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This afternoon I had one of the most significant audio experiences of my life. I heard your Memory Player at StereoTimes.
Wow! I can't remember the last time that something left me this impressed.
I would venture to predict that this should alter the course of music reproduction in the home. [Until] I heard your product
at (Clement) Perry's yesterday, I have to confess that I could not envision that the improvement in the playback of a Red
Book CD could be that dramatic.
I envision great things for your product. People will now have to completely reexamine the possibilities of the "lowly" 44.1
/16 format. It may sound dramatic, but I feel that this the beginning of a new era in digital sound reproduction… I cannot
recall any analog demo that was that impressive!
I hope this goes down in history as a significant development.
Arnis Balgalvis
The Audiophile Voice, Positive Feedback
2005
Wow! I can't remember the last time that something left me this impressed.
I would venture to predict that this should alter the course of music reproduction in the home. [Until] I heard your product
at (Clement) Perry's yesterday, I have to confess that I could not envision that the improvement in the playback of a Red
Book CD could be that dramatic.
I envision great things for your product. People will now have to completely reexamine the possibilities of the "lowly" 44.1
/16 format. It may sound dramatic, but I feel that this the beginning of a new era in digital sound reproduction… I cannot
recall any analog demo that was that impressive!
I hope this goes down in history as a significant development.
Arnis Balgalvis
The Audiophile Voice, Positive Feedback
2005
The Memory Player is staying here. The sound of Memory Player
through the Melos (MAT-1000, 400W Triode Monoblocks and
Pipedreams model 21) is the best ever in this system, by a
substantial margin. Can't be giving that up. With The Memory
Player, things have come to life, like kicking your spurs into the
flank of an old nag. Very clean, very detailed, very musical.
A CD copy burned (on The Memory Player) can be better than the
original CD had ever been heard! A remarkable piece of
technology! The Memory Player adds dimensionality and
fascination to the audio experience.
The Memory Player represents the leading edge of what might be
a revolution in the playback of music. I am privileged to be one of
the chosen ones to review a complete Memory Player.
It will change Audio history. It will.
Ross Wagner
The Absolute Sound
2005
through the Melos (MAT-1000, 400W Triode Monoblocks and
Pipedreams model 21) is the best ever in this system, by a
substantial margin. Can't be giving that up. With The Memory
Player, things have come to life, like kicking your spurs into the
flank of an old nag. Very clean, very detailed, very musical.
A CD copy burned (on The Memory Player) can be better than the
original CD had ever been heard! A remarkable piece of
technology! The Memory Player adds dimensionality and
fascination to the audio experience.
The Memory Player represents the leading edge of what might be
a revolution in the playback of music. I am privileged to be one of
the chosen ones to review a complete Memory Player.
It will change Audio history. It will.
Ross Wagner
The Absolute Sound
2005
...it has the uncanniest ability to relay space and voice authenticity.
In this, you get a sense of real people in the room and the
performance taking on such a natural quality, not from a tone
perspective but from a spatial one...it can be undeniably hard to
quantify, much less try to hear at first grasp.
It gets the music out. It also won't sound as thick on important
bottom octaves, which can cloud bass fundamentals. This thing
has quite an amazingly transparent signature, or the lack thereof.
It is easily the most graceful sounding digital transport I've ever
heard...Nothing has ever served the music to me in this manner.
The Memory Player’s ability to render the illusion of space is the
best I've heard.
Months later, descriptions of hosting many demonstrations as an
owner of The Memory Player :
Their first impressions (of hearing The Memory Player) were the
equivalent of a UFO landing on my front lawn.
Obviously, The Memory Player way out shined the others (digital
drives used in the tests at The Stereo Times).
Stranger things have been said, but one thing is certain. This baby
sounds better, rather more musically correct and thus authentic of
music than anything digital I've had l thus far.
Clement Perry
Publisher, The Stereo Times
2005
In this, you get a sense of real people in the room and the
performance taking on such a natural quality, not from a tone
perspective but from a spatial one...it can be undeniably hard to
quantify, much less try to hear at first grasp.
It gets the music out. It also won't sound as thick on important
bottom octaves, which can cloud bass fundamentals. This thing
has quite an amazingly transparent signature, or the lack thereof.
