⌈ Founded in 1995, ANCIENT AUDIO is a Polish company based in Krakow, Poland, specializing in high-end electronics with a focus on tube devices. Its range includes loudspeakers and solid-state components. Its first CD transport introduced after a long time was the Lektor Transport. Joy is its development into a full CD player. ⌋

THE ISSUE OF THE HIGH FIDELITY you found this test of the Joy CD Player is in part devoted to Polish products that have been an important part of our 20-year history. Among them was the Ancient Audio Lektor Grand SE player; more → HERE, reviewed by me years ago. The choice fell on it for a simple reason - it was the best CD Player of this Polish company and at the same time one of the best devices of this type on the market, not only made in Poland, but anywhere in the world.

Jaromir Waszczyszyn's skills in this field were also confirmed by one-box players like the → LEKTOR AIR V-EDITION, which I enjoyed using in my reference system, and did so for several years. Not surprisingly, when it returned many years later with new products designed for digital disc playback, the → LEKTOR TRANSPORT it proved to be a worthy heir to those designs. However, we had to wait a little longer for the CD player.

And not without reason. For the designing of a device of this type poses many difficulties. On the one hand, it is a mechanical device, having the task of spinning the disc and reading the digital signal stored on it. On the other hand, however, it is electronic, digital and analog at the same time, because this signal must be properly decoded and amplified. And it is the combination of such different skills that makes a CD Player a rarity in the Polish audio industry, and an absolute rarity when it comes to truly audiophile ones.

▌ Made in Poland

THE FIRST DEVICE OF THIS TYPE was the CDF-001 of 1990 from Lodz-based Fonica, based on Mitsumi CPMC-FH021S mechanics with a Sony laser and a control circuit and decoding circuit based on its chips; more in the excellent article Fonica in the CD world, or “discophones” from Lodz → HERE ˻PL˺. As I've written in the past, I was buying CDs long before I acquired my first discophone, or digital players, as CD Players were originally called in Poland, and I bought my first product of this type with the money I had for prom. That I, as you might guess, I did not attend.

More CD Players from Fonica followed, models CDF-002, CDF-003, CDF-004 and CDF-050. Some time later, taking advantage of the experience of its competitor from Lodz, an optical disc player was offered by Dierżoniów-based Diora, model CD052. It was a joint project of the two companies, and from Fonica's side it was handled by Wacław Kubiak. In the following years, Fonica released modified versions of the players, with mechanics from the Taiwanese company Hanpin, models CDF-101, CDF-102 and CDF-103. Diora also offered other devices of this type, which it completed with the production of the SSL-704 „tower” stereo system, which included the CD-704 player.

⸜ Amplifikator BIToFON, photo from 2007

In 1984, Gdynia-based Radmor joined the peloton with the 5450 model. It offered a “tower” system also designated 5450 until 1993. Its device featured a Philips transport and PCBs. It offered its last-ever CD Player, the 5552B, in 1996, and its production ended in 2000 (source: The Legend of Radmor, Gdynia 2020, p. 168, more → HERE). The manager of the former project was JERZY ŚMIGIELSKI, and of the latter it was STANISŁAW MAZURCZAK.

Thus ended the first, one might say industrial phase of CD Players production in Poland. The second is closely related to manufacturers associated with perfectionist audio. Manufacturers, we should add, often with very small crew of 1 to 3-4 employees at most. The reason was, on the one hand, the decline of state-owned appliance factories, and on the other, the development of the domestic audiophile scene.

There are relatively few devices in this „era”, although not much less compared to the previous one. Only three manufacturers count in it, with an additional fourth - an ephemera. One has one model to its credit, another two, and the third - so far - as many as six. In the mid-2000s, or something like that, a wonderfully crafted player → BITOFON from Amplifikator hit the market. Its designer, Mr. TOMASZ BURSKI did not come from nowhere. For years he was an engineer working for Radmor, dealing with professional transmitting and receiving systems.

⸜ Dubiel Accoustic Nirvana

On the occasion of the test of the Allumina speakers, Mr. Burski wrote to us that in the late 1980s, as a member of the Labor Council, he tried to talk the then management out of the idea of a “plastic” 5500 „tower” stereo set keeping, as he put it: “American”, style but they didn’t accept the proposal; more → HERE ˻PL˺. The Bitofone was thus his vision of what Radmor's top CD Player should look like. He used a resonance-proof chassis, a Philips CD1210-65 transport, and Burr-Brown DF1704 and PCM1704 filter and converters, respectively.

