DIGITAL SOURCE COMPONENTS

GUIDE to 

DIGITAL SOURCE 

COMPONENTS 

STEREO • MUSIC

Turn Up the Fun! 

Enjoy the full effect of your music, video and movies. 

BEAUTIFUL SOUND FROM 

ANY COMPUTER, ANYWHERE 

• USB Stick-Size Digital-Audio Converter 

• Plays All Music Files: MP3 to High-Res 

• Drives Headphones Directly 

• Variable Output Drives Powered Speakers or Power Amp 

• Fixed Output Feeds Preamp or Receiver 

• Asynchronous Transfer Ensures Digital Timing Integrity 

• Dual Fixed-Frequency Master Clocks Enable Optimal 

‘Clocking’ (Digital Timing) for All Sample Rates 

Actual Size 

USB DAC + Preamp + Headphone Amp 

Now $199 

AudioQuest also offers truly exceptional 

cables which carry the subtlety and 

nuance of your favorite music from all 

your sources. 

www.AudioQuest.com

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CONTENTS 

Features 

Disc 

Players 

DACs 

SPONSORED BY: 

Music Servers 

and Accessories 

Integrated amps 

with USB DACs 

• On the 

Horizon: New 

Digital Source 

Components 

from RMAF 2013 

• Turn your 

Macintosh into a 

Music Server 

• Esoteric K-01 

• Oppo BDP-105 

• dCS Vivaldi 

System 

• EAR-Yoshino 192 DACute DAC 

• AURALiC VEGA digital processor 

• MSB Analog DAC 

• Simaudio Moon 100D USB DAC 

• Bryston BDA-2 

• Berkeley Alpha DAC Series 2 

• dCS Debussy DAC 

• AudioQuest DragonFly 

• Micromega MyDAC 

• Four USB DACs compared: Models from 

Channel Islands, Lindemann, NuForce, 

and Synergistic 

• Wadia 121 Decoding Computer 

• iFi iCAN, iDAC, iUSB Power 

• Meridian Explorer 

• 3-DAC survey: Models from Mytek, 

Benchmark, and Lynx 

• AudioQuest Diamond USB cable 

• NAD C 446 Digital Media Tuner 

• Pure Music software 

• Naim SuperUniti 

• Audivana music playback software 

• PS Audio Perfect Wave 

• Bel Canto USB Links 

• Plinius Tiki server 

• Astell & Kern AK100/AK120 

• 3beez Waxbox server 

• Micromega AS-400 integrated with 

wireless DAC 

• NuForce DDA-100 

• Peachtree Grand Prix X1 

• Peachtree Nova125 

• Hegel H300 

Music Reviews 

• High Resolution Digital Download 

Roundup 

Buyer's Guide 

• CD/SACD Players 

• DACs 

• Music Servers & Peripheral Products 

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3 Digital Source Components www.theabsolutesound.com 

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GUIDE to 

STEREO • MUSIC 

DIGITAL SOURCE 

COMPONENTS 

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editor-in-chief ........... Robert Harley 

executive editor ......... Jonathan Valin 

buyer's guide editor ..... Chris Martens 

acquisitions manager 

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music editor ............ Mark Lehman 

creative director ........ Torquil Dewar 

art director ............. Shelley Lai 

senior writers ........... Anthony H. 

Cordesmann 

Wayne Garcia 

Dick Olsher 

Steven Stone 

Alan Taffel 

Andrew Quint 

reviewers & 

contributing writers ..... Vade Forrester 

Jacob Heilbrunn 

Karl Schuster 

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Address letters to the Editor: 

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rharley@nextscreen.com 

©2013 NextScreen, LLC 


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FROM THE Editor 

Welcome to our latest Buyer’s Guide, this one covering digital audio source components. The 

Guide includes full reviews of: 

• 19 standalone DACs, 

• 3 combination disc player/DACs, 

• 5 combination integrated amplifier/DACs, and 

• 10 Music Servers and related digital audio accessories. 

We also bring you our editorial team’s Buyer’s Guide recommendations for digital source 

components, plus reviews of high-resolution digital music downloads. Finally, we include an 

illustrated report showing 26 of today’s most innovative new digital audio products as seen at 

the recent Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2013. 

We are experiencing a period of almost unprecedented growth and innovation in digital audio 

and as a result music lovers can now access and enjoy their favorite music in ways that might 

have seemed like science fiction only a few years ago. Just stop for a moment and think about the 

magnitude of the changes unfolding all around us. 

The Music: We once bought our digital music primarily in the form of MP3 files or Compact Discs. 

But those days have given way to a modern era where anyone with a passion for sound quality can 

readily access extremely high-resolution digital audio files from a growing number of sources. CDresolution 

files, once considered a sonic “Holy Grail” of sorts, are now just the starting points from 

which to explore even higher-quality file formats promising far greater resolution and sonic finesse. 

Music Delivery and Storage Systems: Once we thought either in 

terms of acquiring music content either in the form of optical discs or of 

downloaded files stored on our computers, but now our range of options 

has grown. Entire music libraries can, for example, live on portable, 

high-capacity USB drives or memory sticks, or they could reside on 

NAS (network attached storage) devices, elsewhere on network or in the 

cloud. Further, music delivery models are evolving, so that rather that 

buying copies of content to own some listeners are instead subscribing to 

high-res music services that charge monthly fees for access to high-res 

material on demand (why own when you can stream). 

Digital Audio Technology: Digital audio playback technologies never 

stand still for long, so that over time we see equipment offering improved 

DACs, more powerful upsampling options, hyper-precise digital clocks, 

expanding network and storage connectivity options, the ability to handle 

ever higher resolution music files, and better analog output sections. In 

short, digital audio source components sound great now and continue to 

get even better. 

We hope this Guide helps you better navigate the brave new world of 

modern digital audio source components as you pursue The Absolute 

Sound. 

Chris Martens 

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ON THE HORIZON 

New Digital Source 

Components from 

RMAF 2013 

Steven Stone 

Forward: The article below is an excerpt from, but also a more lavishly illustrated version of, a blog prepared 

by Steven Stone to report on digital source components recenty seen at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 

2013, which was held just weeks before publication of this Guide. Enjoy. –Chris Martens 

RMAF 2013 provided enough new digital products to fill a show 

report several times over. Rather than a comprehensive report with 

abbreviated descriptions that have more in common with a laundry list 

than a show report, I’ve concentrated on the products I felt were the 

most important and will have the most impact on our audio future. 

Marantz SA-14S1 SACD player 

www.us.marantz.com 

Marantz SA-14S1 Super Audio CD player ($2495) 

includes two digital inputs, two digital outputs, and 

one USB input which allows it to function as both a 

transport and a DAC. It even has a USB-B port on 

the back that allows the SA-14S1 to support DSD 

over PCM. The SA-12S1 utilizes Marantz’ proprietary 

HDAM (Hyper Dynamic Amplifier Module), newly 

developed center-mounted disc drive mechanism, 

and torroidal power transformer made with oxygenfree 

copper secondary windings. 

CD Players and Transports 

MSB 

Universal Media 

Transport 

www.msbtech.com 

MSB unveiled their latest transport, the Universal 

Media Transport Plus ($5995). It is based on the Oppo BDP-103, 

and plays all disc-based media, including DVDs, Blu-Rays, CDs, 

USB thumb drives, and even Kodak picture CDs. The Universal 

Media Transport Plus works with a variety of power supplies, 

beginning with the MSB outboard desktop supply ($595) and 

going up to their Diamond Transport Power Base ($3495). 


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CD Players and Transports 

Rega Saturn-R DAC + CD transport 

www.rega.co.uk 

For most part, the stand-alone CD player is dead, but 

some manufacturers have revised the “CD player” into 

a DAC that can also read discs. One example of this is 

the Rega Saturn-R DAC + CD transport ($2995). The 

Saturn-R includes one asynchronous USB and four S/ 

PDIF inputs as well as a top-loading CD transport. It 

uses a Wolfson WM872 DAC that can handle PCM up to 

192/24, and it comes with a dedicated remote control. 

Simaudio Neo 260D CD transport 

www.simaudio.com 

Simaudio added the Neo 260D CD transport ($2000) to 

their Moon series. Using Simaudio’s proprietary CD drive 

mounted on a four-point floating suspension system, the 

NEO 260D has both S/PDIF and AES/EBU digital outputs 

plus both balanced and single-ended analog outputs. 

You can add a digital-to-analog converter ($1000) that 

delivers true 32-bit asynchronous processing along with 

one USB, two S/PDIF, and two Toslink inputs. 


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Antelope Audio Zodiac Platinum DSD DAC/ 

preamp/headphone amp 

www.antelopeaudio.com 

Antelope Audio, known for their "atomic clock"-equipped 

Rubicon DAC/ADC-capable preamplifier, have added a new 

Zodiac Platinum DSD DAC ($5495 with Voltkus PSU). The 

Platinum DAC trumps the Antelope Audio Zodiac Gold by adding 

256X DSD support (and DSD upsampling to 256x), a 768 kHz 

sample rate, quad DAC architecture, a 64-bit up-sampler for 

PCM, and the ability to accept an atomic clock input. 

ExaSound E20 DAC and E28 DSD DAC 

www.exasound.com 

Building on the technology of their E20 DAC 

($2899), ExaSound’s new E28 DAC ($3299) is the 

world’s first multi-channel DSD DAC. It supports 

DSD up to 12.28 MHz, DXD up to 352.8 kHz/ 32- 

bit, and PCM up to 384/32. With automatic rate 

and sample switching, a bit-perfect custom ASIO 

driver for Windows, galvanically isolated USB, and 

an asynchronous USB interface, the E28 is based on 

the ESS9018 Sabre 32 reference DAC chip and offers 

eight discrete channels of analog outputs. 

dacs 

Bel Canto Asynchronous Stream Controller & 

PowerStream Monoblocks 

www.belcantoblack.com 

Bel Canto has gone upmarket with their new “Black” 

line of components. Designed to be used together, 

The Asynchronous Stream Controller ($20,000) and 

PowerStream Monoblocks ($15,000 each) represent a new 

way of arranging components in an audio system. With 

three boxes and only two connections, the Black system 

uses Bel Canto’s proprietary StreamLink fibre cable 

to connect the Stream Controller to the PowerStream 

Monoblock amps. With eight digital inputs, including 

USB and UPnP/DLNA Asynchronous interfaces and RCA 

analog as well as StreamLink and AES/EBU outputs, the 

Asynchronous Stream Controller represents Bel Canto’s 

designer John Stronczer’s latest thinking on how to build a 

low-noise digital hub. 

Ressonessence Labs Invicta Mirus DSD DAC 

www.resonessencelabs.com 

Resonessence Labs from Kelowna, British Columbia, had 

two outstanding new DACs on display. Resonessence’s 

flagship DAC is the Invicta Mirus ($4995) which uses dual 

ES9018 DACs to deliver 8 DACs per channel and 130 dB 

DNR with 0.0002% THD. The Mirus also supports DSD 

64/128, DXD and PCM 384/24. With custom up-sampling 

filters, balanced XLR and single-ended RCA analog 

outputs, asynchronous USB, and S/PDIF, Toslink, AES/ 

EBU and S/D card inputs, the Mirus is fully-featured yet 

compact. 





PORTABLE DACS 

Astell & Kern AK10 DAC/headphone amp 

www.astellnkern.com 

Astell & Kern’s AK10 ($299) was designed to work with 

smart-phones. It has both iOS lightning connector as well 

as a micro USB for Android phones. With a built-in 1100mAh 

battery the AK10 delivers 11 hours of playback time and 

recharges in less than 3.5 hours. Its Wolfson WM8740 24- 

bit DAC supports up to 96/24 files and delivers a maximum 

output level of 1.7 rms with an output impedance of 1.1 ohms. 

Audioengine D3 DAC 

www.audioengineusa.com 

Audioengine’s latest DAC, the D3 ($189), features support 

for up to 96/24 files via USB. Based around an AKM4396 

DAC chip and LME49726 audio amplifier the D3 uses 

asynchronous USB and requires only 5 volts and 200 ma of 

power via USB to produce a maximum output level of 2.0 

volts. It had no problems driving a pair of Audeze LCD-2 

headphones. 

iFi iDSD DAC 

www.ifi-audio.com 

iFi unveiled a raft of new digital devices including the iTube 

($299) tube preamplifier, iLink ($249) USB to S/PDIF 

converter, iDSD (TBD , but under $200) DSD/DXD/PCM 

battery-powered DAC, iPurifier ($99) USB audio and power 

purifier, and iCAN (TBD, but under $200) battery-powered 

headphone amplifier. The iDSD and iCAN are part of ifi’s new 

Nano line of battery-powered, completely portable devices. 

Resonessence Labs Herus DSD DAC 

www.resonessencelabs.com 

Resonessence Lab’s second new DAC introduction, the Herus 

($350), is a portable DAC that delivers big capabilities and 

sonics. It supports DSD 64x and 128x as well as DXD and 

PCM up to 382/32. It has no buttons or knobs, merely a USB 

input on one end and a ¼” stereo headphone output on the 

other. With better than 100 dB S/N, THD into 32 ohms of less 

than .005%, and a maximum output of 2.4 VRMS the Herus 

could replace many full-sized DACs. 

Hegel Super headphone amplifier/DAC 

www.hegel.com 

The Hegel Super headphone amplifier/DAC ($399) has a 

noise floor lower than 140 dB and supports up to 96/24 

PCM. It has two outputs, one mini-headphone and the other 

optical digital, so it can serve as a USB to S/PDIF convertor 

as well as a headphone amplifier. With Hegel’s proprietary 

re-clocking and generous power supply, the Super is 

designed to drive even the most difficult headphones. 

Core Audio Technology Kratos Fully Digital Amplifier 

www.coreaudiotechnology.com 

Not a product included in our original RMAF report, but rather one drawn 

to our attention through a release received shortly after RMAF, we wanted 

to highlight the fascinating Core Kratos Fully Digital Amplifier ($2,500). In 

practice, the term “fully digital” means that the 100 Wpc Kratos has a fully 

digital signal path (no D/A conversion) and thus uses internal PCM to PWM conversion rather than just 

using a switching output stage. The Kratos provides two sets of S/PDIF and Toslink inputs, plus a remote 

volume control. Soon, however, Core plans to introduce a 32/384 DSD-capable USB input option. 





MUSIC SERVERS, COMPUTERS & More 

Baetis Revolution II media computer 

www.baetisaudio.com 

The latest version of the Baetis Revolution II media 

computer ($2995), wired with Snake River Audio cables, 

looked and sounded like a serious audiophile product. With 

a published motherboard S/N figure of 108, the Baetis uses 

a S/PDIF rather than USB output and claims lower noise 

figures than any stock factory computer. 

Blue Smoke Black Box II 

www.bluesmokesystems.com 

The first time I saw Blue Smoke Black Box was at the 2009 

CES. Since then Blue Smoke has further refined their 

dedicated audio computer to the current Black Box II ($3995) 

and companion USB to S/PDIF 382/32 Digital Output 

($2995). Based around a Haswell i7 Intel processor, Black 

Box II is fanless with an SSD drive and 8 GB of RAM, and runs 

on Windows 7.1 OS. The USB to S/PDIF unit works with any 

computer and operating system that outputs audio to USB. 

YFS Ref-3 computer transport, YFS-modified 

Mac Mini, and PS012 power supply 

www.yourfinalsystem.com 

YFS stands for “Your Final System.” Although it’s a 

phrase that is more likely to generate thoughts about 

finite mortality than audio, YFS’ Ref-3 computer transport 

($15,500) and YFS–modified Mac Mini ($4695) made a 

potent and life-affirming combination. The modified mini 

includes YFS’ PS012 power supply modification ($2495), 

SSD drive, internal power filter, and internal power supply 

modifications to support external power supplies. The YFS 

power supply put out 12 volts at 7.5 amps. 

AURALiC Gemini 2000 headphone amp/DAC 

www.auralic.com 

AURALiC’s Gemini 2000 ($1995) combines a headphone 

stand with a DAC and headphone amplifier that can put 

out 2000 mW. The Gemini 2000 supports DSD 64x and 

128x as well as PCM up to 384/24. It has inputs for USB, 

Toslink digital, analog via mini-stereo, and a SD card 

reader slot. Available in five colors, the Gemini 2000 is 

much more than a beautiful object – it also sounded great. 

Sound Science Music Vault M7 

www.soundsciencecat.com 

Sound Science’s Music Vault has evolved since I reviewed it in 2008. The current model, the M7 ($5500 

w/3TB drive, $6600 w/6TB drive), supports local cloud back-up and streaming of Internet sources. Sound 

Science uses internal data storage instead of external NAS drives (although it supports NAS for back-ups) 

because according to designer Neal Van Berg, “Internal storage provides demonstrably superior sound.” The 

Music Vault supports USB 3.0 and 2.0 output as well as Firewire and even has a S/PDIF output. 



go to: Contents | On The Horizon | Feature | Disc Players | DACs | Music Servers & 

Accessories | Integrated Amps with USB DACs | Music Download Reviews | Buyer's Guide 


MUSIC SERVERS, COMPUTERS & More 

Channel D Seta Piccola DAC Buffer/Attenuator 

www.channld.com 

The Channel D Seta Piccola DAC Buffer/Attenuator ($1599) 

isn’t a digital source component per se, but was created 

to be used with variable output DACs and DAC/preamps so 

that they can work without truncating bits due to excessive 

volume attenuation. The Piccola has 6 dB steps that deliver 

between -6 and -30 dB of volume reduction. It uses the 

same battery power system as the Seta phono preamp and 

has only 20 Ohms of output impedance. 

 

 

 

Native DSD Music high-res DSD downloads 

www.nativedsd.com 

 

Soon it will be easier for consumers to buy DSD 

music. Native DSD Music announced their new 

 

Internet site, as above, dedicated to high-resolution 

DSD music downloads. The PR kit included a USB card 

with sample files, many from Channel Classics. The 

site promises worldwide availability and multi-label 

availability and expects to be “live”in the very near 

future.. 

 

 

PS Audio NuWave phono preamp with analog, PCM, and DSD outputs 

www.psaudio.com 

PS Audio NuWave Phono Preamp ($1895) delivers a one-box solution to archiving and playing 

LPs. It combines a state-of-the-art phono preamplifier with an A/D that supports both PCM 

and DSD digital outputs. With built-in cartridge loading, a passive RIAA curve, and balanced 

XLR analog outputs as well as line-level inputs, the PS Audiio NuWave Phono preamp can serve 

as the analog-to-digital hub for any audiophile who wants a high-quality bridge between their 

analog and digital sources. 

inspire the music 


www.theabsolutesound.com 

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Turning a 

Mac Into a 

Music Server 

A Beginner’s Guide 

Steven Stone 

Setting up an Apple computer for audio is simpler than 

a Windows PC because Apple offers fewer options. But 

it’s still possible to end up with a system that doesn’t 

perform optimally. Often it’s a case of not getting the 

machine configured correctly. The following guide will 

hopefully get you to a reasonable starting point for 

your Mac computer audio odyssey. 

For me, the three most important aspects of a computer audio system are 

stability, reliability, and simplicity of operation. Sound quality comes after 

these three primary goals are met: ultimately it doesn’t matter how good your 

computer audio system can sound if you can’t get it to work. 

Given my priorities, the principal goal of this guide won’t be the best performance. 

(John Quick talks about this in a companion article found in The Absolute Sound 

issue 237). No, the goal here is to achieve a system that is going to deliver sound 

99.9% of the time without having to screw around. Even a naïve user should be 

able to use a computer audio system almost as easily as a CD player. 

Hardware 

Which Apple computer you choose for computer audio 

will depend on several factors, but principally budget 

and portability. Portable Macs, whether MacBook Pro 

or Air, make great audio computers, especially if you 

want one system that you can take with you. A Mac 

Mini is less expensive initially, but it does require an 

external monitor and keyboard for full functionality. 

An iMac is also a good option and the monitor is builtin. 

Some folks (like me) even use a MacPro desktop 

machine for audio duties. 

Nowadays, the Macs I see most often used for audio 

are the Mac Mini or a Mac portable. Mac Minis are the 

most popular “desktop” machine due to their size and 

price. Also a Mac Mini can be run “headless” after initial 

setup, without a monitor or keyboard via the “Remote” 

Smartphone app (a Mac portable can be used this way 

also, but the screen will remain active). Any Mac that 

supports the current or near-current operating system 

can be used for audio playback duties. Considerations 

such as whether you want portability are more easily 

quantifiable than whether one Mac model sounds 

better than another. 

Apple offers all its computers with different memory 

and hard-drive configurations. You can order a Mac 

directly from Apple exactly the way you want it or you 

can purchase a barebones configuration and add your 

own memory and storage later. OtherWorld Computing 

sells all the necessary parts as well as step-by-step 

instructional videos on its site for installing memory, 

solid-state drives, and auxiliary hard drives for nearly 

every model Mac. 

If you want to do an audio-only computer system, 

be aware that there are different levels of audioonly 

exclusivity. And there’s always a trade-off of 

ergonomics lost versus sonic benefits gained. Access 

to the Internet is not necessary to play back a music 

file, but it does allow for greater levels of operability, 

including access to Internet radio (which can be 

very good), streaming services, and GraceNote for 

identifying ripped CDs. But a system with Internet 

access means that more operations will be ongoing and 

some could have an effect on overall audio quality. The 

tweakiest and most obsessive sound-quality-first Mac 

setups tend to be isolated stand-alone systems without 

Internet access. PreSonus, in its guide to Mac OS use, 

recommends turning off the airport wireless service 

while using a Mac for audio. Obviously this drastically 

reduces functionality, sort of like supergluing your 

mouth closed to keep from occasionally drooling. Some 

Mac audio set-up guides also recommend turning off 

“Spotlight,” which is the file-searching utility. This is 

great until you need to find a file. 

There is no reason that a current-generation Mac 

needs to be gelded into a barebones operating system 

to perform optimally for audio. The Mac operating 

system and hardware were made for multitasking, 

and the Mac will be performing background processes 

while playing music even if it has been stripped-down. 

While I don’t recommend regularly running a bunch 

of high-demand processing and disc-access programs 

such as Photoshop while listening intently to music, 

the reasons for creating a stripped-down music-only 

Mac were far more relevant back in the days of the G5 

desktop than they are today. 

How much memory is optimal for audio Most users 

find that the right amount of memory is the same 

amount as for a full-service Mac. Nowadays, that’s 8 

Gigabytes. You can “get by” with 4 Gigs, but given the 

cost of memory, there’s no reason not to have 8GB. 

Adding more than 8 Gigs of memory won’t buy you 

any advantages, and the extra memory will generate 

more heat and use more power. Music playback doesn’t 

require very much in the way of processor and memory 

usage compared to apps such as Photoshop. I use a 

2006 MacPro desktop with 16GB of memory. Playing 

a 29-minute 96kHz/24 music file with Pure Music 

software used only 1025.4MB of real memory, 3.31 


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Turning a Mac Into a Music Server - A Beginner's Guide 

of virtual memory, 996.5 of private memory, 

and 1.09 of virtual private memory. The total 

amount of CPU usage was only 5.37%. With a 

newer, faster processor the CPU usage would 

be even lower. If I had only half the memory 

there would still be plenty left over. 

Many storage options are available, but the 

most common way to go is with a solid-state 

drive for the OS and user files, then a second 

conventional larger hard drive for music files 

and/or Time Machine backup files (I’ll tell you 

about Time Machine later). The reasons for 

using a solid-state drive are increased read 

and write speeds and lower power usage for 

less stress on the power supply. The second 

drive can be internal or external, but external 

is more common. Nowadays portable 1, 2, and 

even 3TB portable hard drives are inexpensive 

and plentiful. I use a redundant system where I 

have two of each external drive, one in service 

and one as back up. Once a week I copy new 

files from the one in use to the backup drive, 

then put the drive away again. Some users opt 

for a RAID array for their music files, but I’d 

rather have identical libraries on two separate 

drives than two libraries on the same drive 

in a RAID array. Even with a RAID drive, if it 

fails catastrophically (which is usually how 

they go), you lose all your data, which is not an 

experience I recommend. 

Connecting It Up 

The current Mac Minis and Mac portables all 

offer USB 2 as well as Thunderbolt interfaces. 

While there’s little in the way of devices 

currently available for Thunderbolt, by using 

an adapter the Thunderbolt port can be 

easily converted to FireWire, and plenty of 

devices—hard drives, DACS, A/Ds—use FireWire 

connections. 

Since Macs have both Thunderbolt/FireWire 

and USB 2 connectors, it makes sense to 

use both. Some computer audio systems use 

external hard drives on the FireWire connection 

and a DAC on the USB 2. Others use a DAC on 

the FireWire and external drives on the USB 

connection. Either way works. But it makes 

sense to use both of the information conduits 

(or “pipes” in computer lingo) since they offer 

two independent pathways for moving data. 

Macs offer several other connectivity options 

besides USB, Thunderbolt, and FireWire. All 

Macs also have a TosLink output, adjustable 

line-level analog/headphone output, and an 

internal speaker. You can use the TosLink to 

connect to a DAC that lacks a USB input but 

has TosLink input (which you will find on most 

DACs). Usually TosLink will have a higher jitter 

level than USB or FireWire and so the latter 

are usually the preferred digital connection 

methods. But sometimes the TosLink can deliver 

equal or better sound. This is usually a result of 

ground-loop issues between the computer and 

the other components in your system. Because 

TosLink is optical, not electrical, it breaks and 

isolates the ground connection between the 

computer and the DAC. I routinely connect 

the TosLink between my computer and DAC 

so I can compare it with the USB and FireWire 

feeds. Most of the time the USB or FireWire 

are better (USB and FireWire will both support 

rates higher than 96/24, which is TosLink’s 

upper limit), but occasionally TosLink can prove 

to be a better option. 

There is no reason that a 

current-generation Mac needs 

to be gelded into a barebones 

operating system to perform 

optimally for audio. 

Many current-generation Macs lack a disc 

reader/writer, which you need to be able to 

“rip” or import CDs into your computer audio 

system’s library. The solution is to buy an 

external reader/writer CD/DVD drive that 

attaches via USB. You could buy a CD/DVD/Bluray 

reader/writer, but Apple does not officially 

support Blu-ray playback. Although there 

are third-party apps such as Blu-ray Player 

that make Blu-ray playback through a Mac 

possible, possible isn’t the same as bug-free— 

on my system the Blu-ray player app produces 

distorted peak levels. 

Although it appears at first that most Macs 

have plenty of USB connections, it’s easy to 

use them up. If you need more USB connections 

make sure to use a powered USB box. Many 

USB-enabled devices require power from the 

USB to work. While they will sometimes work 

even when connected to an unpowered USB 

expansion box, they could be receiving less 

power than they need to function optimally. 

Using a powered USB box eliminates this issue. 

Setting Up Software 

The Mac operating system that comes 

standard with every Apple computer has all 

the necessary software to function as an 

audio computer. The principal music playback 

program is iTunes. And while there are plenty 

of reasons not to like iTunes such as its poor 

organization for classical music and inability to 

play FLAC files without some additional steps, 

it is still the best software to begin with for 

your Mac-based computer-audio system. The 

iTunes library structure and cataloging format 

is recognized by every other Mac-based music 

playback app you may use in the future so 

you won’t have to re-rip any music files if you 

decide to use another app. By starting out with 

iTunes you can also establish a base level for 

ergonomic and sonic performance. Any music- 


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playback program that can’t beat iTunes’ basic 

performance benchmarks has no reason to 

exist. 

As I mentioned earlier you will need a disc 

reader/writer to import CDs into your music 

library. But before you import your first CD you 

will need to change the preferences in iTunes. 

The default rip rate is only 320KBPS MP3, so 

you need to change that to something better in 

the “import settings” dialog box. I use 44.1/16- 

bit AIFF, but WAV is also an option. The primary 

disadvantage of WAV is that you won’t be able to 

add or change the artwork in a WAV file, while you 

can add and change art on AIFF files. In the past 

WAV files were more universally playable than 

AIFF, but I’ve yet to come across a high-quality 

portable player that won’t recognize AIFF files. 

During initial set-up iTunes will need to 

configure where music files will be stored. I 

always use a separate storage drive for all my 

music files. But whatever else you do, if you 

move your music files to a different drive than 

the initial default, let iTunes do the moving. 

If you move music files to a different drive 

by dragging and dropping, then iTunes will no 

longer be able to find your files. So don’t do 

that, please. 

Once iTunes has been set up and is running 

I recommend living with it for a while before 

trying third-party music apps for the Mac. 

First off, if iTunes runs successfully it’s a good 

indication that your Mac is stable and properly 

configured. If iTunes crashes something isn’t 

working right, and other programs will probably 

behave in equally buggy fashion. It’s important 

to get iTunes running right first. 

I use iTunes as my disc-ripping program. 

You can also use other programs such as 

dBPoweramp for disc importing. But despite 

some articles I’ve seen that claim that 

dBPoweramp is more likely to produce a “bitperfect” 

copy of a CD, the error correction 

built into iTunes also guarantees a bit-perfect 

replica of a CD’s data. So far I have yet to 

see any compelling evidence that iTunes disc 

importation reduces sound quality when 

compared to other disc-importation apps. 

Because of the number of 

variables in a computer audio 

setup finding a “tweak” 

or modification that will 

universally improve the sound 

of every Apple computer is 

virtually impossible. 

Once you’ve lived with and used iTunes for 

a while you can begin to try other playback 

programs. I use Pure Music, Amarra, Audirvana, 

and Decibel regularly. Each program has 

particular ergonomic advantages and they 

do not sound the same. Since all have free or 

demo modes you can try them out for yourself 

and see which one you like best. Pure Music 

has the most extensive preference options 

and because of this is most complex to set up. 

Amarra, in comparison, has very few options 

available from its internal preferences. So far 

I’ve not heard one playback program I would 

call “the best” in all setups. 

Obviously, it would be great if a particular 

collection of settings produced optimal sound 

quality in every Mac in every system, but that 

isn’t the case. For instance, when it comes to 

upsampling versus native-rate conversion I’ve 

found some music does sound better when 

upsampled while other music files sound best 

when played back at their native rate. 

One vitally important piece of software in 

the Mac is called “Audio Midi Setup.” I strongly 

recommend putting an alias of this app on 

your Mac’s dock because you will be using it a 

lot. You can do this by dragging the app’s icon 

(which looks like a keyboard and can be found 

in the “Utilities” subfolder) onto your dock. 

When you open the Audio Midi Setup app a 

box that shows you each input and output will 

greet you. It also tells you the current format 

and bit rate. Besides this information the Midi 

app lets you change format and bit rates and 

switch audio devices. Look at the “+” sign in 

the left lower corner. If you click on the little 

gear symbol next to it you can change audio 

output devices “on the fly.” 

Another piece of supplied software that you 

should definitely use is Apple’s “Time Machine” 

backup. It will, once set up, automatically back 

up any drive on a regular schedule. If you have 

a hard drive or system failure “Time Machine” 

can reinstall your entire system to the point 

just before your crash. It has saved my life 

more than once. Use it. 

One last piece of free software from Apple 

that I’ve found invaluable is “Remote.” As you 

might infer from its name, Remote is an app that 

lets you control iTunes (or Pure Music, Amarra, 

or Audirvana when they are linked to iTunes) 

from an iPhone, iPad, or Smartphone. You can 

see your whole library, make selections, build 

and save playlists, and play music from your 

listening seat. 

Tweaks 

Because of the number of variables in a 

computer audio setup finding a “tweak” or 

modification that will universally improve the 

sound of every Apple computer is virtually 

impossible. Sure, there are “best practices,” 

such as making sure that your system is not 

up- or down-converting a file without your 

knowledge (that’s where the Midi Control is 

invaluable), but “universal” tweaks Uh, no. 

Some users have reported that one particular 

USB port provided better sound than the others. 

Usually sonic differences between USB ports 

are a function of what other devices besides 

the DAC are on those ports. If you click on the 

Apple symbol in the left-hand upper corner of 

your screen you can open “About This Mac.” 

Under the “USB Ports” section you’ll find a list 


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of each USB port and what is connected to it. 

Notice on my computer how my keyboard and 

printers are on a separate USB buss from my 

audio devices. And since both audio devices I 

have hooked up are on the same buss but do 

not receive data at the same time (with the 

MIDI Control I select one or the other), they 

For the Obsessive 

For those of you pursuing all-out sonic performance, here are 

some refinements to Steven's article that I've picked up from 

computer-audio experts. First, if you’re about to buy a Mac for 

a server, the MacBook Pro has some advantages over the other 

models. Because it is designed to be close to human bodies it 

reportedly must meet tighter requirements for radiated noise 

resulting in “cleaner” performance compared with the Mac Mini. 

The MacBook Air and iMac are less ideal for music servers, the 

MacBook Air because it uses inferior parts in the USB controller, 

and the iMac because the integrated video monitor radiates 

noise. 

Some tweaky Mac users have reported that 16GB of RAM is 

preferable to 8GB, largely because the Mountain Lion operating 

system consumes so much memory. The bad news is that the 

new MacBook Pro 13" maxes out at 8GB, so if you want 16GB 

you’ll need the more expensive 15" model. Moreover, in the latest 

MacBook Pros the RAM is now soldered to the board and 

can’t be upgraded later. You’re stuck at the level of RAM that 

comes with the computer. You can, however, opt for a small SSD 

if the Mac is a dedicated server because your music library will 

be stored on an external drive. Also keep in mind that a Mac- 

Book Pro doesn’t come with a disc drive; you’ll need to add the 

Super Drive ($80). For the budget conscious there are many 

new MacBook Pros available on the used market that can have 

their memory increased to 16GB. —Robert Harley 

should be getting the same quality in their data 

streams. So far, I have detected no “alpha USB 

buss” during the seven years I’ve been using 

my MacPro desktop computer. 

Users, including myself, have reported hearing 

sound quality differences when using different 

USB cables. As to the whys and wherefores of 

these differences, the most likely 

reasons are that differences in 

jitter, bandwidth, impedance, and 

the reflection of energy influence 

the time-coherence of the audio 

signal in subtle yet audible ways. 

My advice, whether you’re a cable 

“believer” or someone who doubts 

that cables can make an audible 

difference, is to start with a basic 

cable, such as the Belkin Gold. Then 

try a “better” cable as well as the 

thinnest cruddiest, cheapest USB 

cable you can find lying around and 

listen for differences. I have heard 

USB-cable differences with many of 

the DACs I’ve reviewed when making 

this comparison. But sometimes, in 

some systems, USB cable swaps 

haven’t made an audible difference. 

Regardless of where you stand on 

USB-cable audibility, don’t try using 

a very long or a very short USB 

cable—best practices indicate that 

USB cables’ optimal length should 

be between one and two meters. 

Finally, as to whether a particular 

version of the Mac Mini or Mac 

portable “sounds better” than the 

others, all the information I’ve seen 

has been purely anecdotal. Some computeraudio 

enthusiasts have gravitated to an older 

generation of Mac Minis that had an external 

rather than internal power supply because 

they can easily modify the external supply, and 

they feel that the aftermarket and sometimes 

homebrew power supplies have a lower noise 

floor and put less spurious noise back into the 

system. Current-gen Mac Minis have an internal 

power supply, which can also be modified, 

but that is a more difficult and usually more 

expensive process. 

The Starting Line 

Obviously we can only begin to delve into 

the mysteries and delights of a Mac-based 

computer audio system in a magazine article— 

there are entire books on the subject. But this 

will get you started in the right direction. For 

some audiophiles computer audio becomes a 

consuming passion because the potential for 

tweaks and improvements are nearly infinite. 

But before you can begin to wring every last 

iota of performance out of your system you 

have to get it up and running reliably. I hope 

this article will make that a little easier. 


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Equipment reviews 

Disc Players 




BDP-105 Universal Player 

No Compromise High-End Performance 

Three ways to play high resolution 

music on the OPPO BDP-105: 

1. Directly play common high resolution 

audio discs such as Blu-ray music, DVD- 

Audio, SACD and HDCD. 

Award-Winning Reputation: 

• A Universal Digital Player Designed for Audiophile Users 

• Inclusion by The Absolute Sound 2014 High-End Audio Buyer’s Guide 

• Stereophile “Class A” Recommended Component 

High-End Digital Features: 

• All High Resolution Audio Discs: Blu-ray, SACD and DVD-Audio 

• All High Resolution Audio Files: AIFF, WAV, DSD, FLAC & ALAC 

• Playback from Disc, USB Drive and Network via SMB, DLNA and NFS 

High-Performance Hardware: 

• Dual Top Grade ESS SABRE 32 Reference DAC Chips 

• Toroidal Power Supply and Linear Regulator Optimized for Audio 

• Asynchronous USB DAC Input for Computer Audio 

2. Purchase and download studio master 

quality audio tracks in AIFF, WAV, FLAC, 

DSF, DFF and Apple Lossless formats 

from sites such as itrax.com, hdtracks. 

com, and www.2L.no. Save the files to a 

USB thumb drive or hard disk. The BDP- 

105 can play from the USB drive or hard 

disk directly. You can also store those 

files on a shared network drive and have 

the BDP-105 play back over the network. 

3. Connect the BDP-105’s asynchronous 

USB DAC input to your computer and 

use your favorite high-resolution audio 

playback software to send audio to the 

BDP-105, jitter-free and bit-perfect. 

OPPO Digital, Inc. | (650) 961-1118 | www.oppodigital.com facebook.com/oppodigital @oppodigital


Recently, though, Esoteric has done two things that 

warm my heart. First, it has lowered prices on many 

models, including the K-series. The K-03 is now $10,900, 

a fantastic value, and the K-01 has dropped to $19,500. 

Second, the distributor promised me a K-01, and came 

through. 

Let me tell you, it was tough waiting out the month of 

continuous break-in that Esoteric mandates. After that I 

spent many more months evaluating the K-01 in all of its 

copious configurations. In the end, I can report that all 

my fervent hopes were fulfilled. The Esoteric K-01 is the 

most versatile, best-sounding, most finely crafted source 

component I have ever encountered. 

Esoteric K-01 CD/SACD Player 

Full Reference Status 

Alan Taffel 

Reviewers constantly see gear come and go, but, as you can imagine, we 

regret the parting of some pieces more than others. Roughly two years 

ago Esoteric had to pry its K-03 player from my sweaty, clenched fingers. 

Why did I love this thing so much Let me count the ways. 

The then-$13,000 K-03, to my mind, represented a perfect combination of capabilities. 

It was—and still is—a CD/SACD player, a full-fledged S/PDIF DAC, a USB DAC, and 

a linestage that will directly drive a power amp. Most importantly, the K-03 excelled 

in every single category. I had never heard a better SACD player or USB DAC, and the 

S/PDIF DAC was squarely in reference territory as well. My only quibble was that CD 

playback, while very good, wasn’t quite in the same league as the rest of the K-03’s 

functions. 

For that reason, even as I relinquished the K-03, I 

began lobbying to get my hands on the flagship K-01, 

which, at the time, ran $23,500. The primary differences 

between the two models are the transport mechanism 

(the K-01 uses a VRDS-NEO “VMK-3.5-20S”, the 

very same mechanism found in the company’s P-02 

stand-alone transport, which costs $23,500 all by itself!) 

and improved DAC linearity through the use of 

more (eight versus four) parallel/differential AKM 

chipsets per channel. Given these upgrades, I figured 

the K-01 should do at least as well as the K-03 in every 

category, and I hoped against hope that its CD performance 

would achieve full reference status, making the 

K-01 something of a perfect source component. Unfortunately, 

the company’s distributor at the time could 

not come through with a test K-01. Since then, I have 

been pouting. 

A Reference CD and SACD Player 

In listening to CDs through the K-01, I was not bashful 

about comparing it to the very best. My reference CD 

“player” is actually a Goldmund Mimesis 36 transport 

(a benchmark product) driving a dCS Debussy DAC. The 

two are lashed together via the superb (and eminently 

reasonably priced) Empirical Design 120 digital cable. 

Over time, this combination has proven tough—nay, impossible—to 

beat. The K-03 came close. But the K-01 

coldcocked me by outperforming the reference in every 

parameter. 

Allow me to illustrate using a couple of examples from 

the Simon and Garfunkel Old Friends box set, lovingly remastered 

using the always-reliable SBM process [Sony’s 

Super Bit Mapping]. On the playful “Punky’s Dilemma,” 

the beat, laid down by guitar strums and finger snaps, is 

steadier compared to the reference; dynamics rise and 

fall with more linearity; and, especially, air around and 

between instruments is far more voluminous. Further, 

the Esoteric’s ultra-quiet background allows tasty details—like 

the percussive flourishes that vary delightfully 

with each verse—to emerge in a clear but unforced way. 

Timbres are more natural, too; Simon’s guitar sounds 

more like a guitar, and on other tracks pianos sound more 

like pianos, bongos more like bongos, etc. 


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EQUIPMENT review - Esoteric K-01 CD/SACD Player 

At the other end of the production spectrum 

is “America,” which features an orchestra, brass, 

and grand cymbal crashes. Through the reference, 

climactic moments betray some congestion 

and compression. Not so through the unflappable 

K-01. And there is again that difference 

in spatiality; the reference renders voices in the 

usual 2-D perspective, but through the K-01 they 

are downright holographic. At this point you 

might be thinking the reference rig isn’t that 

great after all. But you would be wrong; the reference 

sounds awesome! It’s just that the K-01 

sounds better in each of the ways I have described. 

The cumulative effect is that the Esoteric 

is even more engaging—and fun—to listen 

to. This is truly exemplary CD playback. 

On to SACD. In my review of the K-03 I stated it 

was “the best SACD player I have heard—not by 

a mile, by a marathon.” Given the K-01’s exceptional 

CD performance, though, I found myself 

skeptical that its SACD playback could sound 

much better. I needn’t have fretted; the increase 

in resolution and timbral realism over CD was 

dumbfounding. 

Consider “With You I’m Born Again” from the 

Chesky recording of the Billy Cobb Quartet’s 

Jazz in the Key of Blue. The CD layer already 

sounds rich and refined. The only overtly noticeable 

problem is during Roy Hargrove’s trumpet 

solo, which at times gets loud so quickly and intensely 

it’s scary. On the CD layer, the K-01 pulls 

off the dynamics, but telltale distortion signals 

the format’s limitations. Playing the SACD layer, 

though, the Esoteric accomplishes the feat while 

retaining absolute purity at the limit. SACD also 

dramatically opens up the soundstage, the trumpet’s 

brassy burnish is far more evident, and the 

air through it is so visceral you might feel in danger 

of being spit on. Chalk up another referencecaliber 

performance. 

Set-Up Notes 

More and more audio manufacturers are paying attention to vibration control. Such measures are especially 

important in components with moving parts, like the K-01. Esoteric has admirably equipped this player with 

feet reminiscent of the Stillpoints Ultra. The result is one of the few products I have reviewed that does not 

benefit from a good set of aftermarket cones. 

How, then, to explain the lack of attention to the chassis top plate, which rattles and rings with the 

gentlest tap I suppose one could buy a “brick” of some sort to tame its jitters, but I settled for a thick 

book. Placed atop the K-01, this sophisticated audio dampening mechanism quieted down the player’s sonic 

background, solidified imaging, and generally permitted more of the K-01’s goodness to come through. 

Hopefully, Esoteric will quickly find a more elegant fix. 

Also, like all Esoteric DACs, the K-01 offers a plethora of configuration options. Many of them don’t 

sound very good, and quite a few of those turn out to be the defaults! For this reason, the K-01 cannot be 

treated as a plug-and-play product. My recommended settings are enumerated in the “Set-Up Notes” for 

my review of Esoteric's D-07X DAC, as publsihed in The Absolute Sound issue 230. When auditioning the 

K-01, check that the dealer hasn’t simply settled for the defaults. 

A Reference S/PDIF and USB DAC 

Fond memories of the K-03’s DAC danced in my 

head as I turned to the K-01’s version. I no longer 

had a K-03 in hand, of course, but I remembered 

a lively, open sound. The K-01 was all that, as 

well as extremely dynamic, quiet, detailed, and 

rich. When I compared it to the Debussy, using 

the Mimesis 36 as the common transport, both 

DACs sounded great—as they should in this price 

range. Clearly, these components are both in 

reference territory. Yet, once again, the Esoteric 

proved superior in significant ways, all of which 

were foreshadowed by its CD performance. 

First, the K-01 shows greater resolution, especially 

at the highest frequencies. This makes 

its reproduction of the recording venue’s ambience 

far more palpable. Through the Esoteric, 

the soundstage on which the instruments play is 

almost an instrument unto itself. Further, instruments 

have “pillows” of air around them that allows 

the listener to easily follow each one—just 

as in listening to live music. For example, I was 

amazed to discover that the cymbal—yes, the 

cymbal—on Michael Wolff’s 2am is a thoughtfully 

played, varied, and integral musical component. I 

had never much noticed it before. 

Another consistent advantage of the K-01 is its 

timing. As good as the dCS is in this respect, the 

K-01 is better. Tempi are absolutely, unwaveringly 

locked in, making rhythms irresistible regardless 

of genre. Finally, as with CD playback, the Esoteric 

has a very slight edge over the reference 

in dynamics. On gradual crescendos in particular, 

the K-01 builds in a more linear fashion. The 

opening movement of Handel’s Water Music, for 

instance, benefits with an enhanced drama the 

composer would no doubt have applauded. 

As for USB, the K-01 and K-03 remain the best 

such DACs I have ever heard. When playing the 

infectious title track from Wilco’s latest, The 

Whole Love, a 96/24 download from HDtracks, 

the Esoteric delivers its trademark drive, detail, 

and clarity without edge. Jeff Tweedy’s voice 

sounds uncannily realistic. Even more difficult 

for USB, strings are sweet and aural fatigue, no 

matter how many repeat plays, is non-existent. 

Listening to this song through the K-01 and an 

appropriate USB cable is every bit the joyous experience 

it is meant to be. This is USB not only 

at its best, but sounding as good as any other 

digital source. That’s a milestone achievement. 