It is easily the most graceful sounding digital transport I've ever
heard...Nothing has ever served the music to me in this manner.
The Memory Player’s ability to render the illusion of space is the
best I've heard.
Months later, descriptions of hosting many demonstrations as an
owner of The Memory Player :
Their first impressions (of hearing The Memory Player) were the
equivalent of a UFO landing on my front lawn.
Obviously, The Memory Player way out shined the others (digital
drives used in the tests at The Stereo Times).
Stranger things have been said, but one thing is certain. This baby
sounds better, rather more musically correct and thus authentic of
music than anything digital I've had l thus far.
Clement Perry
Publisher, The Stereo Times
2005
...my impressions after two listening sessions AND based on my
strong expertise in having many years in listening to your (RW of
TAV) system and its growth over the years; a system that I know
with great knowledge and awareness of all subtle changes over
those years.
Added to this is the fact that we (Ross Wagner, David Nemzer)
own or have owned many of the same pieces of equipment, so
our knowledge of how "it" sounds is based upon mutual
experience with the same equipment.
Usually when louder, it gets boomy, but not with The Memory
Player. Orchestral presentation also is better in the separation of
instruments in
space. All in all, the sound is much more natural and pleasing
While I have no technical ability to agree with or refute what The
Memory Player is doing and why it does it, I can say with total
confidence that what it is doing is extraordinary!
We both (Ross Wagner, TAV, TAS) own the Pipedreams and we
both are using the same (Melos 400W Triode) amps; the
difference in your system with The Memory Player is radical. All
instruments are more natural in their timbre and the spatial
relationship of the instruments in the classical orchestra is much
improved.
Where The Memory Player really scares me is with the human
voice- Physical size of the singer is amazingly correct with the
sound seemingly coming from a physical person and not out of
the darkness of the recording background. I refer to the same
Tebaldi recording I always use. The subtle vibrato in some of her
words have never been so audible as they are with the Memory
She IS standing there singing to me!!!
David Nemzer
The Audiophile Voice
2005
strong expertise in having many years in listening to your (RW of
TAV) system and its growth over the years; a system that I know
with great knowledge and awareness of all subtle changes over
those years.
Added to this is the fact that we (Ross Wagner, David Nemzer)
own or have owned many of the same pieces of equipment, so
our knowledge of how "it" sounds is based upon mutual
experience with the same equipment.
Usually when louder, it gets boomy, but not with The Memory
Player. Orchestral presentation also is better in the separation of
instruments in
space. All in all, the sound is much more natural and pleasing
While I have no technical ability to agree with or refute what The
Memory Player is doing and why it does it, I can say with total
confidence that what it is doing is extraordinary!
We both (Ross Wagner, TAV, TAS) own the Pipedreams and we
both are using the same (Melos 400W Triode) amps; the
difference in your system with The Memory Player is radical. All
instruments are more natural in their timbre and the spatial
relationship of the instruments in the classical orchestra is much
improved.
Where The Memory Player really scares me is with the human
voice- Physical size of the singer is amazingly correct with the
sound seemingly coming from a physical person and not out of
the darkness of the recording background. I refer to the same
Tebaldi recording I always use. The subtle vibrato in some of her
words have never been so audible as they are with the Memory
She IS standing there singing to me!!!
David Nemzer
The Audiophile Voice
2005
The Memory Player is incredible. When you (Clement Perry, The
Stereo Times) played (being reviewed at The Stereo Times)
through The Memory Player it went to a completely other level. The
tone of the instruments became so true that it was scary.(I know
because I'm playing on it and know what it sounded like when we
were recording!)
My cymbals sounded exactly like they sound with all of the
nuances that only I can hear because have an intimate knowledge
of what they sound like after years of playing them!
Billy Drummond
Jazz Musician
2005
Stereo Times) played (being reviewed at The Stereo Times)
through The Memory Player it went to a completely other level. The
tone of the instruments became so true that it was scary.(I know
because I'm playing on it and know what it sounded like when we
were recording!)
My cymbals sounded exactly like they sound with all of the
nuances that only I can hear because have an intimate knowledge
of what they sound like after years of playing them!
Billy Drummond
Jazz Musician
2005
What I had read previously did not prepare me for this...because it
is hard to describe something you have just experienced for the
first time to someone who hasn’t yet experienced something. Like
the first orgasm.
