Overview
By today’s standards, the DC-81L with its 20-Bit DAC and 8x Oversampling may seem outdated but when you listen to it with some of its newer counterparts, you would be hard pressed to hear the difference. In fact, you might even prefer the sound emanating out from the Accuphase combo because it just sounded so natural. No hyped up technology to “enhance” the sound, just plain simple natural processing and excellent engineering and design. And to think this combo appeared almost 30 years ago!
The pair you see here is the later version which is denoted by the “L” added to the model name. With the “L”, the already excellent non-L version had a mild refreshing to the design where it became more refine sounding. Built and finish is top rated as previous version and continues to be an ultra reliable workhorse. The transport’s CD tray slides in and out with a silky smooth motion that just makes you wonder what did the other manufacturers get it wrong in their CD mechanism. Digital output is via coaxial or Toslink. The DC-81L DAC will accept up to six digital sources – three Toslink and three coaxial. This combo was brought over from Japan by its previous owner and was his one and only digital front end for more than twenty years. We just had the transport and laser replaced ($1,400) so it would be good for many more years to come. Voltage has also been switched to 115V but can be switched back to 100V or 230V internally.
Cosmetically, the units are in very good shape for its age. Minor scuff marks/nicks from use but nothing major. We have the original manual (in Japanese but brochure is in English), remote and the very rare Accuphase Toslink cable. They will be shipped in two boxes and the transport will be locked prior to that (so remember to unlock it before use). Local pickup from our store preferred.