A Remarkable Linestage 

Whenever I switch from my Goldmund linestage to 

SPECS & PRICING 

Formats: CD, SACD 

Outputs: stereo balanced 

analog, stereo balanced 

single-ended 

Inputs: Coax, Toslink, 

USB, word clock 

Maximum digital 

resolution: 192/24 

Dimensions: 17" x 6 3/8" 

x 13" 

Weight: 68 3/8 lbs. 

Price: $19,500 

ESOTERIC COMPANY 

7733 Telegraph Road 

Montebello, CA 90640 

esoteric.teac.com 

ASSOCIATED 

EQUIPMENT 

Goldmund Mimesis 36 

digital transport, dCS 

Debussy DAC, Bryston 

BDA-1 DAC, HP Latitude 

(Windows 7) PC, 

Goldmund Mimesis 22 

Preamplifier, Goldmund 

Mimesis 29.4 Power 

Amplifiers, Metaphor 

Acoustics 1 Speakers, 

Empirical Design cables 

and power cords, 

Wireworld Platinum 

Starlight USB cable, 

Goldmund cones 

CLICK HERE TO COMMENT at www.theabsolutesound.com 


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EQUIPMENT review - Esoteric K-01 CD/SACD Player 

any linestage buried within a DAC, I expect the 

drop-off to be precipitous. This has been the pattern 

since day one. So I was surprised when I encountered 

a DAC-based linestage, Esoteric’s own 

D-07X, that performed quite respectably. But 

the K-01 is another matter entirely. Esoteric put 

great thought—and backed it up with top-quality 

circuitry—into this player’s linestage. The volume 

control is digital, which normally exacts a resolution 

toll at lower levels. However, in this case the 

control has a bit-depth of 32, allowing it operate 

at high attenutation without the usual compromises. 

Too, Esoteric blessed the K-01 with a fully 

balanced, fully buffered analog output stage. As 

a result, the K-01 comes closer—much closer—to 

my reference linestage than any DAC before it. 

Take the Jimmy Cobb SACD. Both linestages 

deliver the same stellar dynamics, tight timing, 

and virtually identical midrange tonality. On the 

surface, the differences seem pretty minimal. 

But, of course, you do give up something by not 

spending $25k on a separate component. The 

K-01’s bottom end is not as fully fleshed out as 

it could be, transients are ever so slightly dulled, 

and the upper reaches do not have quite enough 

extension to convey air, a large soundspace, or 

details like the shimmer of a cymbal. You could 

live with this linestage, and it soundly trounces 

every other such unit I have heard, but personally 

I would not want to sacrifice even a smidgen 

of what the K-01 does as a source. 

Conclusion 

$19,500 isn’t chump change, but how often 

does such a sum purchase three reference-level 

components The K-01 delivers benchmark performance 

as a CD player, an SACD player, and a 

DAC for both S/PDIF and USB sources—all packaged 

in a flawlessly operating, elegantly hewn 

chassis. Its linestage, too, is a standout among 

DAC-based units. However, I suspect those looking 

at twenty-grand sources already have a more 

than satisfactory linestage. What they likely do 

not have is a CD player that sounds this good, an 

SACD player that sounds this good, a DAC that 

sounds this good, and a way to play USB audio 

that sounds this good. If I could choose just one 

source component for my system, the Esoteric 

K-01 would be it. Maybe the distributor will let 

me hang onto it for a spell. 

Expect the Unexpected 

Coming soon, two revolutionary personal audio products by 

the makers of The Absolute Sound’s “Editors’ Choice” awardwinning 

Blu-ray Disc TM players. 

• Over-the-ear Planar Magnetic headphones with 

open-back design, high sensitivity and ultra-low 

distortion 

• Class A, fully balanced headphone amplifier, DAC & 

stereo pre-amp 

OPPO Digital, Inc. | (650) 961-1118 | www.oppodigital.com 


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facebook.com/oppodigital 

@oppodigital


Oppo BDP-105 Universal/ 

Blu-ray Player and DAC 

Gives “Flexible Flyer” A Whole New Meaning 

Chris Martens 

In recent years Oppo Digital has followed a simple recipe for success: Just 

build universal disc players that offer greater versatility, more audiophilefriendly 

features, and more sensible pricing than the competition does, and 

then give them decisively better sound and picture quality than their peers. 

Naturally, this laudable goal is a lot easier to describe on paper than it is to 

achieve in the real world, but Oppo has made good on its promises, year after 

year and player after player, in the process earning a reputation as the nearly 

automatic “go-to” source for players that will satisfy discerning music (and 

movie) lovers on a budget. 

Historically, many of Oppo’s most popular players have sold for around $499. But 

with the 2011 release of its BDP-95 universal/Blu-ray player ($995), the firm began to 

explore a more upscale market. What set the BDP-95 apart was that it was not merely 

a “hot-rodded,” sonically tweaked version of a standard Oppo player; rather, it was a 

unique, dedicated high-end model with a distinctive configuration all its own. 

The award-winning BDP-95 sounded remarkably good both for its price and in a 

broader sense. Never a company to rest on its laurels, however, Oppo has recently 

announced the successor to the BDP-95; namely, the BDP-105 ($1199)—a player that 

promises to do everything its predecessor could do and then some. 

Like its predecessor, the BDP-105 can handle virtually any format of audio or video 

disc, including Blu-ray Video, Blu-ray 3D, DVD-Video, DVD-Audio, SACD, CD, HDCD, and 

more. But with the BDP-105 the universality theme doesn’t end with disc playback 

because the new player is also designed to serve both 

as a network-streaming player and as a multi-input highresolution 

DAC (complete with asynchronous USB). 

To really “get” what the BDP-105 is about, think of 

it not so much as a powerful multi-format disc player 

(although it is that and more), but rather as a multifunction 

digital media playback hub whose bag of trick 

includes, but is in no way limited to, disc playback. In 

practical terms, this means the BDP-105 neatly resolves 

debates about whether it is better to listen to discs, to 

stream content from the Internet, or to enjoying audio 

files stored on computers, because it can quite happily 

do all of the above. 

The BDP-105 comes housed in an all-new steel chassis 

said to be significantly more rigid than the chassis 

used in previous Oppo players (including the BDP-95), 

and it benefits from a fan-less architecture, meaning 

all internal components are convection-cooled (most 

previous Oppos required fan-cooling). Do such seemingly 

small detail changes like a more rigid chassis or a fanfree 

design make for meaningful sonic improvements 

My opinion, based on extensive comparisons between 

the BDP-105 and 95, is that they do. Specifically, the new 

player offers a noticeably more solid and “grounded” 

sound with quieter backgrounds, improved resolution 

of low-level transient and textural details, and superior 

three-dimensionality. 

Moving on, the BDP-105 uses a beefy toroidal 

power supply and provides both 7.1-channel analog 

audio outputs plus two separate sets of stereo analog 

outputs (one single-ended and the other fully balanced). 

Interestingly, the BDP-105 (like the BDP-95) features 

not one but rather two costly 8-channel ESS Sabre32 

Reference DACs, one to feed the 7.1-channel outputs and 

the other to feed the two sets of stereo outputs. ESS’s 

Sabre32 Reference DACs are used in some very pricey 

components, making it impressive that Oppo fits two of 

the devices into its sub-$1200 player. 

Another new touch is that the BDP-105 provides a 

built-in headphone amp that runs straight off one of 

the player’s ESS Sabre32 Reference DACs. While the 

headphone amp offers relatively modest output, it has 

the undeniable benefit of being fed directly from one of 

the Oppo’s ESS Sabre32 Reference DACs, so that it gives 

listeners an unusually pure, uncluttered, intimate, and 

up-close perspective on the music (precisely what you 

would want for monitoring applications, for example). I 

found the Oppo headphone amp had more than enough 

output to drive moderately sensitive headphones such 

as the HiFiMAN HE-400s or PSB M4U1s, though it might 

not have sufficient “oomph” for more power-hungry toptier 

’phones (for instance, the HiFiMAN HE-6). 

While the original BDP-95 offered a reasonable range 

of Internet-content options and could play digital audio 

files from USB storage devices or eSATA drives, it was 

never set up to function as multi-input playback device or 

as a high-resolution audio DAC. The 105 changes all this 

by offering a greatly expanded range of general-purpose 

inputs, including two HDMI inputs (one that is faceplateaccessible 

and MHL-compatible) and three USB 2.0 ports 

(one that is faceplate-accessible). Moreover, the BDP-105 

also provides three dedicated DAC inputs: two S/PDIF 

inputs (one coaxial, one optical), plus one asynchronous 

USB input. Finally, to complete the connectivity picture 

the new player provides both Ethernet and Wi-Fi network 

connections implemented, respectively, through a rear 

panel-mounted RJ-45 connector and a handy USB Wi-Fi 

dongle. 

To take full advantage of these network-connection 

options, the BDP-105 offers DLNA compatibility, 

complete with support for DMP (Digital Media Player) 

and DMR (Digital Media Renderer) protocols. In practice, 

this means the BDP-105 can access audio, picture, and 

video files stored on DLNA-compatible digital media 

servers (that is, personal computers or network-attached 

storage devices) that share a common network with the 

Oppo within your home. 

From this technical overview, you can see that the 


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EQUIPMENT review - Oppo BDP-105 Universal/Blu-ray Player and DAC 

BDP-105 is an extraordinarily flexible source 

component, but for most audiophiles the key 

question is, and always will be, “How does it 

sound” Let’s focus on that question next. 

From the outset, the BDP-105 struck me as 

being a very high-resolution player—one that 

made child’s play of digging way down deep within 

recordings to retrieve small, essential pieces of 

musical information that helped convey a sense 

of realism. To hear what I mean, try the track “O 

Vazio” from the Jim Brock Ensemble on Jazz 

Kaleidoscope—a sampler disc (in HDCD format) 

from Reference Recordings. Throughout this 

track the Oppo did a stunning job of rendering 

the distinctive attack and action of each of the 

instruments in the ensemble (accordion, bass, 

drum kit, guitar, trumpet, winds, and other more 

exotic percussion instruments), giving them a 

commanding sense of presence with precisely 

focused placement within a wide, deep, threedimensional 

soundstage. In particular, the 105 

showed terrific speed and agility on the leading 

edges of notes (especially on the drums), 

rendering them with the sort of clarity and 

impact that reminded me of the sound of far 

more costly players. 

Another song from Jazz Kaleidoscope, 

“Jordan” from the Brock/Manakas Ensemble, 

contains a brief, quiet passage that reveals 

another important aspect of the BDP-105: 

namely, its impressive ability to maintain focus 

and resolution even when playing at very low 

levels. After the introduction of the song, which 

lasts about 35 seconds, the music comes to a 

dramatic pause that eventually is broken by 

the extremely faint sound of a cymbal (or small 

gong) gently introducing the rhythmic pulse 

that will supply a heartbeat for the rest of the 

song. At first, the cymbal is heard so softly that 

its sound barely rises above the noise floor, 

yet even so the Oppo gets the sound of the 

instrument right, preserving all the essential 

elements of attack, timbre, and decay. This 

uncanny ability to resolve very-low-level musical 

information enables listeners to here all the 

little interactions between instruments and the 

acoustic spaces in which they are playing. While 

the original BDP-95 did a fine job in this respect, 

I would say the BDP-105 sounds better still. 

The voicing of the BDP-105 is generally 

neutral, with taut, deep, and well-controlled 

bass, transparent mids, and revealing, extended 

highs (highs that can, however, expose mediocre 

recordings for what they are). Pleasing though 

the Oppo can be, some might find it a bit leansounding 

compared to the deliberately warmersounding 

offerings on the market. If you prefer 

components that give a voluptuous musical 

presentation then the Oppo might not be your 

cup of tea, but if sonic honesty and neutrality are 

your things you should get on very well with it. 

Let me expand on my voicing comments 

by pointing out that the BDP-105 needs a lot 

of run-in time to sound its best (some say as 

much as 200 hours or more). As playing time 

accumulates, traces of leanness and austerity 

gradually melt away, thus enabling the player to 

reveal a smoother, more full-bodied, and more 

forgiving sonic persona. 

If you buy the notion that some source 

components try for a softer, smoother, and thus 

ostensibly more “musical” presentation, while 

others aim for maximum musical information 

retrieval, then I would say the Oppo falls squarely 

in the information-retrieval camp (as do a great 

many other high-performance solid-state 

players). Thus, tonal colors are rendered vividly 

through the Oppo, but without any exaggeration 

or oversaturation, so that there is nothing 

artificially sweetened, enriched, or “glowing” 

about the 105’s sound. Instead, the Oppo is one 

of those rare “what you hear is what you get” 

sorts of players, whose primary mission is to tell 

you how your discs or digital music files actually 

sound, which in my book can be a beautiful thing. 

As a disc player, the BDP-105 is more than 

good enough to show in palpable ways that wellrecorded 

SACDs really do sound better than their 

equivalent CDs (there’s greater smoothness 

and ease with SACDs, and simply more “there” 

there, so to speak). But as a DAC, the Oppo really 

comes into own, sounding much like it does when 

playing discs, but with subtly heightened levels 

of tonal saturation and warmth that make the 

music more engaging and intense. 

Are there caveats Apart from the extensive 

run-in requirements noted above, I can think of 

only a few. First, the BDP-105 is an inherently 

complex product that—at the end of the day— 

is simpler to navigate and control when it is 

connected to a display screen. Second, the 

player’s sound is so unashamedly refined and 

sophisticated that you may feel inspired (if not 

compelled) to use top-tier interconnect cables 

that will wind up costing more than the player 

does. But trust me on this one: The Oppo’s worth 

it. 

If ever a product deserved to be considered 

the Swiss Army knife of digital media playback, 

the BDP-105 is the one. Whether you choose 

it for multi-format disc playback, for networkstreaming 

capabilities, or to use as a DAC at 

the heart of a computer-audio system, the 

BDP-105 will consistently serve up levels of 

sonic refinement and sophistication the belie its 

modest price. Enthusiastically recommended. 


Disc types: BD-Video, 

Blu-ray 3D, DVD-Video, 

DVD-Audio, AVCHD, 

SACD, CD, HDCD, Kodak 

Picture CD, CD-R/RW, 

DVD-R/RW, DVD-R DL, 

BD-R/RE 

Internal storage: 1GB 

Inputs: Three USB 2.0 

inputs (one faceplate 

accessible), two HDMI 

inputs (one faceplate 

accessible and MHL 

compatible), three 

dedicated DAC inputs 

(one coaxial, one optical, 

and one asynchronous 

USB), one Ethernet port 

(RJ-45), one Wi-Fi port 

(via USB dongle) 

Outputs: One 7.1-channel 

analog audio output, 

two stereo analog 

audio outputs (one set 

balanced via XLRs, one 

set single-ended via 

RCA jacks), two digital 

audio outputs (one 

coaxial, one optical), 

two HDMI outputs (can 

be configured for video 

output on one port and 

audio output on the 

other), one headphone 

output 

DAC resolution: (USB 

Audio) 2 channels @ 

192k/24b PCM, (Coaxial/ 

Optical) 2 channels @ 

96k/24b 

Dimensions: 16.8" x 4.8" 

x 12.2" 

Weight: 17.3 lbs. 

Price: $1199 

Oppo Digital, Inc. 

2629 Terminal Blvd., 

Suite B 

Mountain View, CA 

94043 

(650) 961-1118 

oppodigital.com 



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dCS Vivaldi Digital 

Playback System 

Ne Plus Ultra 

Robert Harley 

There are few companies in high-end audio that can be considered unique. 

By that I mean a company that creates technologies unlike those of any 

other brand, and designs products that are fundamentally different from 

the innumerable “me-too” components that flood the market. 

Take the important job of digital-to-analog conversion, for example. Virtually all 

DAC manufacturers buy from the same menu of available chips and configure them 

in slightly different variations of the same theme. Some are more successful than 

others in creating good-sounding products, but none builds a digital-to-analog 

converter from the ground up with technologies invented entirely in-house. 

An exception to this rule is the British company Data Conversion Systems (dCS). 

Every key element in every product it manufactures is designed and built by dCS 

using proprietary technologies. You won’t find an off-the-shelf DAC chip, digital 

filter, or input receiver in a dCS product. What you will find are circuits, techniques, 

software, and engineering unlike that of any other product. 

The ultimate expression of dCS’ unique approach is embodied in the new 

Vivaldi, the most advanced and ambitious digital-playback system yet created. 

This $108,496 four-box tour de force takes dCS’ proprietary technologies to 

their ultimate realization. It is impossible to overstate the Vivaldi’s technical 

sophistication—or its revelatory musical presentation. dCS has wrapped all of this 

advanced technology in stunningly bold and elegant metalwork that is as unique 

as the circuits inside. 

Overview 


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EQUIPMENT review - dCS Vivaldi Digital Playback System 

Describing the Vivaldi, its capabilities, and how it 

functions is quite a challenge. This is by far the 

most complex, technical, intricate, and featureladen 

product I’ve ever reviewed. I’ll give you a 

brief overview here, with more technical detail in 

the sidebars. 

The complete Vivaldi system is a four-box design, 

but not all four boxes are required. Those four units 

are the Vivaldi Transport ($39,999), Vivaldi DAC 

($34,999), Vivaldi Digital-to-Digital Upsampler 

($19,999), and Vivaldi Master Clock ($13,499). You 

could, for example, buy just the Vivaldi DAC and 

drive it with a computer source (it has a USB input) 

or connect your CD player (if the CD player offers a 

digital output). A big step up is the Vivaldi Transport 

and DAC combination; when used together the two 

units offer unique features including upsampling in 

the transport and the ability to transmit encrypted 

high-resolution audio (DSD or upsampled PCM) 

from the Transport to the DAC. In fact, a Vivaldi 

Transport and Vivaldi DAC will get you much of 

the way toward the sonic performance described 

later in the review. In addition to reading CDs, the 

Transport is compatible with SACD. 

The Vivaldi Upsampler converts any common 

sampling frequency to any other sampling 

frequency, each user-selectable. Moreover, the 

Upsampler adds network capability, allowing you to 

integrate the Vivaldi with a music server, control 

the system via an iPad/iPhone/iTouch, and play 

music directly from a USB stick. The Vivaldi Clock 

simply serves as a high-precision master-timing 

reference to which all the other units are locked. 

Each unit is housed in a gorgeous chassis 

featuring a three-dimensional sculpted front panel. 

Raised flowing lines grace the front panels like 

gentle waves. My review sample was silver, but 

black is also available. A full-color display toward 

the left side of each front panel shows, under 

normal use, the operating status (input selected, 

sampling frequency, whether the unit is locked 

to the Master Clock, etc.). But when you put one 

of the units into menu mode the display shows a 

myriad of details for setting up and configuring the 

component. The menu structure is so extensive 

that dCS provides a plastic-coated map in addition 

to the owner’s manual. 

Connecting and configuring a Vivaldi is best left 

to your dealer; a typical setup requires 12 digital 

cables, and that’s without adding networking 

capabilities. The four units that make up the Vivaldi 

have collectively a mind-bending 56 rear-panel 

connectors. Moreover, the settings on each unit 

need to be optimized for the best sound. These 

include the upsampling options, whether the clock 

is dithered, and which of the six digital filters is 

selected, to name just a few of the many, many 

settings that are required to make the system work 

and realize its sonic potential. 

Once the system is set up and has settled 

in, however, operation is quite simple. The DAC 

remembers the filter chosen for each input and 

sampling rate, for example, so there’s no need to 

adjust these settings (although you may want to 

change filters for different recordings—more on this 

later). The only button you’ll probably need to press 

on a daily basis is the DAC’s input selector to switch 

between CD and SACD from the transport, or the 

Upsampler’s input-select button to play music from 

a server. You can select DAC and upsampler inputs 

from the full-featured remote (supplied with the 

DAC). This hefty and well-designed unit controls 

transport functions, adjusts the DAC’s output level, 

selects the DAC filter, fine-tunes the left-right 


Vivaldi Transport CD/ 

SACD transport 

Outputs: Dual AES/EBU with DXD 

or proprietary dCS encrypted 

DSD, AES/EBU, SPDIF (one RCA, 

one BNC), SDIF-2, word-clock in, 

word-clock out 

Dimensions: 17.5" x 7.8" x 17.2" 


Price: $39,999 

Vivaldi DAC 

Inputs: Four AES/EBU (each can 

be used independently or as dual 

pairs to accept DSD or DXD); 

three SPDIF (two RCA, one BNC); 

SDIF-2; three USB Type B; word 

clock 

Outputs: One stereo pair 

balanced on XLR jacks, one 

stereo pair unbalanced on RCA 

jacks 

Output level: Variable (maximum 

of 2V or 6V output user 

selectable) 

Digital filter: Selectable, six for 

PCM and four for DSD 

Dimensions: 17.5" x 6" x 17.2" 

Weight: 35.7 lbs 

Price: $34,999 

Vivaldi Digital-to-Digital 

Upsampler 

Inputs: Network (RJ45), USB 

(Type B connector), USB (Type 

A connector), AES/EBU, SPDIF 

(two RCA, one BNC, one TosLink), 

SDIF-2 

Outputs: Two ES/EBU (can 

operate independently or as a 

dual pair to carry high-res PCM 

or dCS-encrypted DSD) 

Dimensions: 17.5" x 6" x 17.2" 


Price: $19,999 

Vivaldi Master Clock 

Outputs: Two groups of four 

independently buffered outputs 

on BNC connectors 

Clock frequencies: 44.1, 48, 88.2, 

176.4, 192kHz 

Dimensions: 17.5" x 6" x 17.2" 


Price: $13,499 

Associated Components 

Digital Sources: MacBook Pro; 

AVA Media Zara Premium ripping 

server, Pure Music and Audivana 

playback software 

Analog Source: Basis Inspiration 

turntable with Basis Vector 4 

tonearm, Air Tight PC-1 Supreme 

cartridge; Simaudio Moon 810LP 

phonostage 

Preamplifiers: Rowland Corus, 

Constellation Perseus, Absolare 

Passion 

Power Amplifiers: Rowland 725, 

Lamm ML2.2, Constellation 

Centaur monoblocks, Absolare 

Passion 845 

AC Conditioning and Cords: 

Shunyata Triton and Talos, 

Audience aR6TS conditioners; 

Shunyata Zitron Anaconda and 

Audience Au24 AC cords 

Cables: Shunyata Anaconda 

interconnects and loudspeaker 

cables; MIT MA-X2 and MA-C 

interconnects, MIT MA-X SHD 

loudspeaker cables; AudioQuest 

WEL Signature interconnects, 

Transparent XL Reference 

interconnects; AudioQuest 

Diamond USB and WireWorld 

Platinum Starlight USB 

Equipment Racks: Stillpoints, 

Critical Mass Systems amplifier 

stands 

Isolation: Stillpoints Ultra SS and 

Ultra5 

Acoustics: ASC 16" Full-Round 

Tube Traps, 10" Tower Traps 

Accessories: VPI 16.5 recordcleaning 

machine; Mobile Fidelity 

record brush, cleaning fluid, 

stylus cleaner 



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balance, and changes the upsampler’s output 

sampling rate, among other functions. 

I received a very early production model 

that had a couple of minor glitches, but a 

software update (easy to do from a CD or 

USB stick) fixed them. Interfacing the Vivaldi 

with a music server via a wireless network 

was considerably more challenging. My setup 

included a wireless router and an AVA Media 

Zara Premium ripping server connected to the 

Upsampler via an Ethernet cable. Downloading 

dCS’ iPad app from the Apple store allowed me 

to browse music on the server, choose music 

for playback, and assemble playlists. Although 

this sounds simple, it took many frustrating 

hours of troubleshooting to get the whole thing 

working. My experience might not be typical, 

particularly as dCS continues to improve its 

software. 

Listening 

The Vivaldi is built like no other digital source, 

and it sounds like no other digital source. 

Although there are obvious similarities between 

dCS’ Puccini CD/SACD player and the Vivaldi, 

this new cost-no-object implementation of the 

company’s best technologies vaults the sound 

quality into the stratosphere. The Puccini is 

the only other dCS product with which I’m 

familiar; many of you will want to know how the 

Vivaldi compares with dCS’ former flagship, the 

Scarlatti. I asked our reviewer Jacob Heilbrunn, 

who owned a Scarlatti for many years (and 

bought the Vivaldi after hearing it) to make 

that comparison (see sidebar). 

One of the key characteristics of any dCS 

product is the sheer density of information it 

conveys. By that I mean not just resolution of 

fine detail, but the impression that the fabric 

of the music is intricately woven from the 

finest silk. By contrast, other digital sounds 

somewhat less “continuous” in texture, as 

though, to expand on the cloth analogy, it were 

woven from coarser, less tightly woven threads. 

With the Vivaldi, instrumental timbres have a 

richness and saturation that more convincingly 

create the illusion of hearing the instrument 

itself and not a digital reconstruction of it. This 

increased density of tone color and impression 

that the sound is organic and continuous— 

unique among digital playback systems in my 

experience—goes a long way toward narrowing 

the gap between digital and analog. The 

Vivaldi renders timbres with a vividness and 

immediacy that are startling, even from CD 

and 44.1kHz/16-bit files. What the Vivaldi 

does better than any other digital source I’ve 

heard is to make a piano sound more “pianolike” 

and a sax more “sax-like.” I could have 

chosen any two instruments for this example— 

the Vivaldi simply portrays every instrument 

more realistically and less synthetically. Part 

of this quality is due to the increased density 

of texture and tone color mentioned, but also 

to the lack of a mechanical tincture that makes 

digitally reproduced timbre sound slightly 

unnatural. When at the front end of a chain that 

includes the ultra-transparent Constellation 

electronics, MIT interconnects and cable, and 

Magico Q7 loudspeakers (along with stateof-the-art 

power conditioning and vibration 

isolation), the Vivaldi offers an absolutely 

gorgeous and lifelike portrayal of instrumental 

textures. 

There’s another reason why instruments 

and voices sound so “there” with the Vivaldi, 

and that’s the system’s tremendous clarity 

and transparency. The old cliché “veils were 

lifted” could have been coined to describe the 

Vivaldi’s startling sense of nothing between you 

and the music. Frankly, the Vivaldi makes other 

digital sound somewhat thick and opaque. This 

clarity and crystalline transparency not only 

increases the impression of timbral vividness 

and immediacy, it also contributes to the 

Vivaldi’s astonishing spatial presentation. This 

transparency isn’t just between you and the 

lead instruments; it extends to the far reaches 

of the soundstage. The ability to see deep into 

the hall and hear instruments at the back of 

the stage sound just as vivid and alive as 

instruments at the front is unprecedented in 

my experience. 

Think all digital sounds flat and lacking in 

dimensionality Listen to the Vivaldi and you’ll 

hear just how much space, air, depth, and bloom 

is encoded in your music library just waiting 

to be liberated. I’ve repeatedly been amazed 

over the years to discover greater spatial 

fidelity and musicality from familiar discs 

after hearing those discs through better and 

better components, but never to the degree 

of the dCS. The Vivaldi represents a huge 

leap forward in rendering digitally reproduced 

music with dimensionality, depth, and a sense 

of transparent space between instrumental 

images. Listen to the first track on the amazing 

Playing With Fire from Reference Recordings. 

The wall behind the loudspeakers completely 

disappears; the low brass sounds as though 

it’s twenty feet behind the loudspeaker plane. 

Not only does the Vivaldi recreate depth, 

but there’s an organic continuousness to the 

presentation of depth along a continuum. I can 

vividly hear the placement of each instrument 

in the soundstage. Not only is the soundstage 

deep, it’s also expansive, in the sense of topoctave 

air riding “over” the music. I’m not 

referring so much to musical information in the 

top octave, but rather to the impression of a lid 

being taken off the top of the soundstage, with 

a resultant opening-up of the presentation. 

The impression of air around cymbals, for 

example, makes them more vivid and alive than 

a rendering that presents just the instrument 

itself. The latter sounds flat and lifeless, 

paradoxically being simultaneously bright yet 

lacking in treble extension. The Vivaldi’s topoctave 

air and soundstage openness are unlike 

any other digital I’ve heard, and much closer to 

a great analog front end. 

The Vivaldi’s soundstaging pays tremendous 

dividends in the ability to hear individual musical 

lines and shift focus between instruments 

no matter how complex the music. The 

presentation is the antithesis of homogenized, 

thick, congested, and confused. This clarity of 

instrumental lines was apparent, and musically 

significant, on even small-scale music like 

the acoustic guitar and violin duet “Northern 

Lights” from the Dixie Dregs’ Freefall, where 

the interplay between instruments suddenly 

became clearer, and the musicians’ intent more 

palpable. Listen also to Joe Pass’ comping 

during the muted trumpet solo in “Contractor’s 

Blues” from the XRCD of Count Basie’s 88 

Basie Street through the Vivaldi and any other 

digital playback device. The dCS conveys every 


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nuance of his expression and in doing so, 

restores the energy, the unbridled swing, and 

sense of contemporaneous music-making that 

other digital sources dilute. 

I would characterize the Vivaldi’s treble 

balance as leaning toward the incisive rather 

than the relaxed. I’m generally intolerant of a 

bright or forward treble—it’s a deal-breaker in 

my book. Yet the Vivaldi manages to present 

a full measure of treble information with no 

sense of forwardness or aggression. That’s 

partly because the treble is so well integrated 

with the rest of the spectrum, is finely woven 

in texture as described earlier, and is presented 

in its proper spatial perspective within the 

soundstage. Bright digital sources force the 

treble forward and make it sound like a separate 

component riding on top of the music. The 

Vivaldi’s treble is at once delicate and refined, 

yet full-bodied and unrestrained. Moreover, the 

top end is richly and finely detailed, particularly 

at very low levels. It is also extremely clean and 

free from glare, another factor that allows the 

Vivaldi to sound fully alive in the top end yet not 

cross the line into brightness. When thinking 

about the Vivaldi’s upper-midrange and treble 

I was reminded of Jonathan Valin’s wonderful 

phrase “illuminated from within,” which he first 

used to describe Audio Research electronics. 

That’s exactly how the Vivaldi sounded—infused 

with light and air. The treble resolution sounded 

completely natural, devoid of etch, grain, glare, 

and mechanical artifice. Nonetheless, I should 

mention that in my system I preferred the 

slightly softer-sounding DAC Filters 4 and 5 

rather than the brighter and “sharper” Filter 

1 (which dCS claims is technically “correct”). 

As you scroll through the filter choices, moving 

to higher numbered filters, the sound becomes 

increasingly more relaxed. Filter 5 has no preringing 

(the filter’s ringing energy is shifted so 

that it occurs after the transient rather than 

before and after the transient) and is useful 

when listening to hard-sounding 44.1kHz/16- 

bit sources. This illustrates the utility of having 

multiple filters available at the press of a 

remote-control button. 

In the reproduction of bass—extension, 

weight, dynamics, articulation, pitch 

definition—the Vivaldi is simply in a class of 

its own. The bottom end is big and powerful, 

yet fast and delicate. The entire bass region 

has a clarity that, again, is unlike any other 

digital I’ve heard. This quality alone makes the 

Vivaldi revelatory—it conveys the texture, the 

body, and life of low brass, cello, acoustic and 

electric bass, piano, and kick drum. The Vivaldi 

doesn’t dilute the timbre, dynamics, power, 

weight, or clarity of bass-rich instruments. 

The thundering left-hand lines of Nojima Plays 

Liszt [Reference Recordings], for example, 

conveys the piano’s size, power, and authority, 

as well as Nojima’s commanding mastery 

of this music. I had the same goosebumpraising 

experience with this recording as when 

I stood a few feet from a 9' Steinway while 

pianist Fan Ya Lin performed with powerful 

ferocity at the last Rocky Mountain Audio 

Fest. These bass qualities combined with the 

transparency, bloom around image outlines, 

and textural finesse described earlier to create 

a more credible illusion of an acoustic bass in 

my listening room than any other digital I’ve 

heard—by a wide margin. Listen, for example, 

to Edgar Meyer’s superbly recorded instrument 

on the CD Hop, Skip & Wobble [Sugar Hill], 

a trio album with Jerry Douglas and Russ 

Barenberg. Rather than hearing a mere source 

of low-frequency sounds, I got an uncanny 

impression of the instrument's large wooden 

body resonating, and the attacks of each note 

expanding out into the room. 

The Vivaldi’s SACD performance was off-thecharts-great. 

Fabulous-sounding SACDs were 

sublime in their resolution, clarity, and lack of 

a “digital” signature. I recently discovered the 

Japanese label Eighty-Eights (distributed by 

Eastwind Imports). Judging from the first two 

discs I’ve heard from its catalog—The Great Jazz 

Trio (Hank Jones, John Pattitucci, and Jack 

DeJohnette) and Roy Haynes’ Love Letters—the 

label is recording great music in state-of-theart 

sound. All the titles are recorded originally 

in DSD and released as hybrid SACDs. The 

disparity between CD and SACD was not as 

great as I’ve heard from other players, but 

not because of any limitation in the Vivaldi’s 

SACD performance. Rather, the Vivaldi’s 

ability to make CDs sound so great vaults their 

performance closer to SACD territory than 

I thought possible. In comparisons between 

SACD and the same titles in 96kHz/24-bit 

PCM played from the server I’d have to give 

the edge to the SACD format for its smoother, 

more lifelike treble and concomitant greater 

ease. The PCM file, by comparison, has a hint 

of hardness in the treble not present in SACD 

playback. Cymbals reproduced in the SACD 

format are more delicate, airier, and lack the 

slightly hard timbre of PCM. 

I was able to play native DSD files from a 

computer but didn’t have the equivalent SACDs 

to make comparisons. I was also unfamiliar 

with the limited selection of music available. I 

can, however, report that the sound was superb 

and that the Vivaldi played DSD files with no 

problems. 

High-resolution PCM files with which I’m 

very familiar were taken to another level by 

the Vivaldi. The low-level detail, spatial cues, 

and dimensionality of Exotic Dances for the 

Opera [Reference Recordings] at 176.4kHz/24- 

bit were stunningly portrayed. The Vivaldi 

revealed these spectacular recordings in all 

their glory. The qualities that make high-res 

better than standard-resolution—transparency, 

low-level detail, dimensionality—were fully 

realized via the Vivaldi’s stunning resolution, 

timbral fidelity, dynamics, bottom-end weight 

and precision, and particularly, its tremendous 

dimensionality and sense that the soundstage 

is infused with air and light. 

If you’re wondering whether it’s worth 

spending the money for the Transport in this 

age of computer audio, my view is that the 

transport is essential for several reasons. First, 

the Transport will allow you to enjoy the large 

catalog of SACD titles. There are enough great 

SACDs to make it worth investing in hardware 

to access this format. Moreover, the Vivaldi 

represents the highest realization of the SACD 

format now and in the foreseeable future; I 

doubt that anyone will ever build a player that 

eclipses the Vivaldi. And when dCS inevitably 

discovers new techniques for extracting higher 

performance from the format, those techniques 

will likely be available via a software upgrade. 

Second, in comparisons between playing a CD 


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Inside the dCS Factory 

I visited dCS’ sparkling new factory last 

September to get the full technical briefing 

on the Vivaldi and to see first-hand how this 

extraordinary product is built. Last year 

dCS moved from an older building south of 

Cambridge to a brand new and very modern 

facility ten minutes north of the city. The 

new factory was built-out specifically for dCS 

to give the company greater efficiency of 

manufacturing. 

dCS was founded in 1990 to build highprecision 

electronics for military applications, 

including ultra-precise analog-to-digital and 

digital-to-analog converters. The company then 

began applying its technology to professional 

audio, where dCS earned a reputation for 

extraordinary sound quality. dCS introduced its 

first consumer product, the Elgar DAC, in 1997. 

Since then the focus has been on pushing the 

envelope in high-end digital-playback systems. 

The company has 17 employees, five of them 

in engineering. The two leading engineers have 

between them more than 40 years at dCS. 

When visiting a company I always note the ratio 

of engineers to sales and marketing personnel; 

it gives you an idea of whether the company is 

technology-driven or marketing-driven. dCS is 

most assuredly an engineering-led firm. 

The Vivaldi’s industrial designer, Ray 

Wing, gave me a fascinating in-depth look at 

the design process via 3-D drawings on his 

computer. dCS wanted a distinctive new look 

for the Vivaldi and it achieved that goal. The 

front panels have gentle three-dimensional 

waves that are elegant and visually interesting, 

but exceedingly time-consuming to machine. 

Creating one front panel for a Vivaldi 

component takes four hours of CNC machine 

time. 

As with all dCS products, the Vivaldi is 

software-intensive. All the control systems, 

upsampling, digital filtering, input receiver, 

and the algorithm that converts PCM or DSD 

to the five-bit Ring DAC code are created 

in-house. The metal work and printed-circuit 

board stuffing are performed by local outside 

vendors, with assembly in dCS’ factory. Each 

board undergoes testing before assembly, and 

repeatedly during the build process. Some 

of these tests take four hours to complete 

on an automated test-jig. The critical clocks 

inside Vivaldi are individually calibrated 

by putting them in an oven for four days, 

varying the temperature, and monitoring 

the clock’s frequency drift with the changing 

oven temperature. A support circuit is 

individually calibrated for that particular 

clock’s characteristics based on the measured 

data. Each component of the Vivaldi system 

(Transport, DAC, Upsampler, Clock) is visually 

inspected by three different individuals before 

the unit is boxed—the test technician, the 

production manager, and either someone from 

marketing or the president of dCS himself. RH 

dCS' new factory 

The oven and clock-measurement 

system. 

Inside the Vivaldi DAC 

The production shop. 

One of several testing stations. 


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in the transport and listening to a ripped file 

of that CD I thought that the Transport had 

a small but noticeable sonic advantage. You 

wouldn’t think that reading data from an optical 

disc on the fly could be preferable to accessing 

a file from a hard drive, but to my ears the CD 

had a slightly greater sense of musical flow 

and involvement. It was hard to pin down to a 

specific sonic attribute, but the file sounded 

very slightly mechanical by contrast. The 

difference was small—less than that between 

USB or Ethernet cables, for example—so the 

disparity could have been my particular setup. 

You might also wonder what contributions 

the Upsampler and Master Clock make. 

The Upsampler gives you more options for 

upsampling (the Transport’s upsampling choices 

are limited), a networking capability, and an 

improvement in sound quality similar to that 

offered by the Master Clock. Adding either unit 

sharpens the soundstage focus, deepens the 

spatial presentation, increases dimensionality, 

resolves more fine detail, and renders timbres 

with greater realism. Even without the 

Upsampler and Clock, the Vivaldi Transport and 

DAC pair deliver the best-sounding digital I’ve 

ever experienced. The Upsampler and Clock just 

take what is already a spectacular presentation 

to an even higher level. Note that when listening 

to SACDs the Upsampler isn’t in the signal path; 

the Transport connects directly to the DAC via 

dual AES/EBU cables. 

The Vivaldi sounds in many ways like the 

Magico Q7 loudspeaker: ultra-transparent, 

ultra-realistic in its rendering of timbre, precise 

without being analytical, wide in bandwidth, 

tremendous in clarity and resolution, with a 

bass presentation that combines authority 

with definition. The Q7’s transparency and 

neutrality allowed me to fully hear the Vivaldi’s 

remarkable musical performance. The Vivaldi’s 

clarity and textural density gave me a new 

appreciation for the Q7’s resolving power and 

realism. 

After listening to the Vivaldi for a month 

with it connected with generic digital cables 

(AES/EBU and BNC-terminated clock cables), 

I replaced the signal and clock cables (one at 

a time) with AudioQuest digital cables (Wild 

AES/EBU and Eagle Eye BNC). It wasn’t a big 

surprise that the AudioQuest AES/EBU cables 

elevated the performance, but I didn’t expect 

replacing the cables carrying the clock would 

make such a difference. The sound with the 

Eagle Eye clock cables became more coherent, 

relaxed, and more musical. It wasn’t so much 

that the digital cables improved specific 

areas, but rather that the sound become 

more engaging and expressive. The Vivaldi is 

such a finely tuned instrument that it reveals 

everything, and at this level of quality, every 

improvement is significant. 

Conclusion 

After living with dCS’ Puccini CD player, and 

then learning about the Vivaldi’s technology, 

I had expected this new flagship to raise the 

bar in digital playback. I just didn’t expect that 

it would raise it so far above the current state 

of the art. The Vivaldi is in a class of its own 

in every category—technical sophistication, 

capabilities, and most importantly, sound 

quality. It was mind-blowing to hear wellworn 

references brought to life with such 

realism; I never thought that I would hear such 

dimensionality, clarity, and timbral fidelity, or 

experience such musical involvement, from 

standard-resolution digital. 

In addition to reference-class sound from 

CD, SACD, and high-resolution files sourced 

from a computer, the Vivaldi also sets the 

benchmark in functionality. There’s nothing the 

Vivaldi won’t do—PCM to DSD conversion, PCM 

to DXD, play DSD files, upsample any sample 

rate to any other rate, connect to a network for 

music-server integration, play files from a USB 

stick—the list goes on and on. Moreover, the 

Vivaldi’s hardware platform is overbuilt for the 

current software; new features and capabilities 

can be added with software updates without 

taxing the hardware’s capabilities. This stateof-the-art 

functionality, however, comes at 

a price: The Vivaldi is a highly complex and 

sophisticated instrument that asks much of 

the user in terms of selecting the operating 

parameters and monitoring the displays to 

be sure that the settings are optimized. In 

addition, I was not entirely satisfied by the 

music-server integration function. It was a 

challenge to set up, and the dCS iPad-control 

app is not as intuitive as, for example, the free 

Apple Remote app for iTunes. 

If you are in the fortunate position of being 

able to afford it, there’s no better sounding, 

more capable, more technologically advanced, 

or more future-proof digital source than the 

dCS Vivaldi. There’s simply nothing else like it. 

It is truly, and by a wide margin, the ne plus 

ultra of digital playback. 


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The Vivaldi’s Technology 

The Vivaldi Transport is built around the 

massive Esoteric VRDS Neo disc mechanism. 

I attended a detailed technical presentation 

on this mechanism several years ago at 

Esoteric’s California office and can tell you 

that it’s built like no other disc-playback 

system in the world. The 14-pound device 

(conventional transports weigh a few ounces) 

is made from parts cut from solid-steel 

blocks. Most transports hold the disc at the 

center with a flimsy clamp; the VRDS Neo 

mechanism features a clamp just bigger than 

a CD that is made from machined Duralumin. 

The disc is clamped from above via a solid 

steel “bridge,” securely holding the disc as it 

is spun and read. The laser pickup is mounted 

on a sturdy sled and only allowed to move 

in three directions (horizontal, vertical, and 

circular) to reduce vibration and servo activity. 

The sled is mechanically isolated from the rest 

of the transport mechanism. Each mechanism 

is made by hand in Japan, and undergoes two 

days of quality-control testing. 

The Vivaldi Transport is unusual in that it 

can upsample 44.1kHz/16-bit data read from 

a CD to DXD or to DSD. DXD (Digital eXtreme 

Definition) is PCM data at 352.8kHz/24-bit. 

This format offers a data rate of 8.4672Mbs, 

considerably higher than DSD’s 2.8224 Mbs. 

DSD is Direct Stream Digital, the encoding 

method of SACD. The Vivaldi Transport 

outputs DXD or DSD on dual AES/EBU jacks. 

When outputting DSD, the data are encrypted 

with a proprietary encryption scheme. To 

use the Vivaldi Transport’s upsampled DSD 

outputs, you’ll need to connect it to the 

Vivaldi DAC (the DAC decrypts the signal). 

For those of you who prefer no upconversion, 

you can connect the transport to the DAC via 

a single AES/EBU connection, or better yet, 

with the SDIF-2 interface. Not to be confused 

with SPDIF, SDIF-2 is a three-cable interface 

developed for professional audio. The three 

cables carry, respectively, left-channel audio, 

right-channel audio, and word clock. This 

connection method, with the clock signal 

on a separate line, greatly reduces sonically 

degrading clock jitter. 

The Vivaldi DAC is highly flexible and 

capable, able to convert digital data of any 

commonly found sampling frequency or signal 

format to analog. In a typical configuration 

one pair of the DAC’s AES/EBU inputs is 

connected to the Transport for decoding DSD, 

and another pair to the Upsampler’s outputs. 

The latter is selected when listening to CDs 

played in the transport, to an Apple device 

connected to the Upsampler, or to network 

attached storage under iPad control. The 

analog output is available on independentlybuffered 

balanced and unbalanced outputs, 

and is variable via a front-panel knob or up/ 

down buttons on the remote control. In a 

nice touch, a menu setting allows you to set 


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the full-scale output level to 6V or 2V 

to match your power amplifier’s input 

sensitivity and avoid large amounts of 

digital-domain attenuation. A useful 

display indicates the volume level. Of 

course, you can leave the volume at 

maximum and adjust the level with your 

preamplifier. Six filters are offered for 

PCM decoding and four for DSD decoding. 

The PCM filters include one with no preringing. 

The DSD filters vary only in the 

filters’ cutoff frequencies. Digital-to-analog 

conversion is performed by dCS’ famous 

Ring DAC, a novel and ingenious solution 

to a fundamental problem in digital-toanalog 

conversion (see sidebar). 

The Digital-to-Digital Upsampler 

fits between the Transport and DAC, 

upconverting audio from its native 

sampling rate to high-resolution PCM (up 

to 192kHz/24-bit) or DXD (352.8kHz/24- 

bit). The Upsampler’s AES/EBU, RCA, 

and BNC connections can output PCM up 

to 192/24, with the dual AES/EBU jacks 

supporting DXD. It is also a digital hub 

with multiple inputs that can stream audio 

from a computer or a network-attached 

storage device such as a hard drive. The 

inputs include the network connection 

on an RJ45 jack, two asynchronous USB 

inputs (one Type A, one Type B), four 

SPDIF (two RCA, one BNC, one TosLink), 

and one SDIF-2. The Upsampler also 

supports the emerging DSD-over-USB 

protocol (which dCS developed and offered 

to everyone free as an open standard). 