Even more solidly built were the players from SoundArt, founded in 2001. It specialized in amplifiers, but also offered two CD Player models, Sarah and Jazz. The men behind them, SŁAWOMIR LEWANDOWSKI and SYLWESTER WITKOWSKI, in heavy, sculptural-looking enclosures, used tubes in the output stage and one of the oldest, but in many circles “iconic”, 16-bit Philips TDA 1543 converters, in which they did not use oversampling. The devices went into production somewhere in the middle of the first decade of the 21st century. The company is now called Wile.

On March 1, 2012, I tested a player that I remembered for a long time, the Nirvana from Dubiel Accoustic; test → HERE. It was an ephemera, the only CD Player ever offered by this company, moreover, and it didn’t last very long. Yet the solutions used in it and the sound were exceptional. Dubiel Accoustic was a brand owned by the company Zakład Usług Elektronicznych Skorpion, which in turn was known for its amplifiers offered under the Skorpion name, as well as Black Horse. This was the logo of perhaps its best-known product, the OTL HV-1 headphone amplifier, based on 6080 tubes.

The Nirvana CD Player was unusual because, like the SoundArt players, it used a multi-bit NOS chip, the Philips TDA1541, without oversampling. Mr. BOGUSŁAW DUBIEL went a step further. The Drive mechanism was also of the NOS type, it was a Philips CDM-2 with an arc-guided lens, and in the output stage he used a two-stage circuit and an analog filter built unusually, because it was based on direct heated tubes. The input was a small 1AD4 triode soldered to the board, once used, for example, in tube amplifiers of Neumann microphones, and the output was a triode-operated 3Q4 pentode. The tube power supply was also tube-based (Siemens EZ80).

However, the manufacturer that offered CD players known not only in Poland, the most expensive of which were compared to the most important devices of this type from the world's top, is Ancient Audio. The first CD player, the Lektor I, which was developed by JAROMIR WASZCZYSZYN, was presented in 1997, that is, even before Radmor ceased production of its silver disc player. It was based on the Philips VAM 1201 mechanism, had a characteristic elongated shape, a wood chassis and an unusual way of loading the disc - it was placed directly on the motor axis and was not locked in anything, the spinning disc thus resembled a turntable.

⸜ Ancient Audio Lektor Grand SE

This device started a whole series of similar products, as in 2002 the Lektor II was introduced, and a year later the Lektor III. In 2004, the Lektor IV featured Philips' top mechanism, the Philips CD-Pro2 model. The same year saw the creation of the three-piece Lektor Grand, followed by Lektor Prime and Lektor V (2006), and then Lektor Grand SE (2007), the basis of Janusz's listening system, one of the hosts of the Krakow Sonic Society meetings. In 2010, he was joined by the Lektor Air, which in the V-Edition has been my reference source for years.

Before we move on to Jarek Waszczyszyn's latest project, the Joy, presented after as many as thirteen years (!) after Air, let's talk about another very interesting Compact Disc player Made in Poland. I'm thinking, of course, of the CSH-801 by reactivated in 2001 Unitra. Shown in the same year as Joy, it is in a sense a return to industrial production from the days of Fonika, Diora and Radmor, only with modern technology and solutions. This unit is based on the TEAC CD-5020B-AT mechanism and a Texas Instruments 5102A D/A converter. Instead of the usual display, it uses E Ink, or electronic paper, used, for example, in Kindle ebook readers. You can read more about this comeback in the article Unitra Redux, A.D. 2023, → HERE.

▌ Lektor Joy

ANCIENT AUDIO IS A COMPANY that started by building amplifiers. But it is CD Players that have established the company's position. As Jarek wrote on the occasion of the test of this company's transport, the reason is simple - “a CD Player is a very complicated device, especially compared to amplifiers, let alone loudspeakers.” So only a few small companies undertake this task. And then:

The latest CD Player from this Krakow-based company was premiered at the Audio Video Show 2023. As the manufacturer wrote: “whether mid-range or high-end, Lektor gave joy to the ears and eyes,” hence its name: Lektor Joy. Its concept is derived from the Lektor Air, the most successful previous model. Yet, as it reads, the entire design is, “made from scratch, using new technologies.”

