Impressions: Audio Aero Capitole & Capitole SE

[aerius]

Teaser: So my local dealer has the entire Audio Aero CD player lineup, SE & non SE, but they were always setup in different systems and I never got to hear them on the same gear. Until this past weekend. In short, the SE is better, but I still don't think it's worth nearly as much as they're charging for the upgrade, which is quite a few hundred bucks. As a person who knows which end of a soldering iron to hold, chances are I could do the upgrade myself for a hell of a lot less. Of course, if one can afford a Capitole at retail prices, money probably isn't an issue.

Gear: Artemis Labs LA-1 linestage and SP-1 power amp, with Wilson-Benesch Discovery speakers.

I was going to start the impressions today and finish tomorrow, but for some reason I'm a lot more tired than I thought I was, so I'm going to call it a day.

[tom_hankins]

When I bought the Prima SE DAC it was $700.00 more for the SE model.

[aerius]

Continuing... The main difference I noted between the two is the treble, the SE is definitely better here, and this is where most of the gap is. The resolution up top is better, as is its ability to avoid sibilance even with shitty CDs. Sibilance and hash on the non SE tends to resolve into coherant musical information on the SE, for instance the cymbals on "The Bazaar" by The Tea Party are a bit sharp & edgy on the regular, but not so much on the SE, but it's not getting rounded over nor rolled off in any way. There's more information & detail, and less annoying hash, which makes it less fatiguing and more real.

It was much the same idea on "What's Going On?" by Blue Rodeo, the regular leaves a bit of random hash in the cymbals while the SE gets rid of it and turns that noise into music. To use an analogy, it's kinda like what happens when an FM radio tuner isn't quite dead on with the station, parts of the music fuzzes out into static, but when dialed in the static is gone and you get more musical information coming in. The SE is basically the fine-tuning of the radio dial. With the rest of the frequency range there's not really much of an improvement, the SE is a little ahead in all areas but it's not as dramatic as it is in the treble. So I won't talk about it much, lest I start sounding like a magazine reviewer.

Just for Reks, I played some Feist on the system, and this is where I realize how artificial and processed "The Reminder" is in comparison to "Let it Die". Which brings me to the next part, how do they deal with non-audiophile approved recordings? Well, the SE is better here, it sounds fuller & more vivid without sounding like it's playing things through rose-tinted lenses. Yes I can easily hear all the flaws, even more so than the regular Capitole, but they don't bug me as much. It's sweeter & better, but in a good way, not in the way of crappily done tube gear.

Going back to "The Reminder", the songs are great but the recording & mastering sucks. On "1 2 3 4" they either used a cheap-ass recorder for her vocals or they ran her voice through 50 stages of post-processing, same thing with half the instruments. Yet it still sounds pretty good with the SE, while with the regular I find I'm more distracted by the sterile-sounding vocals & instruments, and I don't think I'd want to listen to it more than once a day at the most. With the SE I wouldn't mind spinning the disc every day.

Soundstaging & imaging is pretty close, the SE is a bit more precise and seems to have more depth, but I'd need a lot of listening to tell for sure. Dynamics, frequency extension, and the other stuff I haven't mentioned yet is also like that, the SE is marginally ahead but I sure as hell wouldn't want to do an ABX test with money on the line.

To sum things up, the SE is better, crap CDs, "audiophile approved" CDs, and everything in between sounds better with the SE. It gives a little bit more of everything, particularly in the treble, and doesn't have any downsides as far as I'm concerned. Is it worth $700-800 more? For me, no, cause I can't justify nor afford a Capitole. For someone who can afford one, and whose system is good enough, I think it's a worthwhile upgrade to consider. Unless of course that person is saving up for a Simaudio Andromeda.

[HiWire]

So Aerius, is the Capitole SE the best CD player that you've heard or for the price?

I've heard that the Simaudio Andromeda fixes some of the issues I heard on the Supernova, mainly the inherent brightness and aggressiveness of the player.

[aerius]

So Aerius, is the Capitole SE the best CD player that you've heard or for the price?

The best, no, for the price, that's a tough call. The Simaudio Supernova would give it a real good run for the money, and if its brightness could be toned down a bit I'd put it ahead of the regular Capitole. Not quite sure where it stands with the SE though, I'll need more listening with both to figure that out.

I've heard that the Simaudio Andromeda fixes some of the issues I heard on the Supernova, mainly the inherent brightness and aggressiveness of the player.

It does. To me the Andromeda is perfect, it's got a fair sized margin on either Capitole and it takes a damn good vinyl setup to beat it. The Andromeda, I think, is limited more by the CD format than anything else.

[tom_hankins]

Did you get to spend any time with either the new Capitole reference or Prestige SACD player?

[aerius]

Reference, no, Prestige, yes. The Prestige with CDs might have a slight edge on the regular Capitole, but it's really really close. In build quality though, there's no comparison, the Prestige makes the Capitole look & feel like a cheap toy. I barely played any SACD on it (or any other SACD player) though so I can't really say how good that aspect is, I just don't have enough experience with SACD. For CD, the SE has the best performance of the AA players I've heard.

[postjack]

superbly written and very illuminating review, as always aerius. thanks for taking the time to share with us.

[Jon L]

I still don't see *why* these Audio Aero players cost as much as they do, including the SE upgrade, which is not much:

"SE upgrade that replaces the D/A board capacitors, mounts the new ones on special Symposium pads for resonance control and swaps the stock 6012s with cryo'd versions."

[tkam]

I still don't see *why* these Audio Aero players cost as much as they do, including the SE upgrade, which is not much:

Simple, like everything in the world of hifi they cost as much as they do because they can.

[aerius]

I still don't see *why* these Audio Aero players cost as much as they do, including the SE upgrade, which is not much:

Because they're made in France, where they have to deal with pesky unions & labour laws, and well, they're French.

I think that says it all.

[HiWire]

Haha, that's why I didn't bother to audition the Audio Aeros

Just kidding. I liked the sound of Focal JMlab speakers, and they're French