From: David W
Sent: November-24-10 6:56 PM
To: James Tanner
Subject: Re: The Ultimate Litmus Test - BDP-1 Digital Player
"Hi James:
I haven't done much A-B comparison with all my new BDP-1. So I played the Paul Bley (Owl Eyes) solo piano cut that I mentioned that sounds so life-like to me playing through the BDP-1.
Well, first I played the same cut using my Roku SoundBridge. All digital connections, but from my hard drive that is accessed from my laptop through my home network, and with the output to my BDA-1 DAC: the usual kind of music server you now find even in high end equipment. It sounded very good, but with something missing.
Next I tried playing the same cut from the original CD on my Theta Digital Jade CD transport, again with the output to my BDA-1 DAC. It sounded better, but still something missing.
Finally, I used the BDP-1. Clearly the best of the three. Again life-like. Again simply breath-takingly musical. I can't pin down what there is in the sound that makes it distinctly so, and so much better than the Roku or the CD, but my guess is that there is more to the sustain on the piano and the background being blacker than sin, and perhaps something I'm missing. It may be subtle, but it's unmistakable -- the way we know the difference between looking at a scene in a a superb high resolution photo or video and looking at the scene itself. The eye and the brain just know the difference even if you can't explain it.
As I said the first time I heard it -- the BDP-1 is a break-through product."
Dave