⸜ A few simple words…

JAROMIR WASZCZYSZYN
owner, designer

⸜ PCBs for Ancient Audio Lektor Joy • photo Ancient Audio

ANCIENT AUDIO'S FIRST PRODUCTS were hybrid and tube amplifiers. After the late 1990s, the company took on the challenge of developing a CD Player. The mature form was reached in 2004, when such designs as Lektor Grand , and Lektor IV were created. Based on the Philips CD-Pro2 mechanism, they established the company's reputation. They were 80% of our production. The sound of the Lektor was also in a class of its own, for a few years the SE model was the reference player at the Krakow Sonic Society sessions.

And the story could have unfolded smoothly, had it not been for Philips' termination of drive mechanism production. The breakthrough, at least for me, was the development of the new CD-Pro8 mechanisms by Austrian company Stream Unlimited Optical Storage. Apart from the antique I2S interface with a 24-bit data frame, it is not in any part compatible with the CD-Pro2. In addition, the manufacturer does not provide control software support. In addition, excellent 32-bit DACs were introduced, which offered a chance for much better sound.

In a word, the whole player had to be made from scratch. Some of you know the beginning of this journey, the Lektor Transport model. Now it was the turn for the rest. The player was to be feature-wise similar to the Lektor Air, the company's best-selling model, the V-edition version of which, by the way, was the “High Fidelity” editors' reference player. Hence the concept of a player with a preamplifier section, line inputs, digital S/PDIF, and USB. And also the possibility of installing a Digital Speaker Processor. The final build turned out to be a completely new design.

⸜ Ancient Audio Lektor Joy’s prototype • photo Ancient Audio

The new player is based on the well-known ESS 9038 Pro D/A converter, currently probably the best on the market, in mono version, one per channel. But the DAC is a start. Because the Joy prototype was actually a test platform for several concepts: analog or digital level control, gain stage based on ICs or on transistors, and so on. It was the sound of the analog section that was largely responsible for the success of the Lectors. Instinct dictated the use of a proven stage with a 6H30 tube and V-Cap capacitors.

And such a version was built. Russia's aggression against Ukraine, however, changed this project. Everything that had to do with Russia lost its charm, reminding us of the aggressor's barbarism. Tubes, too. So out of necessity I developed a circuit with MOSFET transistors, used in the Silver Stage phono preamplifier. The prototype could be easily switched between different types of gain, and the work took me several months. As it turned out by the way, the digital output level control in the 32-bit converter is so refined that it plays better than the analog one known from the Lectors.

⸜ DSP featuring algorithms correcting the imperfections of loudspeakers –the company calls it Digital Speakers Processor • photo Ancient Audio

But the most interesting change was the last one. In a series of blind tests, I compared a tube stage with a transistor stage. The differences were not dramatic, but all listeners pointed out the better dynamics and smoothness of one of the solutions. They were strongly surprised that such good sound came from a transistor. One listener asked to remove the tubes, just to be sure I wasn't fooling him. So all that was left of the previous Lectors were ODAM's V-Cap oil capacitors.

And the question of what I was guided by, choosing one or another solution. The topic will perhaps be developed by Wojtek.... Because comparing the sound of the Lector Joy with the Air, I can see how my preferences have evolved. As you know, older people (well time is inexorable) hearing gets worse with time. And especially they hear less treble. Ageist audiophiles should compensate for this with a sharper sound. The opposite is true. The older we get, the more we like a darker sound, but with power and detail. Some say it's an “analog” sound, whatever that may mean. That's what the Lektor Joy is. It's meant to be a joy of music. JW

ALTHOUGH LEKTOR JOY is nominally a CD Player, everything is housed in one chassis, it is actually the center of the audio system. It is both a CD Player, as well as a preamplifier, DAC and Digital Speaker Processor. It has the size familiar from the company's previous players, measuring 350 x 70 x 360 mm (W x H x D) and weighing 12 kg. It is thus extremely compact, especially when we compare it to the powerful players from dCS, Vitus Audio, Playback Design or Gryphon. Its chassis is a milled piece of aluminum, made in Taiwan, to which a sheet of metal is bolted from underneath, to which all components are bolted.

For the first time in CD Players from this company, in addition to the analog input, there are also digital inputs, and two of them: USB and RCA (S/PDIF). The former accepts PCM signals up to 32 bits and 384 kHz, and the latter up to 24 bits and 192 kHz. The mechanics are the same as in the CD Lektor Transport. It is a CD-Pro8 drive from Austrian company Stream Unlimited Optical Storage, while a Tent Labs precision word clock was used to clock all transport functions.

