BAASnotes.com – Bay Area Audiophile Society

Digital Audio Sources Compared; Playback Designs Shines

Last Saturday, BAAS members were treated to state-of-the-art digital courtesy of local vendor Playback Designs.

Indeed, one of the distinct highlights of the event was hearing from Playback founder and chief designer, Andreas Koch, who is an icon in digital audio innovation.

The Playback MPS-5 made sweet music, regardless of digital source – and we tried several.

In fact, we auditioned:

• A $4 12′ TOSLINK cable;
• A $1000 USB-to-SPDIF converter;
• A $1400 FIREWIRE-to-SPDIF converter; and
• The built-in drive on the MPS-5 (both on CD and SACD)

in formats:

• 24/176 PCM
• 24/96 PCM
• 16/44 PCM
• SACD; and
• CD

OK, so which sounded best?

Well, I would say that HIRES PCM (176/96) and SACD topped members’ preference lists. As to sources, Firewire and SACD were generally the winners, but lowly CD did surprisingly well on some material – the latter perhaps a tribute to the abilities of the MPS-5 on that media.

BAAS would like to thank Andreas Koch and Jonathan Tinn, the co-founders of Playback Designs for making this possible. Well done!

by Bob Walters