Chris Connaker reviewed the Paganini here, at Computer Audio.
This is the truth and tonality thing yet again ... When you say analytical do you mean it was replaying the recording accurately, or was it adding a layer of harshness, a subtle distortion in other words?It was too analytical and not musical at all. It was fatiguing over a few hours.
I hated the P8. It was almost as if it came from a different company. It was thin and mechanical.
Yet again the truth and tonality dichotomy reveals itself. It appears that a precarious tightrope has to be traversed to reach optimum sound, and unfortunately for most people to cross this obstacle, at the moment it seems to need the level of skill of a highwire artist.In the end, i would knowingly sacrifice the pitch black background, the extraordinary detail...and the lack of shimmer for my Zanden for one reason alone...liquidity/musicality. The DCS (to my ears) felt a touch, a spec, a nano-milli-something dry for my personal taste, and as a result i found myself marveling at its delivery of VERY NATURAL SOUND...but i stopped listening to the music. Honestly, i cannot say why...i just did. With the Zanden with its relative "flaws" or imperfections, i found that i just listened to music...i listen to Starker vs Rostropovich, Gardiner vs Klemperer...NOT cymbal decay here vs cymbal decay there. i found myself "flipping tracks" much more with the DCS...to hear that first bit of decay, or that bass hit there...as soon as i went to Zanden...i stopped doing that, and kept hesitating to change tracks because it killed me to stop the music.
in sum, i respect the DCS deeply...and those who own them are truly fortunate to have such an immense player. it is in a class unto itself relative to the CD8, Wadia reference, Esoteric X-01, (older) Emm Labs CDSA, even in technical terms to the Zanden. But i would not trade my Zanden for it.
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