I have owned two of the most highly regarded digital front ends
extant...Forsell, Lector, Stibbert, Theta, Spectral and on and on. I
have listened to almost all the others out there. The Memory
Player is so different in its presentation that it is difficult for me to
describe exactly what I hear. What I had read previously did not
prepare me for this – the reviewers too conservative or maybe you
just can’t understand by reading about it w/o hearing it.
It seems to me that all other CD playback somehow truncates the
notes and voices to some small or large degree. The truncation
somehow gets filled in with what then sounds unnatural, harsh,
artificial. Maybe that is what jitter is; I don’t know.
By way of analogy, one could speak the sentence “I am going to
the store in one hour”. If that sentence were somehow morphed
into being music, it would have a flow to it, a naturalness – but to
me normal CD digital sounds like someone saying “I go store
hour”. Basically we know what the sentence is, but if it was music
it would be choppy, incomplete, robbed of some of the beauty that
sounds and music convey. Now imagine six, eight, ten or more
instruments all at the same time saying, “I go store hour”.
It seems that the normal CD playback creates the missing words
with a substitute, and sometimes it does it better than others, or it
doesn’t create the missing at all, and it is in those spaces, the
missing words or missing parts of a note or voice where the
harshness, the fatigue, and the sterility occur, and more
importantly, some precious music, some magical quality is lost.
I don’t know what the Memory Player does or how - but it allows for
an unimpeded flow that seems devoid of artificial filler. It allows
the precious parts, the clues that tell us we are listening to
musicians and instruments played by them, to come through…
Hence SACD and normal CD playback are no longer viable
options. If I were making them – I would stop. This is not just a
better CD player. It is a different experience.
Alan Eichenbaum
President, Scaena Loudspeaker Corporation*
2006
* This endorsement was written in 2006. Alan Eichenbaum has
since entered into a business relationship with some of Nova
Physics' partners.
is hard to describe something you have just experienced for the
first time to someone who hasn’t yet experienced something. Like
the first orgasm.
I have owned two of the most highly regarded digital front ends
extant...Forsell, Lector, Stibbert, Theta, Spectral and on and on. I
have listened to almost all the others out there. The Memory
Player is so different in its presentation that it is difficult for me to
describe exactly what I hear. What I had read previously did not
prepare me for this – the reviewers too conservative or maybe you
just can’t understand by reading about it w/o hearing it.
It seems to me that all other CD playback somehow truncates the
notes and voices to some small or large degree. The truncation
somehow gets filled in with what then sounds unnatural, harsh,
artificial. Maybe that is what jitter is; I don’t know.
By way of analogy, one could speak the sentence “I am going to
the store in one hour”. If that sentence were somehow morphed
into being music, it would have a flow to it, a naturalness – but to
me normal CD digital sounds like someone saying “I go store
hour”. Basically we know what the sentence is, but if it was music
it would be choppy, incomplete, robbed of some of the beauty that
sounds and music convey. Now imagine six, eight, ten or more
instruments all at the same time saying, “I go store hour”.
It seems that the normal CD playback creates the missing words
with a substitute, and sometimes it does it better than others, or it
doesn’t create the missing at all, and it is in those spaces, the
missing words or missing parts of a note or voice where the
harshness, the fatigue, and the sterility occur, and more
importantly, some precious music, some magical quality is lost.
I don’t know what the Memory Player does or how - but it allows for
an unimpeded flow that seems devoid of artificial filler. It allows
the precious parts, the clues that tell us we are listening to
musicians and instruments played by them, to come through…
Hence SACD and normal CD playback are no longer viable
options. If I were making them – I would stop. This is not just a
better CD player. It is a different experience.
Alan Eichenbaum
President, Scaena Loudspeaker Corporation*
2006
* This endorsement was written in 2006. Alan Eichenbaum has
since entered into a business relationship with some of Nova
Physics' partners.
The best digital units available do a better job of minimizing
digital problems, but not eliminating them. When you hear the
Memory Player side-by-side with the Stibbert, you realize how far
short conventional digital processing falls from recreating the live
(or recorded) musical events' pacing, imaging, timing, upper-mid
to high frequencies, and musical ease.
