Impressions on LM Audio LM-215 CD Player
Okay fellas,
Here is my brief report on the LM-215 CD player. To have a look at this player and its innards, take a look at
Hit Audio ?x????T - Review . Those who are fluent in Chinese, I'd request you to translate the review given in the above link into English.
This CDP looks and feels very sturdy, so are all button-controls and the CD tray. It has a minimalistic look. It uses a Burr Brown PCM 1792 DAC which has sampling capabilities of 24 bits / 192 KHz. It also uses a
single 12AU7 tube in the output stage - I am a bit puzzled by this - is it because of the double triode nature so that it can handle the 2 channels? Can anybody help me here?
One more notable thing about the appearance - it's a bit smaller than the standard size - somewhere in between the standard size and the Cyrus CDP size.
It has 2 playing modes: SHA and SLO - selectable only through the very heavy remote control. The user manual says, the modes correspond to different frequency curves. However, I got confused because on the net at least 2 audiophiles (one in audiokarma named Art.K) described this as switching between valve and transistor (there are very few CDPs that can do that, I knew of one, but cannot remember at the moment). Switching the modes on the fly did not produce a significant qualitative difference for me, not to the extent I'd think it was switching between valve and transistor. I enquired and finally through Sridhar I got my clarifications from LM Audio: "SHA corresponds to 20 KHz high frequency quick drop filtering while SLA corresponds to 20 KHz high frequency slow drop filtering. 215CD only has tube output and there is no separate solid state output selection."
BTW, Line Magnetic does also have a standalone DAC which allows both tube and solid state output - two separate outputs, I believe.
With all that out of the way, let's talk about the sonics and a comparison with my previous CDP CA 740c (well, I am not selling it off, at least for now I am keeping it. It has 2 sets of digital in, each set having both coaxial and optical. Unfortunately the LM Audio CDP lacks any digital in and hence cannot be used as a standalone DAC, but it can be used as a transport alone because it has both types of digital outs).
In one phrase - it sounds beautiful to my ears. The sound signature is very similar to the LM 216IA amp that was described in the opening post of this thread. The sound is musical and rich - with the musical harmonics and micro details. There is absolutely no edginess anywhere - it's smooth and flowing - a bit on the warmer side but not at the expense of the highs. In fact the highs are extremely good- with the desirable extensions and sparkle and air - without the brightness. At the same time the mids and the lower mids are full bodied. The bass is also well articulated and detailed with the necessary impact. The bottom-line is that this CDP invites you to the music. During a week's testing before I finally decided to keep it I tried all kinds of music I have (there is now a pile of about 30 CDs near my system which will confuse people about my preferred genre) and not a single CD repelled me.
In comparison, the CA 740c CDP, despite being quite detailed and everything, lacks in the musicality department, sounds harsher on most CDs. Please remember this is in comparison. In absolute terms, I still think the 740c is a very good CDP, especially for the price I got it and it gelled well in my system.
One other difference was the separation of all instruments or all physical sources of sound, as a result the imaging is much better and assured. My wife easily identified this trait. My son was very quick in his comment - on the very first listen within a brief moment he confirmed that the LM Audio was undoubtedly a better player.
I have a reasonably huge collection of CDs and I do not have the time or inclination to put all this into the hard discs. I need one box CD players and I think I found a very good CDP that would better quite a few popular and more expensive CDPs - as I said elsewhere VFM quotient as opposed to absolute improvement is important to me.
Regards.
I wont play with him any more.
