“Streaming may be the most popular way to listen to music, but there is still a thriving market in CD sales, not to mention the sizable existing base of audiophiles and casual listeners who own hundreds or thousands of discs they collected over the years,” says Roger Fortier, VP and Sales, Forte Distribution, U.S. distributor of Shanling Electronics. “The CR60 is custom tailored for music lovers who enjoy their CD collections and continue to buy new by their favorite artists.”

Shanling’s CR60 CD transport and ripper employs a user-friendly interface that allows even novice users to easily navigate the model’s extensive feature set. A compact 1.14” screen displays the core playback and ripping details with Shanling’s intuitive menu and icons. A simple switch on the back allows the user to easily shift from recording to playback mode.

Internally, the CR60 uses top-shelf parts for a seamless ripping and listening experience. The Phillips CD drive and Sanyo HD850 laser are considered some of the most reliable components in audio.

The CR60 is available in either black or silver. The aluminum alloy chassis is sleek and sturdy, and an aesthetic match for nearly any interior design. Its compact dimensions — 11.61” x 11.22 x 5.31” — make it easy to place the CR60 in a rack, on a desktop, or wherever the user prefers.

In addition to the CR60, the package includes a remote control and a USB-A to USB-C power cable.

Adds Mr. Fortier: “In November, Billboard reported more than 21 million CDs were sold in North America, and a large percentage were bought by the Gen-Z demographic. With its flexibility, affordable price, and unshakable reliability, the CR60 is the perfect transport and ripper for music fans in 2025.”

For further information about the Shanling CR60 transport and ripper, visit https://forte-distribution.com/product/shanling-cr60-digital-transport-cd-ripper.

DG’s engineers nailed the sound the day they recorded the Bartók, Salonen was on fire, and the orchestra was ablaze, playing as if possessed. Above all, what the recording captures is the sound in the tonal sense: I recognized the character of the orchestra and the character of the hall. Also, the dynamic window is rather awesome, an adjective I rarely reach for. The Miraculous Mandarin, about three thugs using a young prostitute to lure men from the street so they can rob them, is a riot of color and instrumental combinations. Just listen to the opening where Bartók paints a portrait in sound of the turbulence and chaos of a modern city: rushing strings, piercing woodwinds, and stabbing muted trumpets. In the First Decoy Game, the clarinet, who is the woman, is all teasing, cynical seductiveness, the trombone glissandi, representing the first victim, marvelously sleazy. In The Third Decoy Game, the mandarin appears, with muted trombones against shrieking winds and strings, one of the most bracingly dissonant sounds in music of the last century. This is a truly vicious, even violent score, rivaling The Rite of Spring in sheer abrasive power, and should sound it. The recording is close; like the hall itself, it allows you to hear everything in distinct and vivid colors, yet also as an integrated pattern, with the whole orchestra deployed across a wide and reasonably deep soundstage. Owing to the proximity of the miking, the appearance of depth is less than what I heard in situ, but this is typically the case with most closely miked orchestral recordings.

I have several recordings of this piece. For comparison, I chose Susanna Mälkki’s 2017 recording on BIS, like the Salonen also SACD. BIS’ sonics, no less dynamic, bring a less proximate setup, with more hall sound and greater blend and naturalness of timbre. This suits Mälkki’s interpretation, which tilts in the direction of Debussy as Salonen’s does toward early Stravinsky. I like them both equally, both benefit from state-of-the-art engineering albeit with technologically different approaches, and both were handled by the 07X with consummate ease, control, and evident fidelity.

I was not in the least surprised by this. The D-07X derives from Luxman’s flagship D-10X, which I reviewed in 2021 (Google “Seydor Luxman D-10X”). The X series replaces the U series, with the 07X bridging the gap between the D-03X at $4195 and the D-10X at $16,995. Priced closer to the 03X at $9995 but in features, performance, and overall design and engineering much closer to the 10X, think of 07X as a scaled-down 10X instead of a hot-rodded 03X. As with the 10X and many other Luxman products, the 07X uses mass to achieve the greatest possible stability, rigidity, damping, and resonance reduction, only less of it (e.g., 10X’s top plate is 5mm thick aluminum, side plates 8mm iron; 07X’s 1.6mm iron and 1.2mm iron), and the chassis is a little smaller (in depth and height, otherwise the appearance and styling are identical). Not to worry, by any standards other than those of the pricier model, the new player is no lightweight, tipping the scales at 37.5 pounds and boasting the same outstanding fit, finish, and engineering. (I’ve never seen a Luxman product at any price that makes you feel you’re sacrificing quality just because you spend less.) The power supply is smaller but, again, far from welterweight and 50 percent larger than the one in the U model it replaces.

According to Luxman of America’s CEO Jeffrey Sigmund, the change with the most sonic consequence is the output stage. Although both players are fully balanced, the 10X uses discrete circuits, the 07X op-amps with buffering. But three key areas of the circuit are shared. First, the onboard DAC is the BD34301EKV from ROHM Semiconductor, premiered in the 10X and retained here, still in dual-mono configuration with full soup-to-nuts MQA rendering and decoding. Second, the 07X’s transport is the same proprietary Lx DTM-I, with its superior disc-reading mechanism. And third, connectivity and useable formats remain unchanged. Excepting Blu-ray audio, the 07X will play virtually any audio-only two-channel or hybrid disc on the planet, including MQA CDs. Through the USB inputs it will handle PCM from 44.1kHz to 786kHz and DSD from 2.8MHz to 22.4MHz (i.e., 512). The coaxial and optical inputs are limited to PCM 44.1–192kHz, with one fewer optical port on the 07X.

Like the flagship model, the 07X has the same pair of filters for SACD playback.. According to Luxman, D-1 is the normal filter, with slow decay and slow roll-off of energy pulses, resulting in a sound that is smoother; D-2 is high attenuation, with steep decay and sharp roll-off of energy pulses, resulting in a “clear, precise” sound. The company recommends D-1 for most playback. While the differences twixt the two are not gross, rapid A/B comparisons confirmed the thumbnails: D1 warmer, D2 more neutral. But clearly, personal taste will figure into your choice: listeners drawn to acoustical music are likelier to prefer D1; enthusiasts of heavy metal, hard-driving rock, or some of the spikier, more aggressive forms of jazz will likelier go for D2. Associated equipment will affect choice, as well. Most modern loudspeakers with rising top ends (which, alas, means most modern loudspeakers) would suggest D1, but if you prefer a more Yang-like presentation, I doubt you’ll be disappointed.

Like every Luxman product I’ve ever reviewed, the 07X, performed flawlessly in use, but there are two functional oddities retained from the earlier model. First, while Luxman allows you to access the D1/D2 filtering from the remote handset, absolute-polarity selection is available only on the front panel, despite the fact that ideally you should be able to switch settings from the listening position. Second, and even more frustrating, the player does not allow fast forward and fast reverse across track breaks. This proved particularly annoying when trying to compare how different formats handle the acoustic fade-aways of music into ambience, which typically occur at the end of a selection. If I didn’t hit fast reverse quickly enough and the next track was engaged, I had to go back to the beginning of the previous track, fast forward to near the end, and hope I was quick enough on the trigger before the laser hit the track end. Rapid-fire comparisons were thus impossible. Offhand, I can’t think of another CD player that behaves this way. What is most puzzling is that this behavior isn’t the result of faulty operation or defect; rather, someone at Luxman actually seems to think this a desirable characteristic and designed it in. Whatever on earth for?

The 10X was barely released before rumors began to fly that Luxman would soon be bringing out a lower-priced model that comes very close in performance. How does the 07X compare to its older, bigger sibling? Here I’m afraid I’m going to be less helpful than I would like. Well over two years have passed since return of the 10X. As we all know, audio memory is notoriously unreliable. In the case of these two players, things are further complicated by the fact that they have been voiced to sound as much alike as possible. All Luxman products go through a final design stage during which they are voiced by a single individual: Masakazu Nagatsuma, head of the company’s Research and Development, who puts each model through a series of intensive listening sessions that involves such processes as substituting crucial parts of the circuitry, such as capacitors selected from a tray of same, or tweaking the screws and bolts that secure transformers and circuit boards. Luxman’s design goal is for every product to sound—the words originate with Luxman’s designers, as conveyed by Sigmund—“musical and natural, never strident or aggressive. They want you to be able to hear all sorts of detail, even at the micro level, yet without fatigue, for a rich, musical experience.”

During the review period, I played every source I referenced in my review of the 10X. On the basis of my notes and my memory, nothing I heard during the evaluation of the new model indicates it sounds different from the previous and more expensive one, which suggests that such differences as exist are too small to discern apart from A/B comparisons. Sigmund assures me they are there, notably as regards detail. One online reviewer suggested the larger model images better—bigger, wider, deeper—and that instruments sound more solid and real, easier to listen to, etc. This particular reviewer, like Sigmund, had both players side by side, as I did not, so I shall restrict my comments to what I heard from the 07X.

To begin with, while Luxman definitely tailors the sound to be musical, it remains within the bounds of what I call acceptable neutrality. Recently I had occasion to review Craft Recordings’  Super Deluxe edition of the complete remastered soundtrack of The Sound of Music. The new remastering is fresh, clean, super-transparent, and a little brightened up, as most remasterings in my experience tend to be. I auditioned the CDs over three different setups: an Oppo BD105 used as a CD player, a Benchmark DAC3 fed by the Oppo as transport, and the 07X used as a CD player. The setup that sounded most accurate was the Oppo/Benchmark pair, hardly unexpected; absolute neutrality and the highest possible accuracy and precision are at the core of Benchmark’s philosophy, with no tonal flavorings. By contrast, the 07X sounded slightly less bright, a little more natural and musical, a little easier to cozy up to, if you will.

These differences essentially held through all the evaluations. So this is not misunderstood, the 07X is in no way grossly, let alone coarsely, colored. It doesn’t slather butter or chocolate sauce over everything. As I’ve said, its presentation remains within the overall boundaries of neutrality, just that degree more inviting and easeful, a hint of warmth and smoothness, but applied with a commendably light and fastidious hand. As a general rule, it’s strings, violins in particular, where you tend to notice Luxman’s tonal shadings first. This is no surprise, as most of the time orchestras are recorded too close, and strings suffer the most. My latest favorite recording of strings is Vilde Frang’s all-Mozart Hyperion disc of the first and fifth violin concertos and the Sinfonia Concertante, for which she teams with the violist Maxim Rysanov, all accompanied by the splendid HIP ensemble Arcangelo, conducted by Jonathan Cohen. The string sound here is so beautifully captured, as is the ensemble as a whole, it doesn’t need the 07X’s ministrations to make it more musical, though I can’t say I didn’t enjoy the soupçon of sweetness it provided.

Next to strings, voices also seem to acquire subtly more dimensionality. The Sound of Music remastering demonstrates this handily, as does the Norwegian 2L label’s An Old Hall Ladymass, performed by the Trio Mediæval, a group of three singers reminiscent of the Anonymous Four. I played the SACD layer through the Oppo BD105 with excellent results in terms of definition, presence, and transparency, but when I switched over to the Luxman, a difficult-to-define but very subtly etched character disappeared in favor of a pleasing roundedness to the singers and a more relaxed and easeful presentation (I don’t mean “relaxed” in terms of the group’s performance, rather of the presentation in audio-reproductive terms).

This player does not, however, fall short when it comes to power, slam, dynamics, and the like. One of the reasons I began with The Miraculous Mandarin was to put paid to any fears the 07X is merely soft, laid-back, or lacking in detail and resolution. Still in doubt? Try the SACD of Saturday Night in San Francisco (Impex) or its streaming equivalent: three virtuoso guitarists, Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin, and Paco de Lucia, at the peak of their artistry in sonics of hair-trigger transients, stunning resolution, and reach-out-and-touch-it transparency. As for detail and resolution in general, well, you will usually give up a little of those things when something sounds smoother and prettier. But since so many recordings, owing to the close miking, have far more detail than one ever hears in most live venues, that’s a sacrifice I make without a second thought. Further, the 07X passes my usual tests for detail and resolution with ease (e.g., Argerich’s fingernails on piano keys, the piano bleeding through Jacintha’s headphones on her Johnny Mercer album, countless instances of pages turning on ensemble recordings, etc.).

Speaking of streaming, I use an Aurender A10 (Google “Seydor Aurender TAS”) and a BluOS Node 2i, both of which have built in DACs with full MQA rendering and decoding. All the while I had the 07X, I used the Node 2i as a music server only, feeding the 07X’s DAC. Now, the Node 2i is an excellent player even without adding “for the money”; but the improvement substituting the DAC section of the Luxman made was impressive on both MQA and hi-res Qobuz, the music emerging with more life, vitality, and visceral immediacy.