The previous generation of Lectors used Crystal Semiconductor's 24-bit converters. Joy uses ESS Technology's top-of-the-line 32-bit converters. According to the manufacturer, they operate in dual mono mode, one per channel. Their designers have made it possible to choose the digital filters. In the Joy this has been made available and the user can choose from one of eight different filters. They can be changed with a button on the top panel or from the remote control. The signal is routed in balanced form all the time, hence the RCA and XLR analog outputs.

One of the features of all the company's players is the presence of volume control. This is because Jarek Waszczyszyn's idea for the system was to eliminate the external preamplifier from the audio track. Previously it was analog control, now it is digital, in a hundred steps. So it seems that the analog input signal must first be converted to digital. That’s a novelty.

In another twist, the Lektor Joy features MOSFET transistors instead of the Russian 6H30 tube. But, Jarek says, they are meant to work in a circuit reminiscent of the one found in tube devices. The designer says that this circuit was developed over 15 years, by testing various topologies and components. The final design is meant to resemble tube solutions, in that the FET transistor is also voltage-controlled, like triodes, however with higher gain, and output current. According to the manufacturer, the new circuit “gives a smoother and more dynamic sound, compared to the tube one.”

The output circuit has two gain settings to more easily match the player to the amplifier. As in the tube-based Lectors, the output uses V-Cap ODAM (Oil Damped Advanced Metalized) capacitors. Power is supplied by two toroidal transformers, along with a bank of capacitors with high capacitance and very low resistance. The entire power supply is linear, with two separate toroidal transformers, delivering, as the press materials say, “stable voltage and high impulse current.” One transformer powers the CD transport, the other the audio section.

In addition, a Digital Speaker Processor can be installed in the unit to correct speaker and headphone defects. A switch is located on the rear panel that allows selection of one of 16 programs.

The player looks neat, is compact and makes a good impression. The bare CD on top looks great, and I will say from experience that when we change from one Ancient Audio player to another we will miss it. A step forward compared to earlier designs from this company is the presence of digital inputs, including USB. A step backwards are the generic rubber feet where I would see recessed anti-vibration feet from Divine Acoustics → KEPLER EVOLUTION or Pro Audio Bono → PEEK 7060 SN ˻PL˺.

The player is controlled by buttons on the top panel or from a crowded, unergonomic remote control. But there's more. There are also DIP switches on the rear and bottom panels (that's where we plug in the DSP chip), like in phono preamplifiers. Indications related to time, volume, selected filter and DSP program are shown, traditionally for this manufacturer, by red LED modules on the front panel.

▌ SOUND

HOW WE LISTENED • The Lektor Joy CD player was tested in the “High Fidelity” reference system. It stood on a Finite Elemente Master Reference Pagode Edition Mk II carbon fiber braided top shelf and on its own feet. I used a 2.5-meter Harmonix X-DC350M2R Improved-Version cable for power, and the signal to the Ayon Audio Spheris III preamplifier was sent via Crystal Cable Absolute Dream RCA interconnects.

During the test I was only interested in one side of this device, that is, how it performs as a CD player. So I did not test the USB or analog input. In the player you can change the gain level and select one of eight digital filters, During the test I listened to it with filter No. 5, but at the end of the listening section I briefly summarized the sound of all of them. The output was switched to the “High Gain” position, and the gain display showed the number 86. The test was conducted using the Ayon Audio CD-35 HF Edition SACD player as a reference, and was conducted as a AA/BB/A and BB/AA/B comparison with the familiar A and B.

⸜ ALBUMS USED FOR THE TEST ⸜ a selection

⸜ SAVAGE, Tonight, Discomagic Records/Vintage Pleasure Boutique VPB 010, CD (1084/2022).
⸜ DEPECHE MODE, Personal Jesus, Mute/Sire | Reprise Records 9 21328-2, Maxi SP, CD (1989).
⸜ ARNE DOMNÉRUS, Jazz at the Pawnshop. Vol. I, II & III, Proprius/Lasting Impression Music LIM UHD 071 LE, 3 x UltraHD COMPACT DISC + DVD (1976/2012).
⸜ JAN JOHANSSON, Jazz På Svenska, Megafon/Heptagon Records HECD-030 E, CD (1964/2005).
⸜ ELLA FITZGERALD & LOUIS ARMSTRONG, Ella and Louis, Verve/Lasting Impression Music LIM UHD 045, UltraHD CD (1956/2010).

