Digital Drive: REVIEW: Vecteur Vecteur D-2 CD Player/Recorder by Brad V Upsamplers, DACs, jitter, shakes and analogue withdrawals, this is it.

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Model:	Vecteur D-2
Category:	CD Player/Recorder
Suggested Retail Price:	$1,090
Description:	CD Transport
Manufacturer URL:	Vecteur
Model Picture:	View

Review by Brad V ( A ) on April 12, 2002 at 08:17:12 IP Address: 208.61.82.217

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I’m breaking this review into several reviews. The first review is a brief review, based on how things sounded after 5 minutes of break-in. That’s right, right out of the box. I’m trying to give a review, like I would like to hear one, since I’m always interested in how things sounded before, during and after being fully broken in. The 2nd review is after 100 hours of break-in. The 3rd review is after 200 hours and the final review is after the 350 recommended hours of break-in.
First off, let me mention that I was extremely impressed with the packaging. The Vecteur D-2 was double boxed and packed very securely. The unit itself if built like a brick u no what. The remote control is very easy to use. The tray ejects as fast as the fastest I’ve seen. The next and previous tracks were extremely fast. This box is super quiet.

1st Review – 5 minutes of break-in
I hooked it up and let it play for 5 minutes. My wife and I then listened to my Sony Jukebox, which was hooked to the GW Labs unit with 96 upsampling. We listened to the track we normal listen to when testing changes. Then we flipped over to the Vecteur without it hooked to the GW Labs unit. Both of us agreed that the Sony sounded sweeter. The Vecteur had greater bottom end slam, more detail definition and played with a greater authority. Then we hooked it to the GW Labs unit and oh my God! It was sweeter and surpassed the Meridian Transport by a good margin. Keep in mind that this was only after 5-10 minutes of break-in and Mutine said that it needs at least 350 hours. I've got it on repeat since last night and will listen again tonight. I didn't test it with and without the upsampler yet. Also, I have on order the recommended Mutine Cones, which should come in, in the next week.

2nd Review – 156 hours of break-in
The bottom end continues to improve. The biggest improvement was that sounds become really Vinyl like and SACD like. The violins on a Tchaikovsky Violin concerto made me feel like I could feel the resin coming off of the bows. Piano became much richer, especially noticeable in the bass region where they were oh so full sounding. The soundstage and imaging had also improved.

On Tuesday, with 156 hours on the transport, we had a shootout.
The shootout that was between the ML 37 and the Meridian 500 was very rewarding. I've noticed a nice steady improvement and it's not my imagination, as I keep switching between my other players and the Vecteur. I keep hearing a growing margin between them.

Everyone was impressed as to how Vinyl sounding the transport was. The Vecteur beat the Meridian in all aspects. The Mark Levinson was a little dry sounding in comparison, however there was a little more bottom end slam. According to Mutine, that is one of the things that will improve over time. I’ll eventually get to see, as the ML37 will be back in a few weeks. We did blind tests and every time I picked the Vecteur as my favorite. The other guys picked it too, with one exception. There was a Keb Mo cd that the other two guys preferred the Levinson due to the bass slam.. Not bad for 1/4th the price. Also, I believe that it might have the bass beat, if it keeps improving like I've been told. They both commented to how it sounded like Vinyl and SACD. That's pretty impressive. We initially tested all 3 transports w/out the GW Labs DSP and towards the end, we tried them all with the GW Labs DSP. There was a nice improvement with each transport across the board. The GW Labs DSP gave more air around instruments and sweetened things up. Maybe this is due to accuracy, however I can’t be really sure. I also notice the same phenomenon when going from bypass mode on my Tact RCS 2.0 to playing a curve. I know when taking it out of bypass mode, the Tact will make my ears hear things more accurately. So, I think that the GW Labs DSP is making things more accurate.

3rd Review – 200 hours of break-in
I really didn’t notice much of a difference between 156 hours and 200 hours other than a more solid soundstage. I received my 3 Mutine Cones, which were made of some composite material. I removed the big hockey puck sized aluminum feet off of the base of the Vecteur D-2 and set the transport back up with the Mutine Cones. The sound seemed to get a little tighter. The midrange seemed to get even more analog sounding. I’m not going to mince words here, however I feel this extremely hard to do an A/B when there is so much time taken in removing the existing supports and replacing them with something else. For $50.00, I wasn’t going to lose any sleep and it at least made me feel like it sounded better.