Like the 10X, the 07X joins that small number of digital disc players that handle full playback of MQA discs. I continue to find this whole area of audio a study in uncertainty and confusion. For U.S. and European consumers, I’m wondering how much of a draw this is, given the limited number of such discs available, most of them pricey, the imported ones (mostly from Japan) pricier still. Then too, not long ago, MQA went into “administration,” more or less the UK equivalent to our Title 11, and was soon after acquired by Lenbrook, parent company to NAD, PSB, and BluOS, but as of this writing it remains unclear as to how Lenbrook plans to market its new acquisition. (Tidal, the only streaming service that offers MQA, has recently begun streaming hi-res FLAC files, hardly the most reassuring vote of confidence for MQA.) One of my issues with MQA is that when I corresponded with a spokesperson from the company a few years ago and told him I thought MQA at its best could rival SACD, he was thrilled, saying that’s something for which they were aiming. But since we have SACD, why do we need MQA? Well, of course, the answer is that MQA can presumably improve upon older digital recordings, but therein consists the basis of the controversy. Are the improvements really improvements; how much are the originals being altered; etc., etc., etc.?

I’m hardly going to settle those questions here. When Tidal offers the option of streaming in MQA, I use it. When I find it superior to the other formats, I stick with it; when I don’t, I see if there’s a hi-res option on Qobuz. If neither, then I enjoy standard CD perfectly well. Trying to compare SACD, CD, and MQA discs is fraught with technical impediments such as levels, having to stop and start the players again, inasmuch as no transports I’m aware of, including Luxman’s, allow switching on the fly, and so on. I described much of this at length and in detail in the D10X review, to which I refer you. I performed most of the same evaluations with most of the same sources and the sonic conclusions I came to there apply here as well.

For the purposes of this review, I acquired a number of additional releases from the already mentioned 2L label out of Norway, which seems to be the lone label that is most committed to using MQA for new recordings, most of which are issued in 2-disc packages that include SACD, MQA, and Blu-ray discs in both two-channel and multichannel. The repertoire is for the most part esoteric, even obscure, but the recordings are startingly, breathtakingly beautiful, engineered according to a recording technique and philosophy rather different from those of most U.S. and European labels: the miking more distant, the venues various churches with richly reverberant acoustics that really allow you to hear the air and ambient characteristics of the venues, and the overall sound in both the tonal and imaging/soundstaging senses exceptionally natural and truthful. I use the last adjective rhetorically, not literally. Obviously, as I’ve never been to the recording sites, all I can say is that the recordings capture an ambience consistent with that of similarly sized and appointed churches I’ve heard in the U.S. and Europe.

Inasmuch as the one online review made a point about imaging, I was careful to play my current reference for state-of-the-art recording when it comes to natural tonal balance, truthful sounding imaging and soundstaging, and microphone placement: John Wilson’s magnificent recording on Chandos (SACD and vinyl) of the complete score to Oklahoma! This was recorded in an actual theater with superb acoustics where musicals are regularly performed, the venue personally chosen by Wilson himself because he wanted a recording that would be as faithful as possible to the Robert Russell Bennet’s orchestrations without the usual interventions of spot- and multi-miking. Chandos’ producer and engineer Jonathan Allen has outdone himself here, realizing Wilson’s ideas essentially to perfection.

When I reviewed this release for Tracking Angle, I used the 07X. Here is a summary of my findings. The dynamic range is deceptively wide, so I advise resisting the temptation to ride levels with a remote handset. Start with the thrilling overture and set a maximum loudness you’re happy with, then put the remote aside and surrender yourself to the performance. Never once in this recording did I feel I was hearing levels manipulated after the fact at the mixing board. Meanwhile, the imaging and soundstaging appear thoroughly realistic. When the singers move toward the rear, they actually move in that direction, and you hear it as movement in spatial depth. At the very beginning, when Curly sings “Oh, What a Beautiful Morning,” he is way off in the distance—literally off-mic, which means that you hear more of the acoustics of the venue and when he moves forward he doesn’t come so close to the mic he’s in your face, and, once again, you register the change in level as movement in space, not an artifact of level manipulation at the mixing board. That is exactly as it should be, because it perfectly establishes from the outset an aural equivalent to the wide-open prairie space that is the first scene. In the “Out of My Dreams” scene between Laurey and her friends that precedes the “Dream Ballet,” the recording is so truthful it resolves depth between the singers to within a foot or two.

By way of summary, I find myself scratching my head about the D-07X for the same reason I did about the D-10X. At a time when CD sales are reportedly dropping while streaming and downloading are proliferating, why has Luxman released this splendid and splendidly versatile disc player? Is it possible that hard digital media might be on the cusp of what happened to vinyl in the CD area: a niche market for those music lovers like myself, and countless others like me, who want to have a non-virtual, as in real or actual or authentic, physical connection to the music they buy, that is, an actual object in their hands, with a nicely designed cover and informative liner notes, and the experience of taking it down off a shelf, opening it, and putting it into a transport?

Whatever the answer, the D-07X, like its more expensive predecessor, occupies a special niche in today’s high-end audio marketplace. It’s got a state-of-the-art transport and about as good a DAC as any I’ve personally had long experience with; it plays all the two-channel digital discs I own (excepting Blu-ray) to extremely high standards, likewise all the streaming and download formats; and of course its engineering and build-quality are second to none. Although it can scarcely be called a bargain, in view of all it has on offer it’s hard to complain about the near-ten-thousand dollar asking price. It’s a really great design and as persuasive an ambassador as could be desired for the continuing viability of the compact disc, the Super Audio Compact Disc, and MQA discs as music reproducing formats.

Specs & Pricing

Supported disc formats: SACD, CD (CD-R, CD-RW, MQA-CD)
Supported sampling frequencies:
USB input (PCM): 44.1 kHz–768kHz (16-, 24-, 32-bit);
USB input (DSD): 2.8MHz–22.4MHz (1-bit); coaxial/optical input: 44.1kHz–192kHz (16-, 20-, 24-bit)
Analog output: Unbalanced on RCA jacks (2.4V, 300 ohms); balanced on XLR jacks (2.4V, 600 ohms)
Signal-to-noise ratio: CD: 125dB; SACD: 121dB; USB: 125dB
DAC: ROHM BD34301EKV 2x (pair operated in mono mode)
Dimensions: 17.3″ x 5.24″ x 16.14″
Weight: 37.5 lbs.
Price: $9995

LUXMAN AMERICA INC.
27 Kent Street, Suite 105A
Ballston Spa NY 12020
luxmanamerica.com

Listening Beyond Analog

The Technics unit is also typical of today’s best DACs in that its sound quality is far better than that of the better DACs using technology that is now several years old—and far, far better than the sound of earlier digital players I’m all too aware that “digital” can be a dirty word for some audiophiles, and a second choice for others. I have at least some sympathy for such attitudes. I do still make use of my turntable and LPs. Old friends are well worth keeping, even if they do age over the years.

At the same time, I suspect that if you haven’t made digital sound a key part of your system and listening habits, you either haven’t really listened to just how much better digital sound has gotten over the last few years or you have assembled a mix of analog components whose colorations give you the music you want in the form you want it, rather than seeking to get as accurate and objective a system as possible.

I have several audiophile friends whose system quality depends to a great degree on how well they have matched their phono cartridge—and in one case an analog tape deck—to their particular taste in sound, and to the character of their speaker and their particular listening room and listening conditions. The resulting synergy can be very good and deeply musically involving, although it can sometimes be a bit too personal and eccentric.

Analog can also impose some real limits on your musical options. Either you have to have a vast collection of analog recordings, or you have to ignore most of the recorded music now available. The issue isn’t just sound quality; it is also how you approach the world of music, and how willing you are to settle for a limited range of performances and musical choices. Streaming has opened access to a vast range of music that has never been available before and that the better new players like the Technics SL-G700M2 do a far better job of reproducing than even the best players available several years back.

I should also stress that the Technics SL-G700M2 is typical of the better and best current DACs in that does a great job of demonstrating that the hardness of the early digital players has vanished, unless it is on the original recording. The sound of the upper midrange and treble on good recordings is much cleaner, although miking the performance too closely and using a mike with a bit too much upper-octave energy is characteristic of too many modern recordings and will still be more apparent.

The same is true of the soundstage. For most audiophiles, the listening room and the speakers do a great deal to determine the soundstage. No change in a given DAC or any other part of your front end can alter that fact. The soundstage on the recording is, however, still very important, and today’s best DACs do make the musical details of the stage that are actually on the recording much clearer. The soundstage is more open, the imaging more precise, and depth is reproduced more naturally. Somewhat to my surprise, the lower midrange and upper bass of given instruments and voices are also sometimes warmer and better defined.

At the same time, I find that as digital players advance in sound quality, the value of higher sampling and frequency rates is less apparent. Nothing will ever make MP3 and AAC recordings compete for the best sound quality, but older 16-bit/44.1kHz and 16-bit/48kHz recordings now sound much better. Newer 16-bit/44.1kHz recordings also sound more competitive with higher bit and sampling rates.

This said, the best SACD and DSD recordings seem to sound consistently better than PCM recordings in direct proportion to how good, and often how recent, the player or DAC is. If you have the option, go for SACD or DSD version. (And incidentally the Technics SL-G700M2 does a very good job of automatically selecting such options and clearly displaying the format it is decoding.)

The situation is different with streaming. I find the sound quality of the streaming services like Tidal and Qobuz does improve with the quality of the player, and usually improves more when you select the higher frequency and bit rates than it does with hard-disc storage. I also notice that using different computers can slightly alter the sound quality and reduce low-level background noise levels, which are generally very faint, although this can vary slightly with computer and/or service provider.

A lot of my friends disagree, but I usually prefer the sound of CDs, SACDs, and DSDs to that of the sound of the same performances played back from streaming service, although they too are often being updated in ways that improve their sound over time.

Features and Ergonomics

All these sonic improvements are audible with the Technics SL-G700M2, and I’ll come to its sound quality shortly. I should, however, make it clear that its technology and ergonomics are equally well designed. It’s easy to set up and use and equally easy to operate.

I am not a digital engineer and can’t tell you just how far the technology in the Technics SL-G700M2 has advanced relative to its top competition in a world where new digital front ends keep emerging from so many manufacturers. I can tell you that this technology is audibly more advanced in today’s DACs and that Phillip’s claim that the first CD players were “pure, perfect sound, forever” now seems to be a bit of a sick joke. Digital technology is improving in sound quality at rates where “forever” in digital terms seems to be becoming shorter and shorter in analog time.

I can also tell you that the Technics SL-G700M2 has made a number of technological advances over an earlier version of this unit, and some of these advances are ones being advertised by the manufacturers of more expensive units. Technics has a pretty good summary of these improvements on its website (us.technics.com/products/network-super-audio-cd-player-sl-g700m2). It cites these advances as follows:

•Dual ESS ES9026PRO DAC chips with symmetrical placement of one L/R unit on each side and independent transmission structures.

•The filter circuit after the D/A conversion uses an amplifier circuit with a unique discrete configuration instead of an operational amplifier (op-amp) IC.

•Coherent processing technology improves the reproducibility of impulse signals by minimizing amplitude and phase deviations that occur throughout the D/A conversion process for signals up to 192kHz PCM via proprietary digital signal processing.

•A Multi-Stage Silent Power Supply that provides noise suppression in three stages: (1) high-speed switching power supply, (2) low-noise regulator, and (3) current-injection, active noise-canceling.

•Current-injection active noise-canceling removes unwanted noise components by applying an inverse-phase current to the detected noise

•A new USB-B port that allows constant connection to a network audio server or PC for playback of high-resolution sound sources from the connected device.

•A “Pure Disc Playback” mode for Super Audio CD/CD playback. This model also supports MQA and is capable of full decoding playback of MQA files and MQA-CDs. Various other high-resolution formats are also supported, including WAV/AIFF, FLAC/ALAC, and DSD.

•The disc drive adopts a three-layer chassis configuration. Powerful vibration-damping and quiet construction, including a disc tray made of die-cast aluminum, ensure high-precision disc playback.

I can’t tell you where this list places the Technics in the audio equivalent of a high-end technological arms race. I’m certain that any such ranking would be controversial, even if I were a digital engineer. Having read through the advertisements from other manufacturers of outstanding units, I can tell that other top units have similar lists. But if you’re the kind of audiophile who’s into bragging rights, I’d estimate no rival audiophile will know enough to challenge you over the list of advances in the Technics SL-G700M2.