This means that you can play DSD files 

from a server through the Vivaldi. The 

Upsampler also supports direct-digital 

playback from Apple devices, bypassing 

the Apple device’s internal DAC. The Type 

A USB input will play files stored on a USB 

stick, with navigation and music selection 

provided by the front-panel display. dCS 

offers an iPad app that allows you to 

browse and play your music library from a 

server or network attached storage device 

through the Upsampler. 

The Vivaldi Master Clock isn’t in the 

signal path, but instead sits outside it 

generating a reference clock to which 

the Transport, DAC, and Upsampler are 

locked. Without the Vivaldi Clock, the 

Transport, DAC, and Upsampler run on 

their own clocks (which are themselves 

high precision), but those clocks are not 

perfectly synchronized with each other. 

In addition, the Vivaldi Master Clock 

improves the clock precision by an order 

of magnitude, from +/-10 ppm to +/-1 ppm. 

The advantage to the Master Clock is that 

all the digital operations occurring in the 

various chassis are all locked to the same, 

higher-precision, reference. Note, however, 

that when using the Transport and DAC 

alone, the Transport will lock to the DAC 

via the SDIF-2 interface’s separate clock 

line. 

Each of the four chassis has a display 

window showing operating status, 

including which input is selected, the 

upsampling ratio, whether the unit is 

locked to the Master Clock, etc. It took 

some experience with the system before 

I understood fully how it operated. The 

menu system is so extensive that the 

Vivaldi is, as previously noted, supplied 

with a menu hierarchy map. The Vivialdi is 

without question the most sophisticated 

and complex piece of consumer-audio 

hardware I’ve ever used. With one network 

cable and one USB cable attached, a 

fully loaded Vivaldi requires 14 cable 

connections—not counting the analog 

output cables. In addition, there are so 

many different combinations of settings 

that it’s easy to find yourself listening 

to one that is less than optimum. After 

a few weeks, however, I had it down to 

just selecting the input on the DAC or 

Upsampler and occasionally changing 

filters. RH 

It’s important to note that the entire 

system is based on software running on a 

hardware platform. The new hardware in 

the Vivaldi (DSP chips, field-programmable 

gate arrays, flash memory) is considerably 

more powerful than what’s needed to run 

the current software. This allows future 

upgrades and expansion of capabilities. 

To use just one example, the PCM 

interface and PLL-based input receiver are 

controlled and reconfigurable by software. 

Future improvements can be incorporated 

with a software update. 


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Technology: Scarlatti vs. Vivaldi 

The Vivaldi came to life as the result of dCS 

engineers asking, “What are the limitations 

of the Scarlatti” That four-box flagship was 

designed in 2007 as a cost-no-object project, 

and has stood the test of time. Still, six years 

is a long time in today’s world given changes 

in component parts, increasing options for accessing 

high-res music, as well as advances in 

dCS’ thinking and expertise. The decision was 

made to examine every aspect of the Scarlatti 

and create a new reference that would 

transcend Scarlatti. The Vivaldi is the result of 

that three-year development effort. 

For starters, the digital-signal processing 

platform in each of the four chassis was redesigned 

from the ground up to take advantage 

of new field-programmable gate arrays (FP- 

GAs) and DSP chips. The new chips enabled 

dCS engineers to greatly increase the system’s 

maximum processing capacity, speed 

of data transfer, and overall performance. The 

Vivaldi hardware platform has 200 times the 

processing power of its predecessor. The additional 

power not only streamlines operations, 

but allows for future capabilities via software 

updates. In addition, some parts of the code 

that were previously in firmware are now in 

software, allowing easier upgrades. An example 

is the software that converts PCM or DSD 

data to the five-bit Ring DAC code; when dCS 

improves upon this algorithm you can load the 

new code via a CD update rather than replacing 

ROMs. The control-system circuit boards 

are now eight-layer rather than four-layer. 

Eight-layer boards are quite rare in high-end 

audio products. 

One of the biggest differences between the 

Scarlatti and Vivaldi is the latter’s use of new 

single-element latches in the Ring DAC (see 

sidebar). The Scarlatti employed 22 latch 

chips, each containing four individual latches. 

The Vivaldi’s 96 separate latches confer a significant 

advantage in that there’s no crosstalk 

between the latches as occurred when four 

latches were contained on a single chip. In addition, 

the new discrete latches offer higher 

performance. 

The analog output stage is all new. It is 6dB 

quieter and has 20dB greater channel separation 

than the Scarlatti (100dB vs. 120dB). 

The two halves of the balanced signal are also 

more closely matched in performance, as are 

the left and right channel characteristics. The 

analog board’s traces are routed by hand, not 

by an automated computer program. This allows 

the designer to optimize the layout and 

parts placement for the best performance. 

The user interface is also more intuitive and 

streamlined. Certain functions that the user 

once had to manually perform when switching 

inputs, for example, are now automatic. The 

Vivaldi’s greatly improved industrial design 

and cosmetics are readily apparent to anyone 

familiar with the Scarlatti. RH 


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The dCS Ring DAC 

The Ring DAC, invented by dCS in 1987, 

is a brilliant solution to the challenge of 

converting digital data to an analog output 

signal. To understand the Ring DAC, let’s first 

consider how conventional DACs work. You 

can think of a multibit DAC as a ladder, with 

as many rungs on that ladder as there are 

bits in a sample. A 24-bit DAC will have 24 

“rungs,” each one a resistor that corresponds 

to each bit in the digital sample. The resistors 

are connected to a current source through 

a switch; the digital data representing the 

audio signal open or close the switches to 

allow current to flow to the output or not. 

The currents of each rung are summed, with 

that summed value representing the audio 

signal’s amplitude. 

The resistor values are “binary weighted.” 

This means that each resistor lower 

down on the rung must have double the 

resistance of the rung above it, and so forth, 

corresponding to the binary progression 

1, 2, 4, 8, 16, and so on. Because each bit 

in the digital code represents twice the 

value of the next lower bit, each resistor 

must have a value exactly half that of the 

resistor on the rung below it. One problem 

with these so-called “R-2R ladder” DACs is 

that it’s impossible to make resistors with 

the precision required for perfect binary 

weighting. The result is that the tolerances in 

resistor values introduce amplitude errors in 

the analog output. Moreover, those amplitude 

errors will occur in the same places on the 

audio waveform. 

This problem becomes more acute the 

greater the number of rungs on the ladder. 

In a 16-bit resistor-ladder DAC the value 

of the lowest resistor rung should be 

exactly 0.0000152 the value of the highest 

resistor rung. In a 24-bit converter the 

lowest resistor value should be precisely 

0.000000119209289550781 the value 

of the highest resistor. It is obviously not 

possible to achieve anywhere near this level 

of precision in resistor manufacturing, and 

any deviation from the 

resistor ratios translates 

to amplitude errors in the 

analog output. 

The now-defunct 

UltraAnalog company 

addressed this challenge 

by driving its 20-bit DACs 

(which were composed of 

two off-the-shelf 16-bit 

DACs ganged together) 

with 100,000 different 

digital codes, measuring 

the DAC output at each 

code value, calculating the 

degree of error in each 

specific resistor, and then 

having technicians handsolder 

tiny precision metal-film resistors on 

the ladder rungs to bring them closer to the 

correct value. 

A DAC technology that doesn’t rely on 

binary-weighted resistor ladders is the onebit 

DAC. This device converts a multi-bit code 

into a single-bit data stream that has two 

values, one and zero. Unlike a multibit DAC, 

the one-bit DAC’s amplitude precision is very 

high, but the one-bit DAC suffers from very 

high noise that must be “shaped” (shifted 

away from the audioband). One-bit DACs are 

also very susceptible to jitter. dCS’s solution 

is the Ring DAC, which can be considered a 

hybrid of the two approaches. It is based on a 

five-bit code that drives resistors of identical 

value. Because the resistors in dCS’ Ring 

DAC are all the same nominal value their 

actual values are very close to one another. 

The five-bit code has a much higher signalto-noise 

ratio than a one-bit datastream and 

requires an order of magnitude less noise 

shaping. 

Digital signal processing first “maps” 

whatever datastream is coming in 

(192kHz/24-bit, or the 2.8224MHz 1-bit code 

of DSD, for examples) into a unique five-bit 

code. This five-bit code opens and closes 

latches connected to a current source that 

drives one of five resistors of identical value. 

Because these resistors can never have 

exactly the same resistance, the Ring DAC 

employs an array of resistors and randomly 

shifts the audio signal between resistors in 

the array. The Ring DAC gets its 

name from this “passing around” 

of the signal from one resistor 

in the array to another, as in a 

ring. The effect is to convert what 

would be amplitude errors in the 

analog output into a very small 

amount of random white noise. 

The Ring DAC is brilliant in 

concept, and achieves its highest 

realization in the Vivaldi. The 

commonality in sonic character 

between all dCS products—the 

density of information, the 

resolution of fine detail, the 

unique spatial qualities—are 

probably attributable in large part 

to the Ring DAC. RH 


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Jacob Heilbrunn On the Scarlatti and Vivaldi 

Digital playback has long been the problem child of 

high-end audio. Suggest to a diehard vinyl lover that 

there might perhaps be some redeeming qualities 

about digital recordings and, more than likely, you 

will be met with a frozen or even pained smile. The 

implication is clear: For the true connoisseur seeking 

the audio truth and nothing but the truth, it is a 

foolish deviation, a trap and a snare, to listen to digital 

recordings. And for a number of years the disdain has 

not been wholly unjustified. Vinyl has always has had 

an inherent relaxation and warmth that digital can 

only envy from afar. And yet in recent years, the gap 

has been narrowing between the two formats. 

One company that has been at the forefront of that 

welcome development is dCS. A few years ago I sat up 

with a jolt when listening to the dCS Scarlatti playback 

system. There was a resolute quality to the bass and 

an abundance of detail that I had simply never heard 

before on digital. I bought it. Now dCS has upped the 

ante with its new Vivaldi system, which I first heard 

in New York at Ears Nova, where dCS introduced it 

to an American audience. Since then, I have had the 

opportunity to audition it in my own system. 

Actually, that’s baloney. I haven’t been auditioning 

the Vivaldi. I’ve been reveling in it. While the Scarlatti 

was an excellent performer, the Vivaldi visually and 

audibly surpasses it in several important respects. For 

one thing, its casework is more impressive than the 

Scarlatti's—heavier and more inert, rendering it less 

susceptible to vibrations. It also looks more attractive 

than the Scarlatti. 

But none of that would matter so much if the Vivaldi 

didn’t offer superior performance. The differences with 

the Scarlatti are instantly apparent. It seems to be even 

tighter in the nether regions than its predecessor—on 

Christian McBride’s sensational CD Conversations with 

Christian I was awestruck at the speed and energy of 

his bass. The notes seemed to fly into my room at warp 

speed. The Vivaldi also has more control and grip than 

the Scarlatti. It has more extended decays that seem to 

linger on into infinity. And it has a much more refined 

and extended treble. Slam and dynamics are second to 

none. I could keep going down the audio checklist, but 

it’s like breaking down a fine painting and discussing 

its individual attributes without recognizing its overall 

beauty. 

Which is to say that these sonic attributes result 

in the most significant aspect of the Vivaldi when 

contrasted with the Scarlatti. The Scarlatti was unable 

to efface the sense of a slightly aggressive treble 

region. Not so with the Vivaldi. Plunk a CD in the tray 

or stream a high-resolution file, and the music seems 

to simply appear out of the ether with a sense of utter 

relaxation. The Vivaldi has, by and large, banished the 

sense of electronic reproduction and it has a nuance 

and filigreed sound in the treble that the Scarlatti 

lacked. There is an addictive and sensuous quality to 

the sound that approaches what, for better or worse, 

is usually called analog-like. Mind you, I’m not saying 

that the Vivaldi is superior to the Continuum Caliburn 

I use or other top-flight ’tables. What I do mean to 

say, however, is that given the quality of the Vivaldi, 

I am perfectly happy listening to CDs and that I don’t 

find quarreling over the distinctions between the two 

formats particularly rewarding or edifying. 

The blunt fact is that digital playback is reaching new 

heights. There is a gentleness and absence of grain, 

particularly in the mids and highs, that place the Vivaldi 

on an entirely different plane from the Scarlatti. Listen 

to the Lorraine Hunt Lieberson on Handel’s Julius 

Caesar [Harmonia Mundi] and I defy you not to feel 

goosebumps at the pellucidity of the sound. 

To my mind, the Vivaldi represents a revolutionary 

advance in digital playback. Over the past several 

decades, dCS has steadily refined its digital products. 

Each generation has represented an improvement over 

the previous one. Now dCS has surpassed itself with 

the Vivaldi. Indeed, when listening to it, I was reminded 

of the immortal remark by Gilligan Island’s Thurston 

Howell III: “No one can pull the wool over my eyes. 

Cashmere maybe, but wool, never.” Friends, the Vivaldi 

will pull cashmere over your eyes. 

33 Digital Source Components 


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DACs 

SPONSORED BY 





EAR-Yoshino 192 DACute DAC 

Maximum Analog, Minimum Digital 

Dick Olsher 

When Tim de Paravicini set out to design the DACute, I’m fairly certain that 

he sought to maximize its analog footprint. After all, analog is his métier. 

In fact, he freely admits to trying to equate digital performance to good 

analog practice, the payoff being that smooth and soothing sonic sensation analog 

tape and vinyl provide so well. Take, for example, the DACute’s DAC chip, a Wolfson 

WM8741 multi-bit delta-sigma DAC. It’s a high-performance stereo DAC designed 

for audio applications. It supports PCM data-input word lengths from 16- to 32-bits 

and sampling rates up to 192kHz. The folks at Wolfson included a smorgasbord 

of features such as fine resolution of volume and soft-mute control, digital deemphasis, 

and a range of advanced digital filter responses. The digital filters include 

several selectable roll-off and performance characteristics. Tim’s approach was to 

minimize use of the internal digital filters. Because they cannot be totally bypassed, 

he set them for the highest frequency point and then implemented analog LC elliptic 

filters for 3dB down at a frequency of 40kHz. This is the sort of analog filter Tim has 

always used on analog tape recorders for bias and other ultrasonic-noise filtering. 

An LC elliptic filter is rather economic in terms of parts count for a given slope, but 

does produce a nonlinear phase response over its passband. In Tim’s view, the filters 

“are quite good as far as phase response is concerned over the audio band to about 

half an octave away from 3dB down, so up to 20kHz is more than good enough for 

me.” 

According to Tim, all these DACs by Burr-Brown, TI, Wolfson, or whomever produce 

significant high-frequency (HF) noise. Tim believes that it’s important to filter out 

HF hash lest these artifacts upset some amplifiers and tweeters. However, he still 

requires that response at 20kHz be within 0.1dB of the 

midband and frowns on the practice of rolling off the top 

end for so-called sweetness. 

The DACute uses a Cirrus SPDIF receiver and accepts 

up to 24/192 digital data from USB, coaxial SPDIF, and 

TosLink SPDIF inputs. After passing through the analog 

filters, the signal is fed to a line preamp stage that is 

configured like a single-ended amplifier. A 6922/ECC88 

twin triode is used per channel. The two sections are 

cascaded with the second stage being transformer 

coupled. The output transformer incorporates two 

secondary windings, one of which provides unbalanced 

and the other balanced output. A tertiary winding 

provides some feedback. Maximum output is said to be 

5V into 500 ohms with reasonable distortion figures. 

Tim says that he’s not interested in vanishingly low 

distortion levels at max output since “we hear best 

the stuff that goes on at lower levels, just where many 

digital systems fall down.” 

Dan Meinwald, the U.S. EAR distributor, sent along a 

pair of Philips JAN 7308 tubes, of which he is fond. And 

I have to agree; the Philips sounded gorgeous in this 

application and represents a big step up from the stock 

6922. Needless to say, it didn’t take me long to make 

that call, and the Philips was used for the remainder of 

my listening tests. There’s not much to say about the 

motorized volume pot, except that I found the remote 

control a bit touchy to adjust and, as with other such 

volume controls, difficult to set to reproduce a particular 

volume setting. The presence of a volume control 

combined with an exceedingly low output impedance of 

under 60 ohms make it possible for this DAC to directly 

drive a power amp. However, should you desire to go 

through a preamp, simply set the volume control to 

about 2pm and let the preamp do the rest. Of course, one 

would expect some loss of immediacy when the signal is 

made to pass through two volume controls, and I can 

confirm that the most transparent soundstage to be 

had was with the DACute directly driving a power amp. 

The fact that the output stage is tube amplified 

and transformer coupled is quite significant. In my 

experience, a DAC or CD player’s output stage plays a 

major role in its overall sound quality. Quite frequently 

this boils down to the mitigating effects of tubes versus 

transistors. Call it heretical or even anachronistic, but 

in my view digital wants tubes—digital needs tubes. 

Tubes are the requisite “cavalry” to the rescue with 

a dose of textural warmth and liquidity. Even in the 

highest echelons of high-end audio, the presence of a 

solid-state output buffer or gain stage often makes for 

a double whammy—digital crispness aided and abetted 

by solid-state tonal-color blindness that makes toast 

out of musical textures. And it’s that sort of a sorry 

combination that has pushed many discerning listeners 

away from digital sources and back to vinyl and analog 

tape. I’ve been advocating for many years the insertion 

of tubes, as early as feasible, into a digital front end as 

a means of controlling digital nasties. And that’s exactly 

what Tim has done, and it’s also the basis for ModWright 

Instruments’ modification of the Sony XA-5400ES 

SACD player. 

At the heart of Dan Wright’s Truth Mod is a 6SN7-based 

output stage, which replaces the op-amp-infested stock 

analog stage. Not only that, but the tube stage is powered 

by an external high-voltage tube-rectified power supply. 

The Sony looks a bit odd with a couple of 6SN7 triodes 

sticking out of its top deck, but it has been a staple in my 

reference system for several years now. It really is that 

good. Naturally, I was curious to see how the DACute 

stacked up against my modified Sony. This comparison 

played out with the Sony acting as a transport for the 

EAR DAC, connected to one of its SPDIF inputs. Since 

both units are tube based I expected some common 

ground, especially when it came to imaging performance. 

And while that, indeed, was the case, the DACute 

outperformed the Sony/Truth Modification in several 

areas, at least in the context of a high-efficiency speaker 

being driven by the Triode TRX-M300 monoblocks. It 


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EQUIPMENT review - EAR-Yoshino 192 DACute DAC 

was capable of finer modulation of harmonic 

colors, the Sony sounding slightly more grey 

and less saturated. The boogie factor, the 

rhythmic drive that propels musical lines 

forward, was also enhanced. That coupled with 

exceptional resolution of dynamic contrasts 

made for a vibrant presentation packed with 

dramatic tension. Harmonic textures ebbed 

and flowed with a natural edgeless fluidity and 

a heightened sense of purity due no doubt to 

freedom from digital hash. And all the while the 

DACute shone a light on low-level detail. But 

there was nothing forced about its presentation. 

Much like ripples in a pond, detail dotted the 

fabric of the music—a far cry from the surreal 

hyper-etched presentation being accepted by 

some audiophiles today as music. No sir, that’s 

not what the real thing sounds like. 

Another comparison I was eager to try was 

with April Music’s Eximus DP1 DAC/preamp. The 

DP1 packs a fantastic DAC and a high-quality opamp-based 

analog stage. This was to be a classic 

confrontation of tubes versus solid-state. Not 

surprisingly, the DP1 bettered the DACute in 

the areas solid-state designs have traditionally 

excelled in—at the frequency extremes. The 

DP1 exhibited a tighter bass range and was 

subjectively more extended on top. However, it 

lacked the smooth grainless textures of the EAR, 

which in the case of the DACute turned out to be 

a package deal. Much like red hair and freckles, 

the smoother textures and diminished top end 

came bundled with slightly softer transients. 

As a result, the EAR came across as a kinder 

and gentler purveyor of music, while the DP1’s 

crisper presentation was the more impressive 

and was responsible for an enhanced sense of 

soundstage transparency. In the end though, 

the DACute’s tube attributes shone through 

and won me over with a wonderfully palpable 

presentation that shimmered with dynamic 

energy. 

That finally brings me to the DACute’s USB 

input and the subject of computer audio. Early 

this year I fell though the rabbit hole into the 

wonderland that is high-end computer audio. 

Actually, it was a deliberate move designed to 

take advantage of a technology that in the span 

of just a few years sprouted from infancy to a 

relatively mature state. In particular, I was intrigued 

by the possibility that 44.1kHz/16-bit 

files streamed off a computer hard drive could 

be reproduced with less jitter and greater fidelity 

relative to what even an expensive CD player 

or transport is capable of. The core of my computer 

audio system consists of a Mac BookPro 

laptop with 8GB of memory and a solid-state 

hard-drive running Sonic Studio’s Amarra Version 

2.5 music player software. From my perspective, 

Amarra’s integration with Apples’ 

iTunes, support for up to 384kHz sample rates, 

memory cache playback, and playlist mode 

make it a clear winner. But that’s not the whole 

story. I found it essential to avoid using the 

Mac’s onboard DAC for clocking the datastream. 

The cleanest solution was to synch Amarra to 

an external digital data converter with an asynchronous 

USB input. Not all CD players or DACs 

possess a USB input and some of those that do, 

as is the case with the DACute, do not offer an 

asynchronous USB capability. My converter of 

choice was and still is April Music’s Stello U3 

($495). The U3 is a stand-alone device, powered 

directly by the computer’s USB port, that runs 

a custom xCORE 32-bit/500MIPS microprocessor 

from chip-maker XMOS. The Mac-to-Stello 

USB connection was made via a 1.5-meter AudioQuest 

Carbon USB cable. The U3’s output 

was connected to one of the DACute’s SPDIF 

inputs via a 1-meter coaxial cable. 

This system combined to produce an exceptional 

virtual transport. I was startled by 

my findings when comparing computer files 

ripped onto the Mac to the same CD’s digital 

feed from the Sony to the DACute. I didn’t expect 

much of a difference, but for the record, 

the computer file playback resulted in enhanced 

microdynamic shadings, purer textures, and 

an increased sense of transient clarity. The 

sound quality of the playback was so fabulous 

that I seriously doubt that any conventional 

transport under $25k could improve on it. 

The next round of listening tests pitted file 

playback through the Stello U3 against a direct 

feed from the Mac to the DACute’s own USB 

input, the latter connection being made via an 

AudioQuest top-of-the-line Diamond USB cable. 

Re-clocking the data through the Stello U3 

made for a huge sonic difference. Simply put, 

the direct USB input resulted in loss of spatial 

integrity. What was a cavernous depth perspective 

flattened out considerably. What was precise 

image focus became diffuse. With the U3 

in the chain, massed strings never sounded so 

pure and refined. Numerous complaints I’ve 

lodged in the past about digital reproduction of 

string tone being adulterated by an upper midrange 

hardness were now ancient history. The 

moral of the story is this: For best results, avoid 

the DACute’s USB input and resort to using an 

external asynchronous data converter. 

If I were in the market to purchase an 

external DAC right now, the EAR DACute would 

be at the top of my shopping list. It’s mission 

accomplished for Tim de Paravicini, who has 

managed to reveal digital’s analog persona in 

convincing fashion. The DACute is a fantastically 

compelling DAC that has restored my faith in 

digital audio. 


DAC chip: 24-bit, 

multi-level delta-sigma 

conversion 

Inputs: USB, two 75-ohm 

coaxial SPDIF, TosLink 

optical SPDIF 

Output level: 5V RMS 

Tube complement: Two 

ECC88/6DJ8 

Output Impedance: < 60 

Ohms (balanced or single 

ended) 

Weight: lbs. 

Dimensions: 435mm x 

95mm x 320mm 

Price: $5895 in black 

finish, $6595 in chrome 

Yoshino Ltd, 

Huntingdon, 

Cambridgeshire 

England 

+44 (0) 01480 210004 

earyoshino.com 

EAR USA (U.S. 

Distributor) 

(562) 422-4747 

ear-usa.com 

Associated 

Equipment: 

MartinLogan Summit 

X and Acoustic Zen 

Crescendo loudspeakers, 

Basszilla Platinum 

mk2 DIY loudspeaker; 

April Music Eximus DP1 

DAC/Pre and Stello U3 

digital data converter, 

Sony XA-5400 SACD 

player with ModWright 

Truth modification; FMS 

Nexus-2, Wire World, 

and Kimber KCAG 

interconnects; Acoustic 

Zen Hologram speaker 

cable; Sound Application 

power line conditioners 



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AURALiC VEGA Digital Audio 

Processor 

High Performance, Reasonable Price 

Chris Martens 

AURALiC’s Vega Digital Audio Processor ($3499) is a powerful 

and versatile digital-to-analog converter that can also serve 

as a digital-input-only, balanced-output-capable preamplifier. 

Specifically, the Vega supports all PCM files from 44.1kHz/16-bit 

resolution on up to 384kHz/32-bit resolution, while covering all 

sampling rate/word-depth combinations in between. Moreover, the Vega 

is DXD- and DSD-compatible and can decode both DSD64 and DSD128 

bitstreams via the DoP V1.1 data transmission protocol. In short, the 

Vega is an ambitious, premium-quality DAC/preamp that aspires to toptier 

performance. Does it reach this goal I think it does as I will explain 

in this review, but first let’s first take a look at AURALiC’s company 

background and at the Vega’s underlying technologies. 

As mentioned in my review of the firm’s TAURUS MkII balanced headphone 

amplifier in this issue, AURALiC is a Hong Kong-based high-end audio 

electronics company co-founded in 2008 by President and CEO Xuanqian 

Wang and his business partner Yuan Wang. Xuanqian Wang 

has had formal training as an electrical and audio recording 

engineer and is an accomplished classical pianist, while 

Yuan Wang has a background in sociology and management 

science. The common denominator is that both men share a 

passion for music and sound quality, having met (where else) 

at a musical event—the 2008 Festival of Waldbühne Berlin. 

Not long thereafter, the men decided to launch AURALiC Ltd. 

More than many DACs in its price class, the Vega is chockfull 

of advanced technical features, yet it is also informed by 

Xuanqian Wang’s thoroughgoing familiarity with classic 

analog-audio circuit designs. In practice, this means the 

Vega is a modern-as-tomorrow DAC with stellar performance 

specifications, yet one that goes the extra mile not only to 

measure well but also to deliver sound that, first and foremost, 

holds true to the sound of live music. As we survey the Vega’s 

rich set of technical features it is important to bear in mind 

that this is more a “music first” design than it is a “technology 

über alles” product. 

As noted above, the Vega is a DXD- and DSD-compatible 

384kHz/32-bit-capable DAC/digital preamp. The Vega 

provides five digital audio inputs: one AES/EBU, one TosLink, 

one USB, and two coaxial SPDIF. In turn, the Vega provides 

single-ended and balanced analog outputs, with volume levels 

controlled by 100-step digital controller said not to compress 

dynamic range at all. 

Digital audio processing is handled by AURALiC’s 

proprietary Sanctuary Audio Processor, which the company 

says is based on a “multi-core ARM9 architecture” and 

provides a prodigious 1000MIPS (millions of instructions per 

second) of data-crunching power. Unlike many competing 

DACs, the Vega upsamples all incoming PCM audio data to 

1.5MHz/32-bit resolution prior to decoding. Further, the Vega 

provides six user-selectable digital-audio filter modes (four 

for PCM formats, two for DSD formats). The PCM filter modes 

each comprise four individual filters optimized for a specific 

group of sampling rates. One can choose Filter Mode 1, a 

high-accuracy/high-transparency mode that offers the best 

performance measurements; Mode 2, which reduces group 

delay while imposing minimal amounts of treble attenuation; 

Mode 3, which minimizes pre-echo and ringing effects but 

with a somewhat higher degree of treble attenuation; or Mode 

4, which applies minimum-phase type and is said to allow “no 

pre-echo effect at all” with “very small group delay so as to 

eliminate ringing.” 

Filter modes 5 and 6 are designed specifically for use with 

DSD files, and they address the problem of the very-highfrequency 

noise that DSD bitstreams can entail, providing 

strategically chosen levels of ultrasonic treble roll-off. The 

concept is to preserve the music intact while getting rid 

of ultrasonic noise that could potentially damage widebandwidth 

amplifiers or speakers. 

Significantly, the Vega permits users to switch between 

its various filter modes on the fly to compare their subtly 

different voicing characteristics and overall impact on the 

music. Xuanqian Wang wisely observed that one’s choice of 

filter mode might depend to a large extent on the recording 

quality of the material being played. Great recordings, he 

says, often sound best through Filter Mode 1, while customer 

comments suggest that Filter Mode 4 is the best “general 

purpose” setting for day-to-day use with a mix of audiophilegrade 

and more commonplace recordings. The important 

point is that the Vega allows users to fine-tune the DAC’s 

sonic persona to fit the musical material at hand. 

Another signature feature of the Vega is its Femto Master 

Clock, which yields a spectacularly low 0.082 picoseconds (or 

82 femtoseconds) of jitter—a figure few DACs at any price can 

match. The Vega provides three master-clock control settings: 

the default “AUTO” setting, which maintains “a balance between 

lock-in ability and jitter performance,” plus “FINE” and 

“EXACT” settings (available only after the Vega has warmed 

up for an hour), which “force the (clock controller’s) PLL 

bandwidth into a very narrow range to maximize jitter performance.” 

Not all digital sources are precise enough to use the 

“FINE” or “EXACT” settings, but Xuanqian Wang notes that 

with the EXACT settings in play he sometimes hears “a significant 

improvement, compared to the AUTO setting, for certain 

sound tracks, such as a well-recorded classical piano solo.” 


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EQUIPMENT review - AURALiC Vega Digital Audio Processor 

As expected, the Vega is compatible with both 

Macs and PCs and with most popular musicplayback 

software. The Vega auto-installs in 

Mac environments, but requires installation of 

an included Windows driver when used in PCbased 

systems. AURALiC does feel that musicsoftware 

packages have a big impact on the 

DAC’s sound and for this reason offers a free 

download of the third-party JPLAY software 

package, which AURALiC recommends for 

use with the Vega. Accordingly, I used JPLAY 

software in conjunction with jRiver Media Center 

19 music-management software in a PC-based 

system for my review listening. 

The Vega’s analog outputs are driven by a 

pair of AURALiC’s signature ORFEO Class A 

output modules, whose design was inspired by 

the circuitry of the classic Neve 8078 analog 

recording console and whose sound is said to 

“share the same warm and natural sound with 

(the) Neve 8078.” Perhaps as a result, the Vega 

claims vanishingly low THD and noise (just 

0.00015%). Part of the performance equation, 

naturally, involves not only having highperformance 

analog output modules, but also 

addressing noise issues wherever possible. To 

this end, AURALiC constructs the Vega’s chassis 

of a highly EMI-resistant metal-alloy called 

AFN402 and coats the chassis’ interior surfaces 

with a multi-layer electro-mechanical damping 

material called Alire, which is used in most other 

AURALiC components. 

The Vega sports an easy-to-read OLED frontpanel 

display that shows the input selected, the 

format and data rates of whatever digital audio 

input has been selected, and the volume level 

(on a scale of 0–100) to which the processor 

is set. By design, the Vega can be operated 

from its faceplate or from an included remote 

control. The control menu offers options for 

adjusting absolute phase, left/right channel 

balance, or selecting preferred filter modes. 

Users can also control the OLED display itself, 

turning illumination up, down, or off (for zero 

visual distractions at all). Overall, the Vega is 

an ergonomic delight, though it is sufficiently 

complex that it pays to read the manual to 

understand the scope of the control options at 

hand. 

If the foregoing technical description seems 

promising, then please know that the sound 

of the Vega is fully as good as, if not better 

than, the description might lead you to expect. 

Frankly, I’ve been around the world of computer 

audio for years, but I never felt a keen desire 

to make a dedicated high-performance DAC a 

permanent part of my reference system until I 

heard the Vega in action. Up to this point, most 

of the computer-audio/DAC-based systems I 

have auditioned seemed to me to fall short of the 

sound quality I was used to hearing from top-tier 

disc players. I also found that those DAC-based 

systems that were sonically satisfying tended 

more often than not to be astronomically priced. 

In contrast, what makes the Vega so 

captivating to my way of thinking is that it is 

reasonably priced yet consistently supplies a 

rich panoply of audiophile virtues while also 

demonstrating an uncanny ability to keep its 

focus on the musical whole. In short, the Vega 

represents the intersection of good value, great 

(and forward-looking) technology, plus terrific 

musicality—a compelling combination indeed. 

If you asked me to cite several specific 

qualities that characterize the sound of the 

Vega, two that come instantly to mind would be 

transparency and resolution—effortless, elegant, 

and unforced openness and detail that sound 

more like the real thing than like hi-fi artifacts. 

On the track “Embraceable You” from The Larry 

Coryell Organ Trio’s Impressions [Chesky] the 

Vega lets you listen deeply into the voices of 

each of the instruments at play and so to savor 

the round, ripe tone of Coryell’s guitar, the reedy 

and breathy voice of the organ, and the delicacy 

of the drum kit’s contributions in general and of 

the cymbal work in particular. Moreover, the Vega 

shows you the worth of high-res files, helping you 

to appreciate how much more full and complete 

they make the music sound. The beauty of the 

Vega’s sound is that the additional layers of detail 

it provides are delivered in a relaxed and lifelike 

manner; additional music information is simply 

there—whole and complete without unwarranted 

spotlighting or pyrotechnics, so that the music is 

free to breathe and flow. 

Another quality that typifies the sound of 

the Vega is its dramatic and at times explosive 

dynamics, which likewise unfold in a naturally 

expansive way. As with musical details, the 

dynamic qualities you hear seem to flow more 

from the music than from the equipment. 

Consequently, the music seems energized and 

illuminated from within, much as it does when 

heard live. To hear what I mean, try listening 

to Silvestre Revueltas’ Sensamayà as captured 

on the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Brass 

Live recording [CSO Resound]. This exoticsounding 

piece is full of lithe twists and turns as 

it progresses from one dynamic highlight to the 

next, with tension building as the composition 

unfolds. I’ve heard this piece through many 

digital source components, but none I have 

had in my system made Sensemayà sound as 

powerful or expressive as the Vega did; nor 

could they convey the tsunami-like force of the 

composition’s final crescendo as effectively as 

the Vega. 


Type: Digital-to-analogconverter/digital 

preamplifier 

Digital inputs: One AES/ 

EBU, two coaxial, one 

TosLink, and one USB 

2.0 buffered by ActiveUSB 

Analog outputs: One 

stereo single-ended (via 

RCA jacks), one balanced 

(via XLR connectors) 

Frequency response: 

20Hz–20kHz, ± 0.1dB 

THD+N:



EQUIPMENT review - AURALiC Vega Digital Audio Processor 

Analog ... 

Finally, I was struck on multiple occasions 

by the Vega’s unfailing musicality, which I 

sometimes—tongue-in-cheek—called the “Neve 

factor.” Neve recording consoles are known 

for pulling off a difficult but highly rewarding 

tightrope act of sorts; on the one hand, they 

deliver exceedingly high levels of transparency, 

clarity, and timbral purity, while on the other 

hand they preserve a naturally warm, organic, 

and lifelike sound. I think it is significant that 

Xuanqian Wang has chosen the classic Neve 

sound as his sonic model for the Vega and that 

the Vega strives (successfully) to strike a similar 

sonic balance. As a result, the Vega’s sound 

is every bit as revealing, crisply defined, and 

informative as any “analytical” DAC would be, 

but without the drawbacks (coldness, sterility, or 

a vaguely “mechanical” quality) that analytical 

products usually entail. Rather than dissecting 

or de-constructing the music, then, the Vega 

simply reveals musical textures, timbres, tonal 

colors, and dynamics, and then gets out of the 

way to let the music speak for itself. 

I compared the Vega to my primary digital 

reference, Rega’s superb Isis CD player/DAC, 

and found the Vega’s sound competitive, though 

somewhat different. I had a slight preference 

for the Rega’s sound on 44.1/16 material owing 

to the Rega’s somewhat more coherent upper 

midrange and treble presentation, though in 

truth the contest was very, very close. But a 

key point is that the Vega is less than half the 

price of the Rega and is capable of exploring 

high-res PCM and DSD files, which the Rega is 

not. In particular, listening to DSD files through 

the Vega proved revelatory, because DSD files 

as rendered by the Vega seemed to do a much 

better job than standard-resolution PCM files 

in filling in the “spaces between the spaces” in 

the music, enabling the presentation to sound 

markedly more three-dimensional and realistic. 

Although I’m not ready to part with my topshelf 

Rega Isis CD player just yet, the Vega is 

the first sensibly-priced DAC I’ve heard that I 

could readily embrace as one of my primary 

digital source components. For less than 

$3500, the Vega takes discerning audiophiles 

and music lovers very far up the high-end 

audio performance ladder, providing them with 

a versatile and technically advanced digital 

playback solution they will not soon outgrow. 

Or Digital ... 

Audio Is Fragile, Audio Needs Respect 

The frontier of transferring an audio signal keeps moving, the details change. However, 

the unchanging audio reality is that in every new application, and every way of packaging 

beautiful sound, audio is in danger of becoming not-so-beautiful ... unless love & respect, 

and good engineering & clever design, are applied at all times. 

AudioQuest is proud to have been pushing the frontier of better cable design for 33 years ... 

through thick and thin, for analog and digital, for real-time and packetized. 

We share the fantasy that someday transferring audio will be fully robust and immune to 

degradation. In the meantime, we are very pleased that AudioQuest can make a huge 

difference in sound quality, whether for just a few dollars, or for the state-of-the-art. 


www.audioquest.com 

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MSB Technology Analog DAC 

Just Like an LP 

Vade Forrester 

Analog DAC What the heck is that Doesn’t the “D” in DAC stand for digital Yes, 

but what do all DACs try their best to sound like Right: analog. Manufacturer MSB 

Technology went all-out to assure its new DAC sounded as much as possible like 

the fabled analog source. When I auditioned MSB’s top-of-the-line DAC IV, I thought it was 

possibly the best source I had heard, analog or digital. But its lofty price might have spooked 

some audiophiles. I appreciate it when technological developments advance the state of the 

art in playback quality, even if they carry high price tags. That’s because the technology used 

in high-priced gear often trickles down to equipment within my financial means. That’s what’s 

happened with the Analog DAC, which MSB bills as “The Most Technologically Advanced DAC 

in the World!” And even though the price couldn’t be described as low, it’s a lot lower than 

MSB’s DAC IV. 

So what makes the Analog DAC special 

For one thing, its physical construction is 

unique. Instead of building a typical chassis— 

you know, a metal box to house the electronic 

components—MSB has made the Analog DAC 

modular. It’s basically a machined aluminum 

slab under which are attached modules that 

give the Analog DAC its functionality. You start 

off with a basic unit with one input module 

(your choice) and a basic power supply for 

$6995, then add additional modules to suit 

your needs. Want another digital input $995. 

Want a stepped-attenuator volume control, 

with 78 1dB steps $995. The volume control is 

one option that’s not modular, since it requires 

a hole in the top of the chassis for the volume 

control knob. It’s $995. Want a better power 

supply than the stock unit (which is a very 

respectable linear model) $2995. Want a 

different color than the stock matte-white or 

matte-black That’s $700 for satin black, $350 

for custom colors (I think a red one would be 

neat; black and silver are boring). And there are 

quite a few other options like remote control, 

iPad control, Wi-Fi, and so forth. The review 

unit ($6995) had a volume control ($995), a 

USB input (included in the base price), a SPDIF 

input ($995), and an Inter-IC Sound (I2S) input 

($995). An aluminum remote control was also 

included, which is an $85 option; so if I add up 

all the options correctly, the total price of the 

review unit was $10,065. See the MSB web site 

at for a complete list of options and prices. 

The different input modules connect to an 

internal I2S buss. If a need for a new input 

develops (maybe USB 3.0), a module for that 

will be developed and can be installed with a 

screwdriver. After it’s installed, it becomes 

totally plug and play. The I2S buss connects 

to the DAC module, which is not an off-theshelf 

chip; rather, it’s a 384kHz discreteladder 

DAC constructed from extremely 

precise resistors. The firmware that controls 

the internal operation of the DAC is easily 

upgraded (see the Setting Up section below). 

That makes it easy and fast to make changes. 

The firmware-update files are in WAV format, 

making firmware changes just like playing a 

song. That’s very clever. The Analog DAC’s 

output impedance through the RCA outputs 

is 53 ohms without a volume control; 38 ohms 

with the control. That’s low enough to drive any 

amplifier or cable. 

MSB Technology uses its precision “Femto 

Clock” technology to minimize jitter, and 

includes a large internal memory where you 

can set filters, upsamplers, and other DSP 

instructions. This is not an off-the-shelf DAC 

design using conventional parts and circuits. 

The Analog DAC’s optional power supply 

has exactly the same form as the DAC, and is 

usually pictured with the DAC stacked on top of 

it. The stock power supply is a linear power unit 

with two transformers. 

The Analog DAC can play Direct Stream 

Digital (DSD) files in their native format 

without converting the files to PCM. These are 

the files used to make SACDs. DACs capable of 

playing DSD files in their native format may be 

the hot item in the hi-fi industry right now. We 

speak of DSD sampling rates as “DSD64” and 

“DSD128,” where the numbers “64” and “128” 

denote multiples of CD’s 44.1 kHz sampling 

rate. DSD recordings created as masters for 

SACDs are DSD64, but it’s possible to record 

DSDs at twice that rate. The Analog DAC plays 

both DSD64 and DSD128 recordings. And as 

I was pleasantly surprised to learn, it plays 


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EQUIPMENT review - MSB Technology Analog DAC 

DSD files through both USB and SPDIF 

inputs. The capability to play DSD was 

added by a firmware update—no hardware 

changes were necessary. The Analog DAC 

also plays PCM files up to 384kHz/32-bits. 

That allows it to play the 352.8/24 Digital 

eXtreme Definition (DXD) files used for highresolution 

mastering by several recording 

companies. A few companies now sell DXD 

files, should you want to hear super-highresolution 

recordings. Be sure your music 

player can handle them before you pull the 

switch to download DXD files. 

A Windows driver came on a CD, and can 

also be downloaded from the MSB Web 

site. Also on the CD were some set-up 

instructions. A manual can be downloaded 

from the MSB Technology web site. 

Setting up 

I used a WireWorld Platinum Starlight USB 

cable to connect my laptop server to the 

Analog DAC. MSB Technology advised that 

since the internal circuit of the Analog DAC 

was unbalanced, the unbalanced connectors 

should sound better, so that’s what I opted 

for. If you have the volume control installed, 

the Analog DAC is designed to be used as 

your system controller in lieu of a preamp, 

so it should be connected directly to the 

power amplifier’s inputs and the very fine 

volume control operated by the MSB remote 

control. Since my Berning ZH-230 amplifier 

has unbalanced inputs only, the unbalanced 

connection from the Analog DAC was ideal. 

If you have other analog sources, such as a 

phono preamp, you can plug it into the Analog 

DAC’s analog inputs and select it from 

the MSB remote. I must say it would seem 

a little weird to plug a phono preamp into a 

DAC, but, hey, welcome to the digital age. I 

connected my tuner to the analog input just 

to see if it worked. It did, and I could select 

the tuner using the remote control. 

I discovered the Analog DAC was sensitive 

to the cables used to connect it to the 

power amplifier. A Clarity Cable Organic 

interconnect sounded a bit bright and lean— 

not the way it usually sounds in my system. 

Purist Audio Design Venustas interconnects 

sounded a bit fatter with more bass, but 

the best sound I found came when I used 

High Fidelity Cables’ CT-1 interconnects. 

Operating via magnetic conduction instead 

of normal voltage conduction, the High 

Fidelity Cables interconnects are probably 

the best I’ve heard to date. I don’t really 

understand how they work, but their sonic 

advantages are audible. With them, the 

Analog DAC sounded more balanced, with 

deeper bass. 

When I used an Audience powerChord e 

power cord, the Wattgate IEC connector 

that plugged into the power supply almost 

completely blocked the on/off switch, so 

to turn the Analog DAC on and off, I had to 

plug/unplug the power cable. Wattgate IEC 

connectors are pretty average in size for 

aftermarket connectors, so I would expect 

the same problem with other aftermarket 

power cords. The molded IEC power 

connector that comes with the power cord 

included with most components wouldn’t 

have this problem. 

I placed the Analog DAC on a middle shelf 

on my Billy Bags equipment rack and adjusted 

the cone feet until the DAC was perfectly 

stable. There wasn’t room on a single 

shelf for both the power supply and DAC, so 

I placed the power supply, which is about the 

size of a hardback novel, two shelves above 

the DAC. That’s about as far as the connecting 

power cord would reach. The Analog DAC 

has a huge display, the largest I’ve ever seen 

in a DAC, and it shows both the volume control 

setting and the input source; however, 

since it’s only visible from the top, it can’t 

be seen if you’re sitting across the room, unless 

the Analog DAC is on a low shelf in your 

rack. 

To use my Windows-based laptop server, 

I had to install a driver so Windows 7 would 

play Class 2 USB Audio, which enabled playback 

of high-resolution PCM and DSD input. 

After checking to be sure it was the current 

version, I installed the driver that was on 

the included CD. Installation was straightforward, 

i.e., not tricky. 

The Analog DAC manual recommends 

Foobar 2000 as a music-server program, and 

included a file on the CD describing how to 

set up Foobar 2000 to work with the Analog 

DAC. I view this type of help as essential; 

DACs are seldom plug and play, and each 

computer-based music server has to be set 

to use a particular DAC. Most have different 

settings which need some tweaking to 

sound best. My preferred software, J. River 

Media Center 19, was simple to set up—after 

I figured out what all the settings meant. 

