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Hi-Rez Highway: REVIEW: Philips Electronics ModWright SACD 1000 Listening Test SACD Player (Modded) by Pete Watt

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REVIEW: Philips Electronics ModWright SACD 1000 Listening Test SACD Player (Modded)

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Model: ModWright SACD 1000 Listening Test
Category: SACD Player (Modded)
Suggested Retail Price: $2300.00
Description: SACD 1000 with Enhanced Signature Truth Mod
Manufacturer URL: Philips Electronics
Manufacturer URL: Philips Electronics

Review by Pete Watt ( A ) on December 02, 2003 at 09:40:25
IP Address: 198.81.26.136
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for the ModWright SACD 1000 Listening Test


PART THREE:

**Introduction**

This is a follow-on to the PART ONE and PART TWO reviews I posted on May 24 and October 31, 2003 describing my SACD 1000 upgraded with an enhanced version of Dan Wright's Signature Truth Mod. These reviews are available via the following links:

http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/hirez/messages/138876.html

http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/hirez/messages/156021.html

As promised, last week I conducted head-to-head listening tests here in San Diego over a two- day period. In addition to the ModWright SACD 1000, Alex Peychev brought down his modified SACD 1000, and Richard Smith of Audience let us borrow the latest version of their modified Sony 999ES. Given the size of my CD collection, and therefore my primary interest, most of the listening and evaluation involved redbook CDs of various ages and types. However, we heard a few SACDs, and I will comment on my impressions of their playback later in this review.

In addition to component upgrades in all three players, the Audience 999 featured a solid-state output stage based on their proprietary cabledriver technology; Alex's SACD 1000 utilized a tubed output stage as described on his web site; and the ModWright SACD 1000 was the enhanced version of Dan's Signature Truth mod which I covered in detail in PART TWO of this review.

**Observations**

First of all, I must say that despite their differences, all three players were exceptional. In fact, I would be proud to have any one of them - perhaps two of them - as permanent components in my system.

Second, despite my earlier hopes of finding the best of all worlds in a single box, after experiencing three overlapping but different sonic profiles, I was forced to conclude that there are indeed design and implementation trade-offs that are inherent and unavoidable, and that affect the reproduction of sound. Equally important are differences in listener profiles. These include such obvious preferences as accurate vs. euphonic sonics, redbook vs. SACD inventory, type of instrumental music (classical, jazz, pop, rock, other), number of performers (orchestra, combo, solo), vocal vs. instrumental, etc.

Finally, and perhaps most obvious, are considerations of cost. Few of us are willing to spend whatever it takes to secure the absolute best. Most are looking for the best value - the best performance for the price - at the particular threshold of cost we define to be acceptable. In my view, all three of the auditioned players represent outstanding value, albeit with the Audience unit at a higher price point.

** Listening Test Results**

Looking first at the Sony 999, I feel Audience has improved significantly on the classic Sony signature. Bass extension and clarity, transparency, detail resolution and instrumental delineation were excellent - equivalent to what I heard with Alex's SACD 1000, and with regard to clarity and detail resolution, better than the ModWright. This unit is clearly superior to Audience's earlier modified Sony 9000ES, surpassing it in overall accuracy and transparency, and demonstrating real improvements in the direction of a deeper more ambient sound stage and a somewhat warmer sound overall. In short, the Audience 999 like their 9000 before provides exceptional detail and clarity within an overall very neutral, transparent and somewhat dry presentation. Here I may be betraying my own personal preference for tubed output, which will become more apparent in my comments on the two modified Philips units. Nevertheless, if you want the best in solid-state detail reproduction with reasonably good musicality, this ranks with the best I've heard.

My assessment of the ModWright SACD 1000 is essentially unchanged from PART TWO of this review. Since listening to the two modified SACD 1000's side by side, however, I can identify some areas where, as good as Dan's unit sounds, Alex's sounds incrementally better. Notwithstanding this, there are other areas where I prefer Dan's unit.