Its ergonomics are also very good, and this is not true of many DACs. The Technics SL-G700M2 is unusually compact for a unit with all its functions, but it is very well built and notably heavy for its size. The front panel is unusually readable and informative. The remote, which also works on a matching Technics amp, is well labeled and works well at a distance. The disc tray is reliable and smooth, and the DAC has Chromecast to improve the ability to use streaming services. Rear connections are also clearly labeled, and the instruction manual is well designed. My only complaint, and this applies to virtually all DACs, is that the instructions are weak in helping to set it up for given streaming services. (A complaint that applies equally to most streaming services, which tend to assume you have a very simple home-computer setup.)

Sound Quality

I’ve already talked about most of the sonic advances you should expect from a modern digital front at this price level, and I heard them all from the Technics SL-G700M2. I really did enjoy listening to this unit. Like other the top-quality digital products I’ve auditioned recently, there were no sonic anomalies or areas where I heard a problem with its reproduction of recordings.

It also did very well for its price. It did not perfectly match the sound quality of a two-piece digital front end costing nearly four times as much, but the sonic differences between the SL-G700M2 and that new top-quality DAC were limited and audible only on the best recordings. They consisted of minor differences in low-level resolution and in soundstage width and depth. Many were also debatable in the sense that my judgments were a matter of personal taste. I had to listen long and carefully to hear such differences, and I suspect that they would seem very minor to any audiophiles comparing them to the sonic differences in phono cartridges or speakers.

It was also interesting to move the Technics SL-G700M2 around to listen in the different audio systems and listening rooms of my friends. Not only were the differences between the sound of the SL-G700M2 and other more expensive rivals relatively small, but it was also clear that the sonic nuances from the different speakers, listening rooms, and choices in music and recordings did far more to impose a sound character on the system the different digital players did. That’s damn good performance from the Technics SL-G700M2 for what was sometimes a $10,000 difference in price.

Summary Judgement

Highly recommended, this Technics unit makes it clear that we have to take the Japanese high end very seriously. The SL-G700M2 is also the kind of unit that might change the mind of even fan-       atic believers in analog; it is certainly one that every audiophile who has a digital front end that is several years old should audition. It makes it clear that there have been real advances in sound quality in recent years, ones you can really enjoy.

But as is the case with every component, make your choice a quest by listening to a range of such units at a friendly dealership. Listen to other expensive units with SACDs you really know, where you can objectively evaluate the sound of different front ends, even the ones you now believe you can’t afford. After all, an audio aristocrat like you doesn’t go fox hunting by reading the sports section and then asking Amazon to deliver the best-reviewed fox. (Well, hopefully!)

Specs & Pricing

Type: CD/SACD player and DAC with networking
Formats supported: CD, stereo SACD, DSD up to 5.6MHz, MQA, MQA-CD, WAV, FLAC, AIFF, ALAC, MP3, Chromecast, Google Assistant, Spotify Connect, Amazon Music, Deezer, Tidal, Qobuz, Internet Radio, Bluetooth, AirPlay2
Digital inputs: Coaxial (x1), TosLink optical (x1), USB-A (x2), USB-B (x1)
Analog output: Unbalanced on RCA jacks, balanced on XLR jacks (one stereo pair each), fixed or variable level
Digital outputs: Coaxial (x1), TosLink optical (x1)
Dimensions: 17″ x 3.9″ x 16.1″
Weight: 27.2 lbs.
Price: $3499

Technics (A brand name of hi-fi audio products owned by Panasonic Corporation)
2 Riverfront Plaza, 10th Floor
Newark, NJ 07102-5490
us.technics.com

The number of different electronic components that can add their own special sound character to a high-end system has also gotten higher. Many setups now have a separate front-end component for streaming, another for phono playback, and a separate SACD/CD transport or player. Some add a fourth to a preamp and power amp. This means four to seven active components—not counting the phono cartridge—and each then has its own cable connections, which also often involve different manufacturers, generations, levels of sophistication, and coloration. 

A Determined Lack of Coloration

Regardless of the intentions and skill of the designers, mixing and matching means buying equipment designed to meet at least slightly different standards, and adding at least some low levels of coloration. Moreover, the chances of one coloration properly correcting another are slim. This makes a strong case for at least considering a “suite” of electronics like the Mark Levinson N^o 5101, N^o 5206, and N^o 5302, where the manufacturer has clearly gone to great effort to reduce coloration to a minimum and done so with great success.

As I’ll discuss shortly, each component still has its differences, although many are matters of features and ergonomics rather than sonics. Each, however, has excellent overall sound quality in terms of soundstage, transparency, timbre, detail, and dynamics. Each also avoids a problem that I continue to encounter with many competing products, which is a slight emphasis in the upper midrange that shows up in acoustic music with woodwinds and strings and sometimes brass—particularly on recordings attempting to exactly reproduce the sound of older instruments or the sibilants and upper range of female voice.

I should stress that I’m talking slight sonic differences, and different audiophiles and reviewers have different preferences. I have, however, heard a tendency to create a more forward and dynamic sound by emphasizing some aspects of the upper midrange. This is fine if you like the equivalent of a more front row—or near-the-musician—listening position with every performance. I don’t. I want natural hall effects with natural music.

Each Mark Levinson component has other things in common. Each does an excellent job of handling the transition from the upper bass to the lower midrange, preserving the natural warmth of music without softening or coloring it. The combined performance of the three components is also reinforced by the ability of the N^o 5302 power amp to drive and control the deeper bass of a wide range of speakers. I now make a point of auditioning this aspect of how a power amp performs in a range of my friends’ systems, and while the nuances again tend to be slight, the N^o 5302 did exceptionally well with a variety of speakers and speaker cables.

Mark Levinson N^o 5101 Network Streaming SACD Player and DAC

It’s hard to cram all of the operating and technical details of three complex components into one review, although all three have the same form-follows-function styling and excellent construction, and all three show careful attention to well-chosen rear-connection layouts and labeling. They also have a heft that their compact appearance does not communicate. 

The Mark Levinson N^o 5101 SACD player and DAC is, however, to some extent the odd man out of the three. The N^o 3202 preamp has excellent digital circuitry of its own with 32-bit/384kHz and 4x DSD capability. If you have moved on to high-resolution streaming and already have streaming capability with a digital output, you may want to consider whether investing in such a player is necessary, especially given the steady increase in high-resolution streaming services, and their individual coverage and sound quality.

Speaking personally, however, I’d still invest in an excellent SACD or CD player if I had a really large collection of SACD and CD discs, and there is certainly a case for the N^o 5101 if you are looking for one of the best possible DACs for streaming. I’ve had mixed experience with the sound quality of the streamed versions of older classical and acoustic jazz recordings: When I compare the few personal copies I have of high-resolution commercial recordings with the streamed version, I find a number of “hi-res” remasters of older analog recordings and earlier CDs now sound more natural and more musical on an optical disc played back on the best SACD and CD players than they do on many streaming-service versions. 

As I’ve noted earlier, I also am not a fan of what seems to be a tendency in some streaming to slightly increase the upper-octave energy with classical instruments like strings and woodwinds or female voice. When a recording is miked—or altered in production—to have a more forward or immersive sonic perspective, I don’t like what happens to the upper octave sound of flute, violin, piano, or even percussion. 

Don’t get me wrong. The best true high-resolution streamed recordings that really are recorded at levels of 24-bits and 96kHz or above can be truly excellent. I do find, however, that there is too much emphasis in high-end audio on what “high resolution” and MQA can or cannot do at the top end of the frequency spectrum, and too little emphasis on the rest of sound quality in the midbass to lower midrange, and on the rest of the recording process from microphone to analog-to-digital conversion. 

If you are not into older analog recordings, you can largely disregard these comments and focus on the debates over the best forms of streaming and MQA—although these often focus far too much on the relatively limited aspects of sound they affect rather than on the quality of the entire recording from microphone to final digital format.

At the same time, the N^o 5101 is also exceptionally clean and neutral. If you need any technobabble to support this conclusion, Mark Levinson’s literature notes that the N^o 5101 has “five individual, ultra-low-noise voltage regulators that power an ESS Sabre 32-bit PRO series D/A converter to unleash maximum performance. Proprietary jitter-reduction circuitry and user-selectable digital filters—seven choices for PCM and four for DSD—along with ample regulated power enable the best possible digital reproduction.” 

Mark Levinson also advertises that “the N^o 5101 utilizes proprietary Mark Levinson PurePath circuitry. Fully discrete, direct-coupled, dual-monaural, line-level output circuitry delivers exceptional reproduction of the analog signal to the balanced XLR stereo outputs as well as to the single-ended RCA connectors. The linear power supply and toroidal transformer with separate voltage regulators for the left and right channels provide a quiet, stable source of power for critical analog circuitry.”

Marketing hype aside, however, the N^o 5101 has really excellent sound, and one special feature in the form of seven different selectable PCM filters that allow you to choose between steep roll-off, reduced transient ringing, controlled ringing, and phase effects. I can’t say that the apodizing filter is the most neutral with the most music, but it’s nice to have the choice. You also can choose the SACD low-pass filter’s cutoff frequency, PLL bandwidth, and the sample frequency of the digital output. Not major concerns for most audiophiles, but again, nice to have the ability to experiment and see if you can hear a meaningful difference.

The N^o 5101 is also extremely flexible. It has a wide variety of inputs and supports FLAC, WAV, AIFF, OGG, MP3, AAC, and WMA audio formats, and SACD, CD-A, CD-R, and CD-RW disc formats.

The areas where I have reservations about the design are the display and remote control. The handheld remote is basic and only works with the N^o 5101, rather than providing combined controls for the N^o 5101 and the N^o 5206 preamp; plus, the front panel display is relatively small. This may not matter to you, however, in practice. Mark Levinson more than compensates by offering the 5Kontrol app for your tablet or iPad that you can use with Wi-Fi or wired Ethernet. The instructions for setup are in the well-written instruction manual and relatively easy to follow. If you and your computer are on speaking terms, the problems in the front-panel display and remote control won’t be issues. 

Less computer-knowledgeable audiophiles may need the aid of someone who is—or of a dealer—to help with setup. The 5Kontrol app does either a Wi-Fi or an Ethernet connection, and does not always switch easily from player to preamp and back. I should also stress that these problems with remotes and front panels are increasingly typical of today’s more advanced audio equipment. I would like, however, to see the high end stick with full-function remotes that are less confusing and easy to lose, and provide better (easier and more intuitive) instructions on setup for both computer applications and streaming.

Mark Levinson N^o 5206 Preamplifier

A preamp is a preamp, and I’ve already described the sound character of the Mark Levinson units. I also realize that calling an audio unit neutral, transparent, and uncolored lacks excitement, and will, to some, sound a bit bland and unexciting. It is more fun to claim that the product under review generated an epiphany bordering on a seizure, brought tears of joy to the eyes, or transformed the entire performance. Put differently, however, “neutral, transparent, and uncolored” means an excellent capability to actually reproduce what is on the recording, which I greatly prefer to saying that a unit revealed some unique aspect of the music that, in practice, is often a set of codewords for some form of coloration.

The N^o 5206 is outstanding in a number of other respects. The manufacturer notes that it has fully discrete, direct-coupled, dual-monaural, line-level preamp circuitry, and its analog circuitry is pure Class A. Other analog features include “a unique single gain stage mated to a digitally controlled resistor network for volume adjustment [that] maintains maximum signal integrity and widest possible bandwidth.” As stated earlier, the N^o 5206 has a built-in 32-bit/384kHz DAC with 4x DSD capability. Mark Levinson also notes that it has jitter-elimination circuitry and a fully balanced, discrete current-to-voltage converter. 

As for features, six digital audio inputs are provided: one AES, two coaxial, two optical SPDIF, and one asynchronous USB for playback of high-resolution PCM (up to 32 bit/384kHz) and DSD files (up to 11.2MHz). Mark Levinson notes that the N^o 5206 includes MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) technology, “which enables playback of MQA audio files and streams.” The N^o 5206 also has a Bluetooth receiver equipped with aptX-HD for high-quality Bluetooth playback. Each of its four stereo line-level inputs—two balanced XLR and two single-ended, using custom Mark Levinson RCA connectors—has its own individual high-reliability signal-switching relays. And, it has a headphone output with the current and power capacity to drive headphones directly.

