Κώστας Φ.
Truth hurts. Here's a teddy bear.
- Μηνύματα
- 8.978
- Reaction score
- 895
Price: $13,500
"Even a cursory examination of the Andromeda confirms that this level of design and execution has been maintained throughout. It's a top-loader because such a configuration provides more stability and precision than a drawer-type transport. The mechanical stability is further improved by mounting the Philips CD-Pro 2 M transport assembly in a heavy, isolated subchassis of its own, and still further by floating the subchassis with Sim's proprietary gel-based Delta suspension.
Once the signal is extracted from the CD, it's processed to 24-bit/705.6kHz by a 16x-oversampling Burr-Brown DF-1704 digital filter, then converted by four Burr-Brown 24-bit PCM1704U-K converters to generate a truly balanced signal. These aren't just any Burr-Brown DACs; each chip has been extensively measured and characterized to be part of a matched set of four. To keep jitter as low as possible, the Andromeda uses Sim's Alpha Clocking Circuit, an externally generated, PLL-synchronized clock signal.
The dual-mono, fully balanced signal paths are carried through the analog stages. The circuitry is laid out in symmetrical multiboard sets in which each balanced leg is mirrored by the circuit for the opposite leg, and the left and right channels are kept separate to minimize the possibility of crosstalk. The circuit boards themselves are military-grade, four-layer units with the signal paths on the top and third layers, the ground plane on the second layer, to better isolate the two signal paths, and the power traces on the bottom. The Andromeda's manual claims that its Independent Inductive DC Filtering (I2DCf) power-supply regulation provides "1 inductor for each and every chip (ie, op-amp, DAC, digital filter, etc.) in the audio circuit's signal path—56 stages of regulation in all."
...
Impressive indeed
No matter how you look at it—in terms of design, execution, build quality, appearance, or most significant, performance—Simaudio's Moon Evolution Andromeda Reference CD player is an impressive audio component. It's impressive, too, that Sim has remained confident enough in their design approach to continually refine it until it has reached this level of execution. With the Andromeda, Simaudio makes a simple, matter-of-fact assertion that this is the way a CD player should be designed, and this is how "Red Book" CDs should sound.
I can't disagree. I don't know if the Andromeda is the best-sounding CD player available today, nor do I really know how good CDs can ultimately sound. What I do know is that today, in my system, the Simaudio Moon Evolution Andromeda Reference is as good as it gets. I'm very, very impressed." -- Brian Damkroger
"Overall, this is excellent measured performance, and way better than that required to reproduce CDs. And that digital input allows owners of convenience products like the Slim Devices Squeezebox to take advantage of the Andromeda's excellent DAC and output stage." -- John Atkinson
Full Review: Stereophile.com
