Test Accuphase DP-560 / Fidelity 01/2018

The Co-Partner
It came as a companion and is leaving as a friend.

It came as a companion to the Accuphase E-270 integrated amplifier. It was always
willing to serve and delivered just music, music, music without much ado. Perfectly
did it play its role as a source device, leaving the whole stage, every bit of applause
and all the laurels to the small integrated amp. The reward: a tiny mention in thereport on the E-270 and two little pictures from the photo studio (see FIDELITY no.
34, issue 6/2017). Though the Accuphase DP-560 would really have had every
reason to push itself to the fore, at least a little once in a while. But this is out of placeat Accuphase’s. Honor to whom honor is due – and the new small integrated
amplifier sibling seized the lead role. Which the 270 did so well, by the way, that itwas not only used at my colleague Stefan Gawlick’s home, but also before and after
by the editorial team on a permanent assignment.
However, in the meantime the amplifier’s supportive companion, the DP-560, left
such a pleasant impression so many times that I finally allowed myself to give it asomewhat closer examination. Can the smallest SACD player from Accuphase also
shine as a soloist? Is there, behind that unspectacular servitude, maybe an equallyunspectacular – and therefore all the more lovable, because “true“ and absolutely
long-term suitable – sound?
I used the DP-560 in different chains, at different places. And in doing so, I have not
only come to appreciate the hunky weight of the player: you just can’t lug around 20
kilograms [44 lbs.] quickly from A to B, it may well make your arms feel rather heavy.
But when the 560 is set up and ready to play, it gives its owner instantly the goodfeeling to have something beautiful, valuable and above all good sounding. Normallythe player is controlled by the included no-frills remote, which even so has a metal
housing in the typical Accuphase color. However, on the occasion of an out-of-town
appointment I had forgotten to bring along this conductor’s baton, and this actuallyturned out to be pretty good that way. For if you use the DP-560 in the“classical“ mode as a digital player, you will need to step up to the unit anyway forchanging the disc. And this is a real pleasure for every button-pusher, hence also forme: all the keys on the device function absolutely flawlessly, without any rattling andwith a definite pressure point; moreover they are clearly labeled ... Say again? Youthink that ought to be self-evident above a certain price range? Yes, it should be thecase indeed. But this gorgeous “high-cost“ feeling of luxury and suppleness, as the1good camera makers have it down pat, for example, still seems not to be targeted by
all designers in the high-end audio scene. Sometimes it’s plain embarrassing howcheap many a knob parade appears even in super expensive audio devices inpractice. Not so with Accuphase. Here every unit is haptically checked as well during
manufacture and prior to its release, precisely readjusted if need be and optimized
until everything runs smoothly.
The same, of course, is also true of the player’s tray which is made from extruded
aluminum. It comes out with a soft purr and accompanies the desired disc inside with
an utterly gentle “fffft-click“. Beside the good old CD, an SACD is likewise welcome.
In fact highly welcome. For Accuphase is one of the few brave manufacturers whostick to the notoriously underrated (and equally notoriously understated) Super Audio
CD. Talking about sticks: the mentioned tray mechanism is indeed rod-guided andgives us the opportunity to take a closer look at the player’s inner workings before wecommit ourselves to the music extensively. Which is especially easy in view of theDP-560’s performance, but I’m anticipating.
The interior of an Accuphase device – what will it probably look like? Neat, of course.
Flawless. Essentially Prussian, if it weren’t Japanese throughout. Four chambers
subdivide the DP-560 between its two high-gloss alu side panels. Not only thetransformer to the left is metal-clad, the center drive is also fully shielded by a mighty
five-layer bridge construction. Therefore the rods can’t be viewed either, for example.
Or the heavy traverse mechanism which is anchored to the base plate anddecoupled by four small viscose dampers. Which together is to further improve asmooth operation, but above all the tracking accuracy. Moreover, the engineers werealso anxious to eliminate the system inherent wind and vibration noises due to thedisc rotating while it’s being read.
The exemplarily low-noise transport unit of the DP-560 fits perfectly into the picturewith all the other highlights, which are effectively never visible at first sight. For
instance, the typically Accuphase D/A converter architecture called MDS+, whereseveral DACs – in our case a foursome of the ES9018S “Hyperstream chip“ fromESS Technology – are driven in parallel, and their summed output signal shows
considerably lesser errors than is otherwise common. Or the paradigmatically linear“Direct Balanced Filter“ circuit, which reliably kills the aliasing interferencecomponents in the high-frequency range and – now let’s go the whole hog – hasbeen provided independently for both the balanced and unbalanced output stage.
Which takes us to the rear side. Here all connections of the machine are located. In
addition to the analog XLR and RCA outputs, the DP-560 also establishes contact inthe digital domain, first to enable it to use the integrated DAC for other source
devices, and second for linking the drive to external DACs. Here our attention isdrawn in particular to the home-designed “HS-Link“ which can also transmit higher
data rates, discretely split into data and clock signals. This I didn’t check out for lack2