I tried the N^o 5206’s digital inputs with the N^o 5101’s digital outputs, the new PS Audio SACD/CD transport, my home computer, several other transports, and a variety of streaming services. It had outstanding performance with all of them, particularly in the more sensitive (to me) areas of the upper midrange, where some DACs can still be a bit hard or limit depth. You also get the same PCM filter choices that come with the N^o 5101, the same PLL lock switch, and the same ability to limit upsampling.

Another outstanding feature of the N^o 5206 is that it includes a fully integrated and really excellent moving-coil and moving-magnet phono input. Mark Levinson describes this phono preamp as “a newly designed phonostage featuring a hybrid gain topology that mates key discrete components from the acclaimed N^o 500 Series phonostage with low-noise preamp circuits for high performance…A hybrid active/passive RIAA equalizer employs precision resistors and polypropylene capacitors. The user can select mm/mc gain and optional infrasonic filter from the setup menu, while capacitive and resistive loading settings are easily accessed from the rear panel. Variable line-level RCA outputs allow system expansion and flexibility.” 

The end result is that the N^o 5206 gives you least three components—all designed with the same lack of coloration—for the price of one: A standard preamp, a DAC, and the kind of phono preamp that I wish were integrated into every preamp. The phono section fully complements the sound character of the high-level analog sections; it is unusually quiet, although best used with normal rather than ultra-low-output moving coils. The phono sound is about as revealing as the LP permits. It does a great job of handling low-level passages, and the cartridge and recording—not the preamp—will limit the accuracy of timbre and soundstage.

Another key feature of the phono preamp is that the DIP switches on the rear panel provide a much wider range of loading for moving-coil cartridges than usual. This is a feature that has real practical value in getting the best moving-coil frequency response, and one where I’ve found user experimentation can really pay off—particularly in smoothing the upper midrange and highs and in getting a smooth balance with the rest of the midrange and bass. Loading is a tweak that’s really worth several hours of listening, during which you may well find the cartridge manufacturer’s recommended load is not the best option. (Go for natural musical sound, not warmth or exaggerated highs.) There also are four capacitance loadings for moving-magnet cartridges. Finally, the N^o 5206 has a number of other features that are described in detail in an exceptionally well-written and detailed instruction book. These include the ability to update the N^o 5206 using your home computer, home-theater pass-through mode, and a subwoofer high-pass filter that can be switched between the RCA and XLR outputs.

I do, however, have the same cautions about the remote control that I had for the N^o 5101. I really don’t want a remote that does not have labeled switches for each input or a balance control to help lock in the best soundstage and imaging. Once again, however, the 5Kontrol application converts a tablet or iPad to the remote that should have come with the unit, and has all of the features you’ll need.

Mark Levinson N^o 5302 Power Amplifier

Last, and scarcely least, the N^o 5302 power amplifier is a bit of a sleeper. Mark Levinson does provide some technical detail. It summarizes the design by stating that “the fully discrete, direct-coupled, Class AB amplifier-channels get their power from an oversized 1100VA toroidal transformer with individual secondary windings, rectifiers, and filter capacitors for the left and right channels. The voltage gain stage employs a topology directly descended from the acclaimed N^o 534 amplifier, which is mated to an output stage comprising two high-speed driver transistors operating in Class A and six 260V/15A output transistors. Two Thermal-Trak devices in a unique configuration guarantee stable output-bias regardless of load or temperature. Four 10,000-microfarad capacitors per channel, located directly on the output-stage circuit board, easily provide enough current.” 

Before I read the specifications and actually listened, however, I assumed from its size that the N^o 5302 would sound like a really good moderately powered unit. Well, it is moderately powered by today’s audio-behemoth standards. Mark Levinson rates it at a “conservative” 135 watts per channel at 8 ohms, at 270 watts per channel at 4 ohms, and 550 watts at 4 ohms bridged in mono—with stable operation into 2 ohms. 

However, wattage ratings are one thing, and sound quality is another. The N^o 5302 delivered more deep bass energy and dynamics into a number of different speakers than many amps with much higher power ratings. Dynamics were exceptional and musically realistic in passages where some power amplifiers seem to lose a bit of their ability to clearly reproduce transient detail across the entire frequency spectrum, often losing a bit of deep bass and sometimes even midbass energy. 

As was the case with all three Mark Levinson components, low-level detail and dynamics were very good, and performance was equally good to very high listening levels. The soundstage was as accurate as speaker setup, room, and recording permitted, without any emphasis on a given instrument or voice or any alteration in image placement and size.

While the N^o 5302 was not “warm” in the classic sense, it was exceptionally realistic when it came to sharp shifts in musical energy, or electronic music with deep bass lines. This performance is particularly good if the standby mode is set to “Normal.” There is also a switchable auto-off feature that can kick in after 20 minutes, if you are worried about power consumption.

It was also interesting to try the N^o 5302 out with the different systems of several of my friends, some of whom are blessed with the ability to afford quite expensive components. The N^o 5302 also seemed to do an exceptional job of controlling the speaker and minimizing any effects from using different speaker cables. I can’t tell you why. 

The only sonic cautions I really have is that a number of competing power amps have a slightly different balance of highs and detail. Every power amp is different and so is every setup. As for features, I have two minor quibbles. Setting up all the features can be a bit complex and may require the use of a computer or tablet/iPad. No big deal, and, once again, the instruction manual is well written, but the computer-challenged may need the help of a savvy friend or dealer. Overall, this new Mark Levinson series is really good gear and was a lot of fun to listen to.

Specs & Pricing

N^o 5101 Streaming DAC and Disc Player
Formats supported: SACD, CD, CD-RW, CD-R; FLAC, WAV, AIFF, OGG, MP3, AAC, and WMA
Outputs: Balanced on XLR jacks, unbalanced on RCA jacks
Inputs: Coaxial and optical digital, USB-A for thumb drive or USB drive
Control: RS232, Mark Levinson 5Kontrol app, streaming and transport control via MusicLife app
Networking: Ethernet and Wi-Fi
Output voltage: 3V unbalanced, 6V balanced
Signal-to-noise ratio: >106dB balanced, >94dB single-ended
Dimensions: 17.25″ x 4.97″ x 18.36″
Weight: 36 lbs.
Price: $5500

N^o 5206 Dual Monaural Preamplifier
Analog inputs: Two stereo pairs balanced on XLR jacks, two stereo pairs unbalanced on RCA jacks, moving-magnet on RCA jacks, moving coil on RCA jacks.
Digital inputs: Two coaxial on RCA jacks, two TosLink optical, one AES/EBU, one USB
Outputs: One stereo pair balanced on XLR jacks, one stereo pair unbalanced on RCA jacks
Phono gain and loading: 39dB gain, 47k ohms, selectable capacitance 20, 70, 120, 170pF (moving magnet); 69dB gain, 37 ohms to 1k ohms (moving coil)
DAC: Up to 384/32 PCM, DSD512
Dimensions: 17.25″ x 4.96″ x 19.25″ (including knobs and connectors)
Weight: 34 lbs.
Price: $9000

N^o 5302 Power Amplifier
Output power: 135Wpc into 8 ohms, 20Hz–20kHz at <0.35% THD, both channels driven; 270Wpc into 4 ohms (stereo mode); 275Wpc into 8 ohms, 20Hz–20kHz at <0.3% THD (bridged monaural); 550W into 4 ohms, 20Hz–20kHz (bridged monaural)
Gain: 25.8dB
Input sensitivity: 145mV RMS input for 2.83V RMS output
Total harmonic distortion: <0.04% at 1kHz, 135W, 8Ω load; <0.35% at 20kHz, 135W, 8Ω load
Signal-to-noise ratio: >102dB, 20Hz to 20kHz, wideband, unweighted, referred to 135W into 8 ohms
Frequency response: 20Hz–20kHz, +0/-0.2dB; <0.2Hz–110kHz; +0/-3dB
Input impedance: 100k ohms (balanced), 50k ohms unbalanced
Inputs: One pair balanced line-level inputs (XLR), one pair single-ended line-level inputs (RCA)
Output connectors: Two pairs high current multi-way binding posts
Control: One RS-232 port (DB-9); one Ethernet port (RJ-45); one USB port for firmware updates (USB-A); one baseband IR input (1⁄8″/3.5mm phone jack); one programmable 12V DC trigger output, one programmable 12V DC trigger input
Power consumption: 0.4W (Green standby); 2W (power-save standby); 35W (standby); 90W (idle); 1000W (maximum)
Dimensions: 17.25″ x 5.75″ (includes feet) x 18″
Weight: 70 lbs.
Price: $9000

MARK LEVINSON
(888) 691-4171
marklevinson.com 

At the heart of the D-10X is a new D/A converter, the BD34301EKV from ROHM Semiconductor, used in a dual-mono configuration, the first use, says Sigmund, of this converter in an audio component. As a company with feet still firmly planted in the world of analog, Luxman has paid special attention to that part of the D-10X’s circuitry. Fully balanced, it uses the company’s proprietary “Only Distortion Negative Feedback (ultimate),” which is claimed to maximize accuracy of error detection and minimize distortion. Inside the circuit a “tailored, gradual first-order filter with 3-band processing” is said to achieve “a natural and smooth waveform without the conventional output filters.” A shielded, “composite, loop-less chassis” protects “the analog signal from changes in ground impedance and magnetic fields” and helps block digital noise. Peel-coat PCB and 100μm copper-foil, gold-plated connections are said to suppress dielectric effects, unwanted resistance, and stray capacitance in the circuit boards. Engineering, quality of construction, attention to detail, and fit and finish are all easily of, say, SME standard,  (and like SME, Luxman specifies some ninety percent of the parts and individual components). 

As for formats and connectivity, excepting Blu-ray audio, the D-10X will play virtually any audio-only two-channel or hybrid disc on the planet, including the new MQA-CDs.  Through the USB inputs it will handle PCM from 44.1kHz to 786kHz and DSD from 2.8MHz to 22.4MHz (1-bit). The coaxial and optical inputs are limited to PCM 44.1–192kHz. Analog audio outputs are RCA and XLR, digital outputs two optical and one each coaxial and USB, digital inputs one each optical and coaxial. The DAC can be used, and for streaming and downloads obviously must be used, independently of the rest of the unit, and it can also be bypassed, though why anyone would pay this much for a player with a DAC of this caliber and then bypass it escapes me. A remote handset accesses all functions. 

While the D-10X performed flawlessly throughout the review period, there are two functional issues that are worth mentioning. First, the player does not allow fast forward and fast reverse across track breaks. This proved particularly annoying when trying to compare how different formats handle the acoustic fade-aways of music into ambience, which typically occur at the end of a selection. If I didn’t hit fast reverse quickly enough and the next track was engaged, I had to go back to the beginning of the previous track, fast forward to near the end, and try to listen again. Rapid-fire comparisons were thus impossible. Offhand, I can’t think of another CD player that behaves this way: I hope Luxman will address it through a firmware correction. 

Second, for SACD playback there are a pair of filters. According to Luxman’s engineers, as conveyed by Sigmund, “D-1 is considered normal (slow decay, slow roll-off of energy pulse), result described as ‘smooth.’ D-2 is high attenuation (steep decay, sharp roll-off of energy pulse), result described as ‘clear, precise.’ Luxman’s recommendation is D-1 for most playback.” While the differences twixt the two are not gross, rapid A/B comparisons confirmed the thumbnails. But just to be sure I wasn’t influenced by the descriptors, I asked my wife to have a listen, using the “Sweet Baby James” cut from Jacintha’s James Taylor album [Groove Note]. Danielle’s no audiophile, but she listens well and is uncorrupted by the biases and pretentions of the typical audiophile (including mine). She heard the differences readily, pronouncing “D1 warmer, D2 cooler.” However, everything from personal taste to associated equipment to kind of music to recording quality will affect filter preference. Most classical listeners will likely prefer D1, but if your tastes run to rock, heavy metal, or even hard-driving jazz, you might prefer D2. You also might prefer it if you happen to like a more Yang-like presentation in general. (I left D1 engaged most of the time.) While I realize that all digital requires some sort of filtering and also that the differences among many filters are often quite small, it is frustrating that Luxman’s engineers haven’t provided some sort of default position to indicate accurate-to-source reproduction or at least their idea of it. As things stand, we can opt for the one we like, but have no way of knowing which (if either) is right. While this is, of course, the bane of all subjective reviewing, I am assuming, perhaps mistakenly, that a company like Luxman has resources for determining this that we don’t. (By the way, Luxman is not alone here: practically every manufacturer that offers filter selection follows the same practice.) 

