase, can also be considered
perfect. Per channel it features four Delta-Sigma converters from Analog Devices in parallel
configuration for the purpose of achieving a flawless signal conversion: less noise, hardly any
distortions, outstanding linearity and the best dynamic range. The results are definitely worth
the efforts.

1With the DP-67 Accuphase have, in all probability, built the presently best CD player on
this planet.
We couldn't believe our ears when the DP-67 came to play in AUDIO's listening room.
In particular with complex music like the one on "Days and Nights of Blue Luck Inverted" byKip Hanrahan (American Clavé) it could demonstrate that it's definitely on par with theCD/SACD player DP-85 from the same maker. And after having warmed up for a couple ofdays we realised that the DP-67 even managed to leave the DP-85 slightly behind. For
example, with the disk mentioned above it was audibly easier to distinguish if there was either
an electro bass or an acoustic double bass being played. Moreover, this new CD player went
stunningly straightforward, together with an abundance of information, through the wildest
sequences, yet without sacrificing the musical context on the altar of precision. But this is not
all because something else attracted our attention: with the DP-67 it seemed that even if music
was played back really loud through Focal's super speakers JM Lab Grande Utopia, things
still sounded pleasantly, i.e. no pain in the neck - just like in real life. Add to this an
overwhelming richness of sound colours which eventually sums up to the best CD player
hitherto performing in AUDIO's listening room.
By a hair's breadth this review was to become a true sensation: could we really takethe responsibility to award -due to its small sonic superiority in CD playback mode- moresonic points to the DP-67 than to the DP-85? To be on the safe side AUDIO therefore
obtained the last unsold sample of the DP-75V, and upon the first audition it did not come asa surprise that we could very well hear the enormous similarity within the family.
So, 125 sonic points have been achieved by the DP-67 with hardly any efforts. 125 points are
as many as the DP-75V once scored very easily and, well, as many as the DP-85 only justmade them.
Make no mistake: there are millions of CDs out there, as opposed to perhaps a few
hundred SACDs and a handful of DVDs. Maybe this is going to change some day but until
then the DP-67 is certainly the best choice.

SUMMING UP:
Don't let them confuse you. CD is alive and kicking and will definitely be alive for a very
long time to come, before it may perhaps be driven out by disks of higher resolution. This isfact and therefore you can't go wrong if you go and buy this magnificent CD player fromAccuphase. I can guarantee you that you'll be happy with it and besides that, you'll always
have the good feeling that your money was well invested, namely in a machine of which oneof the concepts is longevity. Be sure that you'll be obtaining a device which even after many
years will not lose its value. After all Accuphase don't build computers.

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