Foreword
After staying over twenty years in Bochum, Audionet decided to change their
location into Berlin. This change was done last year and caused challenges and
even some difficulties in certain operations, like equipment deliveries, which
I personally had to experience in my Planck case. However, the change of location
has the background of its own, which I will not criticize; instead, I understand
well what benefits the location in Berlin will give. Additionally, the brand
really deserves the stamp of capitol city!
Audionet CD players have been for decades amongst the best ones on the market.
I have been very familiar with them from the end of 2000's when ART V2 was launched.
Already this player had "balls" which satisfied many serious audiophiles.
ART G2 replaced it in 2006 and at this time its performance satisfied even me
in several listening situations. In 2010, I was going to renew my front end
totally and got a second hand G2 into my home. What a great player it was! Very
punchy, clear and smooth sound was delivered. The only thing why I did not purchase
it was that a new G3 was to be launched. So, I bought the G3 and surely was
not disappointed. Sonically, G3 was even more detailed and revealing. Naturally,
I had considered the products of other brands as well, but finally decided on
Audionet player, just because of my price and quality evaluations.
The question: "Why still to launch a new CD player", is put out from
numerous mouths. Thomas Gessler (Audionet's managing partner) has said: "Innovation
is a slug and certainly not a straight-lined process. Also vinyls had been declared
dead after the introduction of the CD, but what did actually happen? Let’s
just see how things will turn out for the CD. In my opinion, we will witness
a renaissance also in this case." I think this will happen more or less,
not only because of masses of sold CDs and nostalgia, but also because of the
Redbook format itself. Undeniably, it is more than Ok for high enough listening
pleasure, especially when mastering is done professionally and appropriate dithering
is used! Personally, I'm really happy that Audionet chose the way to continue
CD player development and production. Also, I strongly believe that they and
their dealers will make good business due to this decision as well. The Planck,
will feed this successfully!
Besides years of living with ART G3 and now few months with Planck, I was lucky
to have a possibility for a side by side comparison. This gives more weight
to this review and naturally makes it easier and more reliable to describe the
sonic differences of these very high quality CD players.
About Planck technology
Despite some visual and technological similarities with ART G3, like Aligned
Resonance Transport (ART), the Planck has built around a very different concept.
Besides improvements on materials, component quality and mechanical protection,
the new design launches multi power supply circuits, cleverly located and more
accurate readout, clocking and data pre-handling electronics, totally new analogue
signal processing and discrete Class-A output stages, just to mention some of
the most important ones. So, a huge amount of engineering has apparently been
done!
Although Planck is a CD player, it delivers plenty of options and interfaces
for more versatile use. For example, it can be used as a DA converter (naturally)
for higher resolution music files. Personally, these features are less important
to me, just because I have my loved CD collection which includes hundreds of
discs which will never be delivered in high-resolution formats, or at least
I believe so. It is also questionable if these format changes and reproductions
are ever reasonable, just because of eldering of source tapes and other great
challenges in processing.
I'm very delighted that Audionet still continues on the way of top-loaders.
For me, the players having top loading systems are the only serious choices.
The reasons for this are obvious: they remind the use of vinyl players, they
never jam critically and they deliver better safety for discs. The sliding cover
of the Planck is heavy but slides very smoothly in its grooves. The puck is
slightly lighter than the one of ART G3 and it has also a slightly weaker magnet,
but it centers the mass better, is actually more secure for bearings of the
player spindle, and last but not least, is easier to use.
Audionet has constrained the finish of the player totally. The anodized aluminum
cover parts are available in the color light bronze only. By this finish, the
Planck is a really good looking and elegant player and actually does not miss
any alternatives, like more commercial aluminum or black. However, the finish
of the player leads into the most important criticism of mine. The same light
bronze finish is found on the integrated amplifier Watt and Ampere power supply,
but not on any preamplifier. Why not?
Using and listening
ART G3 was and still is a robust player with reliable functions. The only thing
which really disturbed me was the remote control, which was plastic and universal.
Planck has a well-designed, metallic and specific remote control which is much
clearer to use, and gives a feel of higher value as well. The push buttons stay
in slightly over sized holes, which is likely a result of conscious engineering.
The solution prevents jamming in long term use but delivers also rippling sound
when the remote control is shaken.
Owning happily ART G3, I did not expect to hear any remarkable improvements
in the sound when the Planck arrived. Years ago, I had chosen the ART G3 from
the pool of the best CD players and I still relied on its performance, totally.
To be clarified, I do not mean that it was the best in every single character,
but because I had evaluated it as good as a whole. However, I got surprised.
Directly from the package and still slightly cold, I put the Planck to play,
and what happened! The very well-known music samples flowed out with superb
clarity and dynamics. Actually, I have never experienced this kind of performance
without even any hint of burn-in.
It is interesting that I still do not find any fault in the sound of ART G3,
but nevertheless, I can clearly hear the better results delivered by the Planck.
Actually, ART G3 does not lose or smudge any significant information. It delivers
music with trouncing resolution, smoothly and powerfully. I just think that
Planck can do its job even more accurately, especially in the time domain. Besides
this, it can slightly improve the performance here and there. In practice, all
this means better articulation and clarity of music performances, also in a
melody manner. This is precisly what I have been experiencing during my listening
sessions, continuously!
Having more listening hours, I also found Planck being slightly faster than
ART G3. It can deliver the transients and dynamic peaks even more faithfully
- absolutely not a night and day difference, but I'm sure it is there. Probably,
the more accurate timing of Planck co-operates successfully with the other technical
improvements and this leads to extremely speedy actions in attacks and releases
of the music. This feature seemed to have an effect on a longer time scale as
well, which means very rhythmical and foot tapping listening sessions all through
the songs!
Conclusion
The real purpose of audio equipment is to give happiness and other positive
feelings to its owner. If it really does this, nothing else matters. Audionet
Planck gives those things to me. So, I feel that my choice was the right one.
There is less and less alternatives available for a high quality CD player,
but luckily Audionet players are still available. Hallelujah for Audionet and
the old Redbook! Besides my praises and cheers to keep going on, I still deliver
one complaint to Audionet: Planck really misses a preamplifier of the same kind!
But as for the Planck, I have no complaints at all. Its performance is superb,
sonically and practically, and it is really a pleasure to own. Nowadays, for
me, listening music from the old CDs delivers more honey than never before.
I cannot ask more from a single source!
Dealer in Finland:
Highend Studio Finland Oy
http://www.highendstudio.fi/
Further information:
http://en.audionet.de/machines/planck/