Presumably, the people raising that question are doing so out of wishful thinking rather than actual listening. With a C1 on hand it was easy enough to conclude that while the gap between the transport and DAC might have narrowed slightly, the improved performance of the D1.5 as a transport has also lifted the C1’s performance further still. Plug the D1.5 into the C1, re-set the clock priorities accordingly and you’ll be rewarded with a far more transparent and precisely organised (in terms of both time and place) view of events. Compared to the standalone player, the D1.5/C1 combination delivers more bandwidth, more bottom-end weight, texture and pitch definition, greater dimensionality and separation. More importantly, it raises the sense of musical purpose another notch. Playing the provocatively entitled CD, Pyrotechnica – Fire and fury from 18thCentury Italy (Bojan Cicic and the Illyria Consort – Delphian DCD34249) the D1.5 invests this vividly exhilarating performance of concertos by Vivaldi, Tartini and Locatelli with plenty of cut and thrust, shape and contrast. It’s a highly enjoyable listen – but switch up to he D1.5/C1 pairing and the performance springs to life: more dynamic, more vital, simply more swash being buckled. It lifts this disc from a good listen to great, while also tapping into the virtuoso spirit of the performance.
The quality gap between different formats is also much wider when using the D1.5/C1 combination. Comparing standard CD with SACD, SHM SACD and UHQCD versions of the same disc, the musical and sonic advantages of the enhanced formats are far more apparent. Playing the UHQCD version of the Batiashvili Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto(UCCG 41048) in comparison to the standard CD (DGG 479 6038) the greater clarity, immediacy, textural definition and sense of human agency (Batiashvili’s bowing, phrasing and expressive range in particular) was significantly more apparent, but also dramatically more effective on the two-box as opposed to the single-box player. The D1.5’s transport clearly lifts more off of the disc (and makes more sense of it) but the C1 DAC still does more with it.
If the D1 was a very good transport, the D1.5 is considerably and obviously better. While its performance as a standalone player makes it a serious contender, its performance as a transport reinforces its role as the foundation block that underpins the CH digital eco-system. Buy a D1.5 player and you’re going to seriously enjoy your CD/SACD collection, while at the same time it invites you to take the next steps up the CH digital upgrade ladder. Buy it as a transport and you’ll not be disappointed, especially if you use it with a CH DAC (the C1, C1 Mono or I1 integrated) so that you can make use of the CH LINK-HD interface. Mind you, even if I was buying it as a transport, I think I’d still opt for the on-board DAC cards: they make one hell of a standby option if you’re ever without your DAC.
And if you already own a D1?
Although the D1 cannot be rebuilt to D1.5 standard (the transport is simply physically and mechanically too different to incorporate into the existing chassis) CH do offer a factory trade-in scheme for D1 owners wishing to upgrade (and it is a serious upgrade). I have included US pricing for the transport and all of the options. Contact your local distributor or dealer for local pricing.