I HAVE NOT HEARD an Ancient Audio player in my room for many, many years, since I sold my Air V-Edition Player (I salute the owner!). Admittedly, I had heard the transport and DAC in the system at the designer's house, but that didn't actually tell me anything about how these devices played, but about how the system played in that particular room. So one can easily understand that I was very curious to see how Jarek Waszczyszyn's thinking about sound has changed, and thus how the sound of his digital devices evolved.

The basic information about the direction in which the owner of Ancient Audio has gone in the new generation of his products can be found in the text he wrote above. It is, in short, about “dark sound”. A thing I spoke about years ago to anyone who wanted to listen to me, including when I premiere-tested the Ayon Audio CD-35 HF Edition player, and which I have had to explain many times since. Yet still - this is my impression - the idea is alien to many amateurs of good sound. And that's a shame.

The so-called “dark sound” is not about a lack of detail. Nor is it about extinguishing detail, much less obscuring the treble. It's about something much more basic - about shaping the sound in such a way, where it is not the amount of detail, treble, detail, or whatever we call it for the purposes of this test that matters, but the abundance of information. If we have a resolved sound, then everything seems significantly calmer internally, less jittery, and thus more natural.

Well, Joy is just like that. That is, dark, dense and saturated. I no longer remember exactly what my Air sounded like, but I do remember how it differed from the Ayon. And, so it seems to me, years later Jarek went in exactly the same direction in which Gerrard Hirt, the owner of Ayon, directed his company with the CD-35 and subsequent incarnations of this excellent device. Because when you play any disc, and in my case it was the latest remaster of the Italo Disco gem that is SAVAGE's Tonight, you hear a cool, continuous, smooth presentation. This is something we subconsciously expect from audio, and so rarely get.

The album in question was recorded at Scaccomatto Studios, except for the ˻ 7 ˺ Don’t Cry Tonight, which was recorded and mixed at studios in Milan. Damian Lipinski's new remastering has brought out the mass and density of this track, and Joy has conveyed this very skillfully. Damian also didn't overdo the amount of top end, even though this is music intended for dance clubs and discos, which Ancient's player did a great job of conveying, so to speak.

I mentioned Milano Studios not by accident. For here it is, fifteen years later, not far from that place, only that at Logic Studios of the La Bionda brothers, considered the “inventors” of Italo Disco music, the track that heralded DEPECHE MODE group's Violator album, Personal Jesus, was recorded and mixed. Incredibly layered musical tracks, right? The U.S. maxi single version of the song also included ˻ 5 ˺ an acoustic version, only with Gahan's voice, Gore's guitar and the sound of a foot tapping on the floor.

In fact, the sound in question was made up of many, maybe even a dozen tracks and was recorded on the staircase connecting two floors of the studio, on which all studio employees and the band itself jumped in turn. This is what makes it so prominent, not only in this version, but also in all the others. Joy showed this element exceptionally cool and emphatic. Because there was impact, there was density, but there was also speed. The Depeche Mode singer's voice also had depth and a kind of rawness. The reverb superimposed on it had a dark tone and was extinguished quite quickly, which showed again that the Polish player has very good control over timing.

The Joy shows the music and musicians close to us, although it does not push them out in front of the line connecting the speakers. The Ayon does it even more strongly, that is, it emphasizes the 3D bodies more clearly, bringing them a little closer to us. The tested CD Player does not fall much behind in this respect, and compared to most other CD players in this price range it truly shines in this. At the same time, it is absolutely natural. That is, pleasant to listen to and with a sound that incredibly easily “gets under the skin” and stays there.

It would be a fulfilled prophecy, as it happens, mine, which I offered a decade ago to anyone who would listen to me, namely, that bright and harsh sounding components suck. You can set the sound of the system to be open and dynamic, which is how the system of Zbyszek Bielak, the author of the Ghost album cover’s sounds like, and it will be great, but it is not a bright sound per se. It is simply a sound with a “nerve”. Jarek Waszczyszyn's player is extremely dark in comparison.