MSB Technology’s position on burn-in is 


Inputs: One digital input included 

in base price, additional Speakers: Affirm Audio Lumi- 

Associated Equipment: 

inputs optional; one analog nation speakers 

input on RCA jacks 

Amplifiers: Berning ZH-230 

Sample rates supported: PCM- stereo amplifier 

44.1k, 48k, 88.2k, 96k, 176.4k, Preamplifier: Audio Research 

192k, 352.8k, 384k up to 32 LS27 linestage 

bits; DSD at 2.82M and 5.64M Digital sources: Hewlett 

(DSD64 and DSD128) 

Packard dv7-3188cl laptop 

Line output level: 2.62V RMS, computer running 64-bit Windows 

7 Home Premium and J. 

balanced or unbalanced 

output 

River Media Center version 19; 

Output impedance: 53 ohms Auraliti PK100 music player; 

without volume control, 38 Audio Research DAC8 

ohms with volume control (unbalanced); 

106 ohms without Cables CT-1 

Interconnects: High Fidelity 

volume control, 76 ohms with Speaker cables: Clarity Cables 

volume control (balanced) Organic 

Dimensions: DAC, 17.63** x Power cords: Purist Audio 

1.5** x12.5** plus connectors; Design Venustas power 

power supply, 6.7** x 2.25** cords, Blue Marble Audio Blue 

x 8.9** 

Lightning power cords, Clarity 

Weight: DAC, 12 lbs.; power Cables Vortex power cords, 

supply, 7 lbs. 

Audience powerChord e power 

Price: $6995, $10,065 as cords 

reviewed 

Digital: Wireworld Platinum 

Starlight USB cable, Gold Starlight 

6 S/PDIF cable, and Gold 

MSB Technology Corporation 

Starlight 5 AES/EBU cable 

625 Main Street 

Power conditioner and distribution: 

IsoTek EVO3 Sirius 

Watsonville, CA 95076 

(831)662-2800 

msbtech.com 



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ambiguous. It begins by asking if burn-in is real 

or just a period of familiarization; then it says 

feedback (whose) recommends 100 hours’ 

burn-in, then it says customers recommend 

one month burn-in. Come on—it either needs 

burn-in or it doesn’t; and it should be possible 

to specify a length of time. I burned in the 

review unit for about 300 hours. 

Thanks to a recent software update, my 

Auraliti file player now plays DSD as well 

as PCM, and, somewhat unusually, plays 

DSD64 through both SPDIF and USB outputs. 

DSD128 is played through the USB output 

only; apparently, DSD128 exceeds SPDIF’s 

limits. When I plugged the Auraliti into the 

Analog DAC’s inputs, it worked without a hitch, 

providing plug-and-play DSD sound. I could get 

used to that! 

During the review period, I received 

another software update, this time from MSB 

Technology. The firmware update took the 

form of a WAV file, and all that was necessary 

to apply the update was to play the WAV file. If 

the update doesn’t “take,” an audible message 

tells you so. How cool is that I first tried 

playing the WAV file with iTunes, and heard the 

failure message. Then I tried it with J. River 

Media Center, and this time, there was no error 

message. When I restarted the Analog DAC, 

the correct firmware version was displayed. 

Most manufacturers don’t ever update their 

firmware, and I don’t know of any that makes 

it this easy. 

Sound 

While the Analog DAC’s most advanced 

feature is its ability to play DSD files, it’s just 

as important to assess how well it plays PCM 

files, even those ripped from CD. After all, what 

makes up most of your collection So I enjoyed 

playing a wide variety of music through the 

Analog DAC. 

In a word, the Analog DAC was detailed. 

I don’t mean it was analytical, just that it revealed 

a ton of information about the music 

played through it. Since I had it on hand when 

writing the article about DSD downloads published 

in the previous issue, I used it to sample 

DSD files from various download sites. Unsurprisingly, 

the Analog DAC showed that not all 

DSD files are created equal; some were glorious, 

while some, well…not so much. 

Dynamics were finely delineated when the 

music called for it. They weren’t amped up, 

as may be the case with some components, 

but were fast enough to enhance the sense of 

musical flow. On Jordi Savall’s La Folia 1490- 

1701 (ripped from Alia Vox AFA 98050) the 

track “Folia Rodrigo Martinez” is a dynamic 

minefield, requiring the audio system to play 

at continuously varying levels of loudness. 

Some components artificially divide the 

sound into discrete steps, but the Analog DAC 

showed the loudness changed continuously. 

The Analog DAC reproduced the bass drum, 

which descends into the mid-30Hz range, with 

extension and detail. Power and slam were 

good overall. The amount of detail revealed in 

this information-dense recording was amazing; 

it was not even slightly etched or bright, but 

very natural-sounding. I’ve never heard a 

component extract this much detail from the 

recording—a recurring theme in my listening 

notes. 

On Alex de Grassi’s album Blue Coast Special 

Event 19 (DSD64/DFF, Blue Coast Records), 

the cut “Shenandoah” exhibited exceptionally 

detailed guitar sound, with an unusual drone 

effect I had never heard before. But the picture 

of de Grassi’s guitar showed it to be a very 

unusual design, so maybe that explained the 

sound. The Analog DAC really showed how 

realistic a recording of solo guitar recording 

engineer Cookie Marenco had captured. 

Piano recordings were spectacular. On 

Thomas Günther’s performance of Schubert’s 

Piano Sonata in A minor (DSD64/DSF, Cybele 

Records), the Analog DAC reproduced the 

piano’s complete harmonic structure with a 

combination of delicacy and explosive power 

rarely heard on recordings. The sense of the 

hammers striking the piano’s strings was 

captured superbly. It’s odd that I noticed this 

particular detail on several piano recordings. 

Other finer details of Günther’s performance 

were strikingly realistic, too. I’d never mistake 

the recording for a real piano, but it’s getting 

closer to the real thing. Isn’t that what the 

hobby is about 

Rebecca Pigeon’s “Spanish Harlem” from 

her album The Raven has been an audio fave 

since it first appeared on LP. Remastered as a 

176.4/24 FLAC album by Bob Katz for Chesky 

Records, it was eerily realistic through the 

Analog DAC. Pigeon’s voice, in particular, had 

a “reach-out-and-touch-it” quality, creating 

the illusion of someone standing in front of 

me singing. Instrumental accompaniment was 

equally detailed, especially the stand-up bass. 

The Tallis Scholars’ Miserere was their 

signature album, and on Gimmell Record’s 

96/24 FLAC download of Allegri’s Miserere & 

Palestrina’s Missa Papae Marcelli, the Analog 

DAC showed off its ability to throw a large 

soundstage. The “Miserere” piece is an a 

cappella work which has a small choral group 

at the front of the soundstage and a smaller 

solo group some distance behind it in the large 

church where the recording was made. The 

Analog DAC showed the separation between 

the main group and the solo group clearly, 

while making the words sung by the distant 

solo group unusually distinct. 

DSD vs PCM 

The 2L company offers several sample files 

in both DXD and DSD format. The company 

records its masters in DXD, performs whatever 

editing is necessary in that format, and then 

converts them to DSD. I expected that the 

original DXD files would sound better than 

the converted DSD files, but to my surprise, I 

slightly preferred the DSD derivative files. On 

Beethoven’s Sonata No. 32, the piano sound was 

more full-bodied and detailed. Once again, DSD 

portrayed the sound of the piano’s hammers 

hitting the strings much more realistically than 

the DXD version. On the Allegro movement 

from Mozart’s Violin concerto in D major, DSD 

string sound was richer and less mechanical, 

i.e., less digital. On a vocal selection, Vivaldi’s 

“Recitative and Aria” from Cantata RV 679, 

“Che giova il sospirar, povero core,” my 

impression was similar to the one I had with 

the Mozart concerto—the soprano sounded 

more like a person singing than a recording 

of a person singing. The differences weren’t 

night and day, but they established DSD as 


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more analog-like. That doesn’t mean DXD files 

sounded bad; they sounded good before DSD 

files came along, and still sound good. What’s 

important for this review is that the Analog DAC 

made it easy to distinguish between the DXD 

and DSD versions of a recording, illustrating 

the MSB’s transparency. 

Comparison 

My Audio Research DAC8 doesn’t play DSD 

files, but it’s what I have on hand, so I’ll limit 

my comparison to PCM files. After all, the vast 

majority of my collection of downloaded and 

ripped music files are PCM, so that’s not much 

of a limitation. The $4995 DAC8 is a singlechassis 

unit which looks very conventional 

compared to the Analog DAC. 

On “Folia Rodrigo Martinez,” the Audio 

Research displayed its hallmark bass, the most 

powerful I’ve heard from any DAC. I’ve started 

to wonder if it’s not actually too powerful, as 

peculiar as that concept may seem to some 

audiophiles. Tonally, the Audio Research is 

similar to the Analog DAC, although the latter 

captures more details of the performance. 

“Spanish Harlem” was a close match, but the 

Analog DAC’s superior detail retrieval made 

Rebecca Pigeon sound just a smidgen more 

lifelike. 

The “Miserere” track sounded a bit different 

on the two DACs. The Analog DAC’s extra 

detail made the distant solo group more 

understandable, which had the effect of 

making them sound closer to the main group in 

front. The Analog DAC was just squeaky clean, 

whereas the Audio Research sounded a little 

more smeared. 

Bottom line 

So does the Analog DAC sound like, well, an 

analog DAC Maybe it does, if you can find an 

analog source as free from noise and distortion 

as the Analog DAC and if your idea of a quality 

analog source excludes any coloration from 

tubes or solid-state gain stages. If you want a 

flexible, top-notch DAC capable of playing any 

digital source currently available, in a unique, 

strikingly-designed package that can function 

as a line source as well as a DAC, the Analog 

DAC may be just your ticket. It’s expensive, but 

its sound quality and functionality are hard to 

beat at the price. And its ability to replace an 

expensive linestage, connecting cables, and 

power cord can save you a bundle, reducing 

your overall system price and increasing the 

amount of free shelf space on your equipment 

rack. Viewed from that angle, maybe the Analog 

DAC isn’t as expensive as it first looked. 


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Simaudio Moon 100D 

USB DAC 

A Great Place To Start 

Neil Gader 

Any conversation about computers reminds me of my son-in-law, Dan. Classic 

Gen Y profile. Thirty-two years old, just married, a professional with an 

advanced degree. Dan, like much of his generation, is a savvy computer guy 

(Apple, natch) and music junkie. Dan loves the indie scene, respects the classics— 

classic rock anyhow. In most ways he embodies the audio ethic of his generation, 

meaning he’s a fervent music-downloader and disc-ripper. Dan pays very little out of 

pocket for his musical fix. Until recently his “system” was almost entirely iTunes/ 

iPod-based, but after discovering his dad’s vinyl collection he sprung for a budget 

turntable and speakers and began assembling an entry-level system. High end was 

the last thing on his mind. But that was then. He’s discovered that sharing a life and 

paying a mortgage leaves little room for earbud listening in the man-cave. Yet, with 

thousands of tracks on a hard drive that he wants to access through his growing twochannel 

rig, what to do The short answer might be something along the lines of the 

Simaudio Moon 100D. 

The Moon100D is a stoutly built and elegantly 

finished component, whose looks are consistent 

with the extensive Simaudio lineup. Its front-panel 

layout includes LED indicators for sample rate and 

pushbuttons for power and input selection. The 

Moon 100D is based on the BurrBrown PCM1793 

high-resolution 24-bit/192kHz D/A with an 8x 

oversampling digital filter. An asynchronous 

sample-rate converter upconverts all input signals 

to 24-bit/192kHz. As is Simaudio’s practice, a 

highly accurate digital clocking system maintains 

the DAC’s extremely low jitter levels. Three 

stages of DC voltage regulation are incorporated 

into the 100D power supply, as well as traditional 

Simaudio touches like pure-copper circuit board 

traces and a symmetrical circuit design. 

Taking centerstage is the USB input 

which accepts a digital audio signal of up to 

16-bit/48kHz. Like a favorite pair of slippers USB 

has become a mainstay of the computer world for 

its convenience—and this is in spite of the audio 

limitations that frequently draw fire in many highend 

circles. Simaudio is refreshingly candid about 

the fact that due to jitter, phase errors, and other 

latency issues USB was never intended to appeal 

to audiophiles—it was meant for mundane data 

transfer only, not audio signals. In Simaudio’s 

words, “We opted to provide the best possible 


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EQUIPMENT review - Simaudio Moon 100D USB DAC 

power supply, D/A converter, and analog stage 

in the Moon 100D at this price level.” 

Simaudio, however, is an old hand at highend 

digital, so it’s armed the 100D with both 

optical and S/PDIF inputs to make the most 

of its 24-bit high-resolution DAC when used 

in conjunction with a CD transport’s digital 

output or a computer equipped with an S/ 

PDIF high-resolution soundcard. However, 

if your computer doesn’t have one of these 

outputs, don’t despair. There’s an easy workaround 

via a USB-to-S/PDIF interface. There 

are quite a few available, reasonably priced, 

and many will work with USB datastreams up 

to 24-bit and sampling rates up to 192kHz. For 

example, near the top of the rung is a state-ofthe-art 

$1695 model like the Berkeley Audio 

Design Alpha USB (Issue 214) or the more 

down-to-earth $169 Musical Fidelity V-Link, a 

modestly priced 24-bit/96kHz asynchronous 


Inputs: S/PDIF, USB, TosLink 

Weight: 4 lbs. 

Dimensions: 5” x 2.9” x 6.5” 

Price: $600 

Simaudio Ltd. 

1345 Newton Road 

Boucherville, Quebec 

J4B 5H2 Canada 

(877) 980-2400 

www.simaudio.com 

Comment on this article on the Forum at avguide.com 

USB interface (Issue 213). While thousands 

of dollars apart, both take advantage of the 

superior continuous bitstream of S/PDIF. 

Setup is a snap. Using my MacBook 

equipped with Pure Music software from 

Channel D, I clicked on the Sound icon of 

System Preferences, which identified the 

DAC instantly. Just double-check that you’ve 

selected the USB for output, and you’ll be off 

and running. 

For those of you accustomed to the runof-the-mill 

iTunes experience, straight-line 

performance through the 100D USB will be 

a revelation. A laundry list of deleterious 

artifacts, from indistinct imaging to tonal 

hardness to treble etch, will begin to fade 

away. Bass pitches and harmonics will tighten 

up and lighten up considerably. The overall 

sound becomes more robust and limber. 

There will be an expanded sense of musicians 

occupying physical space, rather than flatfooted 

images on a tent-card. Dynamics will be 

livelier, low-level resolution higher. In general, 

music via the USB provides an easy listening 

experience, while manifesting a character that 

is a bit darker on top and a bit truncated in 

bass decay. 

In retrospect, this signature is paradoxically 

the near polar opposite of early compact 

disc sound. Back then, CD was noted for its 

powerful bass punch and icy, often brittle 

treble. Here the 100D USB input softens and 

shades the sound somewhat, and transients 

don’t quite have the urgent call-to-arms 

response of live music. It’s for this reason 

alone that I laud Simaudio for offering the 

S/PDIF option. Adding the V-Link USB-to-S/ 

PDIF interface allowed Jen Chapin’s cover 

of “Renewable” to develop a greater degree 

of openness and bloom across the tonal 

spectrum. As micro-dynamics fully ignite, it’s 

simply easier to trace individual notes in space, 

whether they be delicate piano motifs or the 

nylon-stringed guitar riffs from Ana Caram’s 

cover of “Fly Me To The Moon” [Chesky]. 

And on a 24-bit/88.2kHz recording like 

Malcolm Arnold’s A Sussex Overture [Lyrita], 

the orchestra seems to come alive in three 

dimensions—the once papery and pita-flat 

soundstage replaced with complex acoustic 

textures, the venue seemingly inhaling and 

exhaling with ambience and presence. But the 

improvement doesn’t just apply to high-res; 

the benefits are easily appreciated on stock 

16-bit/44.1kHz. 

So how does the 100D compare to the 

prevailing digital standard of the last thirty 

years, namely CD Close and growing closer, 

but ultimately falling short. Something like the 

primo Audio Research CD5 renders timbral 

and textural detail with more sophistication. 

When, for example, the melodies of singer 

Jen Chapin and the baritone sax begin to 

parallel each other, the CD5 maintains a 

warmer midrange, and breathes a bit more 

upper-frequency air and buoyancy into the 

performance. The CD5, to borrow an analog 

term, just seems to track a bit more cleanly, 

thereby allowing images a stronger sense of 

spread across the stage and a fuller, more 

complete sonic presentation. And while the 

sonic backgrounds that underlay a venue’s 

acoustic are very quiet through USB, they are 

midnight black with the ARC. In imaging and 

three-dimensional soundstaging, the S/PDIF 

input hews closer to the ARC with only minor 

subtractions in image focus. 

The 100D is a flexible and forward-thinking 

solution for addressing the diversity of 

computer-based audio. It’s a glitch-free device 

with an all-important upgrade path for those 

inspired to stay ahead of the curve. And to the 

extent that it allows a family member like Dan 

to have a few thousand tunes at the touch of a 

finger and to bypass the CD format entirely, its 

potential impact cannot be underestimated. 

When it comes to the brave new world of digital 

music there is seemingly no end in sight. But 

Simaudio offers an ideal place to begin. 


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Bryston BDA-2 Digitalto-Analog 

Converter 

Presence from Absence 

Karl Schuster 

Perhaps it was serendipity, perhaps inevitability, that led me to play 

The Modern Jazz Quartet’s The Last Concert. “Softly, As In a Morning 

Sunrise” unfolds kaleidoscopically, somehow by turns psychedelic, 

funky, dapper, bluesy, and sly. “Summertime” blossoms open with a novel 

hypnotic repeating figure on the vibes that we cannot help but hear through 

the haze of the late 60s, then morphs through variations both familiar and 

enlightening, ultimately returning to the dreamy, gauzy reverie whence it all 

began. So what do we have here Masters of effortless ensemble musicianship, 

leading us on a journey—their journey—through the decades of their storied 

careers. 

I hadn’t expected this sort of musical revelation, but I have gratefully come to 

accept such delightful rewards from the technically evolutionary but musically 

revolutionary Bryston BDA-2 digital-to-analog converter. 

Bryston’s BDA-1 DAC has been a cornerstone of my reference system for several 

years. Frankly, I have found little to criticize about its performance, which has 

earned justified praise and a Golden Ear Award in these pages. Thus, my curiosity 

regarding what improvements those clever Canadians might have incorporated 

into the new BDA-2 was tempered by an “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” wariness. That 

concern was effectively up-ended the moment that I 

began auditioning the BDA-2. 

The most notable new feature added to the BDA- 

2 is an asynchronous USB input capable of handling 

all standard sample rates up to 192kHz, replacing the 

“convenience feature” adaptive USB input of the BDA- 

1. Bryston’s USB implementation aims to be state-ofthe-art, 

featuring proprietary firmware running on 

the XMOS USB Audio micro-controller platform. The 

addition of this feature alone fully justifies the minor 

price differential over the BDA-1, which remains in the 

Bryston product line, albeit now at a reduced price. 

Whereas the BDA-1 utilized a pair of time-tested 24- 

bit Crystal CS4398 DACs, one per channel in a dualdifferential 

configuration, the BDA-2 has been upgraded 

with the latest top-of-the-line 32-bit AKM 4399 DACs. 

Of course both products feature Bryston’s venerable 

discrete Class A analog output circuitry, rather than 

off-the-shelf IC op-amps. 

The BDA-2 retains the input flexibility of its 

progenitor, with two TosLink optical, two RCA, and 

two 75-ohm BNC SPDIF inputs, and a balanced AES/ 

EBU input. Both single-ended RCA and balanced XLR 

analog outputs are offered, as well as a convenient 

RCA SPDIF pass-through digital output. Inputs can 

be selected via front-panel switches or Bryston’s 

BR2 system remote control, which also enables the 

user to toggle the BDA-2’s upsampling function from 

the listening position. This feature synchronously 

upsamples the input data to either 176.4kHz (for 44.1 

and 88.2kHz signals) or to 192kHz (for 48 and 96kHz 

signals), thereby preserving all the original sample 

data while interpolating intermediate values at the 

higher sample rates. In contrast, asynchronous samplerate-conversion 

techniques essentially synthesize an 

entirely new data set from the input signal (with the 

disquieting implication that none of the original input 

data are rendered with bit-perfect accuracy). I found 

that upsampling could smooth the rough edges of 

some older pop CDs, but that the majority of recordings 

sounded best when decoded at their native sample 

rates. An array of front-panel LEDs displays the input 

sample rate, though the arrangement of those LEDs 

would have been more logical with the left column 

indicating 44.1, 88.2, and 176.4kHz (rather than 44.1, 

48, and 88.2) and the right column indicating 48, 

96 and 192kHz (rather than 96, 176.4, and 192kHz). 

Consider this nit-picked. 

Since the asynchronous USB input is the BDA- 

2’s most eagerly anticipated new feature, let’s begin 

our listening therewith. Apple’s Macintosh operating 

system natively supports USB Audio Class 2 devices 

such as the BDA-2 in versions 10.6.4 and above. 

Microsoft Windows users need to install the driver 

supplied by Bryston on a USB key (literally the USB 

“stick” resembles a metal key). 

Unfortunately, my decade-old Windows XP desktop 

PC did not like Bryston’s USB driver at all; regardless 

of the output mode that I selected (ASIO, Kernel 

Streaming, and even DirectSound for diagnostic 

purposes), every time that I attempted to begin 

playback the computer crashed with an alarming “blue 

screen of death” Stop error. This was not an auspicious 

start. Fortunately, Bryston’s USB driver has worked 

well on my Dell Latitude D620 notebook PC, with nary 

an operational glitch. 

The BDA-2’s asynchronous USB input must be judged 

a resounding success, fully competitive with the relative 

performance of other top-class USB implementations 

that I have had the privilege of hearing, such as 

those of the Esoteric D-07X and dCS Debussy DACs. 

Indeed, because of its particular strengths, the BDA- 

2 will be especially appealing to listeners seeking to 

maximize enjoyment from USB sources. The overriding 

impression of music played via the BDA-2’s USB input 

is one of relaxed ease and unflustered composure. 

Tonality exhibits a rounded, mellow, non-fatiguing 

character. Rhythms are well preserved, and spatial 


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EQUIPMENT review - Bryston BDA-2 Digital-to-Analog Converter 

relationships are clearly portrayed. 

Alas, as with every other DAC that I have 

auditioned—including the aforementioned dCS 

and Esoteric products—the BDA-2 can sound 

substantially better when driven by a SPDIF or 

AES/EBU source than via USB. To be sure, the 

manifestations of USB’s lingering deficiencies 

differ between these products. For example, 

via USB, both the Esoteric and Bryston 

homogenize timbres, dynamics, and textures, 

but do so differently. The D07-X renders 

everything with a superficial glaze or sheen, 

akin to the synthetic air-brushed “perfection” 

of the cover models on contemporary fashion 

magazines, while the BDA-2 imposes a barely 

perceptible foggy haze between the listener 

and the performers, reminiscent of the 

flattering soft-focus filters that glamorized 

the leading ladies of Hollywood’s golden era. 

Neither effect is a deal-breaker, and may even 

escape notice absent a superior non-USB 

source for comparison. 

The BDA-2 substantially reduces the grainy 

textures and wiry edginess that have marred 

the sound of massed strings on lesser USB 

DACs, but it does not entirely eliminate these 

stubborn artifacts. However, here is a case where 

the BDA-2’s specific strengths tilt the balance 

in favor of Bryston’s USB implementation, since 

its intrinsic balance is so self-effacing, refined, 

and relaxed, in contrast with, for instance, the 

D07-X’s more forward presentation. Upgrading 

the USB cable from the baseline Belkin Gold 

to the reference-grade WireWorld Platinum 

Starlight wrought obvious across-the-board 

improvements in purity, dynamic contrast, 

impact, and scale. All things considered, since 

the BDA-2’s USB performance mirrors that of 

far more expensive products both in character 

and degree, it merits a strong recommendation 

to anyone looking for a USB DAC. 

However, in order to unlock the full potential 

of the BDA-2, one must feed it from a superior 

source. In every conceivable parameter, the 

BDA-2’s performance took an unequivocal leap 

forward when connected to the SPDIF output of 

the ESI Juli@ sound card in my desktop PC. With 

the Juli@ card delivering the bits, the BDA-2 

sounded vibrant, rich, energetic, lithe, open, and 

engaging. In contrast, its presentation via USB 

sounded comparatively smaller, desaturated, 

muffled, and constrained, paralleling my 

experience with other premium DACs. Since 

I extolled the virtues of the ESI Juli@ in Issue 

213, there is no need to belabor this point, other 

than to confirm that USB audio still has a way to 

go before it can compete with this inexpensive 

sound card. 

Playback from optical disc players was 

also well-served by the BDA-2. As Alan Taffel 

observed in his review of the BDA-1, Bryston’s 

digital input circuitry exhibits less variation 

between SPDIF sources of varying quality 

than many DACs, and the BDA-2 continues 

this tradition. I use an admittedly off-the-wall 

technique to play high-resolution music from 

optical discs: feeding the HDMI output of an Oppo 

Blu-ray player into an HDCP-compliant “audio 

de-embedder” fitted with a standard SPDIF 

RCA output. (Non-intuitively, this arrangement 

sounds demonstrably better than the Oppo 

player’s SPDIF output!) Configuring the Oppo 

to decimate DSD to 88.2kHz PCM opened the 

door to the tantalizing prospect of utilizing an 

external DAC even for SACD playback. DSD 

purists may scoff at this approach, and indeed 

I used to prefer listening to SACDs decoded in 

their native DSD form via my previous Marantz 

disc players. But it’s imperative to keep an open 

mind and open ears. With the Oppo BDP-83, 

BDP-83SE, and BDP-93 I was surprised to find 

that I emphatically preferred the pitch stability, 

rhythmic precision, and solidity of SACDs when 

internally converted to PCM. 

The Bryston BDA-2 sounded delightful 

playing the 88.2kHz signal derived from SACDs, 

whether effortlessly revealing the subtle 

interplay among guitar, organ, and drums on 

The Wes Montgomery Trio’s essential October 

1959 Riverside recording or the complex 

dynamic shadings and meticulous rhythms 

of Paavo Jarvi’s captivating performance of 

Stravinsky’s A Soldier’s Tale [PentaTone]. 

Despite the “heretical” conversion of DSD to 

PCM by the Oppo player, the BDA-2’s timbral 

purity, relaxed fluidity, and refined ebullience 

dovetailed exquisitely with the virtues of SACD. 

As wonderful as the BDA-2 sounded with both 

the Oppo player and the ESI Juli@ sound card, 

its performance entered another realm entirely 

when playing music files from Bryston’s BDP-1 

Digital Player (reviewed in Issue 215). My initial 

reaction to this combination betrayed that 

dumbfounded sense of momentary confusion 

that accompanies first exposure to something 

defying expectation. Driven by this referencegrade 

digital source, the BDA-2 simply does 

not sound “digital.” It imposes none of the 

usual digital artifacts on the music: no grainy 

texturing, no edge, no glare, no smearing, 

no frequency-specific colorations, no level- 

dependent distortions of spatial perspective. 

The BDA-2 portrays instruments with vivid 

three-dimensional body, precise focus, and 

rich timbres, but in a natural and unforced 

manner. It is the first DAC in my experience 

to completely eliminate “peak shriek”—the 

unfortunate tendency for high-level transients 

to induce momentary dynamic instability, 

thereby imposing a sharp, shrill edginess during 

musical peaks. We have had to put up with 

this fatiguing digital artifact for so long now 

that hearing a product that finally banishes it 

from the listening room is cause for a rousing 

standing ovation. I spent hours indulging in this 

unique virtue of the BDA-2, delighting in the 

freedom to enjoy digital music at louder levels 

than with lesser DACs—tellingly, with the same 

abandon that I experience when listening to 

records played on my Goldmund turntable. 


Sample rates: 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4, 192kHz 

Frequency response: 20–20kHz +/-0.1dB 

Noise: -140 dB unweighted 

Output level: 4.6 volts balanced, 2.3 volts unbalanced 

Dimensions: 19" x 2.5" x 11.2" 


Price: $2395 

Bryston Ltd. 

677 Neal Drive 

Peterborough, Ontario 

Canada K9J 6X7 

(705) 742-5325, (800) 632-8217 

byston.com 



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EQUIPMENT review - Bryston BDA-2 Digital-to-Analog Converter 

Much of the BDA-2’s remarkable transparency 

must be due to its preternaturally low noise 

floor. Bryston cites a noise figure of -140dB, and 

turning my preamp volume control all the way 

up leaves no reason to doubt this claim. With 

electronic distortions reduced to vanishingly 

low levels, music blooms and decays with lifelike 

ease. This freedom from low-level interference 

is complemented by imperturbable handling 

of high-level crescendos, without overshoot 

or ringing. Listening to large-scale orchestral 

recordings through the BDA-2 is a revelation, as 

each instrument’s distinctive timbral signature 

is maintained without alteration throughout its 

full dynamic envelope. 

Accustomed as we have become to the 

digital artifacts that tend to add glare, grain, 

or brightness in the upper octaves, some 

listeners may at first wonder if the BDA-2 is 

lacking in high-frequency extension. A quick 

listen to a well-recorded jazz album with ample 

percussion, such as Manu Katché’s Third 

Round [ECM], will quickly confirm that the only 

thing missing from the BDA-2’s treble range 

is distortion. Every cymbal crash and delicate 

brush stroke shimmers and breathes with 

beguiling harmonic complexity and an open, 

airy, natural decay. 

Intriguingly, the BDA-2’s purity and 

“quietude” manifest in surprising, unexpected 

ways. On Santiago de Murcia’s Gaitas [Linn 

Records], William Carter’s baroque guitar was 

recorded in a large space, unfortunately shared 

with a particularly noisy air-circulation system. 

It is instructive to hear how the ambient 

sound of the room is conveyed by different 

components. The intrinsic “resolution floor” of 

many USB sources obscures much of the sound 

of the room, in a manner that is acoustically 

analogous to what happens visually when 

someone opens a door in a darkened movie 

theater, allowing light to spill onto the screen, 

obscuring shadow details with an amorphous, 

undifferentiated gray haze. Through Bryston’s 

BDP-1 and BDA-1, one can hear all manner of 

fluctuations in air pressure and reflections 

around the room, surrounding the small guitar. 

I was quite startled when I first played this 

track through the BDA-2, wondering, “Hey, 

where’s the noise” However, after a few 

seconds of acclimation, I found that the ambient 

room sound was simply being “decoded” in 

an entirely different manner, intermodulating 

less with the direct sound of the guitar. Put 

another way, the BDA-2 was doing such a 

superior job of reproducing both the guitar 

and the air conditioner as familiar, identifiable, 

distinct sound sources, that the brain could 

more easily isolate the “subject” from the 

“background,” and thus more effectively tune 

out the annoying air-conditioner noise, and 

focus on Carter’s exquisite playing—just as we 

do when listening to live music in real spaces 

with similar ambient background noise levels. 

I smiled with appreciative recognition at this 

realization, since it paralleled my experience 

hearing the legendary Goldmund Reference 

turntable in the mid-1980s. 

Most audio components tend to render the 

spatial dimensions of recordings with some 

degree of editorial perspective. For example, 

the Esoteric D-07X presents the listener with 

an upfront, immersive experience, emphasizing 

immediacy and expansive width. The Bryston 

BDA-1 opts for a seat farther back in the 

hall, with correspondingly reduced size, but 

appropriate scale. The dCS Debussy paints 

an altogether larger, more illuminated picture 

than the BDA-1, albeit one viewed through a 

scrim of ultra-fine mesh. In direct side-byside 

comparisons, I can easily understand why 

different listeners might prefer one of these 

interpretations over the others. 

Here again, the BDA-2 just doesn’t play 

by the same rules. I hear no intrinsic spatial 

characteristics whatsoever from this DAC. 

Instead of “throwing a soundstage” or 

“bringing the musicians into your room,” the 

BDA-2 does something quite unlike anything 

that I have ever heard before. It is as if the 

end of my listening room behind the plane of 

the speakers has been removed, leaving an 

open-air view into the recording venue itself, 

with life-sized proportions, scale, and volume. 

Perhaps paradoxically, this absence of spatial 

coloration does endow the BDA-2 with a 

distinctive perspective. Because instruments 

and performers are rendered with a much 

more realistic sense of distance than we are 

accustomed to hearing, the surrounding space 

logically extends far beyond the listening room 

boundaries, especially in depth. Some listeners 

might initially find the BDA-2 “laid-back” or 

“recessed”; it takes a little time to move past 

our preconceived categorical constraints, and 

embrace the paradigm shift implicit in the 

BDA-2’s radical advance in conveying spatial 

relationships. The sensation of being in the 

presence of live musicians is uncannily realistic, 

yet un-spectactularly natural. 

As thrilled as I was to explore these 

advancements in digital playback fidelity, 

I found that the crowning achievement of 

the Bryston BDA-2 can be described in the 

simplest of terms: It makes the best of every 

recording that you play through it. Late one 

night, I browsed through the BDP-1’s music 

library, and selected one of my “desert island” 

discs: the eponymous 1993 debut release from 

October Project. This album is a delectable pop 

confectionery that I will never be able to assess 

objectively, as it has a special place in my heart. 

Alas, its densely layered studio production 

can become murky during complex passages, 

and some tracks suffer from a dull tonal 

balance. As much as I love the music, I usually 

end up playing only a few songs at a time, 

frustrated by the sonic compromises. What an 

unadulterated joy, then, to finally surrender to 

this cherished album’s unabashedly romantic 

spell from beginning to end, enraptured by the 

BDA-2’s magical ability to allow the music to 

transcend the recording’s limitations. I have 

never enjoyed the music more, and have never 

heard more in the recording. I cannot think of 

higher praise, nor can I imagine living without 

the Bryston BDA-2. 


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Berkeley Audio Alpha DAC Series 2 

A Great DAC Gets Even Better 

Robert Harley 

Few products in my experience as a reviewer have offered as much value as the 

Berkeley Audio Alpha DAC. Although not inexpensive at $4995, the original 

Alpha DAC (reviewed in Issue 189) was nonetheless competitive with the best 

DACs available, regardless of price. Moreover, the Alpha DAC was tailor-made for 

playing high-resolution files because of its ability to accept a wide range of sampling 

frequencies and word lengths (up to 192kHz/24-bit), its capacity to drive a power 

amplifier directly, its remote volume control, and its front-panel HDCD indicator. 

This LED illuminates when playing an HDCD-encoded disc (or Reference Recordings’ 

HRx file), but only if the data are uncorrupted, providing a sure-fire way of assuring 

that your music server is “bit transparent.” (If the HDCD LED illuminates, the DAC 

is receiving a datastream that is bit-for-bit identical to the source.) The release of 

Berkeley’s Alpha USB interface, which converts a computer’s USB output to AES/ 

EBU (or coax S/PDIF), further increased the Alpha DAC’s appeal (see my review of 

the Alpha USB in Issue 214). 

The Alpha DAC was not only functional and 

capable; it was also fabulous-sounding on both 

CD and high-res material. In fact, I’ve had one in 

my rack since I reviewed the product way back in 

Issue 189. The Alpha DAC has been at the front end 

of some of the world’s best preamplifiers, power 

amplifiers, and loudspeakers, and never have I felt 

that it was the system’s weak link. Instead, I’ve 

always thought that the Alpha DAC allowed me to 

hear these reference-grade components at their 

finest. 

Now Berkeley has released an upgraded version, 

called the Alpha DAC Series 2. Admirably, the 

price remains the same despite some of the new 

parts costing ten times more than the parts they 

replace. For those of you who choose a black front 

panel, the price has actually dropped from $5095 

to $4995 (there is no longer a $100 premium for 

the black cosmetics). Units that were shipped from 

Berkeley after June 2011 can be upgraded to Series 

2 for $350 plus shipping. Units made before that 

date cannot be upgraded. The Series 2 looks and 

operates identically to the original; the difference 

is purely in parts and the circuit refinements that 

Berkeley discovered in the three years since the 

original’s launch. These include new clocking 

circuits and increased isolation between the digital 

and analog sections. 


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EQUIPMENT review - Berkeley Audio Alpha DAC Series 2 

In playback, the Series 2 sounds very much 

like the original, with tremendous resolution 

of low-level detail, great transparency, 

freedom from timbral grain, a treble that is 

simultaneously smooth and resolving, and 

absolutely stunning dynamics. The Series 

2, however, is significantly better in several 

key areas, most notably transparency, 

soundstaging, timbral liquidity, ease, 

refinement, and resolution. 

The Series 2 exhibits a considerably more 

open and transparent presentation, with a 

greater sense of air surrounding images in the 


Input sampling rates: 32kHz–192kHz 

Input word length: Up to 24-bit 

Digital inputs: AES/EBU on XLR jack, SPDIF on BNC, 

optical on TosLink, BADA-encrypted RJ-45 

Analog outputs: Balanced on XLR jacks, unbalanced 

on RCA jacks 

Digital filtering: Multiple options 

Analog output level: Variable in 0.1dB steps; Channel 

balance adjustment in 0.05dB steps 

Dimensions: 16.5” x 1.75” x 10.4” (19” rack-mount 

option) 

Warranty: Three years parts and labor 


Price: $4995 

Berkeley Audio Design, LLC 

(510) 277-0512 

berkeleyaudiodesign.com 


soundstage. The overall spatial perspective is 

slightly laid-back compared with the original 

DAC, perhaps the result of greater bloom 

around images and increased soundstage 

depth. Instrumental and vocal images sound 

less dry and closed-in, and their decays seem 

to hang in space longer. The impression of 

precisely defined instruments existing in 

three-dimensional space is significantly 

improved in the Series 2. 

In addition, timbres through the Series 2 

are smoother, more liquid, and more refined. 

By contrast, the original DAC sounds a bit 

hard. Through the Series 2 massed strings are 

noticeably richer and more velvety in texture, 

with a more organic quality. The flugelhorn on 

a jazz quintet album I engineered has a purity 

and ease that are extremely lifelike. This 

increased bloom and timbral liquidity combine 

to produce a greater sense of relaxation and 

involvement. 

The treble is equally improved, with 

more finely filigreed resolution and greater 

refinement to go along with smoother textures. 

The top end is more “delicate,” not in the sense 

of greater fragility or less energy, but rather in 

its greatly increased finesse. Treble textures 

are finer and more intricate, which gives the 

entire presentation a more sophisticated and 

nuanced character. 

The Series 2 presents more information, 

but that information is, as noted, presented 

with increased ease. That is, the additional 

resolution doesn’t tilt the overall sound toward 

the analytical, but rather toward the subtle 

and refined. This greater resolution conveys 

a heightened impression of the mechanism by 

which an instrument creates sound, fostering 

a greater sense of realism. For example, on 

drummer Joe Morello’s Morello Standard Time, 

a rim shot that sounded like a transient event 

on the original DAC is more clearly defined 

by the Series 2 as a drum stick impacting the 

snare drum’s rim. Listen also to how you can 

hear the rim shot’s decay separate from the 

rest of the mix—and follow it way down in level. 

Note that I use this example to illustrate the 

Series 2’s superior resolving power, not that I 

listen to such things when enjoying music. But 

it’s these kinds of sonic characteristics that 

you don’t notice overtly which contribute to 

realism and listener involvement. 

The Series 2’s improved resolution 

combines synergistically with its significantly 

better transparency, allowing me to hear fine 

details toward the back of the mix. The whole 

presentation is lighter, airier, and more open, 

with a soundstage infused with a sense of 

transparent space. 

Bass weight and bottom-end dynamics are 

very similar in these two DACs, but the nod 

goes to the Series 2 for its increased density 

of tone color in the bottom end. Acoustic bass 

is reproduced with slightly greater warmth and 

richness, coupled with a bit more definition 

and rhythmic agility. The original DAC had a 

slightly “looser” bottom end, with perhaps 

more weight but less definition. 

The original Alpha DAC was a groundbreaking 

product, both in absolute performance and in 

its spectacular value. The Alpha DAC Series 

2 is considerably better, and in musically 

significant ways. Berkeley Audio Design could 

have called the Series 2 a “Signature” edition, 

or even created a new model designation and 

commanded a higher price. That it improved 

the product so much yet kept the price the 

same says a lot about the company. 

The Alpha DAC Series 2 would have received 

my highest recommendation had it cost 

$15,000. (Yes, it sounds that good.) That it 

sells for $4995 qualifies as a minor miracle. 


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dCS Debussy DAC 

A Budget dCS 

Alan Taffel 

In 2003, Bentley Motors shocked the automotive world by introducing the 

Continental GT. Until then, acquiring one of Bentley’s bespoke motorcars 

would set the purchaser back several hundred thousand dollars. But the Continental 

GT cut in half the price of entry into those rarified ranks. Initial skepticism 

was short-lived; one look at the car’s sumptuous interior and prospective buyers knew 

they were in the presence of a true Bentley. The GT became an instant success, neatly 

illustrating that value has appeal even at extravagant price points. 

Now comes the Debussy DAC from dCS, the 

digital specialist whose products are every 

bit as top-shelf—and pricey—as those of its 

fellow Brits at Bentley. Prior to the Debussy’s 

arrival, owning an “entry-level” dCS DAC was 

an $18,000 to $24,000 proposition. The new 

model, which carries an $11,000 price tag, 

aims to be dCS’ Continental GT. 

Of course, while eleven grand may break new 

ground for dCS, it’s still a lot of dough for a 

DAC. Still, no realistic consumer would expect 

dCS gear (or Bentleys) ever to be downright 

cheap. The real question is whether the 

Debussy measures up to dCS standards and, 

in so doing, confers true value to its buyers. To 

find out, we need to pop the hood. 

There is a reason dCS products are 

expensive. While a Bentley is characterized by 

luxurious, hand-crafted materials, dCS gear is 

crammed full of costly DSP chips, hybrid power 

supplies, discrete clocks, and gate arrays. 

Custom software harnesses this powerful 

coterie to execute a complex digital dance that 

comprises multiple stages of synchronous 

upsampling, conversion to dCS’ proprietary 

5-bit format, and finally processing by the 

firm’s lauded Ring DAC, with a choice of inhouse 

programmed filters on the side. 

One might think a “budget” dCS would 

employ fewer custom parts and more off-theshelf 

hardware and software. But that approach 

would not result in a true dCS, any more than 

badge-engineering a VW would yield a Bentley. 

Indeed, the more one examines the Debussy’s 

innards, the more one comes away wondering 

how it can be sold at its price. Consider: The 

Debussy includes the exact same control 

board—responsible for everything from power 

delivery, I/O, upsampling, clocking, and format 

conversion—as the universally acclaimed 

Paganini and Scarlatti models. Its Ring DAC 

and fully balanced Class A output stage, both 

discrete modules, are identical to those in 

the Debussy’s expensive siblings, as are the 

software-based digital filters. 

Nor did dCS skimp on features. Again, one 

might reasonably expect a loss of connection 

flexibility, but the Debussy will handle an RCA, 

BNC, and a pair of AES sources. (As usual, the 

BNC input was the best sounding.) Further, 

there are both single-ended and balanced 

outputs. Other welcome ingredients include a 

front-panel sample-rate display, the ability to 

accommodate an external word clock, and the 

world’s heaviest remote control. 

All this would be sufficient to justify excitement 

about the Debussy’s debut, but dCS ups 

the value equation considerably with the inclusion 

of a USB port. An easy, inexpensive addon, 

you say Not in this case. Elsewhere in the 

dCS line, adding a USB interface requires an 

entirely separate (and dearly priced) box (the 

$4999 U-Clock). The Debussy is the company’s 

first and only product to incorporate both the 

Ring DAC and USB in one box. Furthermore, 

this is no ordinary USB interface. It’s good up 

to 96/24, and is of the asynchronous variety, 

which allows the DAC rather than the PC to control 

timing, resulting in far less jitter. This port 

is the icing on the Debussy cake. 

So where, exactly, does the dCS newcomer 

cut corners Mostly in areas that do not affect 

the sound. Much was saved, I am told, through 

the exclusion of an alphanumeric front-panel 

display. In its place are a series of LEDs that 

indicate input and filter selection, sampling 

rate, and volume when the Debussy is used as 

a linestage (more on this later). Personally, I 

found the LED array perfectly serviceable. 

Another limitation: The Debussy has only two 

filter options, whereas higher models offer 


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EQUIPMENT review - dCS Debussy DAC 

more. This is another non-issue as far as 

I’m concerned; I was perfectly content with 

the recently released apodising filter, which 

I found significantly more natural than the 

standard version. In any case, future filters 

that dCS deems superior will be downloadable. 

One final omission was upsampling to DSD—a 

feature that impressed me mightily at the 2010 

CES. This particular exclusion did disappoint 

me, and I’m still lobbying dCS to find a way to 

include it in the Debussy. Call me greedy. 

Ultimately, of course, a car is judged by a 

test drive and an audio component is judged 

by listening (unless you’re Julian Hirsch). 

So, does the Debussy’s advanced and costly 

componentry deliver the sonic goods I won’t 

mince words: The Debussy is flat out fabulous. 

Let me count the ways. 

This is not the first DAC I have reviewed that 

employs an elaborate processing scheme. 

For the most part, I have been unhappy with 

such units. The behind-the-scenes frenzy 

of digital calculating seems to find its way 

into the listening experience. That is, such 

DACs sound like they’re working hard, which 

prevents the listener from relaxing into the 

music. DCS knows of and is careful to avoid 

this phenomenon. The company uses more 

processors (oops, there goes the cost curve) 

so that each is taxed less. This explains, for 

example, why upsampling is performed in 

stages rather than all at once. Perhaps it 

also accounts for the fact that, despite all 

the binary manipulations taking place, the 

Debussy sounds unfailingly natural. Music 

winds out of this DAC like thread from a spool. 

