I saw a picture of the Droplet and said wow that is so different, so I did a lot of research spoke with Rachel at Grant Audio and after many emails (great customer service by the way) I decided I give it a shot.

About two weeks later a very large package arrived, I said well here we go, my first tube CD Player (uses the super 6030H tube that Bat and ARC uses in their reference gear)and a player.

Out of the box it came and I was just floored, it looks better in person that any photo. Really a work of art, about 60 lbs I would guess, it also kind of makes you involved like my LP days, you have to load a disc, put the disc clamp down, and then a really nice and heavy lid that covers the disc area that start the TOC reading of the disc, and it is very heavy so it damps the unit at the same time, the unit reads the disc, then you hit play.

I was hoping there be no issues with the unit having been shipped across seas, they packed it quite well by the way.

I had NO issues the music came out, sounded a bit compressed but I figured burn-in time like always, and sure enough after a few days it started open up.

I was told 100 hours to 200 hours for it to settle in, so I may have 60 hours on it, and it already sounds excellent.

The guy who is the designer loves natural recordings, loves Opera (thus the name of the company)and this unit shows his love for great sound of real natural made recordings.

The music just flows from the unit, clasical music is wonderful, vocals perfect with nice body, and staging is excellent with superb depth of field. Very much like LP's by the way. LP I should say do not trump this unit of digital medium if the recording is well mastered.

It is very hard to not like the Marantz, I could still have kept it, so I am not going to tell you the Droplet smoked it, the Marantz is still darn good, but the Droplet does sound a bit more natural, that slight glare the Marantz could have on large dyamics and large Choral vocal groups is gone, the bottom end is better defined, and much like my LP days now, by that I mean weight and detail with micro dynamics.

For 3K, I find it jaw dropping good, it also has digital inputs and outputs so it is future proof, and by the way the outstanding Philips Pro II transport. They don't use the Sony no more due to to many issues, much like my Cary 306 went through for over a year of little use due to constant repairs.

I've been told to buy some NOS 1978 Refector tubes and really see how this unit can sound, so I have some coming from Russia with Love I Hope.

If you wished for a natural sounding unit that is flexiable this would be a good unit to consider, it is well built, good looking, and sounds superb.

I've had no issues in 3 weeks or so, so that is a very good sign. For once a good change did not cost me an arm and a leg.

Update the unit as broken in and all the above is now even better, transparent but now the meat and overtones and color have really come to life. Net results is the same CD's played before have become even more natural musical sounding.

Excellent!

PJB