According to Sigmund, all Luxman products go through a final design stage during which they are voiced by a single individual. In this respect they are not unlike several other Japanese manufacturers. Marantz comes most immediately to mind, the late Ken Ishiwata being perhaps the only “voicer” to have become a celebrity, even a guru. At Luxman this individual is Masakazu Nagatsuma, head of the company’s Research and Development. Sigmund informs me the final sound of any given model results from a series of intensive listening sessions that involves such processes as substituting in crucial parts of the circuitry capacitors selected from a tray of same or tweaking the screws and bolts that secure transformers and circuit boards. One of the Luxman integrated amplifiers, for example, has five to seven different torque settings that “yield subtly different sonic profiles.” 

I inquired what if anything is done to ensure this exacting torquing survives shipping and longtime in-field use. Precisely calibrated wrenches, several with meters or digital read-outs, are used. Then various methods are employed to ensure adjustments hold, such as lock nuts, nuts with small bumps on them that dig into the adjoining surface once tightened, and various sorts of adhesives. In other words, in addition to the design, the engineering, the machining, and the quality of parts, quite a number of labor hours of critical listening goes into the final assembly. How much of this is necessary to achieve excellent sound or precisely how much significance such subtleties of tweaking really have are discussions for another day. I mention it only to suggest that if you feel this sort of thing is necessary, then part of the high pricing of the D-10X reflects the parts, labor, and listening hours that have gone into it.

Sound

Luxman’s design goal is for every product to sound—the words again originate with Luxman’s designers, as conveyed by Jeff Sigmund—“musical and natural, never strident or aggressive. They want you to be able to hear all sorts of detail, even at the micro level, yet without fatigue, for a rich, musical experience.” Well, I can certainly testify to a rich musical experience if that’s what’s on the recording: the first Solti Aida (RCA/Decca), the Bernstein Carmen (DG CD), the Dallas Symphony’s Symphonic Dances (the really good sounding one, by Mata on ProArte, not the sonically harsh, nasty, dry one by Johanos originally on Turnabout), and the Levine Strauss tone poems with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra (DG CD) are all as rich, dramatic, colorful, and dynamic as you could want. The ProArte Rachmaninoff (CD) opens out with impressively wide dynamic range and power, instrumental definition, and really tremendous bass kick. And the Aida (CD, Blu-ray, Qobuz hi-res, and Tidal MQA) is spectacular beyond spectacular. This Ken Wilkinson recording is multi-miked (and owing to the microphones he preferred, distinctly brightly lit), so all the lines and textures of Verdi at his densest in the triumphal scene are as clean and clear as you can imagine, yet paradoxically it doesn’t sound in the least picked apart. There is a real impression of gestalt that results in a wide and deep soundstage that helps bring the drama vividly to life in an aural landscape that conjures ancient Egypt by way of Verdi’s Italy.

One of the last things I played through the most recent digital components I reviewed before this Luxman—McIntosh’s MCT SACD/CD transport going into the DAC section of the C53 preamplifier—is the last reissue, now in SACD, of the Telarc 1812 Overture and Capriccio Italien by Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. It was one of the first I played on the D-10X. Even after four decades, this recording, one of the earliest all-digital, remains a benchmark, one of the finest I’ve ever heard of a symphony orchestra (and puts paid to the argument that all early digital is bad). Further, it is the finest I’ve heard of these two works, particularly the 1812, which, heaven help us, does not lack for audiophile competition. The dynamic range is quite literally stupendous—even today there are virtually no commercial recordings that exceed or even approach it. I have no idea what cannon blasts should sound like in actuality, but they’re certainly convincing here—scarily so! (Get too enthusiastic on the volume control and you’ll take out a speaker system.) While Telarc’s method of recording, which involves spaced omnis, does not make for the most precise imaging when it comes to locating something in a given place, the soundstage, vast and all enveloping, fools me into thinking I’m hearing a pretty convincing simulacrum of a symphony orchestra in a great nineteenth-century concert hall. 

This owes in part to the lovely tonal balance the engineers captured: warm, vibrant, pulsating strings that sound like strings, brasses that are round yet cutting when required, and characterful winds. Finally, and most important, there’s the performance. Kunzel obviously respects these pieces as music and plays them accordingly—con amore. Sonically, in every way, I regard this production as superior to the famous Mercury with the London Symphony, where Antal Dorati, a great conductor with a serious affinity for Tchaikovsky, seems to have been caught on an atypically stodgy day. Compare the through-line, how the various episodes are dovetailed, the way the melodies are by turns caressed yet allowed to sing under Kunzel, and you’ll get the idea. Meanwhile, Kunzel’s companion Capriccio Italien is even better, performed with irresistible drive and rhythmic panache. 

Given the proclaimed sonic goals of the Luxman people and my experience of the one previous Luxman CD player, my biggest and most welcome surprise is that the D-10X is not in the least “forgiving” in the way that the DU-50 somewhat is. For proof, go to George Szell: The Complete Columbia Album Collection. Though excellently remastered and much improved upon by Sony over the Epic and Columbia analog originals (and every vinyl issue), many of the recordings still sound as severe, top-heavy, and bass-light as seems to have been Szell’s wont—but, and this is crucial, no more so. When it comes to timing, the Luxman is as precise, together, pointed, and alert as any toe-tapper or armchair conductor could demand. There’s detail and resolution to satisfy any fetishist but without any hardness, harshness, or edginess, at least none that I could lay at the feet of the D-10X itself. How much tonal tailoring went into the D-10X’s sound by way of all that capacitor-swapping and torque-tweaking I can’t say, but never did I sense that what I was hearing was flavored the way, say, the Marantz Ruby KI and some other players, however tastefully, are. 

During the last several months I’ve been listening to late Beethoven quartets, notably the Op. 131 (which the composer regarded as his greatest) and the Op. 130 (said to be his favorite), the original version with the Great Fugue as the last movement (not the Allegro composed later when, bowing to publisher and performer pressure, he detached the Fugue for separate publication). One particular week I listened to at least a dozen recordings of the 130 in Red Book CD, SACD, on Qobuz and Tidal streaming (Red Book, hi-res, and MQA), and in downloads. Whenever I review digital components, I like to listen to lots of strings, particularly violins and violas, not least because these are instruments up against which early digital often came a cropper. The Great Fugue is a real torture test because it represents Beethoven at his gnarliest, his most uncompromisingly difficult, pushing the instruments, notably the violin, almost to punishing extremes of its range and certainly its expressivity. Much of the time it is most emphatically not intended to sound warm, pretty, certainly never plush or lush. At the same time, however, it must sound like a violin, only one that is making sometimes harsh and aggressive sounds on purpose. Some quartets, like the La Salle or the Quartetto Italiano, cannot resist playing the piece beautifully and, however slightly, sweetening or otherwise softening Beethoven’s acerbic sonorities, while others, like the Balcea, throw themselves fully into the composer’s relentless ferocity. The D-10X acquitted itself with high honors during this week-long marathon. Even the day I listened to three different performances of the 130 in succession left me completely exhilarated, without the slightest hint of listening fatigue, instead craving for more. The differences in recording, miking, venue, and the instruments themselves were revealed with unmistakable clarity; equally revelatory was the wide variety of approaches to this difficult but inexhaustible masterpiece. 

There’s a great sense of body to the D-10X’s sound, with none of the papery, flattish, anemic character of very early digital (to be fair, I feel duty-bound to add that it’s been a very long time since I’ve heard good contemporary digital products at whatever price level evince these characteristics). This hardly surprised me, as the same was true of the DU50. But the D-10X rivals and even surpasses tube gear in this regard, not least because it lacks the latter’s frequency-response aberrations and distortion products (however euphonic these may be). Evidence for this is available in almost any good-or-better vocal recording, and you can hear it to truly tactile effect on SACDs or digital downloads of recordings by Jacintha, Lynn Stanley, and Patricia Barber. As I was wrapping up the review, our music editor Jeff Wilson asked me to review Barber’s new album Higher (TAS 316), which on SACD is detailed and transparent with a dynamic window appropriate to the music. The recording is a bit close, so it doesn’t to my ears offer much in the way of a realistic perspective, but it’s highly involving and attractive on its own terms.

But you don’t need DSD or hi-res to reveal this impression of body and dimensionality. High-quality Red Book recordings will do just as well, such as a current favorite of mine: Alison Krauss’ “Down to the River and Pray” (from A Hundred Miles or More, Qobuz). The purity of this recording, the cool beauty and roundedness of her voice, the backup singers, perfectly positioned in space around her—the D-10X’s presentation is beyond criticism. In connection with the new film about Billie Holiday, I’ve also been listening to some of her vintage recordings, and again there’s that wonderful impression of immediacy and tactility despite the age and provenance of the tracks (try “I’ll Be Seeing You” from The Complete Commodore, Qobuz).

During the review period I did almost all my streaming through its DAC, which offers full soup-to-nuts MQA rendering and decoding. Bluesound’s Node 2i was the music server, its internal DAC bypassed. Some of the time, however, I used Roon with the Node 2i as the Roon Endpoint, which means that even the music server function of the Node was bypassed. Through Roon the sound was maybe a bit more transparent, but I couldn’t tell you which was which outside of an A/B and even that proved difficult. My reference for streaming is the outstanding Aurender A10 (Issue 305). To the extent that I could do comparisons—level matching was not easy, and rapid A/B’s impossible—my overall impression is that the Aurender might be a bit smoother, the Luxman perhaps a bit more extrovert. But we are talking subtleties here, besides which there’s absolutely no way to ascertain which is correct with respect to the source. Suffice it to say, consistent with the quality of recording and performance inherent in the source, whether used as disc player or streaming DAC, I found it impossible to fault D-10X’s sonics in any way that matters to me.

MQA Discs

If you’re still with me in anticipation of some sort of definitive verdict on MQA discs, this part of the review is going to prove both disappointing and frustrating, as to some extent it was for me to write. This is because the availability of MQA discs in this country is low, most of them direct imports from Japan. [There are currently 560 MQA-CD titles available in Japan, increasing at the rate of 10–20 per month—RH]. Luxman provided me with about half a dozen discs of superbly recorded but quite unfamiliar repertoire, clearly too small a sample to make any sort of general assessments. Most of these are from 2L, a Norwegian audiophile label that specializes in recording mainly classical, contemporary “classical” compositions, and acoustic jazz in spacious venues such as churches, cathedrals, and concert halls. The recordings consisted in a group of five women singing Christmas music; two moderately sized choral groups, one with instrumental accompaniment, singing folk and contemporary music; a jazz trio; and a recital for French horn and piano. 

They are all unfailingly beautiful as recordings, with serious claims to state of the art, characterized by natural dynamics, a moderately distant perspective, and extraordinarily rich helpings of ambience. Those who, like me, feel that much recording is entirely too close are likely to find these very gratifying. Made with DXD 24-bit/352.8kHz, the recordings boast imaging and soundstaging that are often truly holographic. The albums as released consist in hybrid discs with SACD two-channel and multichannel alternatives and MQA two-channel. Several of the sets are also supplied with a Blu-ray audio disc that offers multichannel and two-channel options. It is obvious that great care has been taken from the original tapes or files, as the case may be, through to the final release, and it all appears to have been done in house at 2L by the founder, owner, producer, and engineer Morten Lindberg, who seems to be a perfectionist about all matters technical.

Of the several discs my two favorites are Trachea and The Horn in Romanticism. The former features Schola Cantorum, a small choral group augmented by selected instruments (violin, four horns, a saxophone). As noted, the miking here is not close and there is a very wide spread to the group with virtually no depth. A look at the booklet shows why. Photographs suggest they were arranged in a single or double row that inscribes a wide semi-circle. The French horn album was a voyage of discovery that made the whole review worthwhile. Before this, I did not know there was even a recital literature for the instrument. Yet there is, and by mainstream composers such as Dukas, Gounod, Saint-Saëns, Chabrier, Schumann, and Strausses (Richard and Franz, Richard’s father). The pieces are performed with a variety of horns, including modern valved ones and early valveless (i.e., natural) ones, with piano accompaniment (a restored pianoforte). This is another truly lovely recording, absolutely state of the art yet without being in any way “audiophile”—it just sounds true, allowing you to hear the differences between natural horns and valved horns, the former mellow and more bucolic, the latter fatter, richer, yet also smoother with a much finer range of tone and nuance, while the piano is plainly not a modern grand. (My colleague Andrew Quint reviewed this album in TAS.)