Considering that digital manufacturers have been struggling with
these exact same issues for over 20 years, one wonders why
someone hasn't decided to think outside the box. That is, until
Mark Porzilli.
It occurred to him that the only way to eliminate digital playbacks'
inherent problems was to start with a fresh sheet of paper. His
better mousetrap idea? Extract only the music data. Then, play it
back directly from a non-mechanical memory, eliminating the
focus, timing, and jitter problems inherent with a laser reading a
disc spinning on a mechanical transport. What could be simpler?
Caution: Once you've experienced the Memory Player in your own
home, the hook is set. Long live the new king.
Robert Hart
Vice President, Vitality Science for Pets
2006
www.vitalityscience.com
digital problems, but not eliminating them. When you hear the
Memory Player side-by-side with the Stibbert, you realize how far
short conventional digital processing falls from recreating the live
(or recorded) musical events' pacing, imaging, timing, upper-mid
to high frequencies, and musical ease.
Considering that digital manufacturers have been struggling with
these exact same issues for over 20 years, one wonders why
someone hasn't decided to think outside the box. That is, until
Mark Porzilli.
It occurred to him that the only way to eliminate digital playbacks'
inherent problems was to start with a fresh sheet of paper. His
better mousetrap idea? Extract only the music data. Then, play it
back directly from a non-mechanical memory, eliminating the
focus, timing, and jitter problems inherent with a laser reading a
disc spinning on a mechanical transport. What could be simpler?
Caution: Once you've experienced the Memory Player in your own
home, the hook is set. Long live the new king.
Robert Hart
Vice President, Vitality Science for Pets
2006
www.vitalityscience.com
...Playback then comes strictly from the memory (no moving parts)
with one of the purist sound reproductions I've ever heard.
During my initial listening experience, it reminded me of the very
best of analog with tube electronics!!! Absolutely zero digital
artifacts, and when compared to another superb and musically
outstanding digital player , as CP (Clement Perry, The Stereo
Times) would say...."GAME OVER!" Basically, no contest - not
even close by any standards.
Once you hear something like The Memory Player, it will make you
think about the limitations of standard CD playback, and possibly
rethink your next move.
Bill Wells
The Stereo Times
2005
with one of the purist sound reproductions I've ever heard.
During my initial listening experience, it reminded me of the very
best of analog with tube electronics!!! Absolutely zero digital
artifacts, and when compared to another superb and musically
outstanding digital player , as CP (Clement Perry, The Stereo
Times) would say...."GAME OVER!" Basically, no contest - not
even close by any standards.
Once you hear something like The Memory Player, it will make you
think about the limitations of standard CD playback, and possibly
rethink your next move.
Bill Wells
The Stereo Times
2005
The Memory Player is the finest component I’ve ever owned.
The sound, convenience and technology make it a benchmark to
follow in this ever-changing world of audio. In addition I’m
honored to be among the first group of audio enthusiast s and
press to have an opportunity to employ this technology in my
home.
Dr. Dennis Parham
The Stereo Times
2005
The sound, convenience and technology make it a benchmark to
follow in this ever-changing world of audio. In addition I’m
honored to be among the first group of audio enthusiast s and
press to have an opportunity to employ this technology in my
home.
Dr. Dennis Parham
The Stereo Times
2005
I sold one of my paintings today, which paid for my Memory Player
plus a dozen roses for the Mrs! We (The Stereo Times) are
honored to be the first to have at it.
Greg Petan
Editor, The Stereo Times
2005
plus a dozen roses for the Mrs! We (The Stereo Times) are
honored to be the first to have at it.
Greg Petan
Editor, The Stereo Times
2005
…as impressive a light as the A/B comparison casts, in some
ways the dissection of its virtues (the Memory Player) misses the
essence of my real impression – that of disbelief at
how beautiful and true to life the music sounded through the
system as a whole.
The Memory Player pushed the overall system that much closer
to a disappearing act.
I truly felt privileged being in the same room or recording venue
as these fabulous musicians – I almost felt like whispering
during the performances. Had I forgotten to pay for a ticket?
Sam Laufer
Behold Audio Electronics USA, LauferTekNik Incorporated*
2006
* This endorsement was written in 2006. Sam Laufer has since
joined and helped reorganize the new Nova Physics.
ways the dissection of its virtues (the Memory Player) misses the
essence of my real impression – that of disbelief at
how beautiful and true to life the music sounded through the
system as a whole.
