General Asylum: REVIEW: Micromega Stage 3 CD Player/Recorder by Janos

Model:	Stage 3
Category:	CD Player/Recorder
Suggested Retail Price:	$500 used
Description:	Philips CDM12.4 transport
Manufacturer URL:	Not Available
Manufacturer URL:	Not Available

Review by Janos on March 03, 2006 at 02:02:37
IP Address: 128.171.209.219

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for the Stage 3

This is probably the CD player with the most controversial reviews on the net. Some praise it to the skies, and others trash it because of alleged poor quality. It is not in production for quite a while, but you see these players used popping up on audiogon or ebay.
Some people say it is the closest sounding player to analogue, and the best integrated CD player, and others say never buy this French trash. But beware, always judge after your own player, and not by urban legends. Once someone told me he had a Stage 3, that was his best sounding player ever, but sold it because he read that they can get unreliable.
I have bough mine on ebay, 5 years ago, used. The player, that arrived, was trashed by Fedex; its drawer would not close completely, and would not play a thing. I sent it back to the seller, and he sent me another used Stage 3, that was made in 1990.
Since I got it, I have used it extremely heavily. Every day at least 6 hours playing, over the weekends it usually spins CDs 16 hours non-stop. I also used it to break in components by leaving the break-in CD on repeat for a week non-stop. I think it is amazing that a CD player can take such extremely heavy use, for so many years. The only reported problem with this model is that some of the Philips mechanics used were not properly greased, and fail early. However, this is not Micromegas fault, happens to any player that used that batch of the Philips CDM12.4. My CDM12.4 unit inside is working seamlessly - but I'm prepared and stocked up a few extra units. The CDM12.4 is still manufactured, without the tray the unit itself is a few bucks only each, ordered directly from the factory in China. Replaced the unit in a friend's Stage 3 that died after over-tweaking. Since then, that one works fine, and the tweaks applied to it worked out with similar succes as on my unit.
The CD player is the hardest item to choose. The cheap players sound usually very bad, and the high end players are very expensive, yet not musical: they present music through a hi-def aura, the presentation is often unnatural, like listening to powerful ghosts. You get a lot of detail from those players (esp SACD), but their sonic signature is so strong, that it prevents the enjoyment of music (at least for me).
The Stage 3s strength is the midrange. Relaxed, warm presentation, yet the base and highs are also there. This player is the one that does not add to the sound, if errs, errs on the negative: never sacrifices quality for quantity. Aka, you might get a bit quieter very top end, or bottom, but not a distorted one. The chassis construction is a bit on the weak side, you can significantly improve sonics by dampening the chassis and the tray. Internal ERS paper treatment, and some blue-tac dampening on the transformers and ICs result in a truly relaxed sound, without the digital feel to the sound that is usually associated with digital. It is extremely sensitive to the stand and feet it stays on. I recommend to isolate it as well from the rest of the equipment as possible. An air table comes in handy. If you use pumice stone with blue tac, that's already a significant improvement. If you let it rest on its four plastic feet, you get a taste of plastic from the unmodded Stage 3.
To get the rest of the digital feel out of the way, add an isolation mains transformer, and demagnetize the tray and the CDs every time you change discs. With the regular demag, you'll be pressed hard to tell, using good software with the tweaked player, that the source is digital.
Overall: I am nothing less than amazed with this player. Untweaked, it was a far cry from vinyl, but with the above mentioned tweaks (plus hardwireing the silver IC to the DAC-board, bypassing the mediocre RCA jacks) I lost my strong negative bias against digital. This comes with incredible resilience against wear and tear. Personally, I think this is the most natural, and ear-friendly digital source ever made. With the standard DAC board it sounds more relaxed than any tube-CD player I heard. A must-try for vinyl lovers.

Product Weakness: It does not present sound like a hi-def CD player, you do not have the microphone-in-you-head feeling, some people miss this.
I don't understand to jazz, but apparently those who are into jazz do not like it so much, as the highs are not harsh enough.
On the remote there is no eject button; during 15 years that one button on the faceplate got too much usage, and would not work well, so I swapped it with another button on the faceplate. Sometimes the tray would not come out at once, I have to push the eject button several times.
Product Strengths: Does play any CD with beauty and involvement. Even audio CDs burned from mp3 sound like a revelation: way more information you would beleive an mp3 can deliver. It is not smoothing the details so that you get lower resolution and a fake sense of beauty and euphony. When I listen to the original CD, such as in the case of Depeche Mode Exciter, the mp3 burned from it is a far cry. However, before hearing the original CD, the mp3 was fully enjoyable. This is a player that you can use in the modern era: download the mp3 from the net, burn an audio CD of it, listen to it, and if you like it, buy the original CD. I can't tell you how many new CDs I bought this way.
It resolves the details without the sound falling apart. However, it does not hide the weaknesses of the recording: they are audible, but they do not spoil the listening. (Except the recordings where one instrument or the vocals is out-of-phase, I can't listen to those, whatever the source is.)
My comparison standards are live orchestral / choir and live acoustic guitar. Orchestras are fabulous from this player; it can take complexity and dynamic demands with grace and ample reserves. The soundstage is excellent; on the Cantate Domino CDs first track it can reveal more detail of the choir than I heard on the first issue white LP. (On two occasions a choir member sings in a slightly false voice, that I never noticed on the LP.)
Yet, the high level of detail is presented without being over-obvious, inflated, like SACD or hi-end CD players do sound. (Please, no flame, that is how they sound to me.) This player does not want to cheat your ears.
One of the favorites of this player is piano. Mercury living presence, Byron Jannis Pictures at an Exhib.: a musician friend of mine commented after listening to it, that he has not heard a real life piano in years sounding as good as it sounded from the Stage 3.
Guitar: Alirio Diaz's guitar playing is lifelike. If I take my guitar from its case, and place it standing between the speakers, it's almost impossible to tell if it's live or a recording. The speed, attack, dynamics, body, tone, harmonic richess, and low level details presented are very life-like.
Vocals: when listening to CDs where they sing in Hungarian (my native language) I always have the feeling with other players that the singers are not Hungarians, and that's their second language that I hear. From the Stage 3 I always get the feeling that they speak with correct intonation...
Excelent rythm, pace, and tempo. Very good, natural soundstage. Detailed, yet not over-detailed.
Works great on a wide range of music - classical, folk, rock, even techno...

Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier:	DIY 1W SET amp (Double DC Darling)
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	DIY (based on Bergman / Esmilla type 76)
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	Rega P3, DIY wooden arms
Speakers:	DIY, Voigt pipes with Fostex FE204
Cables/Interconnects:	silver, CCSSWP
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	medieval (Paul Hillier: Chansons Trouveres), baroque (Bach: tragicomedia), orchestral (Beethoven symphonies, cond. Ferencsik), chamber (Handel trio sonatas), rock (Jethro Tull), modern (Garmarna)
Room Comments/Treatments:	very poor room acoustics, irregular size
Time Period/Length of Audition:	approx. 10.000 hours
Other (Power Conditioner etc.):	Z-sleeves, mains isolation transformer, etc.
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner