CD/SACD-проигрыватели и транспорты — Accustic Arts PLAYER III

The PLAYER III is a CD player with a built-in D/A converter from Accustic Arts, a German company based in Lauffen am Neckar near Stuttgart. The maker presents it as a new addition to its top series, and it can play discs or work as a standalone converter for a computer and other digital sources. In the UK it was listed at GBP 12,000, in four finishes - silver or black anodised aluminium, each with chrome or gold accents.

Key specs that matter

Besides pressed CDs, the drive accepts CD-R and CD-RW media. Four digital inputs are fitted - two coaxial S/P-DIF on 75 ohm RCA sockets, one optical S/P-DIF and one asynchronous USB 2.0 port that accepts up to 32 bit and 384 kHz PCM or DSD512. Over USB it handles ALAC, FLAC, AIFF and WAV files. Analogue signals leave through one balanced XLR pair with 2 x 33 ohm output impedance and one unbalanced RCA pair at 33 ohm. THD+N is given as 0.0001 percent and crosstalk attenuation as better than 106 dB at digital 0 dB. The case is 130 mm high, 482 mm wide and 380 mm deep, with a mass close to 13 kg.

Engineering and use context

Discs load on a tray-type drive mechanism that Accustic Arts says was designed exclusively for audio use and is decoupled from vibration. The drawer is made of an aluminium and ABS compound and slides on two metal bearings, while its cover is solid chromed brass. Conversion uses upsampling to the highest rate of the USB input, and the analogue and digital sections of the converter are placed apart inside the case to keep noise away from the output stage. Two separate power supplies built around a pair of 25 VA toroidal transformers made in Germany feed laser control, digital processing, the display and the D/A section. The metal housing is designed to reduce resonance, the front panel is finely brushed aluminium, and a system remote control is included.

Pairing

With its low source impedance, the PLAYER III copes with long interconnects and the line inputs of most preamplifiers and integrated amps without loading issues, and the balanced outputs suit amplifiers with XLR inputs. Because it doubles as a converter, a streamer, television or network transport can feed the coaxial or optical inputs, and a laptop or music server can connect over USB for high-resolution files, so one box covers both disc and file playback in a system.

Alternatives

The Accustic Arts PLAYER IV from the same maker loads discs from the top and also works as a converter, built around the CD-Pro8 transport in a 165 mm tall chassis.