In virtually every way, the Debussy sounds 

terrific. Dynamics, depth, and detail are 

present in copious quantities. If the music 

so beckons, this DAC’s tone is as ravishing 

as long, lustrous hair. Indeed, early in my 

time with the Debussy I identified a certain 

pervasive smoothness that was fine for some 

source material, but inconsistent with the 

more ragged elements of my CD collection (e.g. 

the MFSL remaster of the Pixies’ wonderfully 

raw Doolittle). However, inserting some good 

cones underneath the chassis completely 

extinguished this minor coloration. So I settled 

down to some serious listening. 

“On the Beach at Night Alone,” from Ralph 

Vaughn Williams’ choral Sea Symphony 

(Telarc) is an enthralling piece that whisks 

the listener on a journey from the solitude of 

one man’s thoughts to the “vast similitude” 

of the cosmos. I listened to this piece through 

the Debussy feeling that it could hardly be 

more engrossing. The DAC’s sheer quantity 

of spatial, dynamic, and musical information 

added up to an all-encompassing, emotionally 

shattering experience. 

By comparison, my Bryston BDA-1 reference 

DAC (a Golden Ear recipient, mind you) 

seemed restrained. The chorus lacked highend 

extension, sounding almost muted. Dynamics 

were still excellent, yet the Bryston 

could not achieve the cataclysmic climax delivered 

by the dCS. Bass was nowhere near as 

thunderous. Finally, the Bryston buried some 

instruments in the mix, whereas the Debussy 

would never subject any player to such ignominy. 

In this respect, having a Debussy is like 

buying a new analog front end; in both cases 

you get to discover previously buried treasure 

within familiar tracks. 

On smaller scale works, like the Stravinsky 

Suite from l’Histoire du Soldat (Pentatone), 

the gap between the dCS and the Bryston narrowed. 

Neither held an advantage with respect 

to pacing, and instrumental timbres were virtually 

indistinguishable. Still, the Debussy delivers 

more detail—you can hear the hall reverb 

far more clearly right from the first note—and 

a deeper stage. And the Debussy not only unearths 

every musical line; it makes following all 

those lines concurrently an effortless task. Ivor 

Tiefenbrun would be well pleased with this DAC. 

I should reiterate here that the Bryston to 

which I compared the Debussy is an excellent 

DAC, and at $1999 represents a different sort 

of value. The above contrasts are not intended 

to denigrate the BDA-1, but to convey just how 

good the Debussy is compared to “run of the 

mill” reference gear. 

dCS Debussy DAC 

Inputs: Digital USB, RCA, AES/EBU (2), BNC, 

WORDCLOCK 

Outputs: Analog balanced XLR and single-ended 

RCA, 2V or 6V user-selectable 

Maximum resolution: 192/24 (S/PDIF), 96/24 (USB) 

Dimensions: 17.6" x 2.6" x 15.5" 


U.S. 

Price: $10,999 


dCS North America 

John Quick 

(617) 314-9296 

jquick@dcsltd.co.uk 

www.dcsltd.co.uk 

CLICK HERE TO COMMENT IN THE FORUM at avguide.com 


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AudioQuest DragonFly USB DAC 

A Little Thing That Counts 

Robert Harley 

The high-end industry has long 

lamented its inability to appeal to 

regular folks who just like to listen to 

music. Part of the problem has been that we 

expect the would-be audiophile to make the 

giant leap from mass-market audio into our 

often-esoteric world. Being an audiophile 

often requires a lifestyle change, such as 

allowing the audio system to dominate the 

living room. 

What the high end needs is a “bridge” product 

that brings our aesthetic to the ways in which 

ordinary people already enjoy music. Such a 

product would be affordable and require no 

special setup or change in living arrangements, 

yet deliver a far better listening experience 

than mass-market gear. It would be a “stealth” 

product in that everything about it appears 

normal save for the sound quality. 

I can’t imagine a better realization of that 

ideal that AudioQuest’s new DragonFly USB 

DAC. This $249 unit has the form-factor of the 

ubiquitous USB memory stick; just plug it into 

a computer and connect headphones or a linelevel 

interconnect to the 3.5mm stereo minijack. 

It can function as a USB DAC, headphone 

amplifier, or DAC and preamplifier when driving 

a power amplifier directly. So far so good for 

our non-audiophile listener. But the DragonFly 

wouldn’t be special if low price, cool form-factor, 

versatility, and ease of use were its only claims 

to fame. Fortunately, the unit is brimming with 

high-end parts and design techniques that 

reflect a real effort by its designers to deliver 

great sound (more on this later). 

Setting up the DragonFly requires entering 

a couple of menus (Mac or PC) to tell the 

computer that audio output should be through 

the DragonFly. Although not as simple to set up 

as a true UPnP (Universal Plug ’n’ Play) device 

that configures itself with no user intervention, 

installing the DragonFly requires no software 

downloads. 

Once it is set up, operation is very cool. The 

dragonfly graphic lights up in different colors to 

indicate the sampling frequency it is receiving— 

blue for 44.1kHz, green for 48kHz, amber for 

88.2kHz, and magenta for 96kHz. 

The high-end parts and design I mentioned 

include the acclaimed ESS Sabre DAC that 

incorporates a novel (and patented) technique 

for greatly reducing clock jitter where it 

matters. Many high-end DACs and disc players 

use this same chip. To provide even more stable 

clocking and lower jitter, the DragonFly employs 

dual master clocks, one for the 44.1kHz family 

of frequencies (44.1kHz, 88.2kHz) and one for 

the 48kHz family (48kHz, 96kHz). If you play 

files of a higher sampling frequency (176.4kHz 

or 192kHz), the DragonFly tells the computer 

what frequencies it can decode so that the 

computer can downsample the data. Note 

that you can also downsample 176.4kHz and 

192kHz in a program such as Pure Music, which 

is a sonically superior solution to the computer 

performing the downsampling. 

Despite its low price, the DragonFly’s USB 

interface is asynchronous. This means that 

the DragonFly is not forced to lock to the 

computer’s clock. Instead, it uses its own onboard 

precision clock as the timing reference for 

digital-to-analog conversion, reducing sonically 

degrading jitter. DragonFly’s asynchronous 

USB interface runs the same code found in 

multi-thousand-dollar DACs. In today’s world, 

any USB interface that is not asynchronous is 

a non-starter. 

Rather than allow iTunes or another musicplayer 

program to adjust the volume in the 

digital domain (which reduces resolution), the 

DragonFly features a 64-step analog volume 

control. The volume slider in iTunes (or a 

keyboard’s volume up/down buttons) merely 

sends volume data to the DragonFly which 

implements the volume change in the analog 

domain. This is a better-sounding solution in 

part because digital-domain volume control 

reduces resolution by one bit for every 6dB of 

attenuation. The volume control comes into play 

when driving a power amplifier, headphones, 

or powered desktop speakers. Those of you 

who use the DragonFly with a preamplifier 

will set the volume at maximum (indeed, you 

should bypass all DSP so that that data remain 

unchanged) and set the playback volume with 

the preamplifier. DragonFly’s output level for 

full-scale digital signals is 2V, the same as any 

full-sized DAC or disc player. 

This is an impressive list of high-end design 

features. How the designers packed all of them 

into a device that weighs three-quarters of an 

ounce is beyond me. 

I listened to the DragonFly in my reference 

system driving a Rowland Corus preamplifier 

through an AudioQuest Angel 3.5mm miniplug-to-RCA 

interconnect. Although many 

listeners will use the DragonFly with a laptop 

and headphones or as part of a desktop-audio 

system with powered speakers, I figured that 

putting it at the front end of a system that 

included the $108k plasma-tweetered Lansche 

No.7 loudspeakers would be the acid test. 

Upon first listen, the DragonFly sounded 

remarkably relaxed, musical, and engaging. The 

overall tonal balance was just right—weighty in 

the bass and midbass without sounding thick, 

fairly smooth in the midband, with a treble 

that combined openness, extension, detail, 

and a real sense of ease. Frankly, for a $249 

DAC I was expecting a thinner tonal balance 

along with a hard metallic-sounding treble that 

sounded bright without any sense of air and 

openness. This kind of presentation would not 

be out of place even in a $1000 DAC. 

The more I listened to the DragonFly the 

greater my appreciation grew for just how 

well it does its job of communicating the 

music. It struck me that it gets the gestalt 


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EQUIPMENT review - AudioQuest DragonFly USB DAC 

of musical involvement right. The sonic 

tradeoffs necessary in such a budget product 

have been cunningly balanced to deliver a 

surprisingly engaging listening experience. 

It finally occurred to me that what makes the 

DragonFly so enjoyable is that this DAC hits it 

out of the ballpark when it comes to music’s 

dynamics, timing, and pace. Music reproduced 

through the DragonFly is upbeat, exciting, and 

involving, with a propulsive quality. Listen to a 

great rhythm section like the one behind Koko 

Taylor on “Can’t Let Go” from the HDtracks 

96kHz download sampler and you’ll experience 

the full measure of this band’s upbeat energy 

and drive. Or the powerful blues grooves of 

Robben Ford, Roscoe Beck, and Tom Brechtlein 

on Robben Ford and the Blue Line’s Handful 

of Blues. It wasn’t that the Dragonfly had the 

greatest slam, tightest bass, or most dynamic 

impact I’ve heard from digital. Far from it. 

Rather, the Dragonfly just had some sort of 

sonic alchemy that conveyed music’s rhythm 

and drive in a way that made me forget about 

sonic dissection and just have fun. I can easily 

imagine someone whose frame of reference is 

an iPod or soundcard in the computer hearing 

the DragonFly and being completely blown 

away. It’s exactly that experience that turns 

everyday music listeners into quality-conscious 

music listeners. 

Conclusion 

AudioQuest’s $249 DragonFly USB DAC is 

brilliant in every respect: form factor, cool 

factor, versatility, value, and sound quality. 

I can’t think of a product that makes highend 

sound more accessible to more people. 

Want better sound Here, plug this into your 

computer. Done. 

I don’t know if this was by accident or design, 

but the DragonFly hits just the right sonic 

buttons for fostering musical engagement. 

It’s not the last word in timbral liquidity or 

soundstage depth, but it has a remarkable 

sense of ease and engagement. In addition, 

the DragonFly’s exceptional ability to convey 

music’s rhythm, pulse, and flow is key to its 

powerful musical appeal. 

Although you wouldn’t mistake the 

DragonFly’s sound for that of a Berkeley Alpha 

DAC, that’s not the point; most DragonFly 

customers would think that spending $5000 

for a DAC is completely insane. The DragonFly’s 

genius is bringing the technologies, musical 

passion, and aesthetic of high-end audio to a 

product that all who love music can afford—and 

one that easily fits into the way they already 

access music. 


Type: Asynchronous USB 

DAC 

Output: Stereo 3.5mm 

mini jack 

Output level: Variable (2V 

at full scale) 

Sampling frequencies 

supported: 44.1kHz, 

48kHz, 88.2kHz, 96kHz 

Dimensions: 2.5" x .75" 

by ..4" 

Weight: 0.77 ounces 

Price: $249 

AUDIOQUEST 

2621 White Road 

Irvine, CA 92614 

(949) 585-0111 

audioquest.com 



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Micromega MyDAC USB DAC 

The $399 Miracle 

Robert Harley 

The term “USB DAC” is starting to 

become redundant the way “cell 

phone,” “digital camera,” and “flatpanel 

television” are anachronisms to one 

generation and “ink pen” is to those of us 

two (or more) generations further removed. 

Those under twenty years old may never 

have been in the market for a DAC that 

didn’t offer a USB input, just as they may 

never have bought a film camera or a CRT 

television. But to the more, shall we say 

“seasoned” music lovers, USB is a newfangled 

contraption. 

As USB DACs (er, DACs) proliferate prices 

have come way down, performance has gone 

way up, and products have gotten smaller. This 

welcome trend is exemplified by the new $399 

MyDAC from Micromega. The French company 

has a long history in digital audio, pioneering 

several cutting-edge products back in the early 

1990s. Now with founder Daniel Schar back in 

the designer's chair, Micromega is again on a 

roll, producing an outstanding integrated amp/ 

DAC with wireless streaming (the AS-400 

reviewed by Neil Gader in Issue 222) among 

other forward-looking items. The new MyDAC 

represents by far the lowest-priced component 

the company has yet marketed, and is one of a 

full line of entry-level products. 

MyDAC looks very much like an Apple AirPort 

Extreme (not by coincidence, I presume), with 

its white plastic chassis (black is available) and 

5.5" nearly square and 1.4" high form factor. 

A front-panel wheel, reminiscent of the tuning 

wheel on 1970s-era Marantz tuners, selects 

between the S/PDIF coaxial, TosLink optical, 

and USB inputs. An LED associated with each 

input blinks when that input is selected but not 

locked to the source. The LED turns solid when 

lock is achieved. Output is via a single stereo 

pair of RCA jacks. While many products of this 

size employ a wall-wart power supply, MyDAC’s 

power supply is inside the chassis. An AC cord 

plugs into a small socket on the rear panel. 

In Standby, MyDAC consumes only 100mW of 

power. 

We’re right at the transition point when the 

USB interface is able to pass audio data with 

sampling frequencies higher than 96kHz— 

some products already have this capability. 

Surprisingly, so does MyDAC; it can be driven 

natively with sampling frequencies up to 

192kHz with 24-bit resolution. Moreover, 

MyDAC’s USB interface is asynchronous for 

lower jitter and better sound. Other technical 

details include dual master clocks, one for 

the 44.1kHz family of frequencies (44.1kHz, 

88.2kHz, and 176.4kHz) and the other for the 

48kHz family of frequencies (48kHz, 96kHz, 

192kHz). 

For Mac users, MyDAC requires no drivers or 

downloads. PC users need to download a driver 

from the Micromega Web site. I connected 

MyDAC to a Mac with no problems, and 

operation was simple. The only minor glitch 

was a faint high-pitched whistle emanating 

from the unit itself (not from the audio output) 

when the unit was turned on. This whistle was 

only audible when no music was playing and I 

was standing next to the unit. 

Listening 

It’s often said that the true test of high-end 

design talent is how much sound-quality the 

designer can squeeze out of the slimmest of 

parts-budgets. If that’s the measure, then 

designer Daniel Schar is a genius. MyDAC 

knocks it out of the ballpark sonically, with 

spaciousness, bloom, ease, smoothness, and 

resolution that are good by any standard, but 

unbelievable from a $399 product. 

The main sonic quality that distinguishes 

MyDAC from the competition and makes 

it so musically compelling is its threedimensionality. 

Inexpensive digital usually has 

a flat sound, with instruments sounding like 

cardboard cutouts stuck to one another on a 

flat soundstage. MyDAC somehow avoids this, 

instead conveying a real sense of body with 

instruments and a wonderful bloom around 

instrumental outlines, all presented within 

a spacious and well-defined soundstage. 

Although tonal balance and purity of timbre 

are very high sonic priorities, the ability to 

foster the impression of instruments in real 

space goes a long way toward musical realism. 

In this regard, MyDAC sounds like it should cost 

quite a bit more money. 

MyDAC is also exceptionally clean and 

smooth in timbre, with very little grain and only 

a hint of hardness in the treble. Strings lack the 

steely edge often heard at this price level, and 

cymbals have a delicacy that you just don’t 

get from entry-level digital. These qualities, 

combined with spaciousness and bloom, make 

MyDAC easygoing, pleasant, and non-fatiguing. 

The bass is well defined and fairly deep, 

but this is the area in which MyDAC’s budget 

orientation is revealed. The bottom end is full 

and satisfying, but not the overachievement 

that MyDAC’s soundstaging, bloom, and 

timbral liquidity are. Bass lines aren’t 


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EQUIPMENT review - Micromega MyDAC USB DAC 

precisely defined, sounding just a bit soft and 

compressed. It seems churlish to criticize a 

product because in one respect it’s not quite up 

to the lofty standards that it sets everywhere 

else. Nonetheless, I would be remiss in not 

mentioning it. 

Compared with the $249 AudioQuest 

DragonFly I reviewed in our last issue, the 

Micromega is smoother and more dimensional, 

but the DragonFly has a little tighter bass 

and is a bit more incisive rhythmically. The 

Micromega is more refined and resolved, 

sounding like a much more expensive product 

than it is. Although these products are very 

different functionally and don’t directly 

compete with each other—the AudioQuest is 

portable, has a volume control, and can drive 

headphones or powered speakers directly—the 

sonic comparison shows just how good entrylevel 

digital can sound nowadays. 

To give you an idea of how exceptional the 

Micromega is I’ll relate an incident. I turned on 

my music server to listen to music after having 

done some comparisons the night before 

between MyDAC and the $4999 Berkeley 

Alpha DAC Series 2, which I’ve used as a 

reference for many years. I sat down and began 

listening, marveling at how good the sound was 

through the Magico Q7. After about 15 minutes 

I happened to look at the display on the Jeff 

Rowland Corus preamplifier and realized that I 

had been listening to the Micromega and not the 

Berkeley. This isn’t to say that the two are equal 

by any means; the Alpha DAC is considerably 

more spacious and dynamic, better resolved, 

and purer in timbre, with much deeper and 

fuller bass. But the ability to enjoy the music, 

and to consciously think about how good the 

system sounded, without realizing that MyDAC 

was at the front of the chain speaks volumes 

about this little product’s amazing value. 

Conclusion 

Every so often in high-end audio a product 

comes along that shatters the price-toperformance 

ratio we’ve come to expect in a 

category. Think of the NAD 3020 integrated 

amplifier in the 1970s, the Adcom GFA 

amplifier in the 1980s, the PSB Alpha speaker 

in the 1990s, and the Cambridge Audio 840C 

CD player in the 2000s. You can add another 

future legend to that list: the $399 Micromega 

MyDAC. 

It’s worth an audition even if you were 

planning on spending quite a bit more. You might 

find, as I did, that this level of performance for 

four-hundred dollars qualifies as a miracle. 


Inputs: USB, TosLink, S/ 

PDIF on RCA jack 

Resolution supported: 

32kHz–192kHz, up to 24 

bits (USB and S/PDIF 

inputs) 

Output level: 2V 


x 5.5" 

Weight: 300 grams 

Price: $399 

Audio Plus 

Services 

156 Lawrence Paquette 

Industrial Drive 

Champlain, NY 12919 

(800) 663- 9352 

audioplusservices.com 

micromega-hifi.com 



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Four DACs from $699 to $3600 

Channel Islands Transient Mk II, Lindemann USB-DAC 

192/24, NuForce DAC-100, Synergistic Music Cable DAC 

Steven Stone 

When the first DACs (digital-to-analog converters) appeared in 1985 they were big and 

expensive. Sony’s first DAC, the Sony DAS-702ES, weighed over 11kg and was built to 

last a lifetime. Too bad the technology inside the DAS-702ES remained cutting-edge 

for less than a year. Digital technology has continued to march forward, evolving and improving 

to the point where the early “Perfect Sound Forever” digital components sound pretty groady 

by today’s standards. 

While I wouldn’t be so rash as to state that 

any new DAC will sound better than even the 

most expensive ten-year-old model, it’s not uncommon 

or surprising to find that many owners 

of older kilo-buck DACs are “trading up” to 

far less expensive DACs that provide superior 

performance compared to their outdated units. 

Combined with a computer-audio music library 

a USB-capable DAC can deliver a level of performance 

that a scant few years ago was available 

to only to a few of the very-well-heeled. 

Here are four DACs, ranging in price from 

$699 to $3600, that offer better performance 

than you could obtain at anywhere near their 

prices just a few years ago. All represent the 

current state of DAC manufacturing and design. 

And regardless of their price points, they 

all attempt to optimize their listeners’ musical 

experience. 

Channel Island Audio Transient 

Mark II USB Converter and DAC ($699) 

The first DAC in our survey is from Channel 

Islands Audio. This small enthusiast-focused 

company specializes in high-value, made-inthe-U.S. 

audio components. Opened in 1997 

and located on the central California coast in 

the town of Port Hueneme, Channel Islands Audio 

may be best known for its low-noise aftermarket 

power supplies for the Logitech Touch 

and SB3, but it also makes power amplifiers, 

preamps, DACs, and headphone amplifiers. 

When I asked Dusty Vawter, chief designer 

at Channel Islands, whether the new Transient 

Mark II was principally a USB converter or a 

DAC, he told me, “I see it as a USB audio multitool. 

Its strength begins with the XM-2A board, 

making it a state-of-the-art USB to S/PDIF or 

I 2 S converter. We wanted a product that could 

be totally portable and provide the industrystandard 

2V analog output. After testing the 

available DAC ICs, we chose the Wolfson for its 

musicality. We’ve surrounded this circuit with 

very high-grade parts from Nichicon, MUSE, 

Takman, Vishay, and Wima.” 

Like the other audio components from 

CIA, the Transient Mark II exterior is simple 

and lacks the kind of cosmetic frills, such as 

1/2"-thick front panels, that increase a component’s 

cost without adding to its sonic performance. 

The front panel has six blue LED lights 

that indicate the current sampling-frequency 

and two buttons to control the volume. That’s 

it. Since there’s only one input there’s no need 

for an input selector, and all outputs are always 

active. 

The rear panel of the Transient has a USB input, 

one pair of single-ended RCA analog outputs, 

a BNC-terminated S/PDIF output, two I 2 S 

outputs (one HDMI and one five-pin mini-DIN), 

and a 5-volt DC power input for the optional 

VDC-5 Mk II high-current power supply. 

The Transient II’s volume is adjusted via a 

digital control. According to Vawter, “a side 

benefit to the Wolfson DAC IC is that it has a 

24-bit digital volume, which can be accessed in 

software mode. In that we already required a 

micro-controller to run the sample-rate indicators, 

it made sense to make use of the builtin 

volume control. The high-resolution control 

works very well and doesn’t have the L-R tracking 

error of potentiometers.” 

Starting with the very well regarded Wolfson 

DAC and XMOS chipset as the basis for its design, 

Channel Islands added its own ideas to 

the mix. “We developed our own USB-to-I 2 S 

board utilizing the XMOS processor. Our XM- 

2A daughter board uses a compact four-layer 


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EQUIPMENT review - Four DACs from $699 to $3600 

PCB and dual ultra-low-jitter (



VDC-5 Mk II high-current power supply. While I 

didn’t detect any improvement or sonic changes 

in the S/PDIF or I 2 S streams when I installed 

the VDC-5 Mk II, I did hear an improvement in 

the quality of the Transient II’s analog outputs. 

Dynamic contrast improved with greater image 

stability and focus. According to Dusty Vawter, 

whether the VDC-5 Mk II makes a sonic difference 

will depend on a number of factors, such 

as the noise generated by your computer’s 

video card and the noise on the USB connection. 

With some portable computers running on 

their battery supply the VDC -5 Mk II will make 

no sonic improvements. But if you run them 

plugged into AC, the VDC-5 Mk II will reduce 

the noise coming from the USB power supply. 

Given the VDC-5 Mk II’s cost, I would strongly 

suggest trying it out on your own system since 

it may not be the most cost-effective upgrade 

for the Transient II, especially if you are using 

the Transient II primarily as a USB-to-S/ 

PDIF bridge. If you have an I 2 S-compliant DAC 

I would recommend investing in a high-quality 

HDMI-type cable before springing for the VDC- 

5 Mk II power-supply upgrade. 

My Transient Response 

To say I was impressed by the Transient II’s 

combination of modest price and excellent sonics 

is something of an understatement. If you 

are contemplating spending $700 or more for a 

USB-to-S/PDIF converter, you should consider 

the Channel Islands Audio Transient II. For a 

reasonable price it lets you keep up with the 

current state of USB 2.0-compliant audio, even 

if your DAC lacks USB capabilities. And while 

we wait for the next wave of products with USB 

3.0 compliance, the Transient II will keep your 

music flowing beautifully. 

Lindemann USB-DAC 24/192 Converter 

and DAC ($1100) 

The second DAC in this survey comes from 

Lindeman. Although in business for more than 

twenty years, Lindemann is a relative newcomer 

to the United States. Now distributed by One 

World Audio, this German company, formed by 

Norbert Lindemann, opened its doors in 1992. 

In 1999 Lindemann introduced the first upsampling 

CD player, and in 2002 the first Germanmanufactured 

SACD player. Releasing leadingedge 

digital products is nothing new for Lindemann, 

and its latest USB DAC is no exception. 

Understatement in physical design is a 

hallmark of Lindeman products. The Lindeman 

USB DAC is a small 1-1/2" by 4-3/4" by 

5" silver-tone box with a single circular pushbutton 

on the front. The rear panel has inputs 

for USB, TosLink, and S/PDIF, one pair of RCA 

single-ended outputs, and a power-supply connection. 

That’s it. The only user adjustment is 

the source-selector button on the front. And 

while the Lindemann USB-DAC 24/192 may appear, 

at least from the outside, to be a modest 

entry-level offering, inside it’s packed with Lindemann’s 

current thinking on state-of-the-art 

digital technology. The USB interface is based 

on the XMOS DSP chip, and offers asynchronous 

“bit-transparent” resolution up to 192/24. 

The digital interface controller is the Wolfson 

WM8805, and the DAC chipset is the Wolfson 

WM8742. According to Lindemann’s published 

specifications, the USB DAC 24/192’s internal 

master clock produces less than 2.5 picoseconds 

of timing errors. The USB 24/192 also 

uses a “minimum phase” digital filter with an 

“apodizing” filter to reduce phase, timing, and 

group-delay issues. 

For jitter reduction the 24/192 features an 

active jitter-reduction scheme that employs 

a digital PLL (phase locked loop) and memory 

buffering of the digital stream. According to 

Lindemann, “The remaining jitter of the signal 

(not the clock!) is below 50 picoseconds.” 

Although the analog outputs are single-ended 

RCA, the Lindemann DAC employs a fully 

balanced analog output stage with bandwidth 

that extends up to 200MHz. According to Lindemann, 

“As a result of the silicon-germanium 

technology used for the wafer, the module’s 

supply voltage is limited to 5V. The result of 

this is an optimal output voltage of 1.4V RMS 

for 0dBFS. Consequently, the USB-DAC 24/192 

is quieter than competitors using standard 

operational amplifiers.” As you would expect 

from a USB 2.0-compliant device, no additional 

drivers or plug-ins are needed for Mac use. For 

Windows machines Lindemann offers a certified 

driver and installation instructions. 

Setup and Ergonomics 

Given its level of internal sophistication, the installation, 

setup, and day-to-day operation of 

the USB DAC 24/192 were disarmingly simple. 

Once a USB cable was attached between the 

Lindemann and my Mac, the DAC was recognized 

in the Sound Control Panel as “Lindemann 

USB 2.0 Audio,” and I could select it as 

my output device. Although the Lindemann 

has no volume controls, its volume can be adjusted 

in software via iTunes (or other playback 

software). Since its full level is only 1.4 volts, 

and many fixed-output devices use 2.0 volts 

as their standard single-ended output level, 

in some installations such as those that use a 

passive preamp with no provisions for gain, the 

Lindemann might not have sufficient maximum 

volume. But in other systems this lower output 

level could allow users to employ the Lindemann 

without a preamp, using only minimal 

software gain attenuation. Another option for 

potential users searching for a minimalist solution 

could be attaching the Lindemann directly 

to a pair of powered speakers with gain controls, 

such as the Adam Artist 5x or PSI A-14M 

powered monitors. 

The USB DAC 24/192 doesn’t come with a remote, 

but chances are you’ll never miss it. The 

only pushbutton on the front panel controls the 

input source, and if you have only one source, 

such as when the Lindemann is hooked up to 

your computer’s USB, even that button will remain 

untouched. 

Unlike many USB DACs, which offer the option 

of a digital output, the Lindemann has only 

analog outputs, so it can’t be used as a USBto-S/PDIF 

converter. While this may limit its 

appeal to some audiophiles looking for a USB 

converter as well as a DAC, it does keep things 

simple—it’s the analog out or nothing. 

The Lindemann Sound 

From the first time I heard the USB DAC 24/192 

at CES I thought it was a very fine-sounding 

DAC. My experiences with the 24/192 at Casa 

Stone have done nothing to change this opinion. 

With a musical yet revealing character, the 

USB DAC 24/192 produces a large and well- 


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defined three-dimensional soundstage that 

sounds neither digital nor analog—on good recordings 

it sounds like a microphone feed. 

Early in the review I tethered the USB DAC 

24/192 analog outputs to the April Music Eximus 

DP-1 DAC/PRE. This setup let me compare 

the Lindemann’s analog output to that of the 

Eximus DP-1. Since their USB interfaces are 

based on the same XMOS chipset I wasn’t exactly 

shocked to find that the two USB/DAC 

sections had very similar sonic signatures when 

the Eximus DAC was set to 192/24 oversampling 

mode. The Eximus DP-1 delivered slightly 

better low-level resolution and dimensionality, 

but it had the advantage of one less interconnect 

in the signal chain. Both DACs also had 

a very similar harmonic balance and dynamic 

contrast when the DP-1 was in 192/24 mode. 

When the DP-1 was set to non-oversampling 

native-rate processing the Lindemann USB 

DAC 24/192 sounded tighter with less harmonic 

bloom, but with more detail and lowlevel 

information. The fact that the differences 

between the Eximus DP-1’s three processing 

modes were greater than the differences between 

the Lindeman USB DAC 24/192 and the 

Eximus DP-1 in 192/24 processing mode tells 

you how similar to each other these two DACs 

can sound. 

Putting an $1100 DAC against a $3500 one 

would not be considered a fair fight under most 

circumstances, but to give you an idea of how 

well the Lindemann DAC performs, that is its 

competition. The April Music DP-1 DAC PRE 

has a lot more ergonomic flexibility with its 

excellent built-in headphone amp, pure analog 

pass-throughs, and high-quality analog volume 

control, but based solely on sonic performance 

the Lindemann USB DAC 24/192 is certainly on 

the DP-1’s level. 

Since many users will also be hooking up 

an S/PDIF source to the Lindemann USB DAC 

24/192, I spent time listening to music through 

the S/PDIF input. To supply the S/PDIF I used 

the Human Audio Tabla converter ($995), 

which utilizes the M2Tech HiFace as the basis 

for its USB conversion. With its built-in battery 

power supply and automatic charging via USB, 

the Tabla doesn’t complicate the computeraudio 

grounding scheme, thereby reducing the 

chance of ground loops affecting the sound 

quality. Using the Tabla also let me compare 

the Lindemann’s XMOS USB solution with Human 

Audio’s M2Tech HiFace. 

On Alexis Harte’s song, “Please Come Out” 

from his Six Spoons of Honey album, the similarities 

between the Human Audio USB interface 

and the Lindemann USB DAC 24/192 were 

far greater than the differences. Both created 

equally large, well-focused, and three-dimensional 

soundstages. After more than a half hour 

of going back and forth, the primary difference 

I heard between the two USB solutions was 

ever-so-slightly better solidity and fine detail 

through the Human Audio Tabla USB interface. 

On my live concert recording of the Boulder 

Philharmonic performance of Ruby Fulton’s 

“Deadlock,” the sonic differences between the 

two USB interfaces were miniscule. During the 

beat-box solo passages I was impressed by the 

Lindemann DAC’s harmonic neutrality and the 

analog section’s transparency. Together they 

did a superb job of accurately rendering the dimensionality 

and dynamics of the live-to-DSD 

recorded performance. 

Simplicity Rules 

If you like simple ergonomics coupled with high 

performance, the Lindemann USB DAC 24/192 

may be what you’ve been looking for. Connect 

a USB, S/PDIF, or TosLink input and get superb 

music from its single-ended RCA analog 

outputs. What’s not to like Well, it might not 

be a stand-alone unit, since you could need a 

preamp or volume attenuation method if you 

aren’t using software to control volume. Also 

with its 1.4V maximum fixed output, passive 

preamp systems might lack sufficient gain to 

drive your system to full volume levels. But if 

you use the USB DAC 24/192 with an active 

preamp its output level won’t be a problem, and 

if audio quality is your primary purchase criteria 

you’ll be hard-pressed to find a DAC that 

convincingly beats it. 

NuForce DAC-100 DAC/Preamp ($1095) 

NuForce’s emphasis on high performance at 

a moderate price has, in a few short years, 

transformed the brand from “Who dat” to 

“Oh, them!” The NuForce DAC-100 marks its 

first foray into the product category of DAC/ 

preamps. With a feature set that should work 

equally well in a computer desktop/headphone 

system or a small-room computer-based system 

the NuForce DAC-100 packs a lot of features 

and technology into its svelte chassis. 

Although it is part of NuForce’s home/desktop 

product line instead of its reference line, 

the DAC-100 is sonically and ergonomically a 

high-value product through and through. What 

you don’t get, and don’t have to pay for, is a 

fancy case, thick front panel, or elaborate chassis. 

The DAC-100’s dimensions are 9.5" by 8" 

by 2" high, putting it in a 1/2-width size category. 

And while it doesn’t take up much space, it 

does produce some heat, so giving it adequate 

ventilation, both below and above, is important 

for optimal operation. 

Ergonomic Elegance 

NuForce calls the DAC-100 a DAC/preamp, 

which means it performs the functions of a DAC 

and a preamp. As a preamp the DAC-100 only 

supports digital sources. It has four inputs— 

USB 2.0, TosLink, and two S/PDIF RCA digital. 

For outputs the DAC-100 includes one pair of 

single-ended variable-output RCA connectors 

and a headphone jack on the front panel. The 

DAC-100’s headphone output is designed to 

support headphones with an impedance range 

from 120 to 600 ohms, so it may not be suited 

for all headphones, especially high-sensitivity 

low-impedance in-ear models. 

The front panel of the DAC-100 contains a 

rotating volume knob, three bit-rate indicator 

lights, four input buttons, and a headphone jack. 

The volume knob also doubles as a standby 

switch by pushing it inwards. On the back panel 

are all the inputs and outputs, and the standard 

IEC AC connector. The DAC-100 comes with a 

credit-card sized remote that supports basic 

functions including on/off, volume level, input 

selection, and the all-important mute button. 

Installation was simple: I merely plugged 

in a USB cable between the DAC-100 and my 

MacPro desktop computer and the Mac recognized 

the NuForce in the Sound Control Panel 

Attachment as “Nuforce 192k DAC—HS.” For 


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PCs you can download the newest driver from 

NuForce’s Web site. I used the DAC-100 with 

a variety of Mac playback software including 

iTunes, Pure Music, Amarra, Audirvana Plus, 

Decibel, Fidelia, and Audacity with no compatibility 

issues. 

One thing you can’t do with the DAC-100 is 

use it as a USB converter since it lacks any kind 

of digital output. If you plan to use it in conjunction 

with NuForce’s new DDA-100 digital integrated 

amplifier, the DAC-100 will be getting 

a digital feed from the DDA-100 via a TosLink 

connection, and since the DDA-100 will power 

the main speakers, the DAC-100 will be relegated 

to headphone-amplifier duties. 

Since the DAC-100 only has one pair of linelevel 

RCA outputs, using it in a system that has 

a subwoofer requires a wee bit of McGyvering. 

You can either attach Y-connectors to the RCA 

outputs on the back of the DAC-100 to give you 

two line-level feeds, or you can use the headphone 

output on the front panel. Most of the 

DAC/PREs I’ve reviewed, such as the April Music 

Eximus DP-1, mute their line-level output 

when you plug in headphones to their front 

panel, but the DAC-100 does not. Because both 

of the DAC-100 outputs are active and their 

volume levels are controlled by the same knob, 

you have a readily available source for the subwoofer 

feed; all you’ll need is a 1/4" stereo-tofemale-stereo 

RCA adapter. 

For most of the review the DAC-100 was connected 

directly to a pair of PSI A-14M powered 

monitors and a Velodyne DD+10 subwoofer 

(using the Y-connector scheme), but near the 

end I used it with NuForce’s DDA-100 ($549) 

direct-digital integrated amplifier, an Accuphase 

P-300 power amplifier, and a Parasound 

A-23 attached to several of my reference desktop 

speakers, including the Role Audio Canoe, 

Aerial Acoustics 5B, Silverline Minuet, and ATC 

SC-7 speakers. 

The only ergonomic issue I experienced with 

the DAC-100 was with its volume knob. It felt 

slightly loose and sloppy. Also it doesn’t take 

very much pressure to push the knob in, muting 

the DAC-100, which may not have been your intention 

when you reached for the knob. I much 

prefer the volume knob on NuForce’s DDA-100, 

which looks and feels better. 

If you look inside the DAC-100 you’ll find a 

very sophisticated audio instrument. With a 

32-bit digital volume control instead of the 

more-common 24-bit variety, a single-ended 

500-milliwatt headphone amplifier, and a nonupsampling 

192/24 DAC, the DAC-100 delivers 

excellent published specifications for jitter, frequency 

response, and THD+N, as you can see 

on NuForce’s site. 

The NuForce Sound 

The NuForce sound, or should I say lack of it, 

came as a pleasant surprise. I installed the 

DAC-100 just after reviewing the Lindemann 

USB 24/192 DAC. The first A/B comparison 

test I performed was with these two DACs running 

into the analog inputs of the April Music 

Eximus DP-1 DAC/PRE. After critically matching 

the output levels I was flummoxed to discover 

that I couldn’t reliably identify one from 

the other. Both did a superb job of preserving 

all the subtle soundstage cues and both had 

equally expansive soundstages. Since they are 

priced within $5 of each other, if I were forced 

to choose I would make my decision based on 

their ergonomics rather than sound quality. If 

I already had a good analog preamp I’d opt for 

the Lindemann, but if I didn’t own a preamp I’d 

chose the NuForce DAC-100. 

Obviously the NuForce DAC-100 is sonically 

competitive with similarly priced DACs, but 

how does it rate verses higher-price DACS I 

couldn’t do any real-time A/B switches, since 

testing involved disconnecting and reconnecting 

interconnects, but after several hours of 

listening I could reliably identify several sonic 

differences between the DAC-100 and the April 

Music Eximus DP-1. First the DP-1 had slightly 

better low-level detail. In my live DSD recording 

of The Deadly Gentlemen from Salina Schoolhouse, 

mandolinist Domenic Leslie turns to 

fiddle player Mike Barnett and says, “I’ll take 

the low part.” It’s easier to make out not only 

his words, but the direction he’s facing through 

the DP-1 than the DAC-100. Also the DAC-100’s 

soundstage is not quite as deep or three-dimensional 

as the DP-1. All the players seem to 

be closer to the wall behind them through the 

DAC-100. 

To discover how good the DAC-100’s USB 

implementation was I set up another A/B test, 

this time with the Human Audio Tabla USB 

interface box. I attached the Human Audio 

Tabla’s S/PDIF output to one of the DAC-100’s 

two S/PDIF inputs and used Audirvana Plus for 

playback because it has the fastest switchover 

between output devices. Once levels were 

matched I found it impossible to tell which input 

I was using. While one test isn't enough for 

me to state conclusively that the DAC-100’s 

USB implementation is equal to the Tabla, I can 

confidently say that adding an external USB interface 

did nothing to improve the DAC-100’s 

performance. 

I spent quite a bit of time, especially early 

in the morning while my wife was still sleeping 

in the bedroom right over my office, listening 

to the DAC-100’s headphone output. With 

some headphones, such as the Grado RS-1 and 

AKG K-701, the DAC-100 headphone output is 

dead quiet. But with other headphones, such 

as the Audio-Technica ATH W-3000ANV or the 

Sol Tracks HD, I could hear a faint low-level 

hiss. Fortunately the hiss didn’t get louder as 

the volume increased, but higher sensitivity 

earphones are more likely to have some background 

hiss from the DAC-100’s headphone 

outputs. 

A NuForce in USB DACs 

$1000 to $1200 seems to be a price that many 

manufacturers are aiming at with their latest 

high-performance USB-enabled DACs. Nu- 

Force’s entry at this hotly contested price point 

delivers excellent sound combined with a useful 

feature set, making it one of the DACs that 

should be on anyone’s “must audition” short 

list, if he’s in the market for an under-$1500 

USB DAC. 

Synergistic Research Music Cable 

DAC ($3599) 

It takes a certain amount of nerve (or cluelessness) 

to write that a $3500 DAC with cables 

and a built-in power conditioner is a “value 

proposition.” But that’s exactly what the Synergistic 

Research Music Cable was designed 

to be. Synergistic Research practically gives 


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you a 192/24-bit DAC for free with some of its 

very tricked-out cable. If you add up the cost 

for a 1-meter length of terminated Synergistic 

Research Active digital cable ($1000) and a 

1-meter length of Synergistic Research Active 

Tungsten interconnects ($2000), a Powercell 

($1250), Galeleo universal interconnect cells 

($1500), and Precision A/C Basik power cord 

($250), it comes to $6000, and that doesn’t 

even include a DAC. By anybody’s standards, 

getting $6000+ worth of stuff for only $3599 

is a bargain. 

The Soup-to-Nuts Solution 

Setting up the Synergistic Research Music cable 

can be as simple as plugging one end into 

a digital source’s S/PDIF output and the other 

end into the analog inputs on your preamp. 

The Music Cable supports up to 192/24 data 

streams and will automatically detect and set 

its DAC for the proper data transfer. BNC devotees 

will be happy to discover that the Music 

Cable comes with a BNC termination. If your 

transport or media server uses RCA hardware 

for its S/PDIF output, you will need to use a 

BNC-to-RCA S/PDIF adapter. 

There are no adjustments on the Music Cable 

except for a pair of interchangeable Galileo 

universal interconnect cells. These cells come 

in three varieties, black, grey and silver, and 

are designed to affect the overall balance of 

the system. Synergistic Research, or its dealers, 

can make suggestions as to which of the 

cells would be best for a particular system, 

but Synergistic Research encourages owners 

to try all three to determine their own preferences. 

My preference during the review varied 

more based on program material than basic 

system balance. Since switching the cells takes 

less than five seconds, using them as overall 

harmonic balance controls is about as easy as 

turning a knob or changing a low-hanging lightbulb. 

I used the Music Cable DAC in a variety of 

computer-desktop and room-based systems. 

For computer use I needed to employ a USBto-S/PDIF 

converter since the Music Cable accepts 

only S/PDIF. I used the Human Audio Tabla 

($995) as well as the Empirical Audio Off- 

Ramp 5 converter box when I employed USB 

sources. Synergistic Research makes a similarly 

priced USB-only version of the Music Cable, 

but it only supports up to 48/16 data files. And 

while I found its performance on Red Book and 

MP3s on a par with the S/PDIF version connected 

to the Tabla, (that was the conversion 

box I used for the A/B), its lack of support for 

higher bit-rates makes it less of a future-proof 

high-value purchase than the S/PDIF version. 

During the review I only came across one 

compatibility issue. When connected to my 

MacPro system the Music Cable produced a 

low-level, but audible, hum at normal listening 

levels, on the right channel only. By repositioning 

the Music Cable I could lower the hum 

level, but I could never eliminate it completely. 

None of my other computer- or room-based 

systems produced a similar problem. In every 

other system the Music Cable was dead quiet. 

The Synergistic Sound 

During my tests the Music Cable DAC typically 

was connected to a stock Logitech Touch music 

server, but I also used it with a Lexicon RT- 

10 universal transport, Oppo BDP-95 universal 

player, and Meridian 598 DVD/CD transport. 

Since the Music Cable only supports one input 

I suspect most users will want to hook it 

up to a music server or computer-audio source, 

for which a USB/SPDIF converter box may be 

needed. 

The first A/B test I conducted after almost 

a month of break-in time was with the Wyred- 

4Sound DAC II, where used Logitech Touch's 

S/PDIF output for the Synergistic Research 

Music Cable DAC and the TosLink output with 

the Wyred4Sound DAC II. Obviously this wasn’t 

a completely fair test since the Wyred4Sound 

was saddled with a higher-jitter TosLink connection, 

but because the Music Cable won’t 

accept TosLink it was my only option. At least 

both DACs were connected to my preamp via 

the same Synergistic Research Active Tungsten 

interconnects. Comparing a $3600 DAC 

to a $1500 one might not seem fair, but once 

the price of the interconnects are factored into 

the equation, the combos are similar in price. 

Hooked up to the Touch the Music Cable produced 

a noticeably more three-dimensional 

image than the DAC II. Both DACs delivered 

equal amounts of detail, but the Music Cable’s 

increased dimensionality located small details 

more incisively within the soundstage. Harmonic 

balance differences were miniscule, with 

the Music Cable delivering a slightly more relaxed 

and less mechanical presentation. 

I did additional listening tests using the 

Lexicon RT-10 transport. Once more the Music 

Cable got the S/PDIF output, but this time 

the Wyred4Sound got an AES/EBU signal feed 

(where AES/EBU may be the RT-10’s bestquality 

digital output). Once more the Music 

Cable produced its usual remarkably three-dimensional 

soundstage. But unlike the first test, 

here the Wyred4Sound’s soundstage wasn’t 

left as far behind—in fact on some material such 

as the MA recordings Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart—Works 

from His Golden Age—Yoko Kaneko: 

Fortepiano I was unable to distinguish between 

the two DACs in matched-level tests. As a control 

I also listened to the analog output from 

the RT-10. After I reduced its output to match 

the two DACs output levels I was surprised to 

find how close it came in performance. Only in 

depth recreation did the Music Cable deliver 

noticeably superior results. On another MA Recordings 

release, Nima Ben David—Resonance, 

all three conveyed the same excellent transient 

response and immediacy of Ben David’s viola 

de gamba. But the Music Cable preserved the 

best sense of depth and room bloom. The DAC 

II made the room seem slightly smaller, as if 

the back wall had been moved forward by ten 

or fifteen feet. The Lexicon RT-10 had the least 

depth, but wasn’t too far behind the Wyred- 

4Sound DAC II. 

On some material (for example, Kelly Joe 

Phelps' Brother Sinner & the Whale) I couldn’t 

hear any discernable sonic differences between 

the Music Cable and the DAC II. Both 

DACs did a superb job of capturing the grit in 

Kelly Joe’s voice without adding any electronic 

grain or grit to the sound. Both also preserved 

the subtle dynamic nuances of Kelly Joe’s fingerpicked 

resonator-style acoustic guitar. Finally, 

both DACS provided an equal number of 

spatial cues and the same degree of precise 

lateral focus. 