But, as I say, it is dark due to the richness of information, not lowering the treble. It's a paradox, but I hear it every time: the more information in the sound, the more you can lower the volume of treble. Pulling them up is an attempt to falsify the sound and pretend that there is a lot going on there. Joy doesn't do that, and yet thanks to it there is an exceptional amount of treble going on. Because, after all, Lars Erstrand's vibraphone from ARNE DOMNÉRUS's Jazz at the Pawnshop album, in Lasting Impression Music's excellent 2012 release, was strong and dense. Yes - dense, because although the attack phase was great in it, because it was strong and dynamic, the sustain and dark resonance were better heard.

About a month ago, I was in this Stockholm club, that is Jazzpuben Stampen, in the heart of Gamla stan (Old Town), although not quite aware of where I was. It's a tiny space but with a warm sound, because it's lined with wood, with a low ceiling and many nooks and crannies. And there I heard something in the style in which the aforementioned CD was played at my place by Joy. That is: warmth, saturation and density. Part of this presentation is a low dense bass. It has a tight character and is quite contoured, although a slight softness can be heard, which we know from live sound after all.

On the aforementioned album, Georg Riedel plays double bass, albeit, I think, with an amplifier. He's one of Sweden's more important jazz musicians (though he's from the Czech Republic), having previously played on the iconic Jazz På Svenska album for that music scene, originally released in 1964 (and over the years he also played with Domnérus). It's just Riedel's double bass and piano, played by the tragically deceased leader, Jan Johansson, and so much music! The two instruments can be heard as if it was at least a quartet. You can read more about it in the column Postcards from the vacations: Stockholm, or Not Just ABBA → HERE.

The bass from this CD was shown by the Polish player in a full and dense way. This is the thing that, along with the “darkness” cited so many times, is characteristic of this device, and which is part of the high-end. It's not the “analogue” feat or “precision” etc., although these are also important components of its sound, but just that. This is what a well-recorded analog tape played on a good tape recorder sounds like, for example. And the tested player follows precisely this direction.

And they can be even greater than during concerts, which in my case is the rule rather than the exception. Unlike many of my esteemed colleagues, I believe that a good recording, under good listening conditions, exceeds almost all “live” events. A recording is not, and should not be, an attempt to convey such an event. It is a completely separate kind of art, which, as it happens, is very much to my liking and which I am an admirer of.

▌ Summary

DISCUSSIONS OF THIS TYPE are possible because Joy avoids falling into all the usual categories, be it timbre, be it dynamics, be it soundstage, and allow us to experience music and discuss musical content, even if we do so in an audio context, as in this case.

The Polish player plays in the top league. It may not be as resolving and as saturated with information as my Ayon Audio, but one, the difference is not great, and two, even the most expensive CD and SACD players I've listened to were not able to quite match some things that the CD-35 HF Edition did. It's also the case that the → GRYPHON ETHOS offers a more dynamic sound with a more clearly accented rhythm, and the → dCS VIVALDI ONE ˻PL˺, especially in the APEX version, will show more air around the performers and longer reverb. They will do that for you.

And yet, when ELLA FITZGERALD sings, accompanied by LOUIS ARMSTRONG from Ella and Louis, preferably in the UltraHD CD version of Lasting Impression Music's 2010 release, we will listen to her in absolute comfort. And when we need to, as in ˻ 2 ˺ Moonlight in Vermount, when the trumpet sounds sharper, we'll register that sharpness, we'll experience it, and yet we won't rush to lover the sound volume, as we will with many other sources, both digital and analog.

The Polish player builds solid, three-dimensional phantom images, saturates them and shows them in a believable space. And this is true whether we're talking about Armstrong's vocals right in front of us, Savage's voice firmly blended into the mix, or the details heard at the edges of the soundstage. This is a resolving device with a superbly balanced sound. I'd say modern sound, if it weren't for the fact that “modernity” connotes the jazzy sound of cheap headphones. Therefore, let's stay with the “natural” sound - and that's something to be appreciated for, which is what Jarek did brilliantly in this device, and without reaching for electron tubes. Bravo! From us a well-deserved ˻ RED FINGERPRINT ˺.

▌ DESIGN

ACIENT AUDIO’S JOY CD PLAYER has an almost square outline, measuring 350 x 360 mm, with a height of just 60 mm. As a result, the center of gravity is set low, just like in turntables. The manufacturer's idea, I believe, was to make the center of gravity placed as low as possible. The device is available in only one color, black.