The Memory Player pushed the overall system that much closer
to a disappearing act.
I truly felt privileged being in the same room or recording venue
as these fabulous musicians – I almost felt like whispering
during the performances. Had I forgotten to pay for a ticket?
Sam Laufer
Behold Audio Electronics USA, LauferTekNik Incorporated*
2006
* This endorsement was written in 2006. Sam Laufer has since
joined and helped reorganize the new Nova Physics.
I thought CD development had gone as far as it could go,and
significant progress in near state-of-the-art playback equipment,
along comes a unique
technological breakthrough that knocks my
socks off….when Perry (Clement Perry,
The Stereo Times) fired up the Memory Player,
I didn’t expect any really noticeable improvement. Boy, was I
wrong!
Gone was the last vestige of digititis, that peculiar
distortion that often seems to be part of CDs.
Perry calls it High Fi Hype, as good a description as any. To say
that I was impressed is an understatement.
For me, The Memory Player puts the final nail in the coffin of high-
resolution formats, SACD and DVD-A. By adding The Memory
Player to my system, it will be as if I replaced my entire CD
collection!
Lew Lanese
The Stereo Times
2005
significant progress in near state-of-the-art playback equipment,
along comes a unique
technological breakthrough that knocks my
socks off….when Perry (Clement Perry,
The Stereo Times) fired up the Memory Player,
I didn’t expect any really noticeable improvement. Boy, was I
wrong!
Gone was the last vestige of digititis, that peculiar
distortion that often seems to be part of CDs.
Perry calls it High Fi Hype, as good a description as any. To say
that I was impressed is an understatement.
For me, The Memory Player puts the final nail in the coffin of high-
resolution formats, SACD and DVD-A. By adding The Memory
Player to my system, it will be as if I replaced my entire CD
collection!
Lew Lanese
The Stereo Times
2005
The Memory Player is definitely a product I would love to take
home for a long audition, and I suspect that I would want to be
away from home when the manufacturer came to pick it back up.
Allen Edelstein
(formerly of Stereophile)
2007
home for a long audition, and I suspect that I would want to be
away from home when the manufacturer came to pick it back up.
Allen Edelstein
(formerly of Stereophile)
2007
...music through your equipment that was able to fool me into
thinking that somebody real was playing or singing in front of me.
John Jonczyk
Audiophile, NYC
(at a Memory Player audition in The Stereo Times)
2007
thinking that somebody real was playing or singing in front of me.
John Jonczyk
Audiophile, NYC
(at a Memory Player audition in The Stereo Times)
2007
I'll ask for some fine tuning tips once the shock and awe wear
off, but man, I have not been able to move from my
listeners seat.
Great work! The "Build 7" design provides much more than the
subtle upgrade I was expecting!
Now I want one for my 5 channel HT system! Darn it!
I shipped my EMM LABS CDSE back to them once I heard The
Memory Player, as I realized then, there was no need to carry a
secondary player. The Memory Player will be the centerpiece of
my 2-channel reference audio system.
Jack Bornstein,
Esoteric Audio & Video, Houston, TX, on Build 7
2006
off, but man, I have not been able to move from my
listeners seat.
Great work! The "Build 7" design provides much more than the
subtle upgrade I was expecting!
Now I want one for my 5 channel HT system! Darn it!
I shipped my EMM LABS CDSE back to them once I heard The
Memory Player, as I realized then, there was no need to carry a
secondary player. The Memory Player will be the centerpiece of
my 2-channel reference audio system.
Jack Bornstein,
Esoteric Audio & Video, Houston, TX, on Build 7
2006
The Nova Physics Memory Player invented by by Mark Porzilli is not only the single greatest breakthrough in (theoretical) CD playback technology since its
inception in 1982, but also the finest-sounding digital system for playing music in the home that I have ever heard.
I am one of those people for whom CDs never really mattered much. Not only did I own a sizeable (4000+) LP collection that I had toted around with me for the
last 37 years without ever giving up on it, but ever since I heard the first CDs and players I was just not impressed. Early CD sound was not anything to write
home about at all, except to complain how it sucked. And then it was back to those records, many of which I still to this day have not managed to have even the
first listen to. So program material was never a problem.