Simply stated, Alex's modified SACD 1000 is exceptional. Of the thirteen listening criteria I use, Alex's unit got a top score on ten. In particular, Alex's unit had excellent bass extension and clarity, natural treble, realistic and transparent mid-range, excellent sound stage and great detail. In terms of resolution, transparency and clarity, Alex's SACD 1000 was as good as the best solid state units I've ever heard including the Audience 999, while retaining the advantages that tubes afford in the areas of tonality and warmth.

The ModWright unit, though not scoring as high incrementally on detail resolution, clarity, naturalness and air, was equally transparent, extended in the bass, and dimensional. Where Dan's SACD 1000 excelled was in the overall area of musicality i.e. how close does this sound to real music. In this area, plus the related areas of treble mellowness and mid-range sweetness, Dan's unit clearly had an edge. In many instances, I found myself preferring on certain CDs Dan's greater musicality and warmth over incrementally better resolution and naturalness. At other times, I preferred Alex's pristine detail, tonality and linearity, especially where overall musicality didn't seem to be an issue.

**Additional Results**

As I mentioned in the beginning, the above conclusions are based on listening to a selection of redbook CDs of various ages and types over two days’ time. It's not surprising, therefore, that even these conclusions will vary based on what is being played at any point. What follows are my general observations:

1. Dan's SACD 1000 was at its best playing older CDs, poor to average recorded CDs, large musical aggregations (e.g. symphonies), and rock.

2. Alex's SACD 1000 was at its best playing well recorded CDs, smaller scale groups and soloists, jazz music, and vocalists.

3. On the few SACD discs which we listened to, Alex's unit was clearly superior to Dan's. I can only conclude that, given a quality SACD recording and significant additional information captured on the disc, Alex's player presents both a very high degree of detail AND of euphonics due to the superiority of the media. Here the trade-off phenomena seems to have all but disappeared.

**Conclusion**

As discussed earlier, certainly my personal listener profile has affected my priorities and therefore my judgments, and so in the interest of balance let me spell out my situation in greater detail. First of all, I have a large collection of 3000 classical CDs, some old some new, some well recorded some not, and all redbook. I have a smaller 500 CD collection of jazz and pop, and a very few SACDs. Second, I find that, while I want the best of all worlds in sonic reproduction, as a matter of personal preference, if forced to choose I will give away a slight amount of detail and naturalism in order to increase overall musicality. This probably ties into my first point in that, with a large number of older, average recorded CDs, I depend on the euphonic elements in my system to supply an added degree of listenability. However, even on well-recorded redbook CDs, I still am partial to warmer, sweeter, more musical sound with a high degree of (if not perfect) resolution. And finally, I recognize the intrinsic superiority of a well-recorded SACD and will acquire some over time, although slowly, given the very limited amount of quality classical performances available on SACD at this time. (The bottom line is that I buy CD's based on performance, not resolution.)

Given all of the above, I find that I don't want to do without the ModWright with its ability to turn a large part of my variable quality inventory into listenable music. By the same token, I can't see being without the ability to extract the maximum from quality CDs and SACDs.

Accordingly, I intend to add another SACD 1000 (if I can find one at a reasonable price) to my system and have it upgraded with Alex's excellent mods.


Product Weakness: Slightly Less Detail, Less Neutral
Product Strengths: Overall Musicality, Sweetness, Warmth


Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier: Spectron Digital One Class D
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): Conrad Johnson PV-12 (Modified)
Sources (CDP/Turntable): Philips SACD 1000 ModWright
Speakers: B & W Nautilus 802's (Bi-Wired)
Cables/Interconnects: Alpha-Core Goertz MI2; Audience AU24's
Music Used (Genre/Selections): Classical
Room Size (LxWxH): 20 x 18 x 12
Room Comments/Treatments: None
Time Period/Length of Audition: Two Days
Other (Power Conditioner etc.): Exact Power 1000 Regenerator
Type of Audition/Review: Product Owner




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Topic - REVIEW: Philips Electronics ModWright SACD 1000 Listening Test SACD Player (Modded) - Pete Watt 09:40:25 12/2/03 ( 30)