[English Translation Test Accuphase DP-720 / Audio 02/2017]
Accuphase DP-720

TOP SCORER
You love your CDs? And your SACDs? Looking for a suitable player beyond all
discussions about sound and durability? Well, we’ve got a tip then.

There is this barely noticeable tremble which reveals the inner tension rather than
excitement or even fear when taking a breath. Soprano singer Carolyn Sampson is,after all, a professional, esteemed worldwide as an opera, concert and song performer
for many years. But this passage of Mozart’s Mass in C Minor, more exactly: in theintroductory ”Kyrie“, even more precisely: in its middle part ”Christe eleison“, is definitely
tricky. From the deepest abyss ever reachable for her vocal range up to angelic heights,
the soprano singer is begging for Christ’s mercy. Conductor Masaaki Suzuki literally
carries her on his hands, yet demands the most subtle dynamic nuances, supple
easiness with intense textual expression and also forbids tricks like thenotorious ”portamento“. Miss Sampson does this quite wonderfully, taking the listener’ssoul to soar with her. Moments later the choir sets in again, immensely multi-faceted in
its acoustic evolution, the first violins play a delicate accompaniment with minimallyvaried rhythm figures. No doubt, a worthy classic CD of the month (see music section).
It’s a Super Audio CD whose stereo track the author is now enjoying. He doesn’t caremuch about the Catholic Church and its masses, yet all the more about Mozart. And theequipment that brought this godlike composer close to him once more. Really close.
Straight to his soul. The source: the Accuphase DP-720 CD/SACD player. Every inchan aristocrat from the Accuphase lineage with the famous champagne front, the noble
wooden enclosure, the massive weight. The player doesn’t blare out its extreme level ofsophistication, it’s confidently engraved in fine type on its face: ”Precision MDSD SA-CDPlayer“.
Accuphase carries the accuracy already in their name, amalgamated with phase. The
accurate harmonizing of any electro-acoustic phase in the musical happenings was theinspiration for the name-giving back in the early 1970s. From the very beginning theimmense technical and musical aspiration has remained valid.
And so the Accuphase DP-720 combines once more leading-edge technology with aquality of workmanship for eternity. But this is what its precursor DP-700 already didnine years ago. And also its predecessor, pre-predecessor etc. Accuphase fans hoard,
keep and utilize their treasures quite often for 20, 30 or 40 years, guarded by thepeerless service quality imposed on their dealers by the importing/distributing company
P.I.A. An Accuphase is only available at handpicked specialist retailers. And anAccuphase will not go out to a review just like that, either. The DP-720 was ceded to theauthor only with an ”escort“: the subtly action PS-1220 mains conditioner, probably theultimate solid-state preamp C-3850, and the P-7300 power amp. Exquisite equipment,
wired with P.I.A.’s blessing via Kimber’s Ultimate Set (AUDIO 9/16) – everything justgood enough for the DP-720. Because advancements in sound are probably the only1

reason to supersede an Accuphase by the next one. And nothing of it should get lost
within the chain.

EVER MORE PERFECT
Accuphase puts nearly every generated yen back into the firm as well as into researchand development. A new Accuphase never becomes outdated, but is constantly
developed further towards perfection. Linguists should actually not form thecomparative of the adjective ”perfect“ – except with Accuphase. For instance when
taking a look at the DP-720’s drive. Some may call it a hybris, others simply crazy todesign and produce such a component still in-house. Yet Accuphase builds thetransport, suitable for CDs and SACDs, themselves and also the periphery that goeswith it and has made it even more resistant to mechanical rigors from outside(resonances) and inside (disc flutter), as compared to its predecessor.
Apropos: following good traditions Accuphase also builds a two-piece drive-converter
combo above the DP-720 called DP-950/DC-950. This is, however, a different andagain way more expensive story. But from these almost untouchable components theintegrated DP-720 player inherited its digital HS-Link interfaces. Normally the datastored on SACDs cannot leave a device on the digital domain. Owing to the proprietaryhigh-speed couplings, the integrated Accuphase DP-720 player lets them go in and out.
Here the home-grown DG-58 Digital Voicing Equalizer could be slaved in. But this isagain a different story.
The newbie still has one ace up its sleeve: its drive can read DSD data discs. Yes,
music lovers can burn their DSD-64 downloads in DSF format onto data DVDs and playthem back on the DP-720. Provided they strictly adhere to the procedure described in
the excellent user manual. It even plays backup copies, which many data pros love toburn on a custom-tuned Sony Playstation 3 after saving them onto DVD. Seen from thisangle, one will soon get over it that precisely this player opens its converter via USB tohigh-res PCM, but not to DSD. The fact that some meta data get lost in the process ofburning DSD files onto DVD, is yet again a different story.
In this one here the DSD and PCM data, read out from regular SACDs and CDs, flow
into a converter universe which has no equal, challenged at best by the similarly
sophisticated, but differently designed Katalyst (AUDIO 11/16). MDSD stands forMultiple Double Speed DSD. Accuphase employs eight (!) 32-bit capable ESS 9018
“Hyperstream Digital Analogue Converter Chips“ per channel (in the DP-700 it was theAD 1955 from Analog Devices). They make sure that in a highly
complex ”MDS++“ architecture the noise turns out extremely low and the converter
precision extremely high. No surprise that our lab could state new benchmarks on theverge of measurability.
So there are already enough technical reasons why to pick the new DP-720. But there
are even more important ones. Who has ever listened to the mentioned recording ofMozart’s Mass in C Minor over this player will never want to hear this wonderful opus in
any other way. Never again less wonderful.
The author came to the same conclusion with numerous other classic SACDs as welland things didn’t change, either, with rock classics on SACD (see music section). Highend snobs may screw up their noses as to why a soul gem like Otis Redding’s ”Otis
Blue“ (1966) appears on SACD in that slightly distorted sound, mixed down in hard
ping-pong stereo with vocals/drums/guitar on the right side and bass/brass on the left.
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Music fans, however, will be amazed at first and then become ecstatic over thisabsolutely tight rhythm, the mind-boggling dynamics and this soulful, elemental voice
which the Accuphase player conjures up. Unbelievable how the guitar solo on ”Rock Me
Baby“ cuts in like a razor, how the brass players are blaring with verve. Here musicians
are playing together, here their music is literally played back. Finally it was the turn ofanother true hi-fi classic on SACD: the ”Trinity Sessions“ by the Cowboy Junkies.
Everything, really everything was audible, from the gentle flaring up of cymbals,
caressed by brushes, to the faintest dashes of electric guitar. And Margo Timmins wassinging to melt away. Oops … the author almost forgot to hint to the fascinating
playback of quite ordinary CDs.
If you love your silver discs and especially the music on them, if you don’t want totransfer them onto a computer without further ado, but play them back optimally instereo, you should definitely lend your ear to the DP-720. Only then you will know how
good CD and SACD can sound.

BOTTOM LINEThe Accuphase DP-720 is a playback device for CDs and SACDs, a digital stereo
source. Nothing more. Nothing more? Fiddlesticks! It does not only turn silver discs, butcoaxes the music out of the bit structures with virtually all its secrets, conveying musicas a deeply touching experience. I’d never have thought it possible to what audible andperceivable extent a manufacturer can advance the reproduction level of CDs andSACDs, yet Accuphase has accomplished this feat: the DP-720 is the best integrated
player I’ve ever heard. The top scorer. The AUDIO reference.
Lothar Brandt

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