of a suitable separate DAC, instead I was tickling the onboard DAC of the player withother sources.
My colleague Hans von Draminski can certainly tell you one or two funny things
about it: simply hook up the MacBook Pro quickly to the USB input with a quality USB
cable from CAD or AudioQuest – and in a jiffy the author’s kinky playlists shine attheir magnificent best over the respective sound system. This colleague cancomment on acoustic surprises since then, which were by no means unanimously
welcomed by both listeners. (At times, gloomy movie soundtracks by Benjamin
Wallfisch, Jóhann Jóhansson, Ulrich Reuter or Hans Zimmer can be real strong
stuff.)
Although it was the worried Hans von Draminski who kindly supplied me with asizeable number of SACDs from his impressive stock. Because when I have agenuine SACD player on hand for once, I do want to exploit the full potential of theallegedly superior format (irrespective of how good the performance of an excellently
produced CD may be). Well, look, listen and be amazed: even the “smallest“ SACD
player from Accuphase was easily able to work out the marked differences between
the Super Audio CD versus the CD. Though we can hardly speak of “work“ in thiscontext. For the DP-560 is plowing so nimbly and lively even through the mostcomplex music material that it isn’t a problem for me to consistently stay on the ball.
And when it’s about an SACD: so much the better. Because then the unexpectedseduction sounds quite a bit more accurate, finer and – yes – more analog.
But also with ordinary CDs the Accuphase is twisting me repeatedly around its little
finger before I really know it. What an accurate, cultivated, emphatic digital brat!
Long-term suitability is the crucial key word here. This I had observed already withfavor when I had forgotten the remote control: the tendency for skipping tracks isvanishingly low with the Accuphase. A very good sign, because it tells me that theplayer presents the heard music excitingly enough to make me delve deep into it.
This happens right away even with mediocre recordings, which the Accuphaseserves surprisingly colorfully and free from allures, i. e. honestly. But on the other
hand balanced out in such a precise and credible way that not the tiniest bit of energyof the stored music seems to get lost through the player.
Of course, this remarkable talent for a cohesive resolution, or a high-resolution
coherence respectively, shows to advantage a fortiori with first-class productions. SoI simply get around to listening through all the tracks on all three SACD samplers
called Special Sound Selection, released by Accuphase themselves in the years
2007, 2011 and 2014 – and enjoy them without exception, although this is in no way“my music“ from A to Z, which can be experienced on these in outstanding quality.
And with all three samplers the same thing is happening to me each time at the final
track: I almost jump out of my skin because suddenly an American calls from the left
into the room: “Left channel, left channel!” Faced with so much good music and even3

better recordings I have completely forgotten that the last track is kind of a quick user
guide for wiring the speakers correctly. Well, Brockmann, don’t let yourself get carriedaway too far – this helps. As a matter of principle, acoustical music is the stuff SACD
dreams are made of. A dream is also the performance which the smallest SACD
player in the Accuphase portfolio is providing here. The intermediate universal player(the smaller DP-430 is not designed for SACDs, the larger DP-720 is even moresophisticated, even heavier and accordingly more expensive) makes me write down
almost casually that its performance is “buoyant and fleet-footed, has excellent
screening qualities while drawing vast rooms, honest, perfectly balanced, rather
analytical than euphonic“. Such handwritten notes, which, due to multiple mentioning,are also decipherable, can be read after the listening session on my notepad, whichusually lies beside me in the dark on the couch. Briefly: the DP-560 is not a buzz
seeker, but a sincere and on top ideally motivated fellow. It delivers an amazingly
fluent performance which, above all with SACD diet, but also with high-bit files via
DAC, comes ever so close to top-notch analog, also musically. That’s how die-hardanalog fans would probably put it.
Personally, I should indeed start thinking seriously about an SACD player of my own
now. Does Accuphase finally have to come along to make this format highly tempting
for me? After all these years? It almost seems so.
For instance, even Bob Dylan, who’s mostly scorned by me, can absolutely thrill mewith his 2001 album Love And Theft on SACD (UDSACD 2164, through Sieveking
Sound). Or is it indeed the player, after all? The powerful, no doubt heavily
processed sound of the album? The Accuphase seems to reveal effortlessly
whatever fascinates me about this album: the master’s cruel “singing“, the band,
which has been trimmed to a rumbling sound, but plays wonderfully tight, the relaxed
strumming guitar work, the desperate mastering just before a nervous breakdown –yeah, this is how rock ’n’ roll is supposed to sound by all means, ladies and gents ofthe high culture! Oh yes, the gentleman’s Nobel Prize in Literature, we all haveforgotten it already, it doesn’t matter any more in this context. But what I personallytake amiss, Mr Zimmerman, are the steady fade-outs on almost all tracks. Fading out
songs has always been, is and will remain uncool. Period. Don’t worry, dear readers– when I start talking to virtually present artists, everything’s perfect. Then a hi-ficomponent has achieved what only the best can do: to draw me fully into the music
and make me forget about all technology. Thank you, Accuphase, for the DP-560. A
dream of a machine.
Cai Brockmann

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