General Asylum: REVIEW: Primare D-30.2 CD Player/Recorder by HKD

Having just picked up the ProAc Response 3.8's, I'm in the process of upgrading the associated components to bring out the best. These days it is difficult for most to bank on any one processing capability or format, but with that said my own belief is that cd recordings, as we have come to know them, are not going to be obsolete for quite some time. Besides, the collection of 16 bit recordings I currently have warants I have a player that plays these recordings as best as possible. If that meant a DVD player that acts as a combo DVD/cd transport then so be it. But I have demoed the top DVD players and IMO they were beat out by the higher end transports and cd players. In my qwest to find the player (or transport) that comes home with me for good, I came across the PRIMARE (actually an owner who I chat with quite often recommended I take a listen)----so I listened.

Off the bat you know the unit is at least pretty--very good looking and very solidly built. Let me stress, this unit is a very good looking unit (sorry I'm a bit shallow).....but not shallow enough to spend $2g's on something that is solely a looker.

As for listening we had the unit mated with Pro Ac 2.5's and a Threshold T200. We did A/B comparisons against another Primare player (the 20) and the Theta Pearl transport. Software consisted of Tracey Chapman, Dave Wenkyl, Chris Cornell, Erykah Badu, Oscar Peterson, Special EFX and Dave Matthews.

Besides the looks, 3 features I liked immediately were the digital out which gives the ability to use an outboard DAC, thus using the Primare as a transport, the balanced outputs and the transport itself (uses a Philips 12.2 transport mechanism). One of the features I immediately found annoying was the extensive time it took for the unit to "read" the disc when first entered into the player.

Listening to the unit made me think "this is great--it's just like when you meet a very good looking women who, after spending some time with them, is more then just good looking". This unit had a great combination of clarity, transparency, soundstage (was amazing) and detail. It was fun to listen to a player that had the warmth without losing the detail that I am personally a freak for. It was also nice to find that all things could be achieved without sacrificing any other. It did something very special to live recordings (the Dave Matthews cd was "Live at Luther College" and the Oscar Peterson was "Live In Paris"). Both were amazingly reproduced. The detail in the Erykah Badu and the Chris Cornell cd's were fantastic and the warmth of the Tracey Chapman and Cassandra Wilson cd's were not artificial and did not sacrifice the transparency. All in all, the PRIMARE hit the nail directly///squarely///definately on the head.

BUT, the bass was slow---damm!!! There was an obvious differrence in the bass between the Theta Pearl and the Primare--even when using the Primare as a transport only--even after changing the power chord to an NBS and even after changing the cable to a Kimber silver cable. It was just a bit soft and noticably slower. It was VERY difficult for me to walk out of this dealer without having purchased this unit. But I did it for 3 reasons:
(1) my new speakers have not yet been delivered so I could not enjoy the unit just yet anyway (sold my NHT's already and I'm using old Whafdale Diamonds ONLY when I must listen to music)

(2) The Theta Jade demo unit this dealer had was sold during the week and I want to A/B this unit against the Jade

3) The dealer was waivering toward bringing the price down to the price that would make me jump ($1600)--if he does it I'm in there.

Overall this really is a great unit and I strongly suggest you take a listen because there is only one cd player (actually transport) that I've heard that I liked more then this one--- and that is the Proceed cdd (but this unit can only be had for $2500 here in Hong Kong).

I've been in this dealers shop a number of times and when he always told me "listen to the Primare" I would say "no, I don't need some European designer name brand equipment"---well, the Primare 30.2 is definately more then just a pretty face in the crowd.

REVIEW: Primare D-30.2 CD Player/Recorder Review by HKD at Audio Asylum