There's a bit of buzz going around the audio forums about a new digital product called the Nova Physics Memory Player. This $10k CD player claims to squeeze every last bit out of a CD, store it on the internal drive, correct the information and then play it back so it sounds BETTER than the original master. So far the word on the street is this:

"The Nova Physics Memory Player is the best sounding source component that I have ever heard." Arnis Balgalvis, Positive Feedback

"...the Nova Physics Memory Player stands as the standard upon which high-end digital playback will be judged." Clement Perry, StereoTimes

"The MP is fundamentally different, no make that better, no make that much better in that there is not one area of performance that I can compare to anything put forth by a CD player that I have personally heard or owned." Greg Petan, StereoTimes

Everyone who has heard the Nova Memory Player does claim it is one of the very best digital transports they have ever heard. Nova Physic's claimed revolutionary technology is "Read Until Right." RUR performs multiple reads of the CD to make sure every last 1 and 0 is extracted. Then it corrects nasty errors and outputs the signal through buffered memory and a tube output stage.

But the question on everyone's minds is if the Nova is simply a glorified computer with Exact Audio Copy. EAC is a free ripper like iTunes, except that it does multiple reads and corrects any errors and then outputs the signal through your computer's buffered memory. So what is the difference between the Nova Memory Player and a computer with a USB DAC? From the Audio Asylum thread:

"Both reviewers seem so ready to accept that the reason MP sounds so good to them is due to the claims made by MP about ECC and Parity Bits, etc.
What is so PAINFULLY missing from both reviews is the comparison of MP with high-quality PC Audio devices, not run-of-the-mill PC equipped with a generic sound card but ones with better PS, serious parts, BUT without this ECC/Parity Bit business. I would nominate some recent offerings from companies like Empirical Audio, VRS, and various modding outfits." Jon_L

Computer audio is potentially vastly better than any CD transport. No jitter = no digital nastiness. If you're not hip to the whole computer audio revolution, check out the SonicFlare computer audio archives. You'll find coverage of USB DACs between $499 and $1995 from the likes of PS Audio, Bel Canto, Scott Nixon as well as articles about why jitter is the bane of CDs.

So while a number of reviews around the industry are claiming the Nova is the best thing to happen to digital, there's a major following of those that believe a $1000 computer and $2000 DAC will sound just as good, if not better. Harry Pearson is rumored to be in love with the Memory Player, so expect this controversy to go nuclear shortly.

There's more information about digital jitter, RUR and so-forth at the Nova Physics website. But be prepared. As Jake_LA put it:

"Who's the 8 year old who put this site together? I'm going to spend 10 grand from these guys?"

Yeah, it's a stunner. A pic of a robot jumps around a site propagated with pictures of suns, stars and clay figurines. Then there's the product photography that appears to have been taken in the 80s. Is that photoshop trickery or was the Memory Player actually developed in the 80s? And, of course, some will find it hard to take this product seriously when its main technology is named after a robot stage drama called RUR that premiered in 1922.