THE CD PLAYER PLUS - Ultra High Fidelity Magazine

Listening Feedback Room
that! It includes rhythm provided by a
drum that, on the evidence, must be big
enough to live in. There is, therefore, a
fabulous low end, and that’s the way the
Eximus communicated it. At the same
time the clarity was outstanding, and
the player never allowed the percussion
to cover up Jennifer’s single entendre
lyrics. “At first I wasn’t sure,” said Steve,
“but now I am. It’s a home run.”
Would the Eximus also hit a home
run on the test bench? We put on some
test discs and watched the scope.
Above left is a 100 Hz square wave,
and it’s a good one. There is but a hint of
overshoot, and it’s quickly damped even
The Eximus’s appearance reminded
me of a very well-cut grey flannel suit, and
its sound matched its impressively elegant
image. Its harmonic presentation was
flawless. Layer after layer of music blended
beautifully. Resolution and detail were
equally strong, and it competed tenaciously
with the Linn in these respects.
Though the sonic personalities of the
two players differ, I won’t say the Linn is
always the better player. In fact the Eximus
and the Linn seem almost cut from the same
cloth, and that cloth is a superb weave.
—Steve Bourke
Take your time with this player. We did.
It needs time to grow on you, because at first
it doesn’t seek to impress or call attention
to its many qualities, it just plays music as
simply as it was recorded. Nothing added it
seems, no frills, and that is the best compliment
I can think of when it comes to high
fidelity. Relax, get involved and enjoy. Its
42 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
so. There is only the slightest rightward
tilt of the wave top, indicating a barelythere
high frequency rolloff. Nothing to
see here, let’s move along.
The sine wave on the right is a 1 kHz
signal recorded a very low 60 dB below
maximum level. The shape is excellent,
with a little bit of noise causing ripples
across it (in this immobilized image it
shows up as an anomaly at the very top
and bottom of each cycle). There are
indeed quieter players than the Eximus,
but it’s not significant enough to be
audible.
Jitter was low, though we saw it
increase noticeably when we played a
CROSSTALK
purpose is to remove the unnecessary and
extraordinary attributes of recorded material,
allowing you to partake of the essence
of the music and the emotional quality
conveyed by the performers.
Transparency became a given, as I could
have written in the air the clearest lyrics I
had heard in a long time. Bass was solid and
particularly musical, not just an impressive,
heavy thud. Massed voices rose and floated,
while others appeared on the stage, clearly
set behind the first rows. It seemed the kind
of player one could listen to without the
slightest hint of strain.
No strain, as in live unamplified music,
would you say?
Exactly.
—Albert Simon
There’s one really important thing the
Eximus has that our superlative reference
player does not: you can plug something
into its digital-to-analog converter other
disc that had been deliberately cut with
a laser. Jitter aside, the player tracked the
damaged record well, easily meeting Red
Book standard.
The April Music Eximus has a large
footprint, and it is in fact too deep to fit
smaller equipment racks comfortably.
But there’s a lot in the box, and that’s
why it’s so big. It will play your CDs with
style and musical satisfaction far into the
future. It will also play the music that is
already on your computer, or soon will
be.
The Compact Disc drive is limited to
Red Book specs. The Eximus converter
is not.
than the built-in disc drive. That is as it
should be. A lot of the considerable money
you’re spending if you buy an Eximus is for
its outstanding DAC. What if, like many
audiophiles (including us) you also stock
music on a hard drive? Are you supposed to
buy another DAC just for computer music?
The Eximus, then, can be the centre of
your digital music system, able to reproduce
bitstreams from pretty much anything. And
that, I am convinced, is what can justify the
upscale cost.
Not that it is at all weak just as a CD
player, because the opposite is true. Of
course you can play it too loud and notice
artifacts you would rather not have heard,
but its resolution is so good that you don’t
need to turn it up to 11 just to enjoy the music
or even understand the lyrics. And if it’s an
upgrade from a lesser player (which is to say
most players), you’ll hear music you’ve never
heard before.
—Gerard Rejskind