The problem always was that I had been indoctrinated into live orchestral music before the age of 10 and I was smitten from the first. Many folks these days
scoff at the mere notion that actual live acoustic music is a good thing to compare against home stereos because they feel that, since there is no way that any
home system could ever approach the full fidelity of a symphony orchestra, it is a futile gesture to make such comparisons. I say that this is total bunk, and
demonstrably false. Here is why: if one goes habitually to live orchestral concerts, jazz clubs, concerts of vocal music in churches, and the like, one easily and
quickly develops an ear for what supporting acoustics sound like, good and bad, what various instruments sound like when played in different-sized venues,
how ensemble playing sounds when played loudly and softly, etc.
After a little time, a careful listener can easily develop a reasonable auditory recall, and be able to discern fairly subtle sonic differences between halls,
musicians, and styles of instruments, in a similar manner that any decent rock guitar player can hear the difference between a Stratocaster and a Les Paul.
It was pretty obvious, even to this writer as a young 23 yr-old in 1982, that early CD playback left a lot to be desired. It was harsh, edgy, lacking in real orchestral
weight and body, and certainly did not have the sense of almost endless bandwidth and lack of a high- frequency “lid” on the musical playback experience that
LPs had.
Fast forward 30+ years, and here we are with CDs that sound better than ever and sometimes actually really good, as well as 24/96 & 24/192 DVD sound, and
SACD. Digital today is actually pretty darn good in many respects. Still not on par with records, but often listenable and enjoyable enough, as long as one did
not make a habit of listening to LPs.
Now we jump to the present day, and have a listen to Mark Porzilli’s latest brain-child, The Memory Player. Not only does it put a fresh new face on CD
playback, but it has changed the face of what we know as conventional 16/44 digital technology to show that not only is “regular Red Book” CD now acceptable
to listen to as music, but it handily eclipses, in sonic quality, any currently available CD system, regardless of price.
The MP is a one-stop CD solution, and with the addition of another analog input the possibilities for endless musical enjoyment seem boundless. I envision
even pros in studios using the storage and playback capabilities of the MP to their great advantage in order to really hear what they have mastered, without
having to have access to the actual master tapes.
PS: I think that it may be beneficial to relate the stories of some people who have come to the shop and heard the Memory Player. All of them have had a
similar experience.
First there was me. I immediately heard what the player was doing and I became very impressed and excited, and got my boss, Mike Hobson, all juiced up to
hear it. But... Dan Schwartz (formerly long-timer of TAS) came by and had a listen to some of his CDs in a regular player and then the MP, and he immediately
declared that the MP removed all of his long-standing objections to the CD format, and that he wanted to buy one. Then a customer who came in to listen to
some speakers that I had for sale listened to the MP. As soon is he heard the demo of his CD play in the regular player and then the MP he jumped out of his
chair and danced around and smiled real big, and declared that this was the best thing he ever heard and that he had to have one and that he would be back in
two months.
Anyone who listens to this amazing device is immediately smitten with it and what it does.
To experience it is to want it...the best digital reproduction on the planet!
Scot Markwell
Classic Records and TheMusic.com, Los Angeles, CA
2008
inception in 1982, but also the finest-sounding digital system for playing music in the home that I have ever heard.
I am one of those people for whom CDs never really mattered much. Not only did I own a sizeable (4000+) LP collection that I had toted around with me for the
last 37 years without ever giving up on it, but ever since I heard the first CDs and players I was just not impressed. Early CD sound was not anything to write
home about at all, except to complain how it sucked. And then it was back to those records, many of which I still to this day have not managed to have even the
first listen to. So program material was never a problem.
The problem always was that I had been indoctrinated into live orchestral music before the age of 10 and I was smitten from the first. Many folks these days
scoff at the mere notion that actual live acoustic music is a good thing to compare against home stereos because they feel that, since there is no way that any
home system could ever approach the full fidelity of a symphony orchestra, it is a futile gesture to make such comparisons. I say that this is total bunk, and
demonstrably false. Here is why: if one goes habitually to live orchestral concerts, jazz clubs, concerts of vocal music in churches, and the like, one easily and
quickly develops an ear for what supporting acoustics sound like, good and bad, what various instruments sound like when played in different-sized venues,
how ensemble playing sounds when played loudly and softly, etc.