I was so impressed with these recordings that I asked Lindberg if he could send me a cross-section from his catalogue of other music I’m more familiar with. He graciously obliged, but, alas, UPS didn’t, managing to lose track of the package and not recovering it until the eve of deadline, when it was impossible for me to do any listening to include in this review. The one exception is an album called Of Innocence and Experience (2L161, available on Amazon), a recital of piano music—Liszt’s B Minor, Schumann’s Kinderszenen, and Beethoven’s “Appasionata”—recorded in a Norwegian church and performed by Kristen Ofstad Lindberg on a Steinway D. This is one of the most beautiful recordings of a piano I have ever heard, in a sympathetic acoustic that really allows the venue to sound because the mics have been placed at a reasonable distance. You get all the detail you need in a presentation that otherwise fulfills the late Peter Walker’s ideal of a window onto the concert hall. I shall be exploring more 2L recordings in a future piece for TAS.

Bob Stuart, one of MQA’s principal developers, sent me two additional sampler CDs. One featured a singer with various instruments, the other classic jazz from such luminaries as Miles Davis, Cannonball Adderly, John Coltrane, Oscar Peterson, Getz and Gilberto on such labels as Sony, Verve, Impulse, and Blue Note. 

So, in all these instances, how does the MQA sound compared to the Red Book compared to the SACD? Difficult to say. Allow me to explain. First, with MQA discs, all I could compare on the Luxman were the MQA versions versus the SACD versions. This is because, like all current MQA disc players, when you elect to play the non-SACD layer, the player defaults to MQA if it is available, but you cannot access the non-MQA format even if it’s available. You can play the non-MQA version on your non-MQA player. (This is a point of contract between MQA and disc manufacturers, even though many disc manufacturers do not like it. Nor, for that matter, do I.) 

Second, A/B comparisons were impossible because you must first put the player into stop mode, then switch to the other layer and wait until it gets there, press play or whatever track you want to listen to, wait until it gets there, then adjust for the considerable level differences between the two. I was lucky if I could reduce the switchover to under a minute. Once all that was all done, what did I hear? Absolutely no differences between MQA and SACD that I would place any stock or faith in, nor any I’d pay so much as a nickel for. My notes go to such as: “A bit more focus with SACD?”; “a little more ambience retrieval with the MQA?” But then I’d go back: “Well, maybe not”; “No, sounds pretty much the same”; “?” One MQA spokesperson told me that mine is by far not the only response along this line they’ve gotten from listeners: “We at MQA consider that an extremely high compliment.” (As they should: SACD and DSD are data hogs, MQA is not.)

As for the sampling disc involving the singer, there are four selections in three resolutions (Red Book sans MQA and MQA in two different resolutions). The first selection featured a piano introduction and what really struck me was the sound of the instrument. Why? Because I had been simultaneously reviewing some vinyl components with all their attendant issues of off-center pressings. But here, the piano was fantastically clean, clear, and so speed stable and pitch perfect that I was knocked completely out of reviewer mode and just wallowed in the sound of the instrument alone so solidly and securely reproduced. I had the same reaction when I listened to the late-arrival Of Innocence and Experience mentioned earlier. 

Apart from that, throughout the four selections my listening impressions were remarkably consistent—note that with this sampler there were no SACD tracks on offer. To the extent that the MQA-processed samples were “better” than the Red Book, it was in the following areas: a bit more air, a bit more texture to instruments and voices, a bit better (as in better defined) bass response, a bit more detail (e.g., sticks on cymbals), a bit more space around and between (as in physical distance) singer and instrumentalists, a bit more ease and freedom to the overall presentation. The reason why I put quotation marks around “better,” however, is these were all, to my ears anyhow, very small differences, identifying which required concentrating exclusively upon the recorded sound to the exclusion of every other consideration, including music as such. And even then, I’m quite sure that on a cold audition I couldn’t tell or at least would have very great difficulty telling which was which the next day, the next hour, even ten minutes later. 

I also auditioned most of these discs through my alternate setup of a Marantz Ruby KI used as a transport feeding a Benchmark DAC3, and damned if they didn’t sound just fine and dandy that way too. (There were times when I wasn’t sure I wasn’t hearing a bit more focus through the Marantz/DAC3 combo—this perhaps because precision thusly defined is stock in trade chez Benchmark—but I wouldn’t put any money on it.) To my way of thinking, one of the things this whole experience demonstrated is the wisdom of an observation quoted in these pages many years ago by Peter McGrath, who makes some of the finest recordings I’ve ever heard, to the effect that what matters more than playback or quality of equipment is the quality of the recording itself. Back then, before digital, he said, correctly, that a really good recording played back on a cassette deck will sound better than a mediocre or worse recording on the best open-reel or vinyl. 

I discovered the truth of McGrath’s observation time and time again during this review. So many of these recordings—this also applies to many of his that he sent me for audition—sound so good that, for me at least, whether I was listening to them in Red Book, in hi-res PCM, in MQA, in Blu-ray, in SACD or DSD streaming or downloads mattered far less than the excellence of the recordings themselves. Did this make me despair? Absolutely not. As I’ve said on many other occasions, one of the benefits of digital is that when it is done well, the several formats resemble each to an extraordinary degree. (I am happy to read that several of my colleagues, as well as reviewers elsewhere, have expressed similar sentiments.) Isn’t this as it should be? Back in the early days of audio, some wag once said that when two components sound different, chances are they’re both wrong. Designers in those days believed there was a known and verifiable source, which they were attempting to reproduce as accurately as they could manage with the tools and technology at their disposal. The latest developments in digital, including now MQA, offer promising evidence that this is not only fast becoming an attainable goal but may already be close to an achieved reality. 

Conclusion:

In a world that seems to grow more virtual by the day, I confess to both surprise and some head scratching that Luxman should have chosen to release a disc player of this sophistication and expense in the current market, a market in which, at least domestically, streaming and digital downloads are taking an ever-increasing share over any sort of digital hard media. Clearly, they must know more about these things than I.  

Though I am not familiar with the few MQA disc players on the domestic market—around five, I think—I’d be amazed if any of them offers quite the range of playback options in a single unit as the D-10X, whether streaming, download, or hard media. Add to this battleship construction, excellent ergonomics, and the Luxman style, and you’ve got a component that while undeniably expensive is unlikely to leave you hankering for anything more or better for a very long time to come. Despite the current scarcity of MQA discs, the D-10X’s superb handling of Red Book and higher PCM discs, not to mention SACD, and the outstanding onboard DAC that affords effectively state-of-the-art streaming conjoin to make this player an attractive proposition despite the admittedly high ticket. 

And I shouldn’t want to minimize the considerable draw of the Luxman “sound”: supremely musical yet now with a degree of resolution, detail, and neutrality that will effectively reveal everything that is on any source you care to feed it. I never tired of listening to it and believe I can say with confidence that the D-10X is, if only by a slim margin, quite the finest all-in-one CD and SACD player with which I’ve any sort of experience. 

Specs & Pricing

Supported discs: SACD, CD (CD-R, CD-RW, MQA-CD)
Supported sampling frequencies: USB input (PCM): 44.1 kHz–768kHz (16-, 24-, 32-bit); USB input (DSD): 2.8MHz–22.4MHz (1-bit); coaxial/optical input: 44.1 kHz–192 kHz (16-, 20-, 24-bit)
Analog output: Unbalanced on RCA jacks (2.4V, 300 ohms); balanced on XLR jacks (2.4V, 600 ohms)
Signal-to-noise ratio: CD: 125dB; SACD: 121dB; USB: 125dB
DAC: ROHM BD34301EKV 2x (pair operated in mono mode)
Dimensions: 17.3″ x 6″ x 16.45″
Weight: 49.38 lbs.
Price: $16,495

Luxman America Inc.
27 Kent Street, Suite 105A
Ballston Spa NY 12020
luxman.com

There is a third alternative. A number of third-party vendors sell devices that claim to split off a stereo signal from an HDMI output. These devices are quite inexpensive ($15–$50 or so) and readily available on Amazon or other sites. I’ve tried some with at worst no success at all (no sound comes out) or middling results that are no better than the headphone and RCA jacks on earlier TVs and usually not as good. The reality is that some pretty sophisticated conversion protocols and circuitry are required to do a correct two-channel down-conversion. I’m not sure if you can find that on processors, receivers, preamplifiers, and integrated amplifiers that are home-theater products, but so far as I am aware, McIntosh’s DA2 module is unique in being able to do this the right way on a preamplifier otherwise designed strictly for the reproduction of high-end two-channel. While I cannot provide details on how the company accomplishes this, the circuit being proprietary, I can report that the results are genuinely revelatory. 

But first, let’s return to the question of who cares about two-channel TV sound. Well, I do, for one, and so do many people I know whose listening rooms must do double-duty as TV rooms, yet who don’t want to invest in multichannel setups or augment (purists might say “corrupt”) their two-channel systems with home-theater components. According to McIntosh, quite a number of their customers feel the same way—another reason, in addition to upgradability, for the DA2. As many of my readers know, I am a film editor (features mostly, some non-commercial TV), and I oversee the sound mixing and dubbing of all the films I edit. Yet I don’t have a home-theater setup, nor do many of my colleagues who work in movies. (Indeed, I personally know far fewer movie professionals with surround-sound home-theater than I do without.) Speaking for myself, I don’t much enjoy “hardware” movies such as all those big tentpole productions. My idea of a really long night at the movies, whether at home or in theaters, consists in superhero movies, action “epics,” space-opera, and other kinds of mass-market sci-fi, with soundtracks proliferated with bullets, explosions, high-speed chases, rockets, laser ordnance, and other sorts of futuristic weaponry, not to mention grunts, groans, growls, roars, screams, screeches, and other effusions of monsters from the Mesozoic Era to galaxies far off and away—all this without mentioning near non-stop music loud enough to cause hearing damage.  

Nor do I much care for sound effects coming from all around me whether at home or in theaters. My reasons for this require a much longer discussion than there is space for in an audio review, so I’ll reduce it to a single sentence: I find it both weird and distracting to have sounds coming from behind, above, or beside me when the image remains stubbornly in front of me. I’ll let you in on a little secret. A remarkably large number of filmmakers feel the same way, including quite a few directors. Most of us got into this business because we wanted to tell stories that mean something to us and that we hope will mean something to others as well. When it comes to all those CGI visual and sound effects, most of us feel that less definitely equates to more. And while I’ve heard some impressive music-only surround-sound demonstrations (notably courtesy of Peter McGrath and his own outstanding recordings), I have neither space nor inclination to set up something similar at home. These admissions may suggest that as regards both my vocation and my avocation I’m in the wrong line of work, but there appears to be enough of us to constitute a market worth accommodating. (According to McIntosh, this includes a considerable number of their customers.)

Before getting to the sound, a few words about connectivity. First, the C53’s DA2 HDMI input is not for composite audio/video HDMI nor can it be connected to your laptop, desktop computer, and DVD or Blu-ray player. It will work only from an HDMI ARC jack on your TV. (If you don’t know what ARC means, i.e., Audio Return Channel, Google it or start here: www.cnet.com/news/hdmi-audio-return-channel-and-earc-for-beginners/.) The last couple generations of smart TVs usually have at least one such port. Also, be sure you use an HDMI cable that supports ARC. I didn’t realize that not all HDMI cables do. When the first cable I tried yielded nothing, a quick check of the manual for my Sony TV warned of the same thing. Once I swapped out the cable, everything worked perfectly. And did it ever.

TV Sound for Obstinate Two-Channel Audiophiles

If you’ve been listening to your TV the old way, via the TV’s analog outputs, its TosLink connection, or its internal speakers, you have no idea how poor, compromised, or simply inadequate is the sound you’ve been hearing. First, and most immediate, the music part of the soundtrack of every film and TV show I watched emerged in much greater relief, with true audiophile-grade clarity, definition, power, and dynamic range yet without being distracting or overwhelming (unless of course that was the desired effect—sometimes we want the music to carry the scene). Second, and far more important, the dialogue was consistently clearer, cleaner, more articulate, easier to understand and comprehend, therefore far more involving, moving, emotional, witty, amusing, hilarious, as the case may be. When we filmmakers, at least those of us with pretensions to seriousness, are mixing a movie, whether comedy or drama, love story or action piece, political picture or sports film, we work harder on making the dialogue intelligible than on anything else because performance matters paramountly. Third, sound effects were far more dramatic, yet, again, not necessarily in such a way as to call attention to themselves as such, especially in films where their purpose is to reinforce the drama, not dominate it. Fourth, the entire soundscape as regards dialogue, sound effects, panning effects, and placement with respect to both width and depth was hugely improved of what for want of a better descriptor I’d call holographic spatiality within a two-channel presentation. 

