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The past month or so, I have been listening primarily to the AA player for its ability to preserve musical enjoyment regardless of its environment. In my temporarily downscaled setup, I clearly favored the easy-to-love voicing of the German player over the less forgiving Japanese. To round up this review, I spent some time comparing both players connected to the Musical Fidelity XcanV3 headphone amplifier over the revealing AKG K701 cans.


Again, one of the most endearing traits of the AA player is how easy and forgiving it is with music. What applies to surrounding components is equally valid with recordings, especially early releases of the digital era which were plagued by heavy digititis. One of my long-term favorites is a selection of duet, trio and quartets by Franz Schubert [DG 435 596-2]. This recording from the early 70s captures singers like Dietrich Fisher-Dieskau, Janet Baker and Elly Ameling at their prime, supported by Gerald Moore's never-intruding piano. Sadly, it is plagued by one of the worst cases of upper midrange glassiness I've ever heard.


The P05/D05, VRE-1 and GR360 system stripped this disc of all its residual distortion and harshness to deliver the voices of those singers with what felt like unmatched veracity. The AA player took a completely different route. It added warmth and even a touch of golden honey everywhere; non-offensive and enjoyable like never before but at times, DFD's absolutely unique whitish timbre no longer sounded quite like him and Dame Ameling had put on a certain number of pounds she certainly would consider unflattering because it turned her agile soprano into a seductive but not so accurate mezzo legero.


Another great recording, far more recent, is Helen Grimaud's take on Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto with Vladimir Ashkenazy [Teldec 8573 84376]. The AA player's generous upper bass was fantastic on this disc, adding body, weight and power to the piano, especially during the introductory measures where the solo piano quickly goes from subdued to full output in a few heart beats before being joined by the whole orchestral string section of the orchestra. The Esoteric was tighter and more controlled, the AA weightier and more powerful. In that department, the AA player is a heavy-weight boxer, adding fantastic punch and physical impact to the music. But it struggled a little more than the X03E when it came to allowing the piano to surge above the orchestra with authority and panache.


On Horowitz in Moscow [DG 419 499-2], the tables turned and the AA player could not reproduce the ephemeral touch of the old man on the keyboard with the same level of nuance and subtlety as the X03-SE. Through the German player, Horowitz regained strength but lost finesse and therefore lot a little bit of his unique genius and talent. Still under the influence of the picture-rattling rendition of Rachmaninov's Second Concerto, I switched to my trusted Gorillaz vs. Spacemonkeyz, sure that this physical energy would finally find a great way to express itself. And it did. A little slower than I would typically like it, the rendition of this disc over the AA was a full-body experience and although bass did not extend as low as with the Esoteric players, it did have more punch and weight.

Going back to voices, those are certainly one of the AA's strong suits. Its rich and warm midrange makes all sopranos listenable and young tenors suddenly grow chest hair, enough to rub elbows with the lighter baritones. On Maxime Le Forestier's absolutely amazing recording Plutot Guitare [Universal 065 333-2], I could not help but admire the deep texture of his closely miked voice. If the guitars had a little less metallic twang, the singer gained in stature and charisma. This machine is a must-hear for people who thrive on this type of closely recorded deep male and female voices. There it is amongst the best I have heard, surpassed only by the AMR CD77 and some of the more expensive Audio Note DACs.

The slightly rolled-off top, warm and tactile midrange reminds me of early NOS (non-oversampling) designs but the AA holds a few aces up its sleeve compared to those players and DACs. Its main superiority comes from the excellent power supply which allows the German player to have far more macrodynamics capability than any NOS design I have heard so far and to swallow massive orchestral passages without strain.


It was very obvious with Munch directing the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Saint-Saens' famous Organ Symphony [RCA living stereo 82876 61387 2] where the AA player nailed the massive orchestral surges and provided a great bass foundation for the orchestra. Comparing the AA to the X03-SE on this disc is unfair as the Esoteric can read the SACD layer, providing tremendously more extension on both ends, a better rendition of hall acoustics and overall greater instrumental texture and detail. Still it just highlights again that the AA CD player is facing stiff competition from top SACD players at this price (and it would have been the same conclusion had I owned a Cary 306 SACD-Pro or Marantz SA-7, all fully capable of competing with the AA's overall qualities on CD but adding SACD playback for less coin).
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In the end, there was just no way for me to completely disregard pricing. It certainly kept nagging at me while I was listening to the Accustic Arts Player. Could I, in all honesty, recommend this player to a friend at the currently demanded price? I doubt it. I could probably stretch and rationalize a $6000 sticker for its exquisite manufacturing quality which would make the Accustic Arts player a pricey but hopefully extremely reliable source for those who want listenability and warmth over ultimate extension and transparency. But at $8700 without SACD playback and no digital inputs, the AA CD player is a hard sell, when one can get what I consider to be similar performance from Ayon or Raysonic at half the price - or SACD playback and CD excellence for $8000.


The closest competitor for the AA player in price and philosophy would probably be the Abbingdon Music Research CD-77 whose build quality easily eclipses the Accustic Arts and for the same price adds a flight case, auto-illuminated touch-screen remote, high-quality interconnects and power cable as well as a USB input and selectable digital processing.

Enthusiastic reviews are easy and fun to write. Strongly critical reviews are less so. The perhaps most challenging are reviews like today's where the gear truly has merits and could get an easy recommendation were it not for its price. There is no question in my mind that the AA CD player is a great source which, though ultimately not quite as transparent as I desire, is tremendously easy to love for its never tiring and robust musicality. If you can put a $2000 or $3000 extra value on the fact that the Accustic Arts player is hand-made in Germany, it should be on your list of players to consider.

Quality of packing: Excellent.
Reusability of packing: Multiple uses.
Ease of unpacking/repacking: No particular issue.
Condition of component received: Flawless.
Completeness of delivery: No issue.
Quality of owner's manual: Detailed and informative.
Website comments: Complete and informative.
Global distribution: Check Accustic Arts’ website – broadly distributed.
Human interactions: No issue.
Pricing: At $8700, one would expect either SACD playback or a more complete set of features and digital inputs. The AA player provides neither, making its price hard to rationalize.
Application conditions: Warm and robust sound with slightly rolled-off top, fully developed upper and mid bass but not quite as transparent as the best efforts by Cary, Esoteric or Marantz. In the balance between extracting all information and sweet musicality, the Accustic Arts sits clearly in the second camp.
Final comments & suggestions: If you can overlook the value imbalance or are willing to put a premium on the fact that this player is hand-made in Germany, its musicality will certainly not disappoint.
Accustic Arts website
US importer's website