Anyone see the latest "Stereophile Guide To Home Theater"? The October 2003 issue has a review of the fully upgraded Integra Research RDC-7, a follow-up review by the same critic who raved about it in the February 2001 issue. (That review persuaded me to track one down for an audition.)
Although the reviewer is more enthusiastic about Dolby Prologic II for Music than I am, his comments about the RDC-7 track pretty well with my own evaluation of the unit:
1) overall sound is excellent (as it always has been);
2) while it is good that they included a built in phono stage, a really good external one would be better for critical listening (The reviewer uses a Gram Amp 2 SE. I use a Lehmann Black Cube Improved for my phono stage. But it is nice to have the RDC-7's phono stage for a second turntable);
3) after nearly three years on the market, with all the latest bells and whistles added via upgrades, the RDC-7 is still near the head of the pack (and the "leaders" are WAYYY more expensive) with room to grow even more capable in the future;
4) "direct" playback mode beats digitized "stereo" for analog sources, but upsampling brings "stereo" pretty close;
5) the surround modes are exquisitely implemented;
6) some useful, even essential, features are made obscure by a less-than-crystal-clear user guide;
7) all in all, even with the price increase after the upgrades, the RDC-7 represents a terrific value, given its features and performance.
Burke
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Although the reviewer is more enthusiastic about Dolby Prologic II for Music than I am, his comments about the RDC-7 track pretty well with my own evaluation of the unit:
1) overall sound is excellent (as it always has been);
2) while it is good that they included a built in phono stage, a really good external one would be better for critical listening (The reviewer uses a Gram Amp 2 SE. I use a Lehmann Black Cube Improved for my phono stage. But it is nice to have the RDC-7's phono stage for a second turntable);
3) after nearly three years on the market, with all the latest bells and whistles added via upgrades, the RDC-7 is still near the head of the pack (and the "leaders" are WAYYY more expensive) with room to grow even more capable in the future;
4) "direct" playback mode beats digitized "stereo" for analog sources, but upsampling brings "stereo" pretty close;
5) the surround modes are exquisitely implemented;
6) some useful, even essential, features are made obscure by a less-than-crystal-clear user guide;
7) all in all, even with the price increase after the upgrades, the RDC-7 represents a terrific value, given its features and performance.
Burke
Spelling and grammar checked in MS Word. If you detect an error, please notify Bill Gates.