I realize that in enumerating these four categories—and there are others—I run the risk of making it appear as if the presentation is so analytical as to fall apart into its constituent elements. But nothing could be further from the truth. As paradoxical as this may sound, playing a program with a really good mix—and most movie soundtracks have good mixes—allowed me to enjoy a more fully balanced and integrated complement to the images on the screen. For my tastes anyhow, the overall integration of picture and sound, the gestalt of image and soundscape, was far more aesthetically valid, satisfying, involving, and convincing because everything was in the front, where it logically belongs.

The first thing I played was the Blu-ray of Flags of Our Fathers, a World War drama about the men who participated in the raising of the flag on Iwo Jima. (I surely trust most readers will realize that my earlier recitation of the kinds of movies I don’t like is most emphatically not meant to include serious action, war, epic, and similar kinds of films, nor good and better comedies, farces, romances, mysteries, police, crime, film noir, Westerns, and other genre films, not to mention animated features.) While it is not a combat film as such, it does reenact the amphibious landing and initial assault by the Marines in graphic and realistic detail. To do this, the director Clint Eastwood and his crew made full use of the current state-of-the-art visual- and sound-effects technology available in modern filmmaking, and the results are—well, I was going to write “astonishing,” but “terrifying,” “sobering,” “shocking” would be far more appropriate adjectives. The gunshots, the shell explosions, the agonized cries of soldiers wounded and killed, the dialogue, the fates of the individual soldiers, the atmosphere all made for a chillingly, scarily immersive experience, despite or, again, perhaps because of the lack of surround effects: our attention remains riveted to the only place where the story is actually being enacted—on the screen before us.

It’s not just new or recent films that benefit. One night my wife and I watched a favorite film we hadn’t seen in years: All That Jazz, made in 1979. If Bob Fosse can claim a movie masterpiece, this is his, and it was thrilling to experience the many dance sequences in a domestic setting with music reproduction to match the expressive lighting and production design, the razor-sharp editing, and the innovative choreography that integrates all the elements into a seamless whole. As for films that predate even stereophonic sound like Citizen Kane, The Best Years of Our Lives, It’s a Wonderful Life, Stagecoach, The Ox-Bow Incident, The Rules of the Game, Some Like It Hot, Cape Fear, Jules and Jim—well, there is no question that the sort of fidelity to the soundtrack that the C53 affords is ruthlessly revealing of the colorations in the microphones (particularly nasal ones), the occasional unsteadiness of the tape recorders, the deterioration of some of the sound elements, and the limitations of how many elements could be squeezed into a mono soundtrack. But for me these dwindle into inconsequentiality next to how much more clearly you can hear what was recorded and mixed. Citizen Kane is particularly impressive in this regard, the C53 allowing you to appreciate anew how truly groundbreaking its sound design was in an era that had never heard that term before, notably in the care Welles and his sound crew took to characterizing the many settings in the story: the vast empty spaces of Xanadu, the smoked-filled screening room with the silhouetted producers and reporters, the newspaper offices, and so on. And as for the dialogue—well, all of the films I’ve cited are essentially dialogue, which is to say performance, which is to say character driven, and they are reproduced such that we can enjoy them that way.

Most of the movies I’ve edited are comedies or dramas that are likewise essentially character driven. But Hollywood Homicide, written and directed by Ron Shelton, ends with an extended and spectacular car chase played for comedy as well as for thrills and spills (and also some gunplay), that goes from Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills along Sunset and Hollywood Boulevards, climaxing in an extended fight between Harrison Ford and Isiah Washington on the rooftop of a Los Angeles landmark surrounded by police and traffic helicopters. Ford told us it was his favorite action sequence of any he had done (a large statement when you look back over the arc of his career). I couldn’t resist watching this scene all the way through because the number of sound elements we had to contend with was numerous, to say the least. The sequence was shot completely in the actual locations, wholly without any rear-projection or other sorts of processing for the stunts, and thanks to first-class location sound recording, we actually managed to salvage so much of the production dialogue that very little looping (i.e., post-production replacement of lines) was required. I can testify that the sound I heard over my system with the C53 is the sound we mixed over those ten days at Sony Studios, with dialogue, music, and effects combined and balanced exactly as the mixers laid it down. (By the way, a tip: Both picture and sound streamed in high definition from Amazon Prime are incalculably superior to what you’ll see and hear on the DVD.)

  So that I don’t come out sounding like a complete spoilsport when it comes to my earlier broadside against superhero movies, my 14-year-old daughter has become quite the fan of Marvel Comics and the movies made from them. During the pandemic she watched them all, and I will confess to having a good time joining her for some of these, notably Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which is filled with more action and CGI than any ten movies can handle. The sound work is genuinely sensational, which is exactly the way it sounded with the soundtrack routed through my two-channel setup: everything clear, clean, well separated and registered, with dynamic range wider than can be comfortably accommodated in a domestic setting—during some of the battle scenes the detonations were such as to make me happy our house is anchored to its foundation. And, yes, I confess, very dramatic, very exciting, very entertaining, and no, never once did we miss back channels.

Music and Blu-ray Audio

The new C53’s DA2 module also reaps all the considerable rewards when it comes to music listening as its predecessor, and then some. On all the standard digital sources, including Red Book and the higher resolutions of PCM, plus native DSD of 64, 128, and 256, it performs as well as the DA1, which is to say superlatively. If, owing to the later generation of ESS DAC chip, the DA2 has even a smidgeon of superiority over the former, I’d suggest it might tilt a tad closer to the absolute neutrality of my reference Benchmark DAC3 (still the most neutral digital component with which I have had long experience). The DA2 also allows for native DSD 512, for the few releases in that format. Otherwise, as between the DA1 and DA2, believe me when I say that we are parsing almost ridiculously fine distinctions here, the sorts that are obliterated by differences in source materials and such that I could never leave the room for a moment, return, and consistently identify which component was playing. As for MQA, the DA2, like its predecessor, lacks that capability, McIntosh remaining unpersuaded by the putative benefits of the format and skeptical it will gain widespread adoption. But should this change, the upgradability of the DA2 offers some hope for fans of McIntosh who are also fans of MQA.

One area in which the DA2’s audio HDMI input makes for truly superior audio reproduction is Blu-ray audio discs. I was astounded at how splendid several of these sounded played either through the DA2’s HDMI input or one of its Coax inputs. For a few months now I’ve had in heavy rotation the Price/Vickers/Solti Aida from the early sixties, remastered and reissued by Decca in a set that includes a Blu-ray audio disc in addition to CDs. I can’t think of another occasion where I’ve heard Solti conduct with greater intensity, conviction, and sheer animal passion as he did here, while the sound is thrilling, quite literally stupendous in the spectacular “Triumphal Scene” with Egyptian trumpets flanking the stage, a band on stage, an augmented chorus, and full Verdian orchestra. With a panoramic soundstage of David Lean width and depth and transparency, clarity, and dynamic range galore, this is one of most immersive audio-only recordings I’ve ever heard, and all, again, without side or back channels in sight or earshot. (The Universal Group, which now owns the Decca catalogue, has released a number of classic recordings in these remastered CD/Blu-ray sets, which come with hardback book, full librettos, and excellent background notes and essays. I’ve purchased some of these, including the near incomparable Solti Ring cycle, and I’ve not been disappointed yet. Interested readers are referred to my colleague Art Lingten’s excellent survey of several of these two years ago: https://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/universal-musics-blu-ray-audio-operas/). 

In October of 2019 the Los Angeles Philharmonic, my hometown orchestra, played a concert called LA Phil 100, a celebration of its 100^th birthday to the day, October 24, of its first concert in 1919. Its three living present or former music directors—Gustavo Dudamel, Esa Pekka Salonen, and Zubin Mehta—all participated, conducting various works each is associated with. The finale was a newly commissioned piece by the Icelandic composer Daniel Bjarnason. Part three of a trilogy inspired by space travel and moon landings, it’s called From Space I Saw Earth, Bjarnason’s intent to suggest the sense of rapture felt by astronauts as they looked down on the earth from the outer space or the moon. It’s written for three orchestras positioned in a triangle, the main and largest one in front, two smaller ones behind it left to right, and requires three conductors. The orchestras play the same piece of music that runs, in the words of the composer, “on parallel timelines that are constantly diverting, coming together and diverting again.” Waves of slow moving, mostly string-dominated textures suggest something like tectonic plates moving against each other, combining in great harmonious chords, the whole thing tailor-made for home viewing via superb high-definition Blu-ray video and audio. This was the last thing I played before finishing the review, a fitting justification, if one be needed, for the new digital module in the C53.

Corrections and Criticisms

In my review of the C52 I mistakenly said that the on-board equalizer could be set to retain settings for individual inputs. This is not true, but what you can do is set individual levels for each input so that when switching among them you don’t get sudden drops or, much worse, leaps in volume. One programming option I didn’t mention includes setting inputs to default to mono, particularly useful to vinyl enthusiasts with a dedicated mono-pickup in a separate arm. With two completely separate phono stages, the C53 can be programmed so that one switches to mono as soon as it’s selected.

Despite my almost immodest enthusiasm about the C52, I am not wholly uncritical of it or its successor. There are two omissions that should be rectified in future iterations. The first is the absence of a Fletcher-Munson loudness-compensation circuit. When I asked a company representative why it wasn’t included on the C52 and now the C53, he told me the powers that be were concerned it would detract from the echt audiophile “image” of the unit. Stuff and nonsense! In terms of sales, McIntosh is by far the industry leader in the high-end audio market. If any company can afford to thumb its nose at this sort of snotty stupidity, it’s surely this one. When it comes to listening at very soft levels, there is no substitute for well-designed loudness compensation, and as deployed in its C22 preamplifier McIntosh’s is the best I’ve experienced (see my review in TAS or at theabsolutesound.com). Another company representative told me the onboard equalizer could serve that function. Well, yes and no. Yes, in the sense that you could use the three lowest-controls to boost the bass and come up with something workable. But since there’s no way to retain the settings in a memory for easy recall, you’d have to reset them every time you listen at low levels or not use the equalizer for anything else. But another and far more important reason is that the Fletcher-Munson curves were arrived at after careful and meticulous experimentation and research; it is effectively impossible to replicate their precise contours with tone controls and equalizers. Also, as employed in the C22, the compensation is linked to listening level. This means that it increases inversely to volume, applying more compensation as level is reduced and less as it is raised. In other words, you need and want a dedicated circuit accessible or defeatable with a flip of a switch.

Another important omission is an external processing loop, i.e., an EPL, or a tape monitor loop. If, for example, you want to use some sort of signal processor—say, a 31-band equalizer—your only option is between the preamp and power amp, most emphatically not the preferred insertion place. Again, you want something you can flip in and out for immediate comparisons. The C53 does have a fixed output, but that’s mostly for home-theater bypass—it’s not a loop. The kicker as regards both of these omissions? A McIntosh spokesperson informed me that since the introduction of C52, the two features buyers and prospective buyers have overwhelmingly asked for are an EPL loop and the C22’s loudness compensation! 

Conclusion

After two years with the C52 performing flawlessly as the heart of my system, I like it more than ever, for which reason I applaud McIntosh for resisting the temptation to reinvent the wheel with the C53. The new DA2 digital audio module is a worthy improvement, easily justifying the thousand-dollar price increase, while preserving everything that made its predecessor so peerless a success with respect to ergonomic functionality and outstanding performance.

Here is how I concluded my review of the previous model, only with the new model number in place: “The C53 replaces a whole shelf-full of components by rolling linestage, phonostages, DAC, equalizer, and headphone amp into a single elegant box that, while not small, is hardly large in view of everything it does. I can’t think of another component that manages to do so much so superlatively well, with no compromises in any ways that matter to me as an audio critic and music lover. It’s a standing rebuke to the folly of minimalism and the snobbishness of those who insist that only separates can scale the peaks of audio artistry. Indeed, I’d lay crisp new bills it would hold its own against the most expensive preamps out there, even bettering some, yielding a little to others. If that little—and it really is miniscule—is important to you, and you have the one- to two-hundred grand required to buy them plus the associated separates that are built into the C53, then have a party. But know that none of them will get you its combination of state-of-the-art performance, integration, convenience, functions, and features, to say nothing of its great lineage, battleship construction, and looks that just radiate class, taste, and timeless style.” No need to add or subtract a word. A great design has been made greater still. 

