Specifications

review
6
WWW.AUDIOHOLICS.COM
Remote
Control
There really isn’t
much to say about
the remote for the
MCX-2000 other
than it is functional
and intuitive for the
most part. The circle
buttons centralized in
the remote are the
ones most used to
navigate through the
MCX-2000’s GUI
interface. It has the
ability to serve as a
universal remote for
situations where the
MCX-2000 acts as
the demarcation point
for a music system. However those hooking
the MCX-2000 into a home theater receiver
would likely opt for either using the receiver’s
remote or a good universal one. I rarely used
this remote as I quickly uploaded its code to my
universal which incidentally is backlit. Hand me
a remote without backlighting and it will quickly
find its way into my storage bin (as this one did
during a majority of my reviewing session).
Listening Tests: Music
A majority of my music listening was done via
the MusicCAST digital outputs into my receiver
which is the typical and usually preferred hookup
method when mating the MCX-2000 with a
home theater system. I spent more time than
I care to admit listening to the archive of music
I created. In fact, I found myself listening to
stuff I ordinarily don’t, not because it sounded
fabulous on the MCX-2000 so much as it was
there. If you are like me, you are probably all too
familiar with the scenario of lacking motivation to
load up your CD changer with discs you rarely
listen too. When you have instant access to
your entire music collection at your disposal,
you find the motivation to broaden your listening
palette. Such was my realization 2-3 hours after
listening to my first song on the MCX-2000.
If you don’t
have Shakira
in your music
collection, you
don’t know
what you are
missing. It
has nothing
to do with the
fact that she is
absolutely gorgeous or that she is a superb
dancer. Her musical content as far as Latin pop
goes is top notch. It is obvious both from her
lyrics and passion in her voice that she pours
her heart into her music. My wife uploaded
her entire Shakira music collection which I left
intact as PCM to preserve its integrity. I thought
I would do a quick spot check to ensure the
transfer went well and found myself listening to
nearly the entire Oral Fixation Volume 1 disc.
Track #2 “La Pared” sounds killer in PLIIx Music
Mode. This song certainly qualified on one of
our favorites playlist. Track# 3 “La Tortura”
and Track #8 “Las de la Intuicion” were more
excellent examples of her high energy, thought
provoking lyrics that get your foot stomping
and head spinning (that is if you understand
Spanish). I am still learning, and luckily my wife
is a great translator. The MCX-2000 didn’t
miss a note here. The PCM transfer sounded
every bit as good as the CD as I confirmed by
switching back and forth between the two in
real time using my Denon DVD-5900 to play
the CD.
I recently acquired an old collection of
progressive rock CDs from one of my brothers,
most of which I loved growing up as a child,
but simply wouldn’t commit to purchasing them
because of over familiarity with the music, and
usually low fidelity associated with poor transfers
to CD. Thus, I threw a half dozen of them
into the MCX-2000 and let her rip. First up
was Emerson Lake and Palmer’s Love Beach.
Die hard fans
will scold
you for even
m e n t i o n i n g
this CD which
in many ways
r e p r e s e n te d
their departure
from the
dying era of
progressive rock to a more pop influenced
decade known as the 80’s. Despite the obvious
feeble attempts of trying to sell out in a few
of the tracks, some of the musical content
on this CD in my opinion is still to this day,
excellent. Thus I selectively copied the tracks
worth listening too, such as the 20 minute song
“Memoirs of an Officer and a Gentleman”. I
threw is some “Works Vol 1”, “Pictures at an
Exhibition”, and “Brain Salad Surgery” and
wham I had a rather diverse collection of some
of the bands best music at my finger tips to
enjoy and reminisce of the good ole days of
progressive rock. The music sounded sterile
in comparison to more modern recordings, but
this was no fault of the MCX-2000 as it was a
limitation of the recordings themselves.
Moving on to some high quality recordings,
I fed the MCX-2000 my Fourplay, Pat
Metheny, Uncle Festive, as well as the rest
of my jazz collection of music. Again, I retained
the PCM data for all of these recordings. John
Scofield / Pat Metheny I Can See Your House
From Here CD from BlueNote Records, is a close
mic recording
that portrays
a very intimate
f e e l i n g
sonically. On
a good system
(and room for
that matter),
the speakers
will literally
disappear and
you will be left with two legendary guitarists
jamming away making some very cool lumpy
jazz (free from the Jazzac found on the radio
these days). Track #4 “Everybody’s Party” is
an upbeat swing kinda song with phenomenally
great guitar solos from Scofield and Metheny
along with some very dynamic drumming. The
MCX-2000 handled it with ease sounding every
bit as transparent as the original source disc
when playing back the PCM.
“Yamaha’s MusicCAST
truly redefines the way
you listen to music
and anyone previously
unfamiliar with the
power and flexibility
of a music server,
especially one that can
stream music wirelessly,
is really in for a treat. ”
Gene Della Sala