[selfdivider]

Good to hear that you've also found the sweet spot with the PS1, Chesebert! I'm the guy who was kind of stirring things up a bit on the other thread, b/c I returned the 840C for the PS1.

In the Stereophile review, the PS1 that the reviewer got definitely seems like it had tracking issues, was a 'lemon.' I don't know what he means by hearing 'whirs'... Also, another no-no: the reviewer didn't keep the PS1 on. As Chesebert mentions, the bass doesn't open up until a few days later, and the PS1 starts to sound its best after about a week of having been on. It's weird. For the 1st couple days, the music through PS1 sounds a bit uninvolving, although you can clearly hear its potential. Then after the 5 day period, it just gels and blooms together... all the elements of music. Another complaint by the reviewer was that you had to control the PS1 with the game controller w/ cords. You can easily circumvent this by just buying a PS2 DVD remote for like ten bucks! So basically, most of the criticisms addressed by the reviewer could have been controlled, had the reviewer taken a bit more care to seriously consider the PS1. The fact that he still preferred it - even w/ these inconveniences - to the $1K Music Hall player is remarkable, I think.

PS1 definitely doesn't have the resolution of the Transporter, but music isn't always about ultra-resolution. It more than compensates by what it does dynamically, and through its gorgeous tonality. You'd swear the sound wasn't digital. No hash, just great, authoritative and powerful warmth. And Chesebert hit the PS1's strength right on the nose: the midrange performance is to die for, regardless of price.

I haven't yet swapped out the power cord, but I've heard it improves things. I use Cardas Quadlink interconnect & the sound becomes better exponentially, over the stock RCAs. I did buy an output modded PS1, but contrary to my expectations, the stock PS1 sounded better for some reason. I can't explain why that is. The modded PS1 did seem to resolve more, but the stock version sounded plainly... bigger, in soundstage, and just the presentation of the music itself. More rounded and coherent.