Simaudio MOON 260D - Manual (Page 3)

Simaudio Ltd. has been designing and manufacturing innovative, leading-edge
audio and video products since 1980. MOON products have been globally
recognized for their world-class performance, garnering numerous accolades
for this outstanding achievement. Our products are engineered and built in
Canada, utilizing advanced, efficient, “green” assembly techniques with strict
quality control. Furthermore, our manufacturing processes are part of our
philosophy, whereas the high quality and long-life of MOON products are the
best way to preserve our environment, avoiding premature obsolesence. MOON
products meet or exceed all international requirements for safety, performance
and durability. At Simaudio, great music matters. However, great music for a
lifetime matters most.
Technical Information
The MOON 260D use a proprietary
transport mechanism employing in-house
developed hardware and software. This
mechanism, which we named M-ProDrive,
is comprised of following components: the
disc drawer; the optical laser pickup; the
dual-rail apparatus that holds this pickup,
the motor which spins the disc; the disc po-
sitioning and clamping assembly, the frame
which all these components are mounted
onto, and finally, both the controller and
servo software.
Featuring PLL syncronization, the MOON Alpha Clocking System achieves
extremely accurate phasing and much better than average recovery of
information from the compact disc. As well, digital clock-signal integrity is
dramatically improved. The result is extremely low jitter in the order of less than
10 picoseconds RMS which means the elimination of digital fatigue in the high-
frequency region, and therefore a more analog-like, yet very realistic sonic
signature. The significant differences, with respect to jitter, between a digital
clock signal from the MOON Alpha Clocking System (upper diagram) and a
typical digital clock signal (lower diagram):
Accurate data retrieval ensures more lifelike
sonic reproduction
High-frequencies never sounded so natural ... cymbals
so life-like that you’ll want to reach out and touch them
... a genuinely non-fatiguing sound without even a
hint of digital grain.
When we developed this mechanism, several key design considerations were
implemented to enhance sonic performance: Improved stability of disc’s rota-
tional speed was achieved through the use of a very lightweight disc platform.
Our disc clamping mechanism minimizes vibrations and uneven rotation. The
optical pickup assembly is surrounded by small magnets and housed in an
enclosure to dramatically improve tracking. This enclosure is mounted on the
aforementioned dual-rail apparatus which prevents any off-axis tilting when
the lens moves. All of these features combine to ensure quieter disc rotation.
Some of the other advantages realized by this manufacturing process for the
M-ProDrive include:
When the width of the above digital impulses (A, B, C, D, E, F) are identical, then
the phasing between the impulses (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) will all have same width
(black vertical bars) , resulting in extremely low phase errors.
When the width of the above digital impulses (A, B, C, D, E, F) are not equal,
then the phasing between the impulses (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) will vary noticeably in
width (
red vertical bars ), resulting in significant phase errors.
• Reduced jitter
• Better handling of errors resulting from
defective or dirty discs
• Improved mechanical reliability
• More accurate data retrieval
• A facility for firmware upgrades