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For a third round of A/B CD-source tests 

I used my own live concert recordings of the 

Boulder Philharmonic, down-sampled from 

DSD to a Red Book 44.1/16 CDR. Once more 

the Music Cable displayed the best spatial reproduction. 

The soloists in the Brahms Double 

Concerto for Violin and Cello were more firmly 

anchored in space and had a greater feeling of 

solidity and mass through the Music Cable than 

from the DAC II. 

For my last listening tests I went back to the 

Squeezebox Touch, but with higher-resolution 

96/24 and 192/24 music files (yes, with the 

addition of a third-party app the Squeezebox 

Touch supports 192/24). I used the same Boulder 

Philharmonic recording, but this time it 

was only down-sampled to 96/24 and 192/24. 

Again the Synergistic Research Music Cable 

created a more convincing and dimensional 

soundstage. On the Frank Zappa composition, 

“Be-Bop Tango,” recorded in 2010, the Music 

Cable’s superior depth recreation was readily 

apparent, especially during the contrapuntal 

final passages when the music became rock-nroll 

frenzied. 

For 192/24 sources A/B comparisons I had 

to do a manual disconnect, and reconnect the 

S/PDIF cables from the back of the Squeezebox 

Touch because the TosLink connection 

doesn’t support 192 (96k limit). While this was 

less than ideal due to the lag-time during the 

changeovers, I still found that the Synergistic 

Research Music Cable DAC had slightly better 

depth recreation. The difference was not 

as pronounced as when the Wyred4Sound was 

getting a TosLink feed, but it was still noticeable. 


previous page 

Is a Music Cable in Your Future 

If you’ve read this far, obviously you’re interested 

in the Synergistic Research Music Cable. 

And despite its ergonomic limitations, with only 

one non-switchable input, no volume adjustments, 

single-ended-only analog outputs, and 

five separate fairly stiff cables to manipulate in 

an orderly manner, the Music Cable’s sonic performance 

sets it apart from any “convenience” 

DAC I’ve heard. 

As I wrote earlier, I can easily see the Synergistic 

Research Music Cable DAC attached to a 

music server to form the front end of an ultramodern 

high-performance music-reproduction 

system. Even coupled to the modestly priced 

Logitech Squeezebox Touch the Synergistic 

Research Music Cable produces a level of audio 

quality that emphatically checks all the audiophile 

boxes in double-black magic marker. If 

you want to keep it simple and high-end, the 

Synergistic Research Music Cable DAC may be 

all you really need. 

NEXT page 

We expect more from digital music. 

Meridian’s award-winning digital audio conversion technologies 

now in a smart, portable form. Appreciate the purest sound 

from any computer for headphone or HiFi listening. 

meridian-audio.com


Wadia 121 Decoding 

Computer 

Trickle-Down Technology 

Steven Stone 

Upon first look it’s easy to see the Wadia 121’s resemblance to other 

components in Wadia’s “mini” line, including the 171i i-Pod dock and 151 

PowerDAC. Like these other components, the 121 was designed for use 

in a computer-audio system where it functions as a digital preamp, DAC, and 

headphone amp. The 121 has multiple digital inputs for AES/EBU, S/PDIF (both 

coaxial and BNC), TosLink, and USB 2.0. It includes two sets of analog outputs— 

one set of single-ended RCA and one set of balanced XLR. The 121 also has a 1/4" 

stereo headphone output with its own separate amplifier and power supply on the 

front panel. 

All control functions on the Wadia 121 are operated via its remote. In fact, without 

the remote there’s little you can do with the 121 since it has no buttons, switches, or 

knobs on its front (or rear) panel. Only indicator LEDs and the headphone jack populate 

the faceplate of the 121. With no controls on the front panel, the unit is inoperable 

if you lose your remote. So, don’t lose your remote. 

The Wadia 121 is a completely digital device with no analog inputs. It uses a 32-bit 

digital volume control, so all attenuation is also done in the digital domain. Every 

digital volume control will truncate bit-length (and musical data) if it is used at its 

very lowest settings. To reduce this effect the Wadia’s 

maximum output level can be adjusted from 4.0V down 

to 2.0V or even 1.0V, so that at normal listening levels 

the volume control can be set near its maximum level. 

On my desktop the 1V setting (using the balanced XLR 

outputs) was just right. 

Since both analog outputs are active simultaneously, 

hooking up a subwoofer is as easy as connecting a pair 

of RCA cables between the 121 and the sub. If you require 

a second, independent line-level output, you can use the 

front-panel headphone jack. Like many DAC/preamps 

with headphone jacks on the front panel, when you plug 

in a headphone the line-level outputs on the back of the 

unit are muted. But the Wadia goes one better than most 

DAC/preamps because the 121 stores and remembers the 

separate volume settings for the headphone and line-level 

outputs. This prevents the dreaded “Honey, I just blew 

out my ears when I plugged in my earphones” syndrome. 

The Wadia 121 supports up to 192/24 PCM files via its 

AES/EBU, S/PDIF, and USB inputs. For Mac users the 

USB input is plug and play, but for PC owners a new 

driver must be installed to support USB 2.0 capabilities. 

Whether Windows 8 will support USB 2.0 via built-in drivers 

is yet to be seen. On a Mac, if you open up the MIDI 

control panel you will see the Wadia 121 listed as “Wadia 

USB Audio 2.0.” Under “Clock Source” the control panel 

reads “Wadia Internal Clock.” This last bit of info corroborates 

the presence of Wadia’s internal asynchronous 

USB clocking. Combined with its proprietary “DigiMaster 

algorithm and filtering technology” Wadia claims “jitterfree 

playback” from all digital music sources. 

In lieu of a detailed technical description of the 121, I 

asked Wadia’s John Schaffer a series of technical questions 

about the 121. You’ll find his detailed answers in a 

separate Q&A box. 

What a 121 Does 

For most of the review the Wadia 121 was tethered to 

my Mac Pro desktop computer via USB. I also employed 

several outboard USB-to-S/PDIF converters connected 

to the 121’s S/PDIF inputs. I used both sets of analog 

outputs, the balanced pair for my speaker amps and the 

unbalanced pair going to the subwoofer and a Stax headphone 

amplifier. 

During the review the Wadia 121 proved to be stable 

and reliable. My Mac Pro never had any connectivity issues 

upon wake-ups or reboots. The only operational 

glitch I noticed with the Wadia 121 was a high sensitivity 

to static electricity. Merely getting up from my desk 

chair and walking several steps and then returning to 

my desk was sufficient to generate a click from the 121’s 

relays when I touched my keyboard, headphones, or the 

Wadia itself. Sometimes, if music was playing, the static 

was sufficient to cause a momentary gap in the playback. 

Given that winter in Colorado is a fairly dry, high-static 

environment, and the fact that the static discharges 

never caused anything more than momentary dropouts, 

I doubt most users will experience a similar problem. But 

if you do have static build-up issues, a static drain pad 

next to your computer will eliminate this problem. 

How a Wadia 121 Sounds 

Given the current state of the art in DACs, expecting a 

particular current-generation DAC to have a strong “sonic 

personality” that varies substantially from neutral is 

an exercise in futility. That doesn’t mean that all DACs 

now sound the same, but the sonic variations between 

them, especially when given a signal with identical jitter 

and time-domain characteristics, is certainly far less 

than it was even a scant few years ago. 

The first listening sessions I performed with the Wadia 

121 were to compare its USB implementation with that of 

an outboard USB-to-S/PDIF converter box. I used both 

the Empirical Audio Off-Ramp 5 with the Short-Block 

USB filter and the Human Audio Tabla USB converters 

and found that the three USB streams did sound slightly 

different through the Wadia 121. My preference was the 

Off-Ramp 5/Short Block combo, which consistently pro- 


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EQUIPMENT review - Wadia 121 Decoding Computer 

duced a slightly deeper and better defined 

soundstage. On the Punch Brothers’ latest 

CD Ahoy! Chris Thile’s Gibson Lloyd Loar 

mandolin’s characteristic tonality and dynamic 

verve came through with the least 

amount of electronic grain with the Off- 

Ramp. The Tabla and Wadia’s own built-in 

USB implementation were virtually identical, 

and they were a very close second to 

the Off-Ramp, lacking only the smallest 

amount of spatial precision and detail in 

comparison. 

Obviously one of Wadia 121’s prime 

competitors is the Wyred4Sound DAC 2 

($1495), so for my next A/B test I connected 

two USB feeds from the Empirical Audio 

Off-Ramp to these two DACs and listened to 

the results. After several days of matchedlevel 

A/B tests (and switching USB inputs) 

I concluded that when fed the same signal 

from the Off-Ramp, the two DACs sounded 

virtually identical. Still, with certain input 

configuration the Wyred4Sound sometimes 

had slightly better edge definition, makingtrailing 

edges of transients more distinct. 

But just because these two DACs sounded 

alike when fed the same signal doesn’t 

mean they sounded indistinguishable. When 

I A/B’d the two DACs’ own built-in “native” 

USB implementations I preferred the Wadia 

121. It had a slightly smoother and seemingly 

more nuanced dimensional presentation 

with a less mechanical character. I noticed 

the differences more on classical recordings, 

such as Benjamin Zander’s interpretation 

of Mahler’s First Symphony on Telarc, 

than on pop or rock recordings. Both DACs 

had equal amounts of inner detail and musical 

information, but the Wadia 121 did a better 

job of defining each instrument’s outer 

edges and fleshing out its relative dimensions 

within the soundstage. When connected 

to the April Music Eximus S1 power amplifiers 

the Wadia 121 had almost as much 

detail and three-dimensional imaging specificity 

as the NuForce DDA-100 digital integrated 

amplifier, which is my reference for 

those particular performance parameters. 

Speaking of NuForce, its DAC-100 ($1095) 

proved to be a worthy competitor for the 

Wadia 121. Using their native USB implementations 

I thought the NuForce and Wadia 

were extremely close in sound quality 

with the edge going to the Wadia 121 (using 

its balanced analog outputs) due to its 

more incisive micro-dynamics. While the 

two units were quite similar in sound quality, 

their ergonomics were different—the 

DAC-100 lacked balanced XLR outputs, and 

had only four inputs, compared to the Wadia 

121’s five. Cosmetically, the Wadia looked 

and felt more upscale, like a miniature highend 

component, while the DAC-100 looked 

and felt more budget-constrained in comparison. 

Since Wadia devoted so much effort to 

designing and then tweaking the 121’s headphone 

amplifier section, I spent quite a bit 

of time listening to it through a wide range 

of earphones so that I could, in the words 

of TAS’s founder, “Take a full measure of 

its greatness.” Even with the most sensitive 

low-impedance earbuds the Wadia’s 

headphone amp was dead silent without 

any hums, whistles, or whines. It was also 

a very-good-sounding headphone amplifier. 

Compared to the Fiio E17 portable headphone 

amplifier ($150) the 121’s headphone 

output was more robust with greater dynamic 

contrast, warmth, and inner detail. 

To find a worthy sonic competitor for the 

Wadia 121’s headphone amplifier I had to 

move up in price to the new IFI Micro iCAN 

from Abbingdon Musical Research ($249). 

With both the Beyer DT-880 and Ultimate 

Ears In Ear Reference Monitors the Wadia 

121 came out on top, but not by much. The 

Wadia created a slightly larger soundstage 

and had better dynamic contrast than the 

IFI amp. 

To find a superior headphone amplifier I 

had to go to the headphone amplifier inside 

the April Music Eximus DP-1 ($3495). But 

when you listen to the Wadia’s headphone 

amplifier by itself, without the A/B comparisons, 

it’s hard to fault its presentation. 

121 and Counting 

In my recent DAC survey in Issue 223 I 

noted that the $1000-to-$1500 arena has 

become one of the most hotly contested 

segments of the market for USB DACs. The 

Wadia 121 further complicates a potential 

purchaser’s buying dilemma by adding one 

more excellent DAC/pre to the competition. 

While I can’t say that the Wadia “blows away 

the competition,” I can state confidently 

that few, if any, potential purchasers will 

be disappointed by the 121’s sonics or ergonomics. 

I know that I could happily live with 

the Wadia 121—it’s that good. 


Type: DAC and headphone Tabla USB converter, 

amplifier 

Amplifiers: Parasound A23, Bel 

Digital inputs: AES/EBU (XLR), Canto M-300, April Music Eximus 

coaxial (RCA and BNC), TosLink S-1, Accuphase P-300 

optical, USB B 

Loudspeakers: Aerial Acoustics 

Input data rates: 44.1kHz, 48kHz, 5B, ATC SCM7s, Silverline Minuet 

88.2kHz, 96kHz, 176.4kHz, 192kHz Supremes, Quad 11Ls, Role 

(up to 24 bits) 

Audio Kayaks, Velodyne DD+ 10 

Analog outputs: One pair 

subwoofer 

balanced (XLR), one pair 

Headphones: Sennheiser HD 

unbalanced (RCA) 

600, Grado RS-1, Ultimate Ears 

Dimensions: 2.7" x 8" x 8" Reference Monitors, Beyer DT- 

Price: $1299 

880 (250 ohm), Audio-Technica 

ATH-W3000ANV, HiFiMan 

WADIA 

RE-272 in-ear monitors, Audio- 

1556 Woodland Drive 

Technica AD-900, Sol Republic 

Saline, MI 48176 

Tracks HD, B&W P3, Etymotic 

(734) 786-9611 

Research ER-4P, Shure SRHwadia.com 

1440, Stax SR-5, Stax Lambda 

Pro, Stax SRM-1 Mk II 

Associated Equipment Cables and Accessories: Locus 

Source Devices: MacPro model 1.1 Design Polestar USB cable, 

Intel Xeon 2.66 GHz computer Locus Design Nucleus USB 

with 16GB of memory with OS cable, Wireworld USB cable, 

10.6.7, running iTunes 10.6.3 Synergistic Research USB cable, 

and Amarra 2.4.3 music playing PS Audio Quintet, AudioQuest CV 

software, Pure Music 1.85 and 4.2 speaker cable, AudioQuest 

Audirana Plus 1.35 music-playing Colorado interconnect, 

software 

Cardas Clear interconnect, PS 

DACs: Weiss DAC 202, 

Audio PerfectWave I 2 S/HDMI 

April Music Eximus DP-1, 

cable, Crystal Cable Piccolo 

Wyred4Sound Dac2, Empirical interconnect, and Audioprism 

Audio Off-Ramp 5, Human Audio Ground Controls 



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EQUIPMENT review - Wadia 121 Decoding Computer 

Wadia’s John Schaffer on the 121 

TAS: What were the design goals for the 121 

JS: The primary goal was to create a true Wadia DAC. By that 

we mean a DAC that features our core technologies, ideas, and 

know-how, while still meeting our aggressive cost target. This was 

a blank-sheet, ground-up design effort, and we are very pleased 

with the result. 

How much of the technology in the 121 was “trickle-down” from your 

more expensive models verses new technology developed specifically 

for the 121 The circuit is new and yet manages to feature our 

key design ideas. For example, historically we would use both a 

DSP processor and a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) 

to implement our digital processing and DigiMaster upsampling 

algorithm. In the 121 we found a way to fit everything into an 

FPGA, reducing both circuit size and cost. Similarly we created a 

new streamlined version of our SwiftCurrent current-to-voltage 

stage. 

Wadia mentions a new patented DigiMaster upsampling and filtering 

technology. Could you explain how this system works 

DigiMaster 4 used in the 121 is still a waveform reconstruction 

algorithm that utilizes our spline-based approach to upsampling 

and filtering. Incoming data samples are still reconstructed with 

emphasis on time and phase accuracy; however, what is new 

about this version of DigiMaster is that it is a 32-bit implementation 

with an all-new approach to managing dithering that we consider 

a breakthrough. Also this is the first time we have executed 

DigiMaster exclusively in an FPGA. 

How does the Wadia 32-bit digital volume control avoid resolution 

loss at mid or lower levels 

The line-level output stage on the 121 is a new design, yet it is 

still capable of driving the input section of an amplifier directly, 

even through long interconnect cables. We call this ability Direct- 

Connect with Digital Volume Control, and it allows the user the 

benefit of bypassing additional interconnects and analog circuits 

used with a separate preamplifier. 

Uniquely for this category of DAC, the output stage of the 121 

can be adjusted to match the overall sensitivity of the installation. 

You select the optimal reference voltage setting (4V, 2V, 1V) and a 

relay will route the audio signal through a single high-quality 0.1% 

metal-film resistor to attenuate the full-scale output. Once the 

optimal output voltage is identified, further volume adjustments 

are made via a digital volume calculation based on a 32-bit scale. 

The key to high-performance Digital Volume Control is overall 

system resolution. The Wadia 121 has 64-bit processing and DAC 

resolution of 32 bits. As a result, a 24-bit signal from a digital 

source can be attenuated as much as 48dB without loss of the 

original information. 

What is the SwiftCurrent technology used in the 121’s headphone output 

stage 

The 121 features a high-performance headphone output stage 

fed directly by our SwiftCurrent current-to-voltage (IV) stage 

straight off the DAC. The headphone amplifier is a differential 

circuit based on the National Semiconductor LME49600 audio 

buffer placed inside the feedback loop of the precision widebandwidth 

operational amplifier. The buffer is very low noise and 

distortion ensuring optimum performance. This output stage further 

features a wide output power range (1mW up to 0.7W) and a 

wide output-voltage range, and can be set to either a high or low 

sensitivity mode via remote impedance-switching feature. This 

allows the 121 be used with almost any headphone model available 

on the market. 

Could you talk about your USB interface Is it based on the XMOS 

chipset 

Yes, we elected to use the excellent USB receiver IC from XMOS 

and added our dedicated internal ClockLink. Our ClockLink technology 

positions the master oscillator as near as possible to the 

D-to-A converter chip to reduce transmission-induced jitter. With 

USB Internal ClockLink, instead of using a clock embedded in the 

incoming data stream (isochronous audio), a high-performance 

fixed-frequency oscillator located at the point of conversion to 

analog is used. In the case of the 121 USB input, the receiver is 

asynchronous. This means that the 121 is controlling requests for 

audio data from your computer. The 121 is managing a buffer and 

requesting data from the connected PC as needed to keep the 

buffer at an optimal level. Our fixed oscillator located at the DAC 

is controlling the rate that data is depleted from this buffer and 

in effect initiating the requests for additional audio data from the 

PC. The net result is that the jitter-laden source clock can be ignored 

and the 121 DAC oscillator is the only clock used. 

Finally, what was the reasoning behind eliminating all front-panel 

controls 

It was quite challenging to meet our cost target with this product. 

Allocating all available dollars to the audio circuitry became the 

priority so that sonic performance could be maximized. Also, historically 

our Decoding Computers have not featured front-panel 

user controls so this was by no means a new direction. Our feeling 

is that most customers will be very comfortable using the remote 

as the means to control functionality. 


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Given their size and weight (the heaviest is under 

0.43 pounds), the iFi devices were created with the 

traveling audiophile in mind. Although not designed to 

be completely portable, since all but the iDAC require 

an external power source, they are aimed at “road 

warriors” and other frequent travelers who wish to 

have a compact, yet high-quality audio in their hotel 

rooms or vacation condos. The iDAC can be used with 

any device that has a powered USB-compatible output, 

including an iPad or laptop. 

iFi iDAC, iCAN, and iUSBPower 

The Little Boxes That Could 

Steven Stone 

Ever hear of iFi Audio Me neither. But at the 2012 Rocky Mountain Audio 

Fest, there was a quartet of miniature products bearing the iFi logo in 

the Avatar Acoustics room. Darren Censullo, head honcho at Avatar, was 

very excited about his role as U.S. distributor for iFi. He claimed that at their 

price its products were not merely outstanding values, but offered performance 

that would compete with any component with similar functions. He went on to 

tell me that one particular iFi product, the iPower, offered an entirely new and 

better-performing solution for devices that use USB power as their power source. 

Obviously I took his comments with a grain of salt. But I was intrigued enough 

to request the iDAC, iCAN, and iUSBPower for review (the fourth iFi product, the 

iPhono, was outside my primary area of expertise, so I passed on it). 

After several months of putting this trio through its paces, I understand why 

Darren was so enthusiastic. All three devices offer a level of performance and 

ergonomics that a scant few years ago would have been impossible from a 

similar device, regardless of price. And even in today’s highly competitive audio 

marketplace the iFi devices deliver an exceptional combination of performance, 

features, and value. That’s not too shabby for a company’s first efforts. 

Three for the Road 

A big reason for the iFi trio’s exceedingly high level 

of performance is due to “trickle-down” technology. 

All of iFi’s designs were created by Abbingdon Music 

Research, a U.K.-based high-end audio firm that’s 

been making high-end components since 2000. AMR 

doesn’t directly manufacture iFi products; instead AMR 

licenses the technology to iFi, which assembles the 

units at its own facility in China. 

All three iFi devices share the same-sized silvertoned 

chassis which is approximately 158mm x 68mm 

x 28mm. Obviously iFi realizes substantial economies of 

scale with these components since they share one of the 

most expensive parts in most audio gear. Other shared 

parts are the external power supplies and the volume 

knobs. These volume knobs were nicely machined, but 

they do have one flaw—they are a pressure-fitted and 

can easily be pushed back too far so that their back 

edge touches (and scrapes) the chassis when you turn 

the knobs. Yes, you can eliminate the problem by pulling 

the knob out slightly, but chances are, the next time you 

use the iFi device, you will push them back in and the 

scraping begins again. Sure, this is a minor annoyance, 

but it diminishes the overall quality of the iFi products. 

The iDAC 

The $299 iDAC, as you would surmise from its name, is 

a D-to-A converter. It also has a headphone amplifier, 

whose output is controlled by the volume control on 

its front panel. Although I wrote “front panel,” in point 

of fact the iDAC doesn’t really have a front and back 

like a full-sized component. On one end the iDAC has 

a volume control for its headphone output level, a 

mini-jack for headphone output, and a pair of fixedlevel 

RCA outputs. The opposite end has a single USB 

input. When in use the iCAN will always have something 

plugged into the USB and at least one cable (either a 

headphone or pair of RCAs) plugged into the other side. 

That makes for a potential wire jumble. It’s a shame 

there wasn’t a clever way to have both the USB and 

RCA cables exit from the same side. 

On the USB end the iDAC uses the same asynchronous 

interface as the $5000 AMR DP-777. This employs 

firmware based on the XMOS processor, but with custom 

“turnkey” modifications developed by AMR specifically 

for the iFi iDAC. The “heart” of the iDAC is an ESS Sabre 

DAC chip, used directly “without additional filtering” 

according to AMR. The iDAC’s designers paid special 

attention to the iDAC’s power supplies for its digital 

devices. Instead of generic 3-pin regulators, the iDAC 

employs “more modern types” of regulators that have 

“300 times greater noise suppression” than the usual 

3-pin types. Also the USB receiver, XMOS processors, 


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EQUIPMENT review - iFi iDAC, iCAN, and iUSBPower 

and input/output circuits have their own 

separate power supplies. On the analog side iFi 

employs a “DirectDrive” technology for both 

its headphone and RCA outputs that is similar 

to a directly coupled output. 

During listening sessions I used the iDAC 

both alone—powered by my computer’s 

USB output—as well as connected to the iFi 

iUSBPower device. Performance, even without 

the addition of the iUSBPower, was startlingly 

good. Using the fixed-level RCA outputs, the 

lack of extraneous background noise and the 

essential silence of the iDAC was excellent. 

Unfortunately for the owners of some 

especially large-barreled premium RCA cables, 

the iDAC’s RCA outputs are situated so close 

together that employing these cables may be 

difficult, if not impossible. 

The iDAC’s headphone output drove a wide 

variety of full-sized headphones successfully, 

including the Sennheiser HD600, Audeze LCD- 

2, and Beyer-Dynamic DT-990 (600 ohm.) On 

the other end of the sensitivity spectrum, the 

iDAC’s headphone output did produce some 

low-level hiss with the Shure SE500 in-ear 

monitors, but was virtually silent with the 

Etymotic ER-4P. 

One small quirk I noticed was that with some 

brands of basic no-name RCA interconnects 

the headphone output was noisier than with 

well-shielded ones. With the Shure SE500s, 

the overall noise floor dropped precipitously 

when I disconnected the RCA cables (which 

were connected to a Benchmark DAC 2 HGC). 

When I connected the iDAC to the SicPhones 

high-current headphone amplifier, the noise 

when the RCA interconnects were connected 

between the iDAC and the SicPhones amp 

was even louder and more pronounced. When 

I substituted the iUSBPower device for the 

stock AC power source, the iDAC’s noise level 

remained the same until I flipped the groundlift 

switch. When I lifted the ground the noise 

level dropped back down to almost as silent 

as when nothing was connected to the iDAC’s 

RCA outputs. It seems that the iDAC is quite 

sensitive to noise or ground loops generated 

by whatever device is connected to its RCA 

outputs. I strongly suggest disconnecting the 

iDAC’s RCA cables when doing any critical 

listening using its headphone outputs, even 

when employing the iUSBPower supply. 

The iDAC’s overall sound quality was 

noticeably superior to the Fiio E-17, both 

through its headphone and line-level outputs. 

In comparison the iDAC not only had more 

dynamic life, but a much greater sense of 

dimensionality. When I listened through 

ProAc Jubilee Anniversary Tablettes, the 

iDac’s imaging precision (with the iUSBPower 

supply) was on a par with both the Benchmark 

DAC-2 and the Mytek 192/DSD DACs. I was 

also impressed by the iDAC’s well-defined 

space between instruments and vocals, which 

certainly equaled these far more expensive 

DACs. 

On my own 192kHz/24-bit live concert 

recordings I was especially impressed by the 

iDAC’s ability to portray the recording space 

accurately with all dimensional and spatial 

cues intact. My recording of Richard Stoltzman 

with the Boulder Philharmonic performing 

Copland’s Clarinet Concerto captured all the 

lushness of Stoltzman’s impeccable tone while 

preventing it from blending with the woodwind 

section, even during the loudest passages. The 

words “dynamically implacable” came up often 

in my listening notes, be it my own classical 

recordings or bombastic pop such as Toy 

Matinee’s “Last Plane Out,” where the gunshot 

2:36 into the cut pushes the limits of any DAC. 

Yes, the iDAC is a very good USB DAC. In 

point of fact, so good that it could be used in 

a system where you would usually be sorely 

tempted to “move up” to a far pricier USB DAC 

solution. If your budget for a USB DAC is above 

the combination price of $448, I strongly 

advise you to listen to the iDAC/iUSBPower 

solution before climbing the price-point ladder. 

The iCAN 

The $249 iCan, like all the iFi devices, shares 

the same case as the iDAC, but it definitely has 

a front and a back. On the backside of the iCAN 

you’ll find its power supply input as well as a 

single pair of RCA inputs. On its front there’s 

a volume control knob, 1/4" full-sized singleended 

headphone output, and a pair of threeway 

toggle switches. The first of these switches 

is iFi’s XBass control. It has three settings, 

“direct” (no bass boost,) “average,” and “for 

bass-shy headphones.” According to iFi's 

Thorsten Loesch, “The XBass boost is 3dB/7dB 

at 50Hz relative to 1kHz. However, this number 

does not as such describe adequately the 

operation of XBass. XBass is not intended as 

a traditional tone control or loudness circuit 

(nor is it based on these). The response is 

rather different and is intended to compensate 

suppressed bass and excessive LF phase-shift 

found with many headphones.” 

Most “bass enhancement” schemes and 

circuits I’ve heard have, at best, been merely 

“fun” features rather than anything of value 

to audiophiles. The iFi XBass is different. 

While I still preferred most of my reference 

headphones in the “direct” mode, I found that 

with one particular pair of in-ear monitors 

(Shure SE500s converted by Fisher Hearing 

iFi iDac 

Device type: USB DAC/ 

headphone amp 

Input: USB Audio Class 

2.0 

Output: RCA (singleended), 

minijack for 

headphone 

Output power: 150mW 

(headphone amp) 

Signal-to-noise ratio: 

97dB(A) 

Dimensions: 68 x 28 x 

158mm 


Price: $299 

iFi iUSBPower 


Device type: USB power 

supply 

Input: USB (Type B) 

Output: USB (Type A) 

power only, USB (Type A) 

power + music 


158mm 


Price: $199 

iFi iCAN 

SNR: >117dB (A-weighted) 

Frequency response: 

0.5Hz to 500kHz (-3dB) 


158mm 


Price: $249 

US Distributor 

Avatar Acoustics 

545 Wentworth Court 

Fayetteville, Georgia 

30215 

(678) 817-0573 

avataracoustics.com 

dcensullo@ 

avataracoustics.com 



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EQUIPMENT review - iFi iDAC, iCAN, and iUSBPower 

into custom in-ears) the “bass shy” setting 

provide just the right amount of bass to turn 

what were sorely bass-deficient in-ears into 

well-balanced cans. I’ve tried to accomplish 

the same bass augmentation using iTunes, 

Pure Music, and Amarra’s EQ functions with 

much less satisfactory results. If you have a 

headphone that you love that lacks the last bit 

of bass punch and impact, the iFi XBass might 

be just what your audio doctor ordered. 

The second toggle switch on the iCAN 

controls iFi’s “3D Holographic sound” circuit. 

The three settings are “direct,” “3D for flat 

recordings,” and “3D for recordings with 

excessive stereo effect.” According to Thorsten 

Loesch, “Our 3D Holographic Sound circuit 

is not based on the Linkwitz crossfeed. We 

did not find the Linkwitz circuit adequate to 

provide even a crude first-order approximation 

of the time and frequency domain responses 

needed. Further, for both operations the sets of 

coefficients are based on internal research and 

listening tests and in part derive from work I 

was involved with in the 1980s at the RFZ (then 

East Germany’s equivalent of the IRT). The 

coefficients are fairly complex and not simply 

expressed by a simple number of XdB at YHz.” 

I found the iCAN’s 3D options less useful 

than XBass. The 3D setting for “flat sounding 

recordings” introduced a slight lift to the 

midrange and lower treble that changed 

harmonics in ways I did not find appealing. 

The “excessive stereo” correction setting was 

better, but very few recordings seemed to 

benefit from the reduced soundstage width of 

this setting. Most of the time, I came back to 

the “direct” setting. 

Like the iDAC the iCAN employs iFi’s 

“DirectDrive” circuitry, which Loesch says, 

incorporates two sets of features. “First a 

negative voltage is generated on board to allow 

a ground-referenced, direct-coupled output 

and greater output levels, while still operating 

with a single low supply voltage. In most cases 

headphone outputs require substantial ‘build 

out’ resistors to ensure that the amplifier 

remains stable. We are able to dispense 

with these, so the output resistance of our 

headphone amplifiers is mostly down to the 

contact resistance in the socket and a little bit 

for PCB traces. This means the damping factor 

is maximized and excessive source resistance 

does not alter headphone response. All this 

together is what we call DirectDrive.” 

Traditional wisdom is that good headphone 

amps are big, heavy, and expensive. The 

iCAN makes a strong argument against such 

generalizations. Not only did it have the raw 

power to drive high-impedance headphones 

such as the 600-ohm version of Beyer-Dynamic 

DT-990 with ease, but it also delivered a black, 

low-noise background to the high-sensitivity 

Shure SE500 in-ear monitors. Even the Bryston 

BHA-1 couldn’t generate as little noise with 

these high-sensitivity earphones as the iCAN. 

My favorite headphones with the iCAN were 

the Audeze LCD-2 (version 2.2) with upgraded 

Cardas headphone cabling. The combination 

produced a high-resolution, yet full-bodied 

presentation that rivaled my reference Stax 

setup, which consists of the SR-X Mark 3 

and SRM1 Mark-2 amplifier. The LCD-2/iCAN 

combo matched the Stax in low-level detail 

and immediacy, and beat the Stax when it 

came to low-frequency impact and dynamics. 

The Stax SR-X Mark 3 headphones still had an 

edge when it came to high-frequency air and 

detail. But in the critical midrange both setups 

delivered a level of finesse and musicality that 

distanced them from all the other headphone/ 

amp combinations I’ve heard recently. For 

the price, the LCD-2/iCAN combo makes an 

unbeatable pairing. 

The iUSBPower 

Aftermarket power solutions are nothing new, 

but iFi’s approach to the problem of cleaner USB 

power is unique. Instead of resorting to a battery 

and some sort of battery-charging scheme, iFi 

has opted for regulating, isolating, and cleaning 

up the USB power supply itself. The $199 iUSB- 

Power has a single USB 2.0 (it will also take 1.0) 

input with an AC power input on one end and a 

pair of USB outputs on the other. One USB output 

is designated “power only” while the other 

passes both power and audio signals. For most 

applications the power and audio combination 

USB output will be the one used, but if you have 

a USB device in need of 5.0V power the iUSB- 

Power can supply it via its “power-only” output. 

In my nearfield desktop system replacing the 

stock AC power supply with the iUSBPower 

lowered the iDAC’s already low noise floor to 

the point where it sounded very much like what 

I’m used to hearing from a live microphone feed. 

Micro-dynamics seemed more pronounced 

when the iUSBPower was attached and the 

smallest details buried in the mix were easier 

to hear. 

The only glitch I experienced with the 

iUSBPower device was when connected to my 

Mac it “took over” as an über USB connection— 

the other two USB DACs connected to my Mac 

disappeared from my sound devices selection 

box, leaving the “AMR USB audio 2.0” as the 

only selectable sound device. To add additional 

sound devices I had to disconnect the 

iUSBPower from my computer and perform a 

reboot. If you don’t use a Mac or only have one 

sound device connected to your system (most 

setups) you won’t experience this problem. 

Is There an iFi in Your Future 

I suspect that many audiophiles will purchase 

iFi products with the intention of using them 

in a portable, traveling, or desktop system. But 

after trying any one of these little wonders, 

you might be tempted to move them into your 

main system. That could be a mistake. Why 

Because once you hear the iFi iDAC, iCAN, and 

iUSBPower in your main system, you may be 

forced to buy a second set, because they won’t 

be coming back out. That’s how well the iFi 

gear performs. 


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Meridian Explorer 

USB DAC 

High-End Emissary 

Neil Gader 

When I think of British digital 

electronics, the first name that 

comes to mind is Meridian. Designers 

of complete digital systems from transports 

to fully active DSP-controlled loudspeakers, 

it makes products that are exquisite, refined, 

and priced accordingly. Dreams of a true 

budget-level item from this firm would 

seem as unlikely as high tea without finger 

sandwiches. But this was before I was pulled 

aside in the Meridian room at CES to check 

out a fresh-off-the-production-line, portable 

streaming DAC, the $299 Explorer. 

Packaged in a chic, ovular, four-inch-long extruded-aluminum 

case, the Explorer is an asynchronous, 

USB-powered, Class 2, high-resolution 

DAC/streamer. Equipped with a PCM5102 DAC it’s 

capable of streaming files up to 24-bit/192kHz 

resolution. A series of tiny LEDs along the outside 

of the case indicate incoming resolution. 

Also provided are a fixed/variable analog miniplug 

output with an OS-driven, analog gain control 

for headphone use, and an optical digital output. 

Inside this nifty capsule there’s little room 

to spare considering the space required for the 

headphone amp, a six-layer PC board, XMOS “L1” 

processor, plus caps and resistors in key circuitry 

derived from Meridian’s full-scale 800 Series. A 

short USB/mini-cable completes the package. 

Setup was glitch-free as I suspected it would 

be with a product aimed at a youthful on-thego 

market. I attached the USB2 mini B socket 

of the Explorer to my MacBook Pro (Pure Music 

software/Memory Play setting, and 8 gigs of 

RAM) and then ran a stereo miniplug-to-stereo- 

RCA cable (I use an AudioQuest) into the analog 

inputs of the recently reviewed Hegel H300 

(Issue 233). After checking the Mac’s MIDI and 

Sound settings I booted up Pure Music/iTunes. 

High-end sonics Heck, yeah. Tonally, the Explorer 

supplies smooth touches of analog-like 

warmth and fluidity. Just as impressive was the 

lack of soundstage constriction. This is a problem 

that dogs the portable DAC segment. During 

Vaughan Williams’ The Wasps Overture with 

Michael Stern and the Kansas City Symphony 

[Reference Recordings], the Explorer conveyed 

the wide expanse of the orchestra with a rewarding 

sense of depth and air between instruments, 

and an impressive ambient bloom that opened 

up the ceiling of the venue rather than holding 

it down. The music was spacious, detailed, and 

transparent, inviting comparisons to the more 

expensive DACs I’ve been listening to of late. 

The Explorer also brings expressive midbass 

to the streamer segment, with sturdy timbres 

and purer, cleaner dynamic punch. On higherres 

material, such as the 24-bit WAV file 

of Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances from 

Reference Recordings’ 24-bit/176kHz HRx 

Collection, it shined even more brightly. Strings 

soared more effortlessly; the acoustics of the 

venue were more immersive. 

Sonic subtractions Sure, but no major 

complaints. The Explorer’s spectral balance 

is moderately light. Thus, low bass could be 

weightier and more precise. On Holly Cole’s “I 

Can See Clearly” the Explorer can’t quite achieve 

the pace, muscle, and drive behind Cole’s vocals 

the way more upscale DACs like the mbl CD31 

or dCS Puccini can. Even so, perspective please! 

This is high-res “to-go” for less than the price of 

a decent power cord. 

Of the streamers I’ve heard recently, 

the Explorer is neither the smallest (that 

distinction goes to the AudioQuest Dragonfly) 

nor the least expensive (HRT’s microStreamer 

gets that honor). In fact of the three it’s the 

priciest by a slight margin. Sonically all are 

impressive—mini-miracles if you will—yet the 

Meridian is a little more intrepid dynamically 

with a dimensional complexity that makes 

it stand apart. The Explorer marks a shrewd 

opportunity to spread the gospel of highquality 

portable sound to a much broader 

(read: younger) audience. Meridian couldn’t 

have chosen a better emissary than this little 

USB DAC. Highly recommended. 

Type: Asynchronous USB DAC 

Input: USB Mini Type B 

Input resolutions supported: Up to 24-bit/192kHz 

(44.1/48/88/96/176/192kHz) 

Outputs: 3.5mm stereo mini-jack variable level headphone 

output (130mW into 16 ohms); 3.5mm fixed-level 

(2V) analog output; mini-TosLink digital optical, 96kHz 

maximum 

Dimensions: 4" x 1.25" x 0.7" 

Weight: 1.76 oz. 

Price: $299 

Meridian America 

110 Greene Street, Suite 407 

New York, NY 10012 

(646) 666-0140 

meridian-audio.com 




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Three New DSD-Capable DACs 

Mytek Stereo192-DSD DAC, Benchmark DAC2 HGC, 

and Lynx Hilo Reference A/D D/A Converter 

Steven Stone 

During the years that J. Gordon Holt and I 

made recordings together he often complained 

about the lack of “pro” audio gear being 

reviewed in consumer audio publications. Many times 

he found a particular piece of gear that he wanted 

to review, but because it was sold and marketed 

principally to professional audio engineers, it was 

deemed by his editors to be inappropriate. He found 

this so irritating that he didn’t write as many reviews 

in his later years as he might have, if given freer rein. 

Gordon’s last reference speakers, the ATC SC-40s, 

were just such a “prosumer” product. 

Flash forward ten years; computer audio has 

reduced the gap between pro and consumer gear to 

the point where they are almost interchangeable. This 

convergence of current-generation consumer and pro 

gear is a result of parallel technical paths. The latest 

computer-audio pro and consumer products employ the 

same DACs, software/firmware solutions, and circuittopology 

concepts. Nowadays differences in input/ 

output options, routing flexibility, and cosmetics have 

become the primary differentiators separating pro from 

consumer devices. 

The latest generations of state-of-the-art DAC chips 

from Cirrus Logic, Wolfson, and ESS have the built-in 

capability to natively support the DSD format. The first 

DACs to utilize this added capability are from companies 

whose prime focus has been the pro market: Mytek, 

Benchmark, and Lynx. But the $1595 Mytek Stereo192- 

DSD-DAC, $1995 Benchmark DAC2 HGC, and $2495 

Lynx Hilo all bridge the gap between pro and consumer 

so completely that, except for where they are purchased, 

the difference is moot. I have no doubt that this would 

have pleased J. Gordon Holt immensely. 

The Mytek Stereo192-DSD-DAC 

Manufactured in Poland, the Mytek Stereo192-DSD- 

DAC was designed by Michal Jurewicz, who is also 

the founder of Mytek Digital. Mytek opened its doors 

in 1992, and its first products were A/Ds and D/As for 

the pro recording market. According to one of Mytek’s 

background papers, “The ADCs and DACs prototypes 

designed by Michal have been used to record many now 

classic albums of David Bowie, Lou Reed, Mariah Carey, 

James Taylor, B52’s, and many more.” In 2005 Jurewicz 

was commissioned to design a DSD master-recorder for 

Sony’s SACD division. And while SACD’s moment in the 

audio sun was distressingly brief, the experience put 

Jurewicz in an ideal position to make a DAC/pre that 

supports DSD. 

The Mytek Stereo192-DSD-DAC comes in three 

versions. The differences involve ergonomics and 

cosmetics. Fortunately for consumers, all three have the 

same price. The “standard” version is available in two 

finishes, silver and black. The black-chassis 192-DSD- 

DAC has front-panel volume-level LEDs below the LCD 

panel, while the silver version has none. Input and output 

options on the black and silver 192s are identical. The 

“Mastering” Stereo192-DSD-DAC has a front panel 

similar to the black standard version, but instead of 

an analog pass-through it substitutes a dedicated DSD 

input for 128x (5.6MHz) files (currently only accessible 

by a PC-based computer). For audiophiles who want 

to use an analog source, the standard version with its 

analog inputs will be the more useful option. Having the 

“idiot light” level-meter LEDs on the front panel makes 

the blackface version my preference over the silver face. 

Mytek sent me two Stereo192-DSD-DACs, a black 

standard as well as a mastering version. For the review 

I used the standard version. I did listen to the mastering 

version near the end of the review period, primarily to 

see if the 400-plus hours of playing time I had put on the 

standard version had any effect on the sound compared 

to a brand-new unit with no playing time. There was a 

profound difference. The unused mastering version had 

a midrange glare and harder edge that was not present 

in the broken-in sample. Anyone evaluating a Mytek 

Stereo192-DSD-DAC that has not been thoroughly 


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EQUIPMENT review - Three New DSD-Capable DACs 

broken-in hasn’t really heard how a Mytek Stereo192- 

DSD-DAC can sound. I recommend at least 200 

hours with an active signal. I left my review sample 

tethered to a Logitech Duet tuned to my local public 

radio’s Internet feed for nearly two weeks before I 

placed it into my desktop system. 

Setup and Day-to-Day Use 

Installing the Mytek Stereo192-DSD-DAC in my 

desktop system was easy and straightforward. It has 

a single pair of balanced XLR outputs as well as a 

single RCA single-ended output. The balanced output 

went to my power amplifier while the unbalanced 

output went to both a Stax SRM-007T headphone 

amplifier and Velodyne DD10+ subwoofer. The Mytek 

is unique among the three DAC/pre’s in this review 

because it has a FireWire input in addition to its 

USB inputs. I connected both the FireWire and USB 

connections from my computer as well as a S/PDIF 

feed from an Empirical Audio Off-Ramp 5 USB to S/ 

PDIF converter. 

The Stereo192-DSD-DAC has two USB inputs, one 

for 1.0 USB and the other for 2.0. For both Macs and 

PCs you need to download and install a driver to 

support USB 2.0. If you don’t have the proper driver, 

you can use the 1.0 USB input sans driver. Given how 

easy it was to install the Mytek driver, I can’t think 

of any reason besides being completely cut off from 

the Internet for not downloading and installing the 

Mytek drivers. Once USB and FireWire drivers were 

installed, both the USB 2.0 and FireWire outputs 

were recognized and visible in my Mac’s Audio MIDI 

control panel. 

The Mytek’s front panel has only one knob, three 

pushbuttons, a 3" by 1/2" LED front-panel display, 

a 1/4" stereo headphone output, and an on/off 

switch. The knob does quadruple-duty, serving as 

an independent volume control for both rear-panel 

outputs as well as for the headphone level. Also by 

pushing the volume control in slightly it converts 

to a mode selector that turns to select different 

options within each mode. A push while in a mode 

selects whichever choice is displayed in the front 

panel LED read-out. This multi-function controldesign 

does require some “user training.” But after 

using the Stereo192-DSD-DAC exclusively for a 

week or so the logic of Mytek’s nested menu options 

becomes second nature. The Stereo192-DSD-DAC 

also supports a remote control, an Apple remote 

to be exact. Any Apple remote can be coupled 

to the Stereo192-DSD-DAC, as can an RC-5-style 

universal remote. Two of the small buttons on the 

front panel are function buttons. They are both userprogrammable 

to serve as a specific input selector, a 

mute, a phase inversion select, a mono select, an L-R 

select, an M/S decode, or for instant -20dB volume 

reduction. 

Unlike many DAC/preamps which have their 

volume controls for the headphone and main 

outputs ganged together, the Mytek supports 

separate volume control adjustments from a single 

volume knob. Merely push in the knob to switch 

from headphones to line level. The front panel LED 

displays a -99 to -0 volume scale, making it easy to 

see exactly what your volume level is at a glance. 

It also makes matched-level A/B comparisons easy 

and accurate. If you already have a line-level analog 

preamp, you can set the Mytek Stereo192-DSD-DAC 

for fixed-level analog output. 