CHASSIS • Joy is a top-loader, i.e. a with transport section in which the disc is placed directly on the motor axis. Its outline resembles what we know from earlier Lectors, but the whole thing looks much more massive. Indeed, the chassis is completely new. It was made from a block of aluminum by a Taiwanese company working, among others, for BMW. The aluminum housing, is made by a Taiwanese company → CHAMPION H AND C INCORPORATION and is a rigid, stable monolith. As the manufacturer says, he has done trials with such housings before, but “only the Taiwanese ensured the quality and repeatability of the finish.”

The aluminum has been anodized, and according to the manufacturer the surface should be hard enough not to scratch easily. There is also a strip of aluminum on the top panel, slightly protruding above the aluminum block, in which a hole has been cut for the mechanism. This, known from the → GRYPHON ETHOS Player and the → PRO-JECT RS2 T CD transport ˻PL˺, is the Blue Tiger CD-Pro 8 mechanism, prepared by Austrian company StreamUnlimited. This strip is lacquered, which makes it look slightly different from the case. What if it was covered with braided carbon fiber? - That would be something.

MECHANICS • The name of the new transport is associated with the Philips CD-Pro2 mechanics used by Ancient Audio in previous designs. And rightly so, both transports were designed by the same people, former Philips engineers.

The distinctive shape, the aluminum chassis to which the optics carriage was bolted, and the spring-loaded decoupling from the base remained from the previous design. New is a section of the top panel, with a cutout for the laser, made of braided carbon fiber (in Philips it was made of plastic). Also new is the plate to which the whole thing is bolted, also made of braided carbon fiber. The control unit is also completely new - it's a Blue Tiger CD-84 module, but with a software developed for this particular drive.

That’s right, the software. As Jarek said, in the ‘days’ of the CD-Pro2, the vast majority of manufacturers used the services of one specialized company. It offered clear documentation so that one could adapt the mechanics to one's own design - from display to error correction to timing. The company in question no longer exists. StreamUnlimited Optical Storage offers full documentation of its solution, but it is, as Jarek says, difficult to navigate and there are a lot of minor errors. That's why he asked one of the Polish engineers to write the program.

Jaromir writes:

The breakthrough moment came when the CD-Pro2 engineers developed a new mechanism, this time for Austrian company StreamUnlimited Optical Storage. The CD-Pro 8 mechanism is extremely well-made and is used in the excellent Gryphon Ethos player, among others.

Its shortcoming is the lack of support in terms of software. At one time there was a company in France called Digital Audio Industrial Supply. First, they sold Philips mechanisms in single units. Second, they developed a very successful kit consisting of a display, computer and EPROM. They even offered slick metal remote controls. This setup was easily transferable to other platforms, and the most important thing was the control program, stored on the EPROM, priced at a few euros. Most independent manufacturers of CD players based on the CD-Pro2 used this solution.

CD-Pro8 has no such support. You have to make the control computer yourself, and even worse, you have to write the control software from scratch. StreamUnlimited provides only documentation. Finding a programmer who has experience with both hardware and software is not easy. Ultimately, it was developed by an excellent engineer who makes 3D printers and drones for a living.

My 30 years of experience with CD players pointed out the problems faced by earlier designs. Specifically, the problem of jitter. Even the best players, like the Lektor Grand, featured several units, controlled by independent clocks: transport, control computer, display, remote volume control. As a result, the clocks overlapped somewhere, interfering with each other, resulting in considerable jitter (phase noise), degrading sound quality.

The new design, despite the programmer's complaints, is controlled by only one clock, with a jitter of 3 ps, at 16.9344 MHz, manufactured by Dutch company TentLabs. As a result, all processes are supposed to be perfectly synchronized, even the display or remote control. The output from the transport is constant-current one, with a very high edge rise rate and low jitter. This facilitates recovery of the data clock by the S/PDIF receiver in the DAC, controlled by the transport.

CLOCK • Among the many requirements, such as adapting the transport to display using LED modules, was perhaps the most important one - the idea was that all, without exception, digital circuits were to use a single word clock with a frequency that is a multiple of the sampling frequency of the signal on the CD (44.1 kHz). Usually several clocks do this job. In the tested Player this is an excellent module from Tent Labs.

ELECTRONICS • The previous generation of Lectors used Crystal Semiconductor's 24-bit converters. Joy uses ESS Technology's top-of-the-line 32-bit converters, the SABRE ESS 9038 Pro model. They operate in dual mono mode, one per channel. The DACs feature eight different filters, which can also be selected from the remote control, matching them to the disc just being played. Previously, Ancient Audio players used an analog resistor ladder to adjust the output level. This time the designer used digital volume control, which is offered by the ESS chip. There are 100 steps available.

