Vintage

This player is one generation removed from the 16-bit linear CD players based on the non-oversampled, time-shared CX20017 DAC used in Sony's inaugural CDP-101 [HFN Jan '12]. In practice, Trio's DP-850 is closer in execution to Sony's later CDP-302 model, both players featuring the CX20152 – a 2x oversampled version of its first 16-bit CX20017 DAC. The Trio DP-850 has just one of these DACs in a multiplexed (time-shared) configuration. Puzzlingly, the 0.0113msec offset between left (black) and right (red) channels suggests 88.2kHz rather than 44.1kHz operation, while the impulse pattern is identical to that of Sony's first '16-bit/1x' players [Graph 2, below]. So there is 2x upsampling here but no digital filtering. Stopband rejection is actually poorer than we saw in those first-generation players (28dB vs. 40dB), the gentler analogue filter also yielding a 'brighter' HF response (+0.8dB vs. –0.6dB/20kHz). This, the slightly lower 1.9V peak output, 96dB A-wtd S/N ratio (2-3dB poorer than the CDP-101) and high 2.82–3.12kohm output impedance are features of Trio's analogue output stage.

Data-induced jitter is significantly higher at 1230psec, presumably a function of the 'new' DAC, but the trends of distortion vs. level and frequency – particularly the lower distortion at 20kHz vs. 1kHz [see Graph 1, below] – are immediately recognisable from the earlier CX20017. In this instance, THD is 0.005% at 1kHz but just 0.001%/20kHz (all –30dBFs) while 2nd-order IMD is 0.0025% (19/20kHz re. 0dBFs). Low-level resolution still demonstrates the slight boosting of detail seen with the CX20017 DAC but is improved in the CX20152 which has errors of +2.5dB rather than +5.8dB over a full 100dB dynamic range. PM