The only control on the front panel that I did not 

find of value was the on/off switch. Every device 

needs an on/off switch, right True, but perhaps a 

smaller or rear-mounted on/off would have been 

better. Why Because when the Mytek is turned on 


Mytek Stereo192-DSD-DAC 

Conversion: 32-bit, PCM up to 

192k, 64x DSD, 128x DSD 

Digital inputs: S/PDIF, AES/EBU, 

TosLink, all up to 192k single 

wire (64xDSD and 128XDSD 

SDIF DSD 

interface on Mastering Version) 

Analog inputs: One pair singleended 

RCA 

Outputs: One pair balanced 

XLR, one pair unbalanced RCA, 

one headphone output 

Dimensions: 8.5" x 1.72" x 8.5" 


Price: $1595 

Mytek Digital 

148 India Street, 1st Floor 

Brooklyn, NY 11222 

(347) 384-2687 

mytekdigital.com 

Benchmark DAC2 HGC 


194kHz, 64x DSD 

Analog inputs: One stereo pair 

Digital inputs: One USB, two 

optical, two coaxial 


XLR, two pairs unbalanced 

RCA, one headphone output 

9.33" 


Price: $1995 

Benchmark Media 

Systems, Inc. 

203 East Hampton Place, Suite 

2 

Syracuse, NY 13206 

(800) 262-4675 

(800-BNCHMRK) 

sales@benchmarkmedia.com 

Lynx Hilo 


192kHz, 64x DSD 

Analog inputs: One pair 

balanced XLR 

Digital inputs: One AES/ 

EBU, one S/PDIF coaxial, one 

TosLink, one USB 


XLR, one pair single-ended 

RCA, one headphone output 

Dimensions: 8.50" x 3.25" x 

10.00" 

Weight 6.75 lbs. 

Price: $2495 

Lynx Studio Technology, 

Inc. 

190 McCormick Avenue 

(714) 545-4700 

sales@lynxstudio.com 

Associated Equipment 

Source Devices: MacPro 

model 1.1 Intel Xeon 2.66 

GHz computer with 16 GB of 

memory with OS 10.6.7, running 

iTunes 10.6.3 and Amarra 

2.5 music playing software, 

Pure Music 1.85 music playing 

software, and Audirana Plus 

1.35 music playing software 

Amplifiers: April Music 

Eximus S-1, Accuphase P-300, 

Parasound A-23 

Speakers: Aerial Acoustics 5B, 

ATC SC-7, ProAC Anniversary 

Tablettes, Role Audio Canoe, 

Golden Ear Aon 2, Silverline 

Miuet Plus, Velodyne DD+ 10 

subwoofer 

Cables and Accessories: 

Wireworld USB cable, 

Synergistic Research USB 

cable, AudioQuest Carbon 

USB cables. PS Audio Quintet, 

AudioQuest CV 4.2 speaker 

cable, AudioQuest Colorado 

interconnect, Cardas Clear 

interconnect, and Crystal Cable 

Piccolo interconnect 

Dimensions: 9.5" x 1.725" x Costa Mesa, CA 92626-3307 



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or off it emits a rather loud transient thump. 

Obviously, best practices indicate that you 

should always turn your power amplifier and 

subwoofer on last, and turn them off first. This 

will eliminate the possibility of the turn-on and 

turn-off noise damaging anything downstream 

from the 192-DSD-DAC. But, “things happen.” 

The DAC/pre’s in my desktop system are 

situated below my desk at approximately knee 

height. Several times during the review my 

knee came in contact with the on/off switch. 

The results were loud and not pretty. Also, once 

during the review I had a power outage and my 

power amplifier exhausted its power reserves, 

generating a prodigious thump. Knowing “best 

practices” and being able to employ them in 

the real world are two different things. 

Sound 

The first thing that impressed me about the 

Mytek’s sonics was the lack of any additive 

harmonic colorations. Conversely, the Mytek 

didn’t sound harmonically thin; instead there 

was a clarity and speed to its presentation that 

gave everything played through it the lucidity 

of live music. If your system relies on your DAC 

or preamp to warm up or harmonically enrich 

the overall tonal balance, the Mytek Stereo192- 

DSD-DAC won’t be much help. Like the other 

two prosumer DAC/pre’s in this survey, the 

Mytek DAC was created to be as neutral and 

transparent as possible. And in my system, it 

achieved this goal. 

Although the Mytek is extremely neutral, it 

does have more than one sonic personality. 

The upsampling option, as well as the two PCM 

filter choices, made a noticeable difference in 

how the Mytek sounded. With lower-bit-rate 

sources, such as MP3s and audio from video 

streams, upsampling delivered superior lowlevel 

definition, image solidity, and better 

pace. But with higher-resolution digital files 

I generally preferred the non-oversampling 

native rate. Sampling rates of 44.1 and higher 

sounded more organic and analog-like. The 

same tracks with oversampling activated were 

too tight and sounded overdamped. The two 

selectable PCM filter slopes, fast and slow, were 

far more program-material dependent than bitrate 

dependent. The only way to determine 

which filter sounded best with a given piece of 

music was to listen to both filter options. 

The Mytek also supplies three different 

high-frequency filters for DSD—50, 60, or 

70kHz. Frankly I didn’t hear any appreciable 

differences between the three filters on 

my own DSD recordings, but they were all 

recorded at 5.6MHz with the high-frequency 

filter on, so much of the high-frequency noise 

that these filters are designed to filter out was 

already absent from my recordings. On the few 

commercial DSD recordings in my library I did 

notice some very subtle differences, which 

seemed to primarily affect soundstage size. As 

to which DSD filter was best, that once again 

was dependent on the source material. 

Speaking of source material, I found the 

Mytek was among the most dynamically 

mercurial DACs I’ve encountered. With lowcontrast, 

“volume wars” commercial pop, 

such as the audio from Carly Rae Jepsen’s 

“Call Me Maybe,” the Mytek sounded flat and 

lacking in dynamic contrast. But when fed 

something with actual dynamic contrast, such 

as my own live concert recordings, the Mytek 

reproduced the recording’s full dynamic range 

and power with ease. During especially high-dB 

passages, such as the peaks on my recording 

of “A Woman’s Life” by Richard Danielpour 

performed by the Boulder Philharmonic with 

soloist Angela Brown, the Mytek did a superb 

job of delineating the penetrating power of Ms. 

Brown’s impressive mezzo-soprano. 

The Mytek’s headphone output proved to 

be up to the task of driving the most powerhungry 

headphones in my collection with no 

issues, including the Audeze LCD-2 and Beyer 

Dynamic DT-990 600-ohms. High-sensitivity 

in-ear phones were also handled well by the 

192-DSD-DAC. The 16-ohm-impedance, 110dBsensitive 

Meelectronics A161P lacked any sort 

of additional electronic noise or hiss, and had 

excellent bass and treble extension. The Mytek 

dual volume control was especially handy when 

I was comparing my Stax headphone rig with 

dynamic headphones plugged into the Mytek’s 

headphone output, since it allowed me to 

critically match the levels of the headphone 

with the Stax being fed by the line-level 

outputs. 

Is a Mytek Your Tech 

Although the Mytek is the least expensive 

of the three DAC/pre’s in this survey, its 

combination of features and sound puts it 

on equal footing with the other two units 

reviewed. If you want or need a DSD-capable 

DAC with a FireWire interface (which can be 

attached to any Thunderbolt connection via an 

adapter) the Mytek is the only game in town, so 

far. For most prospective buyers the blackface 

standard version with its analog pass-through 

will be the most useful, but if you have a PC 

and a hankering for 128x DSD and don’t need 

an analog input, the “Mastering” version will fill 

the bill nicely. 

Benchmark DAC2 HGC 

When Robert Greene reviewed the Benchmark 

DAC1 in 2009, he concluded his review by 

saying, “The Benchmark DAC1 Pre is not only 

an excellent device for the money; it is excellent 

compared to anything that I have encountered 

at any price. To my mind, it is the beginning of 

a new era in audio, in which the regeneration 

of the recorded signal has become a solved 

problem.” His review generated quite a bit of 

controversy, with some audiophiles agreeing 

that the DAC1 was utterly transparent, and 

others finding it to be overly matter-of-fact 

and lacking in air, pace, and ambience retrieval. 

Except for hearing a DAC1 briefly at several 

audio shows I haven’t spent much time listening 

to the DAC1 so I wouldn’t venture an opinion 

on its ultimate sonic quality. But after more 

than three months with the Benchmark DAC2 

HGC I can’t help but think that it will convert 

Benchmark naysayers into fans. 

Going From DAC1 to DAC2 

How does the Benchmark DAC2 HGC differ from 

its predecessor It looks very much the same 

to the casual eye since it has a similar physical 

footprint and front-panel layout. According to 

the DAC2 HGC’s owner’s manual, “New features 

have been added to extend the versatility of the 

product, and improve the listening experience. 

These features include: native DSD conversion, 


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asynchronous USB 2.0, asynchronous USB 1.1, 

home-theater bypass, digital pass-through, 

polarity control, word-length display, samplerate 

display, a bi-directional 12V trigger, 

and additional I/O options.” Additional 

“performance improvements” include using 

four balanced 32-bit D-to-A converters that 

are summed to make each balanced output 

channel. According to Benchmark this reduces 

noise by 6dB. Overall the DAC2 is 10dB quieter 

than the DAC1. The DAC2 also includes 3.5dB 

of digital-processing headroom above 0dBFS, 

which reportedly eliminates the clipping that 

can be caused by inter-sample overloads. 

The DAC2 HGC employs new high-efficiency, 

low-noise power supplies with each subsystem 

using its own dedicated low-noise regulation. 

The UltraLock2 digital clock replaces the 

older UltraLock clock that was used in 

the DAC1 for jitter attenuation. Like most 

current-generation DACs, the DAC2 uses an 

asynchronous interface, which Benchmark, 

with a knack for verbal invention, calls its 

“multi-mode asynchronous USB.” 

The HGC moniker stands for “hybrid gain 

control” which is a “dual domain” attenuation 

system that combines digital with analog gain 

controls for an optimal result. By using a 32-bit 

digital system along with a servo-driven analog 

potentiometer, Benchmark claims that the 

HGC design “outperforms traditional analog 

or digital volume controls, including the twostage 

DAC1 HDR system.” 

The expanded input options for the DAC2 HGC 

include two pairs of unbalanced analog stereo 

inputs, two optical digital inputs, two coaxial 

S/PDIF inputs, and one USB 2.0 input. Output 

options comprise two pairs of unbalanced 

RCA stereo outputs, one balanced XLR 

stereo output, and two 1/4" stereo headphone 

outputs on the front panel. All the outputs are 

attenuated by the front-panel rotary volume 

control. The DAC 2 HGC’s second coaxial S/ 

PDIF digital input can be reconfigured to be a 

digital output, so that any digital source that 

comes into the DAC2 HGC can be rerouted 

to any additional external digital devices you 

have on hand, such as another DAC or digital 

recorder. 

Most of the front panel’s operating 

adjustments are duplicated on the DAC2’s 

dedicated remote control. Looking very much 

like the remote that Bel Canto used several 

years ago for its PRE-3 analog preamp (the 

Bel Canto was plastic; the Benchmark die-cast 

aluminum), the DAC2 HGC remote handles 

volume, input switching, LCD levels, and on/off 

functions. The only control not duplicated on 

the remote is polarity reversal. To invert the 

polarity you must push a small button on the 

DAC2 HGC’s front panel or the remote control’s 

On button. 

Like its predecessor the DAC1, the DAC2 has 

a pair of 1/4" stereo headphone outputs on its 

front faceplate. Benchmark calls its headphone 

amplifier circuit the HPA2. Benchmark claims 

it is “one of the most transparent headphone 

amplifiers available” with a “near 0-ohm” 

output impedance for optimum damping with a 

wide variety of headphones. 

Setup and Day-to-Day Operation 

Setting up the DAC2 HGC was straightforward 

with few surprises. For my desktop system 

I connected the balanced XLR outputs to my 

power amplifier and one of the single-ended 

RCA outputs to my subwoofer, while the other 

RCA single-ended output was connected to my 

Stax SRM-007t headphone amplifier, which 

was daisy-chained to a Sicphones headphone 

amplifier. 

Inside the DAC2 HGC Benchmark included 

a pair of jumper-enabled passive attenuators 

for the balanced XLR outputs. This switch lets 

users choose either 0dB, 10dB, or 20dB of 

attenuation. The purpose of the attenuators 

is to match the DAC2 HGC’s output levels to 

your amp and speaker sensitivity. Benchmark 

recommends that for optimal performance the 

volume control should be set above 11 o’clock. 

The DAC2 came with the jumpers set for -10dB, 

which I reset for -20dB. For desktop use I found 

that -10dB was far more gain than I needed 

with the amps and speakers I had on hand. 

DAC/preamps that include a headphone 

amplifier usually operate one of two ways— 

either all the other outputs are muted when a 

headphone is plugged into the front panel or 

they remain active. Both schemes have their 

adherents and detractors. Benchmark came 

up with a clever compromise. If you use the 

left-hand jack the DAC2 attenuates its other 

outputs, but if you use the right-hand jack all 

outputs remain active. Benchmark’s solution is 

hard to fault. 

Since the DAC2 HGC uses a servomotor to 

control its remote volume adjustments, volume 

changes aren’t as instantaneous as they are 

with an all-electronic volume control. Once 

you release the volume control button on the 

remote the DAC2 volume continues to travel 

for a fraction of a second. Also the volume 

knob has no detents (or numerical equivalents 

on an LED readout), so recreating exact volume 

levels can only be done “by eye” using the 

small red dot on the volume knob and the dot 

markings around the outside circumference of 

the knob. I found turning the control manually 

rather than relying on the remote worked best 

for achieving critically matched volume levels. 

The DAC2 Sound 

Although the latest generation of DAC chips and 

circuits claims to have achieved that elusive 

goal of bit-perfect sound reproduction (still 

debatable), different approaches to digital signal 

processing and analog circuitry create more 

than enough variations in sound quality to give 

most DACs their own unique sonic personalities. 

Benchmark says that the DAC1 and DAC2 use 

nearly identical analog circuit. The difference 

is the DAC2’s ESS Sabre conversion and DSP 

headroom. The company says that in the DAC1 

the analog circuit outperformed the DAC by a 

wide margin, but in the DAC2 the superior DAC 

and DSP allows the conversion stage to approach 

the limits of the analog circuitry. Most of the 

negative comments I’ve read about the DAC1 

revolved around its lack of dimensionality and 

dynamics, rendering its presentation overly leftbrained 

and emotionally uninvolving. The DAC2 

is quite different. The DAC2 sounded dynamically 

wide open with superb dimensionality and tonal 

color. Over the course of my listening sessions 

using the DAC2 HGC I was hard-pressed to 

come up with any easily identifiable additive 

or subtractive colorations or sonic personality 

that I could identify as intrinsic to the DAC2’s 


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core sound that veered from the center path of 

neutrality. 

The one sonic characteristic that I was 

constantly aware of when listening through the 

DAC2 was the quality of the recording itself. 

Whether it was a lowly 320bps MP3 or a 64x 

DSD file, I was continually reminded of how the 

recording was made and how well or poorly 

executed the original recording session was. 

Excessive or inappropriately applied reverb was 

immediately obvious, such as on the otherwise 

musically superb duet album by Chris Thile and 

Mike Marshall Into the Cauldron. Through the 

DAC2 the reverb sounds so obviously overdone 

that it’s actually easier to listen around it 

because the DAC2’s lack of grain and electronic 

texture separates the original signal from the 

awful afterthought reverb. 

Low-level resolution through the DAC2 

was exemplary. On my own live Boulder 

Philharmonic Orchestra DSD recordings the 

little extra amusical noises from chairs and the 

more than 700 humans in the room during a 

concert were easier to discern and separate 

out from the music. Depth cues were also 

slightly more coherent on my DSD recordings 

played back through the DAC2, especially 

when compared to my 44.1 conversions from 

the same DSD masters. 

I should mention that although the DAC2 

plays back 2.8MHz files (64x) it does not yet 

support 5.8MHz (128x) DSD files. All of my 

live DSD recordings were made at 128x, so 

for playback I must convert them to 64x. I’ve 

used two programs for the conversion. Most 

of the time I use AudioGate, but Daniel Weiss 

suggested I try his Saracon software, which is a 

dedicated stand-alone program created solely 

to convert files from one format to another. 

When I compared the PCM 192/24 conversions 

done with both programs they did not sound 

identical. The Saracon program’s overall output 

levels in default mode were different. I needed 

to spend quite a bit of time tweaking the 

settings in Saracon to get the two programs 

to create files that had similar levels, since 

AudioGate has no level adjustments. When 

levels were as critically matched as possible, I 

found that the Saracon files did sound as if the 

black space between instruments was ever so 

slightly blacker, but the effect was very subtle 

and only really noticeable on especially quiet 

passages. 

I’m bringing up the issue of format conversion 

because I found that how a file has been 

converted from one format to another had a 

far more profound sonic effect than any of the 

electronics in my playback chain. And anyone 

who’s doing comparisons between DSD and 

PCM versions of a file needs to give greater 

consideration to his conversion methodology. 

If a reviewer doesn’t know or hasn’t bothered 

to control how a DSD file was converted to 

PCM, his conclusions about sonic quality and 

differences between PCM and DSD are highly 

suspect. Anyone who says that a particular 

DAC is “better” than another at playing back 

PCM or DSD files based on someone else’s 

file conversions needs to reevaluate his 

methodology, because the sonic variations 

created by file conversion are, in my experience, 

greater than the differences in hardware and 

software being compared. 

Here’s an example of what a major part file 

conversion can play in sound quality. When 

I played back two different files from the 

same session, one the “native” 128x file and 

the other a 64x file that was made through a 

Saracon conversion, I preferred the sound on 

the 64x DSD file. Why Perhaps because the 

64x DSD file was played back in native mode via 

DSD over DoP 1.1 while the 128x file was being 

converted, on the fly, by the Decibel playback 

program into a 176.4 PCM file. The native DSD 

file playback was more relaxed, natural, and, 

dare I say it, analog-like in presentation. 

Benchmark made some bold claims about 

the quality of the headphone amplifier in the 

DAC2. With all the headphones I had available 

the DAC2 headphone amp rivaled the sonics of 

the stand-alone iFi iCan headphone amplifier 

I reviewed recently (Issue 233). On all the 

commercially-available recordings I tried the 

DAC2 had enough gain to handle the most 

power-hungry and inefficient headphones such 

as the Beyer Dynamic DT-990 600-ohm version 

and the Audeze LCD-2. With my own recordings 

and the DAC2’s default headphone amplifier 

gain setting, I would have liked a bit more gain 

for these lower-efficiency cans, but with more 

efficient cans, such as my Beyer Dynamic DT- 

880 250-ohms, the DAC2’s headphone amp 

had ample gain. Note that the headphone gain 

range is internally adjustable in 10dB steps 

(0dB, -10dB, -20dB), with the factory default 

at -10dB. This variable gain optimizes the 

headphone amplifier’s gain structure for the 

highest signal-to-noise ratio. 

On high-efficiency low-impedance earbuds, 

such as the Meelectronics A16P balancedarmature 

earbuds, there was no low-level hiss, 

spurious noise, or other signs of excessive gain. 

After many hours of headphone listening I had 

to conclude that the headphones themselves, 

rather than the DAC2 headphone amplifier, 

were the most colored and least neutral part 

of the DAC2’s headphone output reproduction 

chain. 

Another Perfect Benchmark DAC 

While I would never be so brash as to even 

suggest that further improvements in DACs, 

USB interfaces, and analog circuitry aren’t 

possible or won’t result in better sound quality, 

the Benchmark DAC2 does make a strong case 

that the current-generation digital-to-analog 

interfaces are no longer the weakest link in the 

reproduction chain, if indeed they were in the 

past. 

For me the bottom line on the Benchmark 

DAC2 HGC is that is it not only good enough 

to live with long-term, it’s good enough to use 

for any mastering or recording projects that 

might come up. The DAC2 HGC is easy to listen 

through, highly revealing, and with well-recorded 

material astonishingly three-dimensional. 

Lynx Hilo 

Lynx Studio Technology was founded in 1998. 

Its first offerings were PCI sound cards for 

computer-audio interfaces. While PCI cards 

still play a prominent role in Lynx’s lineup, its 

latest devices have been stand-alone digital 

interface gear such as the Hilo Reference A/D 

D/A Converter System. The Hilo incorporates a 

number of firsts for a pro audio device, including 

a full-color 480x272 LCD touchscreen and 

upgradable firmware that controls all of the 


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Hilo’s primary functions. My review sample Hilo 

was on its fifth firmware version. 

The Hilo combines a unique feature set 

with one of the most flexible signal-routing 

systems I’ve seen in any DAC or digital preamp. 

This flexibility stems from its FPGA (field 

programmable gate array). Virtually any input 

can be routed to any output. Also any input 

can be routed to play from any of Hilo’s three 

outputs—line, monitor, or headphone. Hilo 

simultaneously supports eight digital channels 

at 192/24 or sixteen channels at 96/24. With 

the addition of Lynx LT-USB L-Slot, the Hilo 

also supports USB 2.0 inputs at bit-rates up to 

192/24 for PCM and 64x (2.8MHz) for DSD. 

The Hilo includes a built-in two-channel 

analog-to-digital converter, so analog sources 

can easily be brought into the digital domain. 

To get an idea of how flexible the Hilo can be 

and how it can be used, Lynx has over a dozen 

downloadable fact sheets on its site that 

cover how to employ the Hilo for overdubbing, 

mastering, location recording, and archiving 

vinyl records. 

Setup and Day-to-Day Use 

Given the Hilo’s level of flexibility, new users 

should expect a learning curve when they 

begin. I recommend reading the manual 

thoroughly before trying to set up the Hilo. I 

didn’t follow my own advice and paid the price. 

Unlike most digital preamps I’ve reviewed in 

the past, the Hilo’s “line out” was a fixed-level 

output, while the “monitor out” was a variablelevel 

output controlled by the volume knob on 

the front panel. If you assume, as I did, that 

the “line out” would be the variable-volume 

output, while the “monitor out” would be fixedlevel, 

as is standard on most consumer audio 

devices, you stand a good chance of blowing up 

your speaker drivers when the first signal goes 

through the Hilo. 

I had two seconds of panic when a pair of 

ProAc Tablettes got exposed to full-scale 

output from an Accuphase P-300 before I 

turned off my power amplifier. Phil Moon, Lynx’s 

VP of sales and marketing, explained to me 

that in order to make the “line out” the “alpha” 

best-quality output, Lynx decided to bypass 

the volume controls. Perhaps on subsequent 

versions Lynx could change its labeling from 

“line out” to “fixed-level line out” to avoid 

subjecting overeager users to the sonic blast 

I experienced. 

If you wish to use the Hilo to directly drive 

a basic power amplifier or active speakers 

that lack their own volume adjustments, you 

must use the “monitor out” outputs. Since the 

“monitor out” uses stereo 1/4" terminations, 

some kind of adapter will be needed for use 

with either RCA or XLR termination. For my 

primary desktop set-up I used a 1/4"-to-RCA 

adapter and a splitter to connect to my power 

amplifier and subwoofer. I connected the “line 

out” to a Stax SRM-007t headphone amplifier. 

Once all the physical connections were sorted 

out it was time to work through the set-up 

options via the Hilo’s front-panel touchscreen. 

The first option is what kind of level meters 

you would like to see. The Hilo offers three 

options—analog, horizontal, or all I/O. Four 

additional control screens cover all of Hilo’s 

other options, whose descriptions could easily 

fill up the remainder of the review. Suffice it to 

say that you can do far more with the Hilo than 

merely output two channels of audio. You can, 

if you so desire, send different signals to each 

output or compare two different mixes over 

the same output for A/B comparisons. The Hilo 

also has an internal sample-rate converter to 

upconvert or downconvert a digital signal and 

then send it to any of the Hilo’s three digital 

outputs. 

One feature that you won’t find on consumer 

DSD DACs is the Hilo’s “Scene” feature. 

Imagine a “save” function that preserves 

all your current settings and lets you recall 

them with one button push. The Hilo has six 

savable “scene” options, which can be used 

for matched-level A/B switching (as I did) or 

special setups. 

Once dialed in the Hilo performed flawlessly 

throughout the review period. It recognized 

DSD streams with no stuttering or glitches 

and switched easily and automatically from 

one format and bit-rate to another. Unlike 

other DACs I’ve reviewed that require the user 

to choose the active input source, the Hilo 

automatically defaulted to whichever input was 

currently passing signal. When I switched from 

the Hilo’s USB to the Empirical Audio Off-Ramp 

5 USB converter via my MAC’s MIDI control, the 

Hilo automatically and almost instantaneously 

switched from USB to S/PDIF with virtually no 

interruption. 

Unlike both of the other DSD DACs in this 

review, the Hilo does not come with a remote. 

For some potential users this could be a “fail” 

moment, but given the feature-rich nature of 

the Hilo’s LCD touchscreen interface, it makes 

far more sense to use the Hilo in a physical 

setup where it remains within arm’s reach. 

The Down-Low on the Hilo Sound 

The Hilo DAC/pre has a very similar sonic 

character to the Benchmark DAC2 HGC and 

Mytek 192-DSD-DAC—that is to say, not much. 

Its variations from neutrality were far less 

apparent than other parts of most systems into 

which it was inserted. The sonic differences 

I’ve heard between various brands of state-ofthe-art 

speaker cables or power amplifiers in 

my system were greater than between all three 

DACs in this review. Can you say, dead heat, 

boys and girls 

Many times what a casual listener might 

attribute to the sonic character of a component 

is actually the result of interactions between 

components rather than a particular 

component’s own intrinsic sonic characteristics. 

I’ve found that room-based systems, due to 

their longer cable runs, as well as the myriad 

of environmental interactions, tend to be more 

harmonically colored and “bloomy” than my 

desktop system. Room bloom, which creates 

both harmonic and dynamic variations away 

from neutrality, isn’t nearly as much of a sonic 

factor in a nearfield listening environment 

because the room doesn’t get as excited by or 

involved in the reproduction process. Maybe 

that’s one of the reasons that most recording 

engineers do their critical mixing and EQ 

adjustments on a nearfield system. 

Since the Hilo automatically switches to 

whichever digital input is currently active, 

doing A/B tests between the Hilo’s USB and an 

Empirical Audio Off-Ramp 5 with Short-Block 

USB de-coupler was fairly straightforward and 


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the changeover was nearly instantaneous. All I 

had to do was change the output device in the 

Audio MIDI control panel and the Hilo switched 

source inputs as well. After comparing the two 

USB sources on a wide variety of material I 

was forced to conclude that with the amps 

and speakers I had on hand I could not reliably 

tell a difference between the two USB inputs. 

Differences between recordings and bit-rates 

were far more profound than differences 

between these USB solutions. The Lynx USB 

interface is good enough that, at least for the 

time being, the need for a “better” external 

USB interface was non-existent. 

The Hilo’s headphone amp proved to be more 

than equal to the task of successfully driving 

all the headphones in my earphone menagerie. 

High-impedance, low-sensitivity headphones 

such as the Beyer Dynamic DT-990 600-ohm 

version and Audeze LCD-2 required nearly full 

output level for my own recordings, which are in 

general recorded at lower level than commercial 

releases. But with commercial releases the 

Hilo had more than enough horsepower to 

drive them past comfortable listening levels. 

With high-sensitivity low-impedance ear-buds 

such as the 16-ohm, 110dB Meelectronics A16P 

balanced-armature earphones, there was no 

background hiss or other signs of a sensitivity 

mismatch. With every set of headphones I tried 

the Hilo provided a very quiet environment for 

the headphones to work their magic. 

The Lynx Hilo’s feature set is far more 

extensive than any two-channel playback-only 

audiophile will ever need. Because it is the 

most expensive DAC/pre of the three reviewed, 

some audiophiles might assume that it’s also 

the least cost-efficient. They would be wrong. 

If you have any plans to do any transfers 

from original vinyl or tape sources or want to 

try some high-quality digital recording, the 

Hilo’s inclusion of a 192/24 analog-to-digital 

converter and eight-channel capabilities make 

it far more useful and cost-effective than the 

other DACs in this survey and more flexible 

than any consumer DAC/Pre I know. 

Three Great DSD DAC Options 

Back in J. Gordon Holt’s day no “serious” 

audiophile would think of putting together a 

system based around pro audio gear. But that 

was then, and this is now. Computer audio has 

made the practical differences between pro 

and consumer products moot. All three of the 

DSD-capable DACs in this survey will elevate a 

computer-based audio system to a very high 

“professional” standard. Personally, I could live 

happily with any of them. The Mytek 192-DSD- 

DAC, Benchmark DAC2 HGC, and the Lynx 

Hilo are all sonic and ergonomic winners in my 

book. 


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Music Servers & Accessories 




Equipment Report 

AudioQuest Diamond 

USB Cable 

Robert Harley 

The replacement of the S/PDIF interface by USB as the de facto standard for 

transmitting digital audio has been surprisingly rapid. Even more surprising 

is how variable in sound quality USB can be. No two implementations of the 

USB interface sound the same, with a huge performance gap between the best and 

the worst. The good news is that some talented high-end designers are addressing 

the problem, raising the bar in USB performance. The very best implementations are 

now very good indeed. 

All of these observations about USB also 

apply to USB cables. There are, in fact, larger 

sound quality differences between USB cables 

than between S/PDIF or AES/EBU cables. 

Generic USB cables designed for connecting 

computer peripherals are so bad that even a 

$29 designed-for-audio USB cable offers a 

huge leap in performance. 

So how good can a USB cable get I discovered 

the answer when I replaced an excellent $80 

USB cable with a 1.5m run of AudioQuest’s topof-the-line 

Diamond USB ($549 for .75m, $695 

for 1.5m) in my music-server system. (I use an 

iMac running iTunes and Pure Music, a Berkeley 

Audio Design Alpha USB Interface, and a 

Berkeley Alpha DAC, later replaced by an Alpha 

DAC Series 2.) It turned out that the state-ofthe-art 

in USB cables combined with a stateof-the-art 

USB interface sounds absolutely 

spectacular. My music server system took a 

significant leap in sound quality. Diamond USB 

may be quite expensive, but in the context of 

my system, it is well worth the price. 

The Diamond cable is built from solid silver 

conductors—what AudioQuest calls “Perfect- 

Surface Silver” (PSS)—terminated with 

silver-plated connectors. AudioQuest’s 72V 

Dielectric Bias System (DBS) applies 72V 

across the dielectric via a battery attached 

to the cable. A wire attached to the battery’s 

negative terminal runs down the cable’s length. 

The battery’s positive terminal is connected to 

a shield around the conductors. Note that the 

battery’s + and – terminals are not connected 

together, so no current flows, which is why 

the battery will last for years. The idea is to 

saturate and polarize the dielectric so that it 

performs optimally at all times, and with no 

break-in required. 

AudioQuest’s Diamond USB delivers 

exceptional resolution of detail, but at the 

same time is relaxed and easy-going. The cable 

presents a huge amount of information, from 

very low-level spatial cues, to inner timbral 

information that conveys the mechanism by 

which instruments create sound, to microdynamic 

nuances. For example, I’ve been 

listening to Rachmaninoff’s in 176.4kHz/24-bit 

via Reference Recordings’ HRx format for two 

years and know it well. After putting Diamond 

USB into the system, I heard even more very 

low-level information, particularly very quiet 

instruments at the back of the soundstage. 

This increased density of detail expanded the 

soundstage, particularly in depth, heightening 

the sense of a large acoustic replacing the 

acoustic of my listening room. The increased 

resolution also made timbres more richly 

saturated and lifelike. 

Concomitantly, the presentation became 

gentler and smoother. The treble, in particular, 

was revelatory. Thanks to the elimination of 

hardness and glare, I could listen at higher 

volumes without the sound bothering my ears. 

The presentation became more musically vivid 

without becoming more sonically vivid—a rare 

feat that I greatly value. It is this combination 

of resolution and ease that makes Diamond USB 

special. 

When critics of premium audio cables 

complain about cable pricing, I suggest that 

they perform a simple test: Listen to the system 

for a couple of weeks with the expensive cable 

installed, and then replace the expensive cable 

with what they had been using before, or with 

a lesser-quality cable. They should then ask 

themselves: “Am I willing to live without the 

qualities the better cable delivers” 

I suspect that anyone who performs this test 

with Diamond USB won’t want to take it out of 

his system. 

AudioQuest 

2621 White Road 


(949) 585-0111 


audioquest.com 

Price: $549 (1m); $695 

(1.5m) 



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NAD C 446 Digital Media 

Tuner 

How NAD Saved My Radio 

Neil Gader 

I 

was raised on radio, and I still enjoy its unpredictable mix of music, features, and 

news. In fact, there was a time when no self-respecting audio system was considered 

fully dressed without a good tuner. Lamentably you don’t hear a lot of chatter about 

FM/AM radio anymore. In spite of some marvelous programming it’s become a victim 

of portable digital media, downloads, and satellite services—essentially relegated to the 

car, and counted on mostly for traffic reports and talk radio. Still I remain a stalwart. As 

does NAD Electronics, which to its everlasting credit remains one of the few high-end 

electronics companies that hasn’t turned its back on this admittedly shrinking segment 

of the market. Its latest effort, the C 446 Digital Media Tuner, continues the tradition; 

yet it does so with a considerable and calculated twist over the traditional tuner. 

Nifty, Thrifty, and Thorough 

phone, Apple iOS device, or network hard-drive 

The $800 NAD C 446 is, indeed, an FM/AM using Universal Plug-and-Play (UPnP). As is the 

tuner, but as part of its mission as a Digital norm today, wireless streaming is limited to 

Media Tuner it also gives you access to the conventional 16-bit/44.1kHz resolution. 

near-infinite world of Internet radio, plus the The C 446 offers support for many popular 

ability to stream a music library from network digital formats including wav, aac+, and flac, 

storage devices, and most significantly to and outputs them via its 24-bit/192kHz DAC. 

wirelessly stream from a computer, Android Other features include the ability to digitize FM/ 

AM for output as S/PDIF and a front-panel USB 

input for thumb-drive playback. The C446 also 

supports cloud music services so that you can 

access your music library from multiple devices. 

Adding NAD’s optional IPD 2 Dock permits iPod/ 

iPhone docking/charging via a back-panel input. 

About the only thing the C 446 doesn’t have is 

a USB DAC—even a company as resourceful as 

NAD has budgets to meet after all. But don’t 

fret; NAD wasn’t napping. NAD has several USB- 

DAC solutions that can always be added down 

the road. Even so, the C 446 is a veritable digital 

crock-pot for music delivery. 

Visually the C 446 is definitively NAD— 

minimalist, elegant, and carefully laid out for 

ease of setup and control. The large central LED 

screen is readable even from a modest distance. 

The back panel is clearly organized, and the 

remote control is well laid out and intuitive. Kudos 

to NAD’s pictorial Quick Start guide, which goes a 

long way toward reducing the connection jitters. 

It calmly walks networking-phobes like yours 

truly through wireless or wired Internet setups, 

and believe me I’m a fumbler. Windows users have 

it easy, since UPnP is built into that OS. For Mac 

users it’s slightly more complicated. Recognizing 

this, NAD has partnered with Twonky.com as its 

UPnP client. A quick download from the Twonky 

site, some legwork in the C 446 set-up menu 

to create a wireless handshake, and, voîlà, a 

familiar fully searchable music library with full 

playlists appears on the front-panel display. All 

in all, a relatively straightforward setup. Not 

as elegant or foolproof as Micromega’s iTunesbased 

AirStream technology—the Cadillac of 

its kind—but to be fair the C 446 is a fraction 

of the Frenchman’s cost. Tip: Keep in mind that 

it’s not a bad idea to compile music playlists with 

material in formats that the C 446 can decode. 

It won’t do aiff, for example. 

Turning to tuner performance, channel 

selectivity was very good and noise was minimal 

on all but the weakest stations. Even without a 

signal-strength meter, it was easy to get a good 

lock on most stations. The memory feature is 

useful particularly if you don’t want to start 

all over again spinning the tuning knob. I wish 

there were a scan feature, or that the numerical 

keypad could be used to locate stations via their 

identifying call numbers, but never mind. Channel 

separation and signal-to-noise were perceivably 

very good, and more than competitive in this price 

range. Being a big fan of dedicated tuners like the 

superb Magnum Dynalab MD106T (Issue 152), 

I was more than impressed with the immediacy 

and the smooth, almost buttery musicality of the 

C 446. On one of my favorite classical stations 

it threw a wide and vivid soundstage, with solid 

dimensionality, nicely resolved images, accurate 

timbre, and a spirited sense of air and hall 

ambience. Keeping in mind that the FM radio 

standard has its own well-known limitations in 

bandwidth, the C 446 did a good job minimizing 

these shortcomings. In head-to-head comparison 

with compact-disc playback, the most obvious 

shortcoming of tuner reproduction will be a 

truncation of dynamic range. While low-level 

resolving power is enough to keep you on the 

edge of your seat, larger dynamic swings lose 

some energy. In order to maximize performance, 

a decent antenna is key—an omni rooftop or attic 

unit like Magnum’s reasonably priced ST-2 whippole 

model. You’ll likely realize that there’s more 

life left in the venerable tuner than you thought. 

But of all the tools in the C 446’s digital 

arsenal, wireless is the star. Its performance 


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Contents | On The Horizon | Feature | Disc Players | DACs | Music Servers & Accessories 

| Integrated Amps with USB DACs | Music Download Reviews | Buyer's Guide 

EQUIPMENT review - NAD C 446 Digital Media Tuner 

was nothing short of startling over my home 

network. Startling in this context is that 

wireless has come to mean more than merely 

unwired convenience. It’s become a performer. 

The C 446 joins this group. And I say this 

after spending considerable time with the 

Micromega’s AirDream technology. Like the 

Micromega, the NAD sonically rivaled compactdisc 

sources as well as a couple of USB DACs 

that I had on-deck for review. Key among its 

performance virtues is how it sheds some of 

the unyielding hardness I hear in average 

digital and replaces it with a more supple and 

I think more natural expression of transient 

attack. It has a liquidity that I normally regard 

as the territory of more expensive digital 

reproduction. Low-level resolving power was 

very good as well, as I noted during Judy 

Collins’ cover of Jimmy Webb’s “The Moon is a 

Harsh Mistress” from Judith [Elektra]. On this 

track there is an underlying resonance from the 

accompanying cello that is expressed as if just 

“under its breath.” But in this instance it was 

distinct and the instrument was reproduced 

with its full character. Equally informative were 

the clarity and warmth of the solo violin on 

this cut. During Appalachian Spring [Reference 

Recordings], the delicate opening segment and 

the thematic burst of strings were uncongested 

and open, with a soft lilt in the upper register 

that seemingly lifted harmonics upward on a 

bed of air. 

There is a small subtraction of transparency 

that lightly veils the music. The rendering of 

spatial cues, of hall boundaries, of specific image 

placement is just a little more ephemeral than 

the AirDream or Lindemann USB. In addition, 

a light amount of granularity seeped into the 

brass section during Fanfare For The Common 

Man. Also, as I listened to the harmonics of 

Evgeny Kissin’s heavy trills on the concert grand 

it seemed to me there was a very small bit of 

smudging. The same track from the CD version 

was decidedly better defined. Yet the CD was 

also something of a trade-off, as the disc had 

a drier, more brittle signature, a trait that can 

itself create an impression of greater definition. 

So, yes, I still have some minor quibbles, but 

wireless is definitely moving into primetime. 

The rewarding C 446 Digital Media Tuner fills 

a critical gap seen in many audio systems today. 

Straddling two worlds, it’s something old and 

something new from the company that seems 

to intuit a market’s sweet spot. The NAD is a 

welcome addition in a rapidly changing audio 

landscape. 


Outputs: Analog on RCA, S/PDIF on TosLink 

Interface: Ethernet, Wi-Fi 

Dimensions: 17.1" x 4" x 13.5" 


Price: $800 

NAD Electronics Intl 

633 Granite Court 

Pickering, Ontario 

Canada, L1W 3K1 

(800) 263-4641 

nadelectronics.com 


81 Digital Guide to Source Affordable Components High-End Audio www.theabsolutesound.com 


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Channel D Pure Music Software 

Pure Heaven 

Steven Stone 

In Issue 202 I concluded my review of the Amarra software program with, “If you 

want to hear how good a quality Mac-based system can really sound, you have to 

use Amarra. In the end, it’s that simple.” Time and the latest version of Channel 

D’s Pure Music software may make me eat those words. Priced at only $129, Pure 

Music promises to improve not only iTunes’ sonics, but also adds high-resolution 

capabilities along with a host of other advanced sonic and ergonomic features. 

Pure Music is such a powerful program that 

reading its “User Guide” is a must. I daresay that 

you will be reading this informative tome more 

than once. I recommend keeping Pure Music’s 

User Guide PDF open on your desktop for the 

first week or so of operation, especially during 

initial setup. While nothing in Pure Music’s preference 

panels is completely inscrutable, without 

the User Guide anyone not familiar with Pure 

Music’s many options could screw up its settings 

in a myriad of ways. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. 

Pure Features 

Like Amarra, Pure Music’s principal function 

is to bypass iTunes’ signal processing and 

substitute a more direct and powerful 64-bit 

processing program. In addition Pure Music 

offers automatic rate-switching from 44.1/16 

all the way up to 192/24, gapless playback 

of files that have been designated as gapless 

files, memory play, real-time high-resolution 

upsampling of CD tracks, a 64-bit internal 

signal path, dithered volume control, phase 

inversion, a subwoofer crossover, multichannel 

support, support for audio-processing plugins, 

Core Audio HOG mode playback, highresolution 

audio streaming, precision signal 

metering, reverse play, and more. Some of 

these features, such as HOG mode and memory 

play, may sound like gibberish to the uninitiated, 

but these two features alone make Pure Music 

capable of elevating even a lowly Mac Mini into 

a formable music-delivery device. 

I could easily fill many pages with a detailed description 

of individual preference panes and the 

various options these panes offer, but you can 

download the User Guide along with a demo version 

of the software from Channel D’s Web site. 

The free demo offers 15 days of full-featured usage, 

and I daresay that once you’ve used Pure 

Music going back to ordinary ol’ iTunes will be 

tough, unless you’re listening through a Dixie cup. 

Although a novice user, the sort of person 

who feels intimidated by anything labeled 

“preferences,” can simply download and run 

Pure Music, to hear its full potential does 

require optimizing it for your particular 

system’s capabilities. But even when it is used 

“plain vanilla” without any system optimization, 

I could hear differences between iTunes and 

Pure Music. 

Among Pure Music’s “must use” features 

is memory play. This loads your music file’s 

stream into an adjustable RAM buffer before 

it’s sent to your rendering device or DAC. It 

usually takes a few seconds for the buffer to fill 

and music to begin playing, but you can select a 

“Hybrid buffer” setting which will play the first 

couple of seconds of a track without buffering 

while the data is loaded into the buffer and then 

automatically switches to buffered mode once 

the buffer is filled. 

Pure Music’s upsampling capabilities allow 

it to turn a 44.1/16-bit file into a higher-res 

file. Among the options are “power-of-two” 

upsampling. According to Pure Music, “this 

operation is more efficient than factored 

upsampling, and in the case of Red Book CD, 

88.2kHz is, all things considered, a better 

target than 96kHz.” If your DAC will support it, 

a Red Book CD can be upsampled all the way to 

192kHz. With the Weiss DAC 202 I was able to 

set up Pure Music so it upsampled 44.1/16 files 

to 192/24 before sending them to the DAC. 

Another unique feature of Pure Music is 

the HOG mode. According to the User Guide, 

“this option reserves the audio device for 

Pure Music’s exclusive use while Pure Music is 

running. To use this feature, the audio device 

selected in Audio MIDI Setup should be set to 

a different device than the one used by Pure 

Music, to allow iTunes to fully access an audio 

device if necessary. Accordingly, by default, 

HOG Mode cannot be used for the audio device 


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EQUIPMENT review - Channel D Pure Music Software 

selected in Audio MIDI setup.” This feature is 

best used on a dedicated music system. On a 

full-service computer it means that any time 

you want to use any program that requires an 

audio stream it will have to go to an alternative 

audio device, such as your internal speakers or 

a second DAC. 

My final preferred HOG setup was pretty 

clever, if I do say so myself: I used the Weiss 

DAC 202 in FireWire mode for my Pure Music 

feed and the Empirical Audio Off-Ramp 3 for all 

other audio tasks. To change from Pure Music 

to other audio sources I only needed to select 

the DAC 202’s RCA-S/PDIF input. 

Pure Music also allows the use of third-party 

plug-ins, and comes with 18 plug-ins already 

installed and waiting for activation. A plug-in 

is a small application program that runs within 

Pure Music. Installed plug-ins include a peak 

limiter, graphic EQ, high-pass and low-pass 

filters, compressors, reverb, and shelf filters. 

Since each plug-in takes up processor time, 

Pure Music monitors the total CPU load so that 

you don’t overload your computer by using too 

many plug-ins all at once. On my Mac Pro with 

12 gigs of memory I was able to run quite a few 

plug-ins simultaneously. But the best way to 

use plug-ins is with restraint. You can, if you’re 

so inclined, use up to 14 plug-ins at the same 

time, but that would be a wee bit excessive. 

With the right hardware you can even have 

Pure Music handle crossover settings for a 

multi-amped speaker system. To utilize this 

feature you will need a multichannel output 

device such as a Lynx AES-16 or Apogee 

Ensemble. Each channel can be selected and 

modified by Pure Music. For a two-way speaker 

system, channel one could be right tweeter, 

channel two the right woofer, channel three the 

left tweeter, and channel four the left woofer. 

You can choose either 6-, 12-, 18-, or 24dB-peroctave 

slopes for both the high pass and low 

pass. You can also adjust individual levels for 

each channel and the delay for each channel, 

making this a very powerful and flexible way to 

configure your crossovers. 

While earlier versions of Pure Music had 

some small ergonomic quirks such as reading 

out “Paused” while it was playing, the current 

version, 1.6.3, proved to be exceedingly wellbehaved. 