After a little time, a careful listener can easily develop a reasonable auditory recall, and be able to discern fairly subtle sonic differences between halls,
musicians, and styles of instruments, in a similar manner that any decent rock guitar player can hear the difference between a Stratocaster and a Les Paul.
It was pretty obvious, even to this writer as a young 23 yr-old in 1982, that early CD playback left a lot to be desired. It was harsh, edgy, lacking in real orchestral
weight and body, and certainly did not have the sense of almost endless bandwidth and lack of a high- frequency “lid” on the musical playback experience that
LPs had.
Fast forward 30+ years, and here we are with CDs that sound better than ever and sometimes actually really good, as well as 24/96 & 24/192 DVD sound, and
SACD. Digital today is actually pretty darn good in many respects. Still not on par with records, but often listenable and enjoyable enough, as long as one did
not make a habit of listening to LPs.
Now we jump to the present day, and have a listen to Mark Porzilli’s latest brain-child, The Memory Player. Not only does it put a fresh new face on CD
playback, but it has changed the face of what we know as conventional 16/44 digital technology to show that not only is “regular Red Book” CD now acceptable
to listen to as music, but it handily eclipses, in sonic quality, any currently available CD system, regardless of price.
The MP is a one-stop CD solution, and with the addition of another analog input the possibilities for endless musical enjoyment seem boundless. I envision
even pros in studios using the storage and playback capabilities of the MP to their great advantage in order to really hear what they have mastered, without
having to have access to the actual master tapes.
PS: I think that it may be beneficial to relate the stories of some people who have come to the shop and heard the Memory Player. All of them have had a
similar experience.
First there was me. I immediately heard what the player was doing and I became very impressed and excited, and got my boss, Mike Hobson, all juiced up to
hear it. But... Dan Schwartz (formerly long-timer of TAS) came by and had a listen to some of his CDs in a regular player and then the MP, and he immediately
declared that the MP removed all of his long-standing objections to the CD format, and that he wanted to buy one. Then a customer who came in to listen to
some speakers that I had for sale listened to the MP. As soon is he heard the demo of his CD play in the regular player and then the MP he jumped out of his
chair and danced around and smiled real big, and declared that this was the best thing he ever heard and that he had to have one and that he would be back in
two months.
Anyone who listens to this amazing device is immediately smitten with it and what it does.
To experience it is to want it...the best digital reproduction on the planet!
Scot Markwell
Classic Records and TheMusic.com, Los Angeles, CA
2008
| The new Memory Player (D2D with I.D.E.A.S.) by Nova Physics is based upon a significant rethinking of the reading, storage and playback of digital information. The original Memory Player, a groundbreaking product when released back in '06, bears little sonic or visual resemblance to the latest version. This is the result of several revisions and new approaches taken by inventor, Mark Porzilli. In terms of playback, the new MP can handle hi-rez mediums like DVD-A, Performance-wise, the new MP is quite a step up over the original which is saying a lot considering I've not heard anything as good as it in the three-plus years I've owned it. Most impressive is the timbre accuracy and authenticity (particularly on the human voice, piano and strings). Dynamics are noticeably improved while soundstage (width and depth) spreads out in layers with no exaggeration of individual instrument and/or size. (Review upcoming.) Clement Perry Publisher, The Stereo Times 2009 |
| I think the best way to talk about this in just a few hours listening is to say that this removes all, I mean all, my objections to digital playback. How it stands up against the very best sound possible means I have to learn to hear in a new way. I'm still used to listening for certain things that might be as far from truthful as they are nice to hear. We know people who have these great modern high performance sedans and sports cars. They have every little tweedle dee imaginable, and they handle great (have you seen the new 'Vette?). They are marketed as high performance, but there is something beyond that: - call it ultra performance. Guys who build pure performance machines on old Model A chassis, and these things can do 0-60 in 3.5 seconds...no bells, no comforts, no ease, and little mass; just acceleration and speed. The Memory Player is like that; an ultimate hot rod...not for the faint of heart...yet; but addictive in its sheer invisibility... Dan Schwartz (formerly of The Absolute Sound) 2010 |
Testimonials
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| 2010 |