4th Review – 300 hours of break-in
I didn’t plan on doing a review at 300 hours and I’m not going to go into any great detail. It’s just that someone wanted me to hear his Sony XA777ES in my system. He’s had it for over a month and it has been fully broken in. We played this unit with and without the GW Labs DSP. In comparison with the Vecteur D-2, The Vecteur bettered the Sony unit in all aspects. I enjoyed the Mark Levinson 37, much better than this unit. Something seemed to fall apart when listening to some heavy Classical pieces. It was an irritating sound, where if I listened too long, I’d have fatigue big time. I liked the bottom end on it and I felt like it bettered the Meridian in that respect. With the GW Labs DSP, the Sony sounded much more real sounding and it lost a good bit of that fatigue effect, which would have made it a transport I could have lived with. Still, the Vecteur is the most Vinyl sounding system I’ve heard. I had just picked up a new CD and had to try it out between these two tranports. It is the TCHAIKOVSKY: Concerto in D for Violin and Orchestra, op. 35. GLAZUNOV: Concerto in A Minor for Violin and Orchestra, op. 82. Maxim Vengerov, violin; Claudio Abbado conducting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. TELDEC 4509-90881-2. I’m a freak for these Violins Concertos, so I have many of them. Well, the Vibrato and Pizzicato that Vengerov got from this Strad was so life-like. It felt like Vengerov was actually sitting there playing in front of me. The Sony transport played it very nicely, however not the realism factor and I couldn't sense the feel of rosin falling off of the bow, like I did with the Vecteur D-2.

Final Review – 350 hours of break-in
I was a little skeptical if there would be any improvement between 200 hours and 350 hours. There was a real nice improvement across the board, however especially in the bass region. I was hearing some electric bass sounds that were so much more realistic and so rock solid. There was also more fluidity. The soundstage was just awesome. The soundstage extension was one of the largest I’ve ever heard. One piece I’ve always used to check out equipment is Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov / Dance of the Tumblers. I use this piece to check the slam factor. Within the first 30 seconds you are slammed in the chest. The authority with which I was slammed was breathtaking. Keiko Matsui’s “Deep Blue” CD has so much air around everything, I felt like I was floating on a cloud. Diana Krall voice on “How Deep is the Ocean” had so much body. Listening to Diana Krall singing “Peel me a Grape’ made me want to +-?@~`!, won’t got there. Listening to the Brahms Violin Concerto played by Hilary Hahn or Sarah Chang playing Introduction and Rondo capriccioso for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 28 by Saint-Saens caused the tissues to be broken into. I also did play some of my Rock CD’s and heard really nice improvements on them. I listened to some Heart, Pink Floyd, ELP & Yes.

If I had to mention just one good thing about this transport is that it projects a sound that reminds me of Vinyl & SACD. How this difference is caused by a transport is beyond me.

Disclaimers:
1) I haven’t compared the different transports I tested with any other DAC.

Now I’m really curious to hear how the Vecteur D-2 would compare to the CEC TL1X and some of the other higher priced transports.

This is currently my chain of equipment:
Vecteur D-2 --> GW Labs DSP --> Tact RCS 2.0DA --> ARC SP-6A (Recently upgraded by Richard Gray) --> Odyssey Stratos Mono Amps --> Newform R645s (upgraded with Blackhole 5, silver internal wiring, cardas rhodium connectors, 12 gauge Goertz inductor, PPMF Caps, Theta Caps and Mills Resistors)

All Interconnects are hand made with true 75 ohm Canare RCA Connectors
Speaker wire is the Goertz MI1’s terminated in Goertz Silver spades

One other thing. I got an email from Mutine, that they are having reports from some dealers that 500 hours is the magic number on break-in. Well, I guess I'll see.

Have a great day,

Brad

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Product Weakness:	Could look a little better
Product Strengths:	Very Detailed, great bass ressponse, Vinyl & SACD like sound

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Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier:	Odyssey Stratos Monos
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	Tact RCS 2.0DA
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	CD - Vecteur D-2
Speakers:	Upgraded Newform R645s
Cables/Interconnects:	Goertz Speakers cables and Canare DIY Interconnects
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	Listed in the review
Room Size (LxWxH):	25 x 16 x 12
Room Comments/Treatments:	Tact RCS 2.0DA used for room correction
Time Period/Length of Audition:	350 plus hours
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner

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