Specs & Pricing

Inputs: Six unbalanced, two balanced, one mm phono, one mc phono, two coaxial, three optical, one USB, one MCT, and one HDMI ARC
Outputs: Three pairs main unbalanced, one pair balanced
Frequency response: 20Hz–20kHz, +0, –0.5dB, @ 0.003% THD
Rated output: 2.5V unbalanced, 5V balanced (main output), 450mV (fixed output)
Signal-to-noise ratio (A-weighted): High level: –100dB below rated output; mm phono: –82dB below 5mV input; mc phono: –80dB below 0.5mV input
Maximum output voltage:  8V RMS unbalanced, 16V RMS balanced
Input impedance: 20k ohms, balanced and unbalanced
Output impedance: 100 ohms unbalanced, 200 ohms balanced
Dimensions: 17-1/2″ x 7-5/8″ x 18″
Weight: 28 lbs.
Price: $8000

MCINTOSH LABS
2 Chambers Street
Binghamton, NY 13903
(607) 723-3512
(800) 538-6576
mcintoshlabs.com

The D.BOB moves the SACD’s DSD64 (extracted from HDMI) to both the SPDIF coax and TosLink outputs via the DoP protocol (DSD over PCM). Simply put, this involves packing DSD samples into a 24/176.4 stream that the external DAC unpacks, revealing the DSD. The result is DSD64 with no PCM artifacts.

Setup
Adding the D.BOB to your system is relatively simple. Since the D.BOB has no menus or other user-controlled configuration settings, you will be making any and all adjustments needed for optimizing the unit’s performance from your disc player’s menus, not from the D.BOB itself. 

My review signal chain began with the HDMI output from an Oppo BDP-93 Extreme ($1399 in 2011) connected to the D.BOB’s HDMI input. The D.BOB’s HDMI output was connected to my DVDO scaler/switcher, while the D.BOB’s RCA SPDIF and TosLink outputs were connected to my Mytek Manhattan II DAC/pre. With that, the physical hook-up was complete.

As I mentioned earlier, the only changes you will have to make to your system’s menus will be on your player. Most have the option of sending either a bitstream or a PCM digital output. Choose bitstream as your standard setting. There will also be an option on how to set the SACD output—DSD is the choice. The D.BOB is a stereo device, so choose the two-channel output option. 

Ergonomics
Using the D.BOB, once it’s set up and your player is properly configured, is as simple as operating your player normally and then choosing a different source on your preamplifier. Instead of selecting the disc player as the source, you would choose your DAC. On a DAC/pre’s inputs, you can use the D.BOB’s SPDIF or TosLink output. 

During the review there was one small glitch, one that has only been found to occur with the Mytek Manhattan II DAC/pre and no other DACs or DAC/pre’s—if you turn on the Manhattan II before the D.BOB, it may not synch properly. I have the Manhattan II, and this only happened to me once. 

Once the player was turned on and set up, I found the D.BOB’s operation was glitch-free. The only issue you might encounter is that if you’re playing a movie you may notice that the lip-synchronization is slightly off with some players, so you will probably prefer to use the machine’s conventional outputs with movies. 

Sound
What is the native intrinsic sound quality of the D.BOB? While the question seems simple, the answer is not. The final sound quality from the D.BOB will be determined not only by the quality of the D.BOB’s digital signal, but also by whatever is done prior to the D.BOB by your player’s digital audio circuits, as well as what happens to the signal after it leaves the D.BOB for your DAC or DAC/preamplifier.

So, there are a bunch of components in the signal chain that can have an effect on the final sound, which makes trying to ascertain what is integral to the D.BOB versus what is being added or subtracted by the other elements in the chain, extremely difficult, if not practically impossible, to determine. Since I’m not a terribly good guesser and trying out all the possible combinations of players and DACs that could be attached to the D.BOB would take up more time than I, or any other sane human, would be inclined to donate to such an undertaking, I did not attempt to connect the D.BOB to a large sampling of players and DACs.

The other difficulty in determining the D.BOB signal chain’s sound quality in my system was that the D.BOB’s SPDIF and the OPPO BDP-95 player’s analog and digital outputs all had slightly different output levels. While I could have tried to match the levels, it would have required a different (or additional) line-level preamplifier in the circuit with continuously variable and demarcated volume adjustments. The Mytek Manhattan’s stepped 0.5dB volume adjustments were not fine enough to match the levels critically. So, I did extended listening sessions without employing any rapid A/B switching.

The D.BOB is capable of handling up to 192/24 PCM and DSD 64, when attached to the Oppo BDP-93 Extreme. Once set up and running the sound was such that I preferred the sound from the D.BOB when playing SACDs to that of the analog output of the Oppo BDP-93 Extreme. While the difference was not night and day, the difference was pervasive and will be obvious, especially if it’s a disc you know well. The D.BOB signal was more incisive, with a greater sense of dimensionality and soundstage precision. Soundstage information was also easier for my ear-brain to process and decode through the D.BOB. On a good reference disc, such as the Blue Coast Collection—The E.S.E. Sessions, the differences were easy to detect. And if the D.BOB can best the BDP-93, which has a tweaked analog output section, imagine how much better its sonic performance should be than an inexpensive player’s two-channel analog outputs.

Summary 
The D.BOB is the first product that can extract DSD from SACD discs, as well as high-res PCM, for conversion with an outboard DAC. If you have a large collection of high-resolution discs, you want to have a future-proof way to continue to enjoy those discs into the foreseeable future. The D.BOB frees you from being tethered to one manufacturer’s, perhaps discontinued, disc player. You can use any manufacturer’s universal player with the D.BOB, so if that laser mechanism on your disc-spinner finally performs its last scan, you can replace the player with a modestly-priced alternative and get happily back to listening. 

The D.BOB fills a void that desperately needed filling. It not only simplifies source selection when playing higher-resolution discs, but also delivers consistently high-quality audio when attached to a current-generation DAC or DAC/preamplifier. While I don’t expect the price of Oppo BDP-205 to plummet soon, I do think that many prospective Oppo-chasers would be better served by a D.BOB coupled to one of the latest universal players from Sony, Marantz, Panasonic, or Pioneer. So, when that little ol’ Oppo dies, or you just want some insurance, the D.BOB could be an elegant addition to your digital playback system.

Specs & Pricing

HDMI compliance: HDMI 1.4b
HDCP compliance: HDCP 1.4
Input ports: HDMI Type A, Mini-USB (firmware updates)
Output ports: HDMI Type A, SPDIF coaxial audio (RCA), SPDIF optical audio (TosLink)
Dimensions: 8.5″ x 1.75″ x 4.75″ 
Weight: 2.2 lbs.
Price: $999

GEERFAB AUDIO
173 West Bergen Drive
Fox Point, WI 53217
(414) 446-5841 
geerfabaudio.com 

Modern high-resolution network streaming capabilities over Ethernet and Wi-Fi are accessed via an intuitive mobile app for Android and iOS devices. Not only can users enjoy major streaming platforms, including Tidal, Deezer, Qobuz, and Napster, but also a plethora of podcasts and radio stations across the globe. Additionally, the №5101 can play back files from Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices, as well as a connected USB flash drive.

The №5101 delivers outstanding digital audio capability with the Mark Levinson PrecisionLink II digital to analog converter (DAC). Five individual, ultra-low-noise voltage regulators power an ESS Sabre 32-bit PRO series D/A converter to unleash maximum performance. Proprietary jitter reduction circuitry and user-selectable digital filters—seven choices for PCM and four for DSD— along with ample regulated power enable the best possible digital reproduction.

The №5101 offers a variety of digital inputs, including one coaxial and one optical S/PDIF, one USB-A for playback from a flash drive, a CD/SACD transport, and network streaming via Wi-Fi or Ethernet. The №5101 natively supports high-resolution formats, including FLAC, WAV, AIFF, OGG, up to 24bit/192k, AAC up to 24 bit/ 96kHz, DSF, and DFF up to 5.6 MHz (DSD128/DSD2X) as well as WMA and MP3 formats. The SACD drive plays SACD, CD-A, CD- R, and CD-RW discs. Outputs include stereo balanced XLR and single-ended RCA connectors.

Applying proprietary Mark Levinson PurePath circuitry, the №5101 features fully discrete, direct- coupled, dual-monaural line-level output circuit for exceptional reproduction of the analog signal. A linear power supply with an oversized toroidal transformer dedicated to the analog circuitry ensures the lowest noise and widest dynamic range possible.

System integration and communication ports include IP (Ethernet), RS-232, IR input, and 12V trigger input. A newly designed, aluminum IR remote is included with the №5101.

Featuring the bold geometry of signature Mark Levinson design and crafted from robust materials, the new №5101 features a one-inch thick, bead-blasted, black-anodized, solid aluminum front panel, a sleek glass display, debossed top cover vents, screen-printed logo, and machined aluminum buttons.

The Mark Levinson №5101 is proudly designed, engineered, and precision-crafted in the USA. It is priced at $5,500 and is currently available for purchase.

The new 5000 series products debuted during the Mark Levinson Reveals virtual event, for more information on the event and to watch it back click here.

MUS-IC BD34301EKV converter
The D10-X marks the world premiere of the MUS-IC BD34301EKV digital-to-analog converter from ROHM Semiconductor. Like Luxman, ROHM is a Japan-based manufacturer with many decades of audio expertise. The converter reflects 28 separate parameters optimized for sound quality, including aspects of circuit design, layout, photomask, wafer production and packaging. For example, to optimize sound quality, selected “bonding” wires that connect the chip to the lead frame are made of copper, while others are made of gold. A 32-bit ΔΣ (Delta-Sigma) design, the converter achieves a phenomenal noise signal-to-noise ratio: -130 dB. The D-10X applies a pair of these converters in dual mono configuration, delivering a listening experience of unsurpassed musicality.

Versatile SACD, CD and MQA playback, Bulk PET file transfers
In addition to two-channel SACD and CD media, the D-10X plays a robust selection of file formats via USB inputs and the free LUXMAN Audio Player computer software. Available for Mac OS® and Windows® PCs, the software decodes WAV, FLAC, MP3, DSF, DSDIFF, ALAC and AIFF files. The USB input accepts PCM signals at up to 768 kHz sampling and up to 32-bit quantizing plus DSD signals at up to 22.4 MHz/1-bit sampling. Coaxial and optical inputs accommodate PCM digital audio up to 192 kHz/24 bits.

The D10X incorporates Master Quality Authenticated full decoding for MQA files and MQA-CDs. MQA audio files up to 24-bit are supported via USB, optical and coaxial inputs.

In addition to conventional, “isochronous” file transfers at fixed bitrates, the USB input supports two modes of Bulk Pure Enhanced Technology® (Bulk Pet®) high-resolution audio file transfer. This optimizes data packaging and delivery to the converter, easing the processing load for both the host CPU and the device CPU.  This in turn reduces the workload between reading and reproduction, enhancing playback stability and improving sound quality.

ODNF-u, Only Distortion Negative Feedback (ultimate) analog circuit

Negative feedback is an extremely powerful tool in analog circuit design. But minuscule inaccuracies in the application of feedback can compromise the expressive power of music reproduction. For this reason, Luxman has developed and refined the Only Distortion Negative Feedback (ODNF) circuit, culminating in ODNF-u, which debuts on the D-10X. This fully balanced configuration maximizes error detection accuracy, for greater musical expression across the audio band. Tailored, gradual 1st order filter x 3 band processing achieves a natural waveform without the need for conventional output filters.

In typical Luxman fashion, the company’s engineers have seen to every detail.

• The composite, loop-less chassis is well shielded to block digital noise.
• The oversized power supply features large filter capacitors and a transformer 27% larger than that of Luxman’s previous flagship.
• The printed circuit boards exhibit the full suite of Luxman’s signature refinements: gently curved wiring patterns to promote signal flow; 100 μm copper foil signal traces and gold-plated connections to minimize stray capacitance; and peel-coat removal of the solder mask to suppress even subtle degradations in sound quality.
• The RCA output jacks apply gold plating over an alloy that combines the conductivity of copper with the durability of brass.
• Rugged Neutrik terminals provide the balanced XLR outputs while a front panel Phase Invert button enables listeners to swap polarity.
• Density gradient cast iron insulator feet provide firm support while diffusing shelf-borne resonance.

The D-10X has a clean, understated design finished in brushed aluminum and comes supplied with the matching RD-29 aluminum remote control. The front-panel fluorescent display has a zoom mode for easy reading from the ideal listening position. The D-10X will be available in August at a suggested retail price of $16,495.