In addition, a Digital Speaker Processor can be installed in the unit to correct speaker and headphone defects. A switch on the rear panel allows selecting one of 16 programs. Lektor Joy also features analog, and digital (S/PDIF, USB 2.0/1.0) inputs, and the USB input uses a module manufactured by a Polish company. So it is a CD, preamplifier, DAC and processor in one housing. The manufacturer writes:

The analog stage , between the converter and outputs, is an underestimated element. Meanwhile, it shapes the sound of the player to a huge extent . Based on tubes, it was one of the ingredients of the success of the Lectors.

The new Lektor uses discrete MOSFET transistors, instead of the Russian 6H30 tube. The circuit was developed over 15 years, testing various topologies and components. The final design is reminiscent of ones featuring tubes, in that that the FET transistor is also voltage-controlled, like triodes, however with higher gain, and output current. According to the manufacturer, the new circuit “gives a smoother and more dynamic sound, compared to the tube one.”

The output amplifier has two settings to more easily match the player to the amplifier. As in the tube-based Lectors, the output operates with ODAM's famous V-Cap oil capacitors. The manufacturer writes about them:

ODAM stands for Oil Damped Advanced Metalized (…) We began with a new, custom-manufactured amorphous, pinhole-free dielectric with smooth, consistent surface. This optimized surface offers superior application of, and fusion with the metallization layer. It also forms a critical barrier to corrosive elements like oxygen & moisture while greatly enhancing the capacitor’s long-term reliability, stability and self-healing properties.

⸜ Oil Damped Advanced Metalized (ODAM) Audio Capacitors, → www.V-CAP.com, accessed: 27.08.2024.

Power is supplied by two toroidal transformers, a thing proven to work well in previous Lectors, along with a bank of capacitors with high capacitance and very low resistance. The entire power supply is linear, delivering “stable voltage and high impulse current.” One transformer powers the CD transport, the other the audio section.

The Lektor Joy is built very solidly and looks very serious. Instead of gold accents, as in earlier generations, silver was chosen - this is the nameplate with the company's logo, this is also the strip in which the silver control buttons are fixed. Among them, the most important is the one with the help of which we load the TOC (table of contents) of the disc; in devices from other companies this happens automatically, when closing the drawer or lid.

However, I will repeat what I wrote on the occasion of the test of the Lektor Transport: remember that this is the product of a tiny manufactory, actually an artisanal product. So it has a few shortcomings and a few things I would change. For example, the mounting holes for the screws on the bottom of the case were showing through from under the black paint with silver aluminum. The screws themselves weren't very pretty either, and the bottom panel looked like it had been spray-painted. The rear panel is OK, but also from it you can see that it's a handmade small-batch product. It's a shame that “Made in Poland” has been replaced by “Made in Europe” on it. And this is now that Polish brands have been noticed and appreciated.

In conclusion, let's just say that Ancient Audio's latest player is very solidly built, and high-end components were used in its construction, both mechanical and electrical. This is a product that came out of the hands of a man who launched his first CD player, a high-end one right from the start, back in 1997, so he has a lot of experience.

It is very important that a special control software was developed for the Lektor and that a single word clock clocks all the elements in the circuit that require it. The device is small, and heavy, this is also a plus. This is probably the best CD player in the history of this company, dangerously close, in my opinion, to the Lektor Grand SE. ●

▌ Technical specifications (acc. to the manufacturer)

Drive: StreamUnlimited CD-Pro 8
Word clock: Tent Labs, for all circuits
Proprietary control software
DAC: 2 x ESS Technology SABRE ESS 9038 Pro, mono
Solid-state analogue balanced output stage
Output signal: RCA up to 15 Vpp, XLR up to 30 Vpp
Digital inputs:
• S/PDIF RCA – 32-216 kHz, 16-24 bits PCM
• USB 2.0/1.0
Dimensions (W x H x D): 350 x 70 x 360 mm
Weight: 12 kg

THIS TEST HAS BEEN DESIGNED ACCORDING TO THE GUIDELINES adopted by the Association of International Audiophile Publications, an international audio press association concerned with ethical and professional standards in our industry, of which HIGH FIDELITY is a founding member. More about the association and its constituent titles → HERE.

→ www.AIAP-online.org