Pete Watt
Joined: 17 May 2005
Posts: 14
Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2005 5:45 pm Post subject: APL Denon vs. APL UX-1
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When Alex referred to the latest version of the APL Denon as "probably the best digital out there", I'm proud to say he was referring to my player. It is the one we used in last Saturday's shoot-out with the Meitner DCC2, which I hosted, and included other members of the San Diego Music and Audio Guild. Although detailed results will not be posted until all the participants comments are received, I would like to provide at least a brief preview.
First of all, the DCC2 was accompanied by the latest version of Meitner's CDSD transport and was directly connected to my Spectron Musician III Class D amp. My APL Denon 3910, also directly connected to the amp, contained all of Alex's standard mods, plus the latest version of his upsampler board (not yet generally released by APL) and a custom mod providing 6 AKM DACs per channel. The result was as Alex described in his latest post: all the participants agreed that the APL Denon beat the Meitner on SACD across the board, and in almost every listening category on PCM (a few members felt the Meitner's slightly leaner tonality sounded more natural, but still overall preferred the Denon).
As Alex said, and I think we all know, "the Denon is a world class player". And although I have not heard the NWO-1, I'm sure it is every bit as outstanding as everyone says it is. I do object, however, to statements posted on this site (which Alex properly lables as exaggerations) that the NWO-1 makes the Denon sound like a "$500 player". (I'm sure Ed Meitner would be even more pained to know that his $19,000 combo had been beaten by a $500 player!) The fact is that the APL Denon is just as much a world class player as it was two weeks ago. And the fact that the the NWO-1 sounds even better should come as no surprise, considering that it costs almost $10,000 more.
I think what we are seeing here is the success of Alex's two tier strategy, i.e. provide state of the art players at two vastly different price points. While the obvious superiority of the the NWO-1 is a given, whether it is worth the additional cost is a question of value that can only be resolved by the subjective tastes of each audiophile.
For myself, I plan to stay and grow with the APL Denon. It does a superb job in my configuration which I hope to make into the best $15,000 system possible. I take some comfort in the fact that all the componentry in the two APL players is identical with four exceptions: the NWO-1 has 2 tubes in its analog stage (instead of just one); it has 10 AKM DACs per channel (instead of my 6); it has a linear power suppy; and it has the world class VRDS-NEO transport. Of the four, I consider the last two the most important differences. Although I can't do anything about the transport in the Denon, I definitely plan to replace the Denon's switched power supply with Alex's new linear power supply and transformer when this upgrade (now actively under development) becomes available.
Sorry for the long rambling dialogue, but I think it only underscores how fortunate we are to have the outstanding options that Alex makes available for us decide on and even debate.
