McCormack Audio

The McCormack Audio UDP-1 has garnered an excellent reputation as a state-of-the-art contender among universal disk players and at a much lower price than the competition. In fact, several critics have noted that it represents excellent value as a reference quality Red Book CD player, with top flight DVD-Audio and SACD performance included as an extraordinary bonus. The UDP-1 stands as clear evidence of Steve McCormack's prowess in extracting top performance with a limited budget. (The UDP-1 was designed to retail at under $ 3,500.)

Recently, the folks at McCormack Audio decided to see and hear what could be done if the budget limitation were relaxed to allow for significant parts upgrades to the UDP-1 circuit. Custom metal foil Vishay resistors were substituted in 10 strategic circuit locations. The polypropylene coupling capacitors in the audio circuit were bypassed with polystyrene types, 8 polypropylene/polystyrene bypass capacitors in local power supplies were replaced with even higher quality CJD (Conrad Johnson Design) polystyrene types, three polypropylene capacitors in the main power supply were bypassed with polystyrene types, and three of the capacitors in the main power supply were upgraded to higher-speed electrolytic types. The improvement in sound quality was remarkable, and the McCormack UDP-1 Deluxe was born. The new version sells for $3,995, and owners of the original UDP-1 can have theirs upgraded to the deluxe version for $850. Just call us at the store to schedule your upgrade.