The only problem I experienced 

was with the Wyred4Sound DAC 2. During 

the silences between cuts I heard lowlevel 

crackling. Since this DAC uses its own 

proprietary driver, I suspect that was the 

culprit. I alerted Wyred4Sound of the problem 

and they added it to their bug-fix list for the 

next version of the driver. 

One ergonomic issue I was glad to see Pure 

Music doesn’t have is Amarra’s death-grip on 

the computer’s CD/DVD drive. If you rip a CD 

via your internal ROM drive while Amarra is 

running it won’t let you eject the disc. You have 

to shut down Amarra (which shuts down iTunes) 

before you can remove the disc from your drive. 

That gets old pretty fast. 

Pure Sonics 

How does Pure Music sound Better than iTunes 

alone, that’s for sure. Compared to iTunes Pure 

Music is more dimensional, dynamic, detailed, 

and involving. ITunes sounds flat, not pitchwise, 

but in its overall presentation. It is like 

going from a 128kbs MP3 file to a 320kbs 

file. Pure Music delivered substantially more 

musicality and information than iTunes did. 

I found I got the best sound from Pure 

Music when I used both memory play and HOG 

mode. This combination delivered a subtle 

improvement in both overall soundstage 

depth and dimensionality. The spaces around 

and behind individual instruments were 

better defined. The amount of improvement 

will vary depending on your particular 

hardware configuration. Although I heard the 

improvements through the Wyred4Sound DAC 

2, the improvement was more pronounced 

through the Weiss DAC 202. 

Naturally, I compared Pure Music with 

Amarra, which meant I had to shut down each 

program and iTunes when switching from 

one program to the other. With real-time A/B 

comparisons not available, I tried longer, slower 

A/B comparisons and found I couldn’t hear any 

differences between Pure Music and Amarra, 

though noth were clearly better than iTunes, 

Given that sonic differences between Pure 

Music and Amarra were negligible, and Pure 

Music costs approximately 25% of Amarra’s 

price, does that make Amarra obsolete For 

budget-conscious audiophiles the answer is 

yes, but for those who are using one of the 

professional DACs that Amarra supports, 

Amarra still may be a better option. Also, 

given Sonic Studio’s rapid rate of innovation, 

it’s possible that Amarra will in time enjoy 

evolutionary improvements of its own. 

I’m sure many readers would like to know 

how a Pure Music-enabled Mac system stacks 

up against a top-flight transport. Sorry, but you 

won’t find any answers here. To be completely 

forthright, I don’t listen to CDs through CD 

players or transports anymore. For me a CD is 

merely a way to get digital files. When I receive 

a new CD, I “play” it exactly once, when I add it 

to my digital library. Then it goes onto a shelf 

to collect dust. Transports are as useful in my 

world as a capo on a mandolin. 

Pure Pleasure 

Pure Music is a great piece of software at 

a price that even a flea-market-scrounging 

audiophile hobbyist can afford. Combine Pure 

Music with any recent Mac computer and 

you have a front end that will play back any 

digital file (except FLAC) from lowly MP3s 

up to 192/24 high-resolution with ease. Mate 

this front end with a top-flight DAC such as 

the Weiss DAC 202 and you have a digital 

playback system that will catapult you to 

the forefront of the new computer-playback 

revolution. Dare I say it If you want to hear 

how good a quality Mac-based system can 

really sound, you have to use Pure Music, at 

least for now. 


Hardware platform: Apple Macintosh OS 10.5 or 

later with iTunes 

Price: $129 (free 15-day trial with all features 

available) 

Channel D Software 

(609) 393-3600 (live support available 9-5 EST) 

channld.com 



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Naim Audio SuperUniti 

“All-in-One Player” 

Versatile, Capable, Musical 

Wayne Garcia 

As a certain scruffy young bard once sang, “The times they are-a 

changin’.” Although many aspects of our hobby remain constant, 

especially the continuing health of analog and two-channel sound, 

there’s no doubt that digital-audio reproduction is on a pathway of serious 

change. CD sales, while not dead, diminish every year; more and more 

streaming devices are hitting the market; and this very magazine devotes 

serious coverage to the evolving world of computer-driven digital-audio 

playback and HD downloads. And not just upstarts but iconic manufacturers— 

and at this point in the company’s history England’s Naim Audio certainly 

qualifies as the latter—are embracing this new world order. The latest in 

Naim’s now three-year-old and frequently augmented Uniti series, the 

$5995 SuperUniti joins the NaimUniti 2 ($4695, with built-in CD player) and 

UnitiQute ($2695, no disc drive), along with two versions of Naim’s UnitiServe 

Hard Disc/Server ($3695 and $3995). I can’t think of another audio company 

with such a long track record that has so firmly and expansively embraced the 

word of computer audio. Nor of another one that’s done it so gracefully. 

Like the UnitiQute, the SuperUniti contains no disc 

drive. You can, of course, as I did, hook up a CD player 

via analog inputs, as well as a turntable, and I suspect 

that many users may do just that. But I imagine a 

whole other, and dare I add younger, flock of SuperUniti 

customers will be drawn to this sleek model’s streaming 

audio and other digital capabilities because, after all, 

Naim calls the SuperUniti an “all-in-one,” music player 

that simply needs speakers—and externally generated 

sources—to make music. 

The heart of the SupertUniti, however, is firmly 

grounded in Naim’s classic componentry, most 

specifically the 5 Series amplifier found in the 80Wpc 

SuperNait integrated amplifier, from which the 

SuperUniti’s guts derive. But as Naim points out, in 

addition to the SuperNait the SuperUniti also draws 

inspiration from the UnitiQute, the NDX network music 

player, and the Naim DAC. Like the latter, SuperUniti 

employs Naim’s “Zero Jitter” buffering technology, 

which clocks incoming digital signals into the unit’s 

buffer memory, before then clocking them out to 

provide a stable conversion stream. Proprietary 

digital filtering provides up to 16x oversampling, and 

D-to-A conversion is via the same Burr-Brown DACs 

found in Naim’s NDX and HDX. Naim also boasts of the 

SuperUniti’s newly designed, digitally driven, analog 

volume control, which uses discrete resistors for the 

highest sound quality. 

To encapsulate the SuperUniti’s features, here’s 

what this handsome and cleanly arranged component 

comprises: An integrated, wireless, UPnP-network 

stream player able to stream audio files from any harddisc 

server—such as Naim’s UnitiServe, HDX, network 

attached storage (NAS), or laptops/computers via a 

home network; a front-panel USB port that accepts 

direct digital files from iPods and iPhones using Apple 

Lossless encoding; a multi-format tuner for iPod and 

USB-stored audio featuring FM/DAB/Internet radio; a 

ten-input digital and analog preamplifier with six S/ 

PDIF digital inputs for external digital sources, including 

three back-panel optical inputs and a fourth front-panel 

optical input; internal architecture for high-res audio 

playback up to 24-bit/192kHz over the network—a Naim 

first; a digital-to-analog converter; and, of course, the 

80Wpc power amp, which makes this the strongman 

of the Uniti series. Should the amp’s 80 watts be less 

muscle than you need, you can drive an external amp 

via a preamp output, and there is also a dedicated 

subwoofer output. 

Moreover, the SuperUniti offers a variety of control 

options—conventionally from the neatly arrayed front 

panel, from a standard remote control, as well as from 

Naim’s N-Stream app for Apple’s iPhone and iPad. As 

of now SuperUniti does not support Apple Airplay, but 

that is said to be in the works. Although its wireless 

capability is a cool feature, Naim recommends Ethernet 

network connectivity for both reliability and the best 

sound quality. As to the formats supported, SuperUniti 

plays/streams WAV, FLAC, Apple Lossless, AIFF, MP3, 

Windows Media-formatted content, AAC, and Ogg 

Vorbis from any suitable UPnP device or USB-connected 

storage device. And gapless playback is available on all 

supported file formats. Super, indeed. 

Luddite that I am, I began my time with the SuperUniti 

in a rather conventional way, by playing back LPs and 

CDs via the unit’s pair of analog inputs. It also gave me 

the clearest chance to hear how the SuperUniti sounds 

compared to other Naim components I’m familiar with 

over my years of reviewing them. 

As I guessed, the SuperUniti’s sonic style is Naim 

through and through. It has the same exceptional 

sense of dynamic ebb and flow and rhythm and pace 

one expects from Naim gear, along with a low noise 

floor, and a fine sense of transparency to the recorded 

event. For instance, on Harmonia Mundi’s terrific 

CD Gershwin by Grofé, the SuperUniti created an 

impressively large soundstage with a good display of 

air around each instrument. During Rhapsody in Blue 


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EQUIPMENT review - Naim Audio SuperUniti “All-in-One Player” 

the opening clarinet theme was rich but nice 

and reedy, too, while the brasses were creamy, 

fat, and throaty. The piano was convincingly 

life-sized, with great clarity to each note and 

fine percussive power. Cymbals had notable 

sizzle and snap, and when the orchestra 

busted loose you felt a good sense of weight 

and power. And though Naim’s 80-watt rating 

is relatively conservative, the amp did a decent 

job powering my Maggie 1.7s, although I can 

see how that preamp-out connection might, for 

users with either power-hungry speakers such 

as these, large rooms, or both, feel the need for 

a larger power amplifier. 

More intimate music was likewise well served 

by the SuperUniti—be it the haunting beauty 

of Antony and the Johnsons’ The Crying Light 

[Secretly Canadian LP], where Antony’s oneof-a-kind 

voice weaves an otherworldly web 

from strands of tenor and falsetto harmonies, 

or the recently reviewed Analogue Productions 

SACD of Getz/Gilberto (Issue 224), which found 

the Naim SuperUniti practically drawing me 

into the speakers with the sheer beauty and 

subtle artistry of this near-perfect record. This 

a component that invites you in, rather than 

bludgeoning you with power. 

With the invaluable help of Chris Morris, who 

works for U.S. importer The Sound Organisation, 

I was able to download Egalto’s EyeConnect 

UPnP AV Media Streaming software, which 

allowed me to transfer my (currently small) 

iTunes library on the network so the SuperUniti 

was able to access it. I also downloaded Naim’s 

N-Stream app onto my iPad. This is a supercool 

free app that lets you access your iTunes 

library, control volume, and so forth. 

Since this is something of a new 

world for me I consulted the Downloads 

section of TAS’ music review department, where 

I know I can count on the recommendations of 

my colleagues Alan Taffel (pop) and Andy Quint 

(classical). Intrigued by Taffel’s high praise 

for Cat Stevens’ Tea for the Tillerman (Issue 

223), and his comparison of different formats, 

I downloaded both the 96/24 and 192/24 

versions of the album. Whoa, Alan was right 

on—the 96/24 is indeed outstanding, with great 

clarity, a lovely sense of detail, tonal richness, 

and immediacy beyond anything I’d heard 

before from this classic recording (note that I 

have not heard the latest Analogue Productions 

vinyl edition). Taffel was right again when he 

said the 192/24 rendering was better, cleaner, 

more immediate and detailed. This was one of 

those jaw-dropping experiences, and I admit 

hearing digitally reproduced music in this way, 

over a fine component such as the SuperUniti, 

is a new thing for me, and one that will take 

a bit of getting used to. It’s simply a different 

experience from hearing CDs. Certainly not the 

same as analog, but something rather different 

from any disc format. 

I was also intrigued by Andy Quint’s review 

in the same issue of Albéniz’s Iberia played by 

Peter Schaaf. This was another eye-opener, and 

a truly great-sounding recording of a piano— 

life-sized, full, percussive yet harmonically 

rich, dynamically explosive as well as intimate 

as the music dictated. 

These are but two examples of the many 

fine recordings I’ve started to enjoy in what is 

for me a new fashion (yes, I know I’m behind 

the times). And while I’m not ready to give up 

my LPs, and doubt I ever will be, with the help 

of the SuperUniti and knowledgeable friends 

on this magazine I am thoroughly enjoying 

listening to music via these new formats. 

Bravo to Naim for making it fun, easy, and so 

very musically compelling. (Chris Morris says 

that the SuperUniti’s ultimate performance 

is achieved with Naim’s own UnitiServe. I'm 

getting a review sample, so watch for my 

follow-up report. 


Type: All-in-One Streaming 

Audio Player 

12.33" 

Dimensions: 17" x 3.4" x 

Power output: 80Wpc Weight: 28.2 lbs. 

into 8 ohms 

Price: $5995 

Formats supported: WAV, 

FLAC, Apple Lossless, THE SOUND ORGAN- 

AIFF, MP3, Windows Media-formatted 

content, 159 Leslie Street 

ISATION 

AAC, and Ogg Vorbis Dallas, Texas 75207 

from any suitable UPnP (972) 234-0182 

device or USB-connected soundorg.com 

storage device (gapless naimaudio.com 

playback available on all 

supported file formats) Associated Equipment 

Maximum sample rate: 

192kHz (coaxial) 96kHz TW-Acustic Raven One 

(optical) 

turntable; Tri-Planar 

Maximum bit depth: 24 Ultimate VII ‘arm; Benz 

bits 

Gullwing, and Transfiguration 

Phoenix 

Analog inputs: One 5-pin 

DIN, two RCA pair, one moving-coil cartridges; 

3.5mm front-panel jack Sutherland 20/20 

Digital inputs: Six S/PDIF phonostage; Cary Audio 

(one coaxial BNC, one Classic CD 303T SACD 

coaxial RCA, three optical 

TosLink, one 3.5mm Pro and iPad; Magnepan 

player; Apple MacBook 

front panel mini-TosLink) MG 1.7 loudspeakers, Tara 

Analog outputs: Preamp Labs Zero interconnects, 

output (4-pin DIN), subwoofer 

output (RCA pair) The One power cords, 

Omega speaker cables, 

Digital outputs: S/PDIF and BP-10 Power Screen; 

(coaxial BNC 75-ohm) Finite Elemente Spider 

equipment racks 



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Audirvana Plus Music 

Playback Program For Mac 

Improving the Sound Quality of iTunes 

Steven Stone 

In the past TAS has reviewed and awarded 

Golden Ears Awards to two Mac musicplayback 

programs, Amarra and Pure 

Music. Now there’s another Mac playback 

program worthy of readers’ attention, 

Audirvana Plus. Priced at only $50, Audirvana 

Plus offers several unique features combined 

with stellar sound quality. As a result, it’s 

become the de facto leader of budget-priced 

Mac playback software. 

In TAS Issue 218 I surveyed Mac playback 

software, which included Audirvana, a 

free program that served as a precursor 

to Audirvana Plus. Both programs share a 

similar look and some ergonomic functions. 

Both support memory play (where the entire 

track is loaded into computer memory and 

played back from that location rather than 

from the original drive), gapless playback, 

device driver optimization and integer mode, 

automatic sample-rate switching, configurable 

oversampling or upsampling, and device hotswapping. 

Both programs can handle MP3, ACC, 

Apple Lossless, WAV, AIFF, and FLAC files, but 

Audirvana Plus also supports DSD, SACD ISO 

images, DSD-to-PCM real-time playback, and 

native DSD playback through compatible DACs. 

The free version of Audirvana supports 

32- or 64-bit internal resolution, while the 

Plus version uses full 64-bit resolution. Both 

have “no limit” on maximum sample rate, but 

Audirvana uses an open-source sample-rate 

converter, while Plus employs the Benchmark 

iZotope 64-bit SRC sample-rate converter, 

One area where Audirvana Plus shines is 

playing back native DSD files. Not only can 

which has advanced sample-rate-tuning Audirvana Plus handle 2.8Mbps DSD, but also 

parameters. Both offer DAC remote control of 

volume (if supported by the DAC), but the Plus 

includes a dithered volume control option and 

three different noise-sampling algorithms. 

From an ergonomic viewpoint Audirvana offers 

the best of both worlds—you can use iTunes as a 

playlist or make your own independent playlists. 

I have about a dozen special “review playlists” 

of high-resolution and specialized music files 

that I can load and use with one click. But the 

one ergonomic feature that 

raw 5.6Mbps files from the Korg MR-1000 DSD 

recorder, which is something that even Amarra 

can’t do. (Amarra can play 2.8Mbps DSD, 

however.) For playback through the Wadia 121, 

Audirvana Plus converted the 5.6Mbps DSD 

files to a 176/24 PCM format. For audiophiles 

with large SACD collections Audirvana Plus 

also offers an easy way to play them through 

your computer audio system. Merely rip them 

into your computer (you will need a thirdparty 

Blu-ray drive as Apple 

has endeared me to Plus is 

doesn’t officially support Blu-ray 

its device-switching feature. PRICING hardware) and then add them to 

Unlike Amarra and Pure Music, 

which must be shut down and 

re-opened if you switch DACs, 

Audirvana Plus can instantly 

switch from one DAC to another 

in less than five seconds. With 

this feature you can do realtime 

Type: Macintosh music 

playback software 

Price: $50 

audirvana.com 

the Audirvana Plus playlist and 

push “Play.” 

If you have resisted buying 

any third-party music-playback 

software for your Mac, Audirvana 

offers some compelling reasons 

to reevaluate that decision. 

matched-level DAC comparisons with ease. 

If you are trying to decide between two DACs, 

you need Audirvana Plus to make a completely 

educated sonic decision. 

Sonically I found Audirvana Plus to be equal 

to both Amarra and Pure Music. In matchedlevel 

A/B listening sessions of Red Book 44.1/16 

files, the differences among the three programs 

were minor and not reliably attributable solely 

to software. On higher-resolution files I quickly 

developed a preference for Audirvana Plus due 

Especially if you use multiple DACs or listen to 

higher-res files and DSD, Audirvana Plus offers 

a more ergonomically elegant and sonically 

superior alternative to iTunes. 

And for readers who need to see and hear for 

themselves, you can download the trial version 

of Audirvana Plus for free. For fifteen days you 

can use the full version with no restrictions. 

I’d be very surprised if, by the sixteenth day, 

you haven’t anted up that $50 to become a 

licensed user. 

to its ergonomic ease, but once more sonic 

differences were harder to reliably identify. 

The only thing that was clear was that all three 

programs are substantially more transparent 

than iTunes. 


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PS Audio PerfectWave DAC II, 

PerfectWave Memory Player, 

and eLyric Music Player 

A Different Breed of Music Server 

Anthony H. Cordesman 

Let me begin with the bottom line: The PS Audio PerfectWave 

DAC II and PerfectWave Memory Player have evolved into 

a cutting-edge digital front end. They have competition, 

but competition that rivals them in quality is substantially more 

expensive or lacking in the same features. The DAC II has an 

outstanding ability to play back the highest sampling-rate material 

and get the best out of the older CDs that contain almost all of 

the world’s best performances. Most strikingly, the DAC II joins a 

handful of more expensive units in reducing traces of hardness in 

digital sound to the point where even the most demanding acoustic 

instruments like the violin, flute, and piano sound as musical as the 

recording permits. 

Sound Quality 

I fully recognize, however, that what I find a nearbreakthrough 

in sound quality is dependent to some extent 

on personal taste. To me, however, the sound quality of the 

PS Audio PerfectWave DAC II and PerfectWave Memory 

Player has some overwhelming advantages I’ve only heard 

from a few digital front ends. I really don’t want female 

voice to slightly harden unless the vocalist is seeking that 

effect. I want the clarinet to remain as musical as it does 

in a live performance, and the flute to provide energy and 

musical detail without becoming even slightly shrill. I want 

the full range and energy of the stringed instruments with 

all of their natural warmth and without the slight edge I 

have heard all too often in digital equipment in the past. 

Again, recording permitting, I want to hear the piano as 

that particular brand and model of piano sounds live, without 

the same slight hardening of the upper octaves and with the 

full warmth of a given make of grand piano clearly coming 

through. If the sound engineer is good enough to get the 

trumpet right, I want to hear that sound and not some slight 

change in sound character. I’ll settle for the soundstage 

actually on the recording—if there is one—rather that having 

the DAC add a bit of its own soundstage character to every 

recording played through it. 

Moreover, if you happen to be a serious music collector— 

and I’m up to around 9000 albums on both my computer 

and my Sooloos—I don’t want a front end that highlights 

the strengths in one kind of recording at the cost of 

exaggerating or creating weaknesses in others. 

After listening to several hundred recordings, it is this 

balanced, natural musicality that makes me praise the PS 

Audio PerfectWave DAC II so much, regardless of whether 

I listen to CDs through the PerfectWave Memory Player, 

or music streamed through my computer using PS Audio’s 

eLyric music player or my Sooloos. It does reveal the 

recording—warts and all—but never at the cost of musical 

realism or favoring one approach to recording over another. 

The PerfectWave DAC II and PerfectWave Memory Player 

not only met all of the above tests; they were excellent 

in handling recordings of full orchestra, large bands, and 

grand opera. They got the best out of recordings from 

the softest to the loudest passages without softening 

forward recordings to more of a mid-hall sound and 

without brightening up recordings that had a natural midhall 

acoustic. If you have one of those days where you 

really want to hear a Beethoven symphony at full natural 

volume—or to thoroughly depress yourself by wallowing in 

Mahler while he leads you into a mass fog of high-volume 

schmaltz—the DAC II is a real pleasure at either extreme of 

volume and dynamics. 

I should also stress the extent to which the PerfectWave 

DAC II and Memory Player get the best out of older 

recordings as well as the new high sampling rates available 

from CD, or downloadable from some DVDs. You can find 

pages worth of technical explanation of why these products 

minimize the problems with jitter and filtering on the PS 

Audio Web site, but the key lies in their effect. Many DACs 

and CD players are less than kind to the first decade or so of 

CDs, and some seem to have trouble even with the streamed 

versions of Klemperer, Reiner, Walter, Von Karajan, and 

recordings dating back to the 1940s and 1950s. The same 

with jazz. The older Armstrong and Ellington recordings 

can suffer as much as their classical counterparts. The PS 


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EQUIPMENT review - PS Audio PerfectWave DAC II, PerfectWave Memory Player, and eLyric Music Player 

Audio PerfectWave DAC II and Memory Player 

are as musical with older recording as possible 

without being forgiving. 

They also do a superb job of reproducing the 

most advanced stereo digital recordings. If you 

are experimenting with higher sampling rates, 

you will hear the differences between given bit 

and frequency rates if they actually exist. With 

the exception of a few firms like AIX, Chesky, 

Channel 2L, and Reference Recordings, this 

often is not the case. Yet, I do find the best 

96/24 recordings sound consistently better 

in every respect, and that some 176/24, and 

192/24 recordings sound even better. 

The PS Audio PerfectWave DAC II did as 

good a job of resolving the sonic differences 

between the same recordings at different 

sampling rates. You can hear this for yourself 

if you download 2L's free special bit-rate 

evaluation files from its Web site. The DAC 

II made it all too clear, however, that simply 

raising the frequency and bit rate do not, by 

themselves, increase sound quality and they 

can be a real rip-off at prices that almost beg 

for audio piracy. 

PerfectWave Memory Player 

Turning to the technical side, the easiest 

product to review is the PerfectWave Memory 

Player that sells for $3995. This is a CD and 

DVD (not DVD-A) transport with a range 

of digital outputs, including a special I 2 S 

connection to provide the best possible sound 

quality into the PerfectWave DAC II. The 

Bridge is a slide-in board that allows you to 

connect the PerfectWave to a network (wired 

or wireless) to decode streaming audio. You 

can find all of the tech specs on the PS Audio 

Web site, but I asked Paul McGowan, the head 

of PS Audio to try to put its advantages and 

features in simpler terms and he came up with 

the following explanation: 

“Put in a CD, start to play a track. As it is 

playing, press the eject icon and remove the 

CD or DVD. It will continue playing for up to 

about 30 seconds without the disc in. You can 

even remove it and put it back in and it’ll carry 

on without hesitation. 

“Why does this matter Because every CD 

player that isn’t a memory player is basically 

streaming off the disc directly and this means 

two things: The player must use predictive 

error correction on the fly, and the clock, which 

eventually runs the DAC, is not fixed (and 

cannot be fixed) and therefore jittered. Only 

a fixed, low-jitter clock will give you the zerojitter 

results you want. CD transport clocks 

must be variable because the data coming off 

the disc in real time is varying in speed by many 

parts per million faster and slower—otherwise 

you would have data under-run and over-run. 

“In the PWT Memory Player that is never an 

issue because you are never streaming directly 

from the disc. Instead, the data are taken from 

the disc and placed into a large buffer called 

the Digital Lens. It is large enough to make up 

for any over-run or under-run situations and 

therefore can be outputted by a fixed, lowjitter 

clock. Add to that our I 2 S output and you 

have a jitter-free transport. 

“Lastly, error correction: Because of the 

built-in Digital Lens, we have the ability to 

read many times to get it right. This is the 

same method used when EAC [Exact Audio 

Copy, a CD ripping program] is incorporated to 

rip a CD with perfection not using predictive 

error correction. The PWT can read up to 80 

attempts to get a valid block comparison of 

the data before going to the next block. Once 

a perfect match is achieved, the approved data 

are sent to the memory buffer and the next 

block of data is read. This read-many-times 

error correction method is only possible with 

a memory player.” 

Sound Quality of the PerfectWave Memory 

Player 

I used the XLR and coax digital outputs of the 

PerfectWave Memory Player into a wide range 

of DACs, including top of the line products from 

EMM Labs and Meridian. I used both test CDs 

and a wide range of music on both CD and highsampling-rate 

DVDs, including the superb DVDs 

[the HRx format that stores high-res WAV files 

on DVD] from Reference Recordings and some 

192/24 direct copies of masters from a friend 

who records music professionally. I got sound 

quality equal to the best competing transport 

outputs I have heard at any price, although I 

scarcely can claim to have surveyed anything 

like the full range. 

Accordingly, I recommend the PerfectWave 

Memory Player on an “as good as I’ve ever 

heard,” and a “perfect match for the DAC II” 

basis. I also like the fact it can download the 

album cover, and there is much to be said for 

the ability to play high-resolution WAV files 

directly from DVD if they ever are marketed in 

any numbers. 

The sound of the CD transport of my EMM 

Labs XDS1 was as good with CD, however, and 


PerfectWave DAC II 

Inputs: Two I 2 S over HDMI, one USB, one TosLink 

optical, one coax S/PDIF, one XLR AES/EBU, one 

optional Ethernet 

Outputs: One RCA, one XLR balanced 

Resolutions supported: 44.1kHz, 48kHz, 88.2kHz, 

96kHz, 176.4 kHz, 192kHz, 32-bit asynchronous 

all inputs 

Dimensions: 17" x 4" x 14" 


Price: $3995 

PerfectWave Memory Player 

Inputs: One Ethernet, one DC power trigger, one 

RS232 control 

Outputs: One XLR AES/EBU, one coax S/PDIF, one 

TosLink optical, one I 2 S over HDMI 

Formats supported: CD Red Book, DVD WAV up to 

192kHz 24-bit 

Dimensions: 17" x 4" x 14" 


Price: $3995 

Network Bridge 

Price: $799 

PS Audio 

4826 Sterling Drive 

Boulder, Colorado 80301 

(720) 406-8946 

psaudio.com 



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digital streaming out of my computer was as 

good in listening to stored CDs using the DAC 

II and the PS audio eLyric music system. My 

Sooloos Control 15 output was also as good 

with CD, and the sound of CD using the digital 

output of an Oppo player into the DAC II came 

close. I’d buy the Memory Player if I had the 

money, but the sonic differences are usually 

small, and I’ve found that the different sound 

character of different DACs often completely 

masks the difference in the sound of digital 

transports unless I use a defective CD. 

PerfectWave DAC II 

The PS Audio PerfectWave DAC II is a different 

story. My reaction to the original PerfectWave 

DAC was “very good but scarcely outstanding” 

in that it did not provide a solution to the 

problems I still heard in playing back my 

recordings and favorite music on most other 

top digital front ends. As should be clear from 

my previous praise, however, the DAC II is 

an outstanding buy, even at $3995, and is 

one of the most musical front ends available 

at any price. It also can handle 24/192 hi-res 

recordings with ease, is a full digital preamp 

with a volume and balance control, and has 

both RCA and XLR outputs 

From a practical viewpoint, the PerfectWave 

DAC II is capable of giving you a musical 

streaming and storage system using eLyric 

that allows you to use your computer and 

any hard drive to store your music, as well as 

access to a world of digital “radio” stations via 

Internet Radio. You can use an iPad as a smart 

control device, and your computer to edit the 

metadata on your music library. 

You can read your own way through the 

technical data on the PS Audio Web site, 

but I again asked Paul McGowan to provide 

additional detail to help you understand both 

the design rationale behind the DAC II and the 

reasons for its sound quality. 

“The original goal of the PWD was to build 

a new class of product in a crowded world 

of traditional products left over from the CD 

world of Red Book audio—some great but none 

addressing the brave new world approaching 

of high-resolution network-based media and 

beyond. The world would soon need something 

entirely new, a product we call a Media DAC, 

and the PWD showed the high-end community 

where it needed to go—and continues to do 

that today. 

“The PWD was a state-of-the-art DAC 

differentiated by several new concepts that 

created this new class of product: highresolution 

audio, jitter-free performance 

without the use of a sample-rate converter, 

and two new jitter-free high-resolution inputs— 

I 2 S through HDMI and TCP/IP over Ethernet. 

The sonic advantages of these three radically 

new concepts would be apparent quickly when 

coupled with our 20 years of knowledge of how 

to build DACs and analog output stages. 

“Our first step was to design a state-ofthe-art 

DAC. To accomplish this we divided 

the innards into three separate disciplines: 

digital input board, analog output board, and 

power supply. Digital inputs are tricky devils 

and need to be handled with a lot of care and 

respect. One of the core tenants of PS digital 

products is our attention to the details when it 

comes to managing and routing digital signals 

before they are converted to analog. On the 

Mark II digital input board we focused on 

three primary areas: power supply—there are 

11 individual low noise/high-speed regulators 

on the digital input board alone; low-noise, 

low-jitter signal-travel—we use analog gates 

and switches throughout all digital audio 

paths eliminating the inherent jitter and noise 

caused by traditional saturated logic gates; 

and timing—the PWD is asynchronous through 

the use of multiple low-jitter low-noise fixed 

clocks and intelligent buffers throughout the 

digital signal path. 

“Once you get a proper low-noise, low-jitter 

signal available for decoding and conversion 

to analog, the majority of sound quality issues 

are all left to the DAC and the analog process 

at the output. Over the years we have learned 

that even the best DAC chips in the world 

sound great only if coupled to output analog 

filters and amplification chains that enhance 

and complement the DAC chip’s strengths and 

weaknesses. Designing such analog stages is a 

complicated dance that can only be achieved 

through careful listening and years of empirical 

design experience. 

“The last step is the PerfectWave Bridge 

and its associated eLyric Controller and eLyric 

Server, the components of which form the final 

leg of the Media DAC category we introduced. 

All digital-audio schemes require the same four 

basic elements: a player, controller, server, 

and source. Even the traditional CD player has 

the same requirements, they are just built into 

the CD player because of its mature status 

in development and not quite so apparent as 

separate elements—but they are there. The 

infancy of streaming audio in the high-end— 

and the resulting disparate immature elements 

that need to be cobbled together to make 

it work—is what blinds us to the similarity in 

technological requirements. 

“The Bridge was one of the very first of its 

kind. Simultaneously with the launch of the 

Bridge, only Linn Audio had a product that could 

stream high-resolution audio (high-resolution 

defined as 96kHz and above)—and even today, 

there aren’t many products and system out 

there that fully support 192kHz/32-bit audio. 

The Bridge is rare among those that can. 

“To make sure the Bridge provides the 

expected level of performance, convenience, 

and sound-quality expectations our customers 

(and we) have, it was necessary for us to 

design and supply at least two more of the 

four necessary elements, the controller and 

the server. These products are part of our 

software services called eLyric.” 

Overview 

The complete PerfectWave system comprises 

the PerfectWave Memory Player, PerfectWave 

DAC II, PerfectWave Network Bridge (a slide-in 

card for the DAC that turns the system into a 

network-connected music server), and eLyric 

server software. Together, the PerfectWave 

Music Group is capable of playing back bitperfect 

high-resolution digital audio from hard 

disk, USB flash, NAS, the Cloud, CD, and DVD 

media. Audio data up to 192kHz/32-bit can be 

delivered to the system via WAN, LAN, I 2 S, S/ 

PDIF, USB, and AES/EBU. 


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I am not endorsing Paul’s comments. I lack 

the technical and manufacturing expertise to 

do so. It should be clear to any reader of TAS 

that Boulder, Meridian, EMM Labs, and other 

top DAC designers and manufacturers make 

different choices, but it should be equally clear 

that these choices really matter. At a minimum, 

they illustrate in depth just how complicated 

getting the best sound out of digital equipment 

really is, and why taking a high-end approach is 

so important. 

As for practical details, I had no problems 

in using the DAC II, no glitches in linking it to 

other digital transports, and no problems in 

hooking it up to my home Ethernet system. 

Break-in was minimal, although it did improve 

slightly in sound quality over time. I did find 

the front-panel display and controls to be 

a bit counterintuitive, but I also found this 

to be irrelevant; the remote control is selfexplanatory 

and very easy to use. 

More importantly, I found the DAC II had 

a sonic advantage I did not anticipate. It has 

both a volume and a balance control. As long 

as the gain is set above the halfway mark, the 

digital volume control does not affect sound 

quality, and its impact was minimal even at 

lower volume settings. Moreover, the balance 

control can be set with extreme precision, and 

used to help lock in imaging and soundstaging 

from the listening position with ease. In short, 

the DAC II can act as a full digital preamp. 

This won’t help analog fans—at least until 

someone makes a truly neutral phono-todigital 

preamp. It does, however, allow you 

to eliminate the preamp and at least one set 

of interconnects, and this really does make a 

difference. 

It will scarcely come as a shock to any 

experienced TAS reader that everything 

you put into the system has a coloration. 

This coloration can be extremely low with 

equipment as good as the Pass XP-20 preamp 

or the new EMM Labs Pre-2 preamp, which is 

one of the most transparent units I’ve ever 

heard. The same is true of using an extra set 

of top-of-the-line AudioQuest and Kimber 

interconnects. Taking the preamp and a set of 

interconnects out of the chain of components, 

however, did provide slightly more detail and 

better low-level contrasts. The DAC II is one of 

the few DACs that allows you to do this, which 

also makes it a special bargain to anyone who 

does not need phono. You also can spend a lot 

more on a DAC or the rest of your system if 

you don’t have to buy a preamp. 

eLyric Music Management System 

The DAC II and its Bridge allow you to use the 

DAC II as part of a full computer-music system. 

This capability is critical in today’s high-end 

world. I could not recommend the PerfectWave 

DAC II and PerfectWave Memory Player if they 

did not provide the ability to load and manage 

a large collection of music on my computer 

system. 

In fact, I now regard any DAC or expensive 

CD player that does not have such features as 

a museum piece. There is a case for keeping 

your existing CDs until it is clear that some 

better way of loading them onto your computer 

isn’t in the offing, but there is no case for 

buying a digital front end that does not provide 

the option of streaming your music, of being 

able to use your DAC in a carefully integrated 

computer-music storage system, and of being 

able to manage your music with an iPad or 

similar device. 

I don’t have the space to get into all of the 

features of eLyric. Once again, your can search 

it out on the Web. The practical punchline is 

that a combination of the DAC II, eLyric, and 

a control device like the iPad can manage an 

extremely large music collection with ease. I 

used it with a library over 9000 CDs, DVDs, 

and downloaded “albums” on a regular 4TB 

hard drive. 

The system provided easy setup and was 

consistently reliable. However, eLyric is still 

evolving in some respects. Minor problems 

did included a few false identifications of the 

“cover art” to given “albums,” some rare 

dropouts of given bands on recordings with 

really bad metadata, and infuriating pop-up 

instructions for eLyric that I could not print 

out or turn into PDFs. 

The ability to edit the metadata on classical 

and older recordings was good, however, and 

the eLyric is designed so that reviews and 

background data on the recording become 

available in a number of cases. (This editing 

ability is crucial with large collections.) 

If you are serious collector, the metadata for 

many recordings are so bad that you are going 

to do a lot of editing to store your collection in 

ways where you an easily retrieve them and use 

your entire collection with maximum flexibility. 

If you cannot edit the metadata easily, you 

will face a particularly serious nightmare in 

properly storing recordings of opera and on 

multi-disc sets. This, however, is the fault of 

an incredibly negligent recording industry. 

No storage system can correct for the large 

number of digital recordings with missing or 

false metadata, and the fact I have yet to find 

a single major label that seems to check its 

metadata with any care or consistency. 

The benefits of storing your music also 

massively outweigh the inconveniences. eLyric, 

Sooloos, and the other better music storageand-control 

software offer you incredible 

ability to search by conductor, orchestra, 

composer, and type of music once you do store 

your collection. There is no risk of physical 

damage if you back up your collection once you 

store it, and you not only can instantly access 

your entire collection and create your own 

music collections for background listening, you 

can become an instant “musicologist.” 

You can compare performances down to 

listening to individual movements or key songs 

and passages with increased ease once you 

have organized your collection to taste. Throw 

in instant access to much of the world’s history 

of recorded music on-line in anywhere from 

44.1k/16-bit sampling up. (It is all too clear that 

CD’s future is limited. In fact, the sooner CD 

dies, and is replaced by hi-res on computer, the 

better!) 

Summing Up 

To go back to where I began, I have no 

hesitation in recommending the PS Audio 

PerfectWave DAC II and PerfectWave Memory 

Player as some of the best-sounding and most 

functional high-end equipment I’ve reviewed. 

But there are some tradeoffs involved. The 

eLyric music storage-and-streaming system is 


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EQUIPMENT review - PS Audio PerfectWave DAC II, PerfectWave 

Memory Player, and eLyric Music Player 

Analog ... 

Or Digital ... 

fully functional, but its features are still being 

revised. The PerfectWave Memory Player does 

play hi-res WAV files directly from DVD but 

does not play DVD-As or SACDs. The preamp 

features of the DAC II make it an excellent 

digital preamp as well as a DAC, but it has no 

analog input for phono, and PS Audio is just 

beginning to think about a digital phono front 

end. 

Moreover, if price is no consideration, I would 

still prefer the ergonomics of my Sooloos 

system. I use the Sooloos 15 with the EMM Labs 

XDS1 as a DAC as my primary reference. This 

is, however, an extremely expensive system, 

and the sound quality of the PerfectWave 

DAC II and PerfectWave Memory Player using 

eLyric comes very close, and is sometimes 

better with hi-res recordings. 

At the same time, PS Audio PerfectWave 

DAC II is so great an improvement over the 

original DAC that it highlights the fact that 

digital front ends, software, and firmware 

are evolving so fast that no reviewer can be 

sure that the product he or she reviews isn’t 

improved by the time the review is printed, and 

there is no way to firmly know how to rank a 

given digital front end against the others. 

The key point from a consumer viewpoint 

is that PS Audio PerfectWave DAC II and 

PerfectWave Memory Player are superb 

sounding products. They demonstrate that 

the days when CD dominated digital music, 

and digital sound was “impure and imperfect 

forever,” are long over. I would make listening 

to these units an essential part of buying a 

digital front end at anywhere near their price 

range—or even at prices twice their cost or 

more. 


Audio Is Fragile, Audio Needs Respect 

The frontier of transferring an audio signal keeps moving, the details change. However, 

the unchanging audio reality is that in every new application, and every way of packaging 

beautiful sound, audio is in danger of becoming not-so-beautiful ... unless love & respect, 

and good engineering & clever design, are applied at all times. 

AudioQuest is proud to have been pushing the frontier of better cable design for 33 years ... 

through thick and thin, for analog and digital, for real-time and packetized. 

We share the fantasy that someday transferring audio will be fully robust and immune to 

degradation. In the meantime, we are very pleased that AudioQuest can make a huge 

difference in sound quality, whether for just a few dollars, or for the state-of-the-art. 

www.audioquest.com 

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Bel Canto mLink, uLink, 

and REF Link USB Converters 

Three Compelling New Solutions for Computer Audio 

Steven Stone 

When I reviewed the Bel Canto DAC 3.5 VB in Issue 216 I found it to be 

an outstanding full-featured DAC/preamplifier that only lacked a USB 

interface. Bel Canto’s thinking was that USB interface technologies 

were advancing so rapidly that any USB solution included in the DAC 3.5 

VB would soon be eclipsed by the next generation of external USB interface 

devices. So Bel Canto offered an external 96/24 USB converter. 

During the intervening time period, Bel Canto’s thinking was proven correct— 

USB interfaces have continued to improve—and now that the technological dust 

has settled somewhat, Bel Canto has introduced three separate USB interface 

boxes. While they all share the same core design, the three boxes differ in interface 

options and power-supply implementations. 

Bel Canto’s least-expensive USB interface device is 

the $375 mLink, which has a USB input and a lone BNCterminated 

S/PDIF output. Like all the Bel Canto USB 

converters, the mLink supports up to 192/24 PCM via 

USB 2.0. The $675 Bel Canto uLink is also USB busspowered 

and includes an AT&T ST-Type glass optical 

output as well as a BNC S/PDIF. The top-of-the-line 

$1495 REF Link is the only Bel Canto USB device that 

uses a dedicated low-noise external power supply and 

adds an AES/EBU output in addition to a BNC S/PDIF 

and ATT glass optical. 

Both the mLink and uLink share the same size 

enclosures, and except for the differences in color (the 

mLink is black and the uLink is silver) and outputs, the 

two units appear identical. Since they both get their 

power from USB and weigh well under a pound, they 

are ideal for someone looking for a completely portable 

USB interface. The REF Link is substantially larger and 

has the same footprint as Bel Canto’s other half-width 

components. The Ref Link also has a knob that lets you 

change the display from bit-rate to firmware version to 

off. Due to its size and integral AC power supply (the 

mLink and uLink are powered through the USB buss), 

the REF Link is the only Bel Canto USB box that is not 

readily portable. 

Shared and Proprietary Technologies 

After spending some time with the Bel Canto units I 

had some technical questions for John Stronzer, Bel 

Canto’s designer. My first was how much technology was 

common to all three devices. According to John, “The 

500MHz USB processing core daughter-card is shared 

on all three Links as well as the S/PDIF output circuitry. 

The mLink and uLink are very similar in sharing buss 

power and overall power-supply architecture. The real 

difference is in the quality of the clocks. The mLink 

uses Low-Phase-Noise clocks, while the uLink uses the 

new Ultra-Low-Phase-Noise clocks. The REFLink also 

uses Ultra-Low-Phase-Noise clocks and adds further 

isolation and low-noise internal power supplies, plus 

galvanic isolation between the USB processing core, 

the clock, and output electronics. No power is drawn 

from the USB buss.” 

The Bel Canto Web site has several technical papers 

and FAQs about the USB Links. The published graphs 

show exactly how low-noise Bel Canto’s clocks can be. 

The three Bel Canto USB boxes also meet USB 3.0 

specifications. 

The Sonics Inside 

The primary issue for these USB boxes (or any new 

component) is whether they deliver superior sonics 

compared to other similarly priced solutions. I found 

the answer depended as much on the DAC used with 

the Bel Canto uLink, mLink, and REF Link as on the 

devices. 

I used the Bel Canto USB converter boxes in four 

different setups for this review. The first was based 

around the April Music Eximus DP-1 DAC/pre. Since it 

has two S/PDIF inputs I could hook up two different 

USB converter boxes and do rapid, real-time, matchedlevel 

A/B comparisons. The second setup utilized Bel 

Canto’s DAC 3.5 VB, which also has provisions for two 

S/PDIF inputs (as well as AT&T glass optical). The third 

DAC/pre I used was the Wyred4Sound DAC 2 because 

it has an I 2 S HDMI digital input. This allowed me to 

use the Empirical Audio Off-Ramp 5’s lowest-jitter 

output. Finally I tried a NAD C 390DD digital integrated 

amplifier to see how USB converters affected a directdigital 

amplifier. 

The first thing I wanted to do was compare the 

various Bel Canto USB boxes to each other, but that 

was not as easy as I’d hoped. Since they share the same 

driver, when you connect more than one Bel Canto 

USB converter to a Mac, the Mac defaults to the most 

recently plugged-in device. To A/B two Bel Canto boxes 

I had to unplug and then re-plug their USB cables, 

which took too much time for rapid comparisons. 

During longer listening sessions using the new 


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ProAc Tablette Signature monitors I felt that 

the REF Link consistently delivered the best 

sonic results, especially on 192k material using 

its AT&T optical connection. The REF Link’s 

soundstage had an extra dollop of solidity and 

edge definition when compared to its siblings. I 

also felt the REF Link delivered a blacker, more 

silent background. 

When I compared the uLink with the mLink 

S/PDIF outputs in matched-level listening tests 

through the Eximus DP-1, I was hard-pressed 

to hear much difference. But when I used the 

uLink’s AT&T optical connection tethered to the 

DAC 3.5 VB, differences did emerge. The uLink’s 

optical connection provided depth recreation 

and image specificity that almost equaled that 

of the REF Link. If you have a DAC with an AT&T 

optical input I’d recommend gravitating toward 

the uLink’s AT&T glass connection. If your DAC 

only has S/PDIF, the mLink remains the most 

cost-effective high-performance option. 

I compared the Bel Canto’s least expensive 

box, the mLink, with the Musical Fidelity V-Link 

USB converter (which has been replaced by the 

V-Link II). While the V-Link still sounds quite 

good, the mLink was simply better in every 

way. The mLink had superior focus, a slightly 

larger soundstage, and a more lively dynamic 

presentation. In comparison the V-Link lacked 

a bit of life, giving it a less involving character. 

Since I got my first copies of Pure Music and 

Amarra playback software for the Mac, one of 

my standard tests for new hardware has been 

to compare the sound of stock iTunes with the 

sound of Pure Music and Amarra. Through the 

Bel Canto USB links the improvements wrought 

by both Pure Music and Amarra were quite obvious. 

Regardless of which DAC/pre they were 

hooked up to, all the Bel Canto USB devices’ 

sonics improved when using Pure Music or Amarra. 

Depth, image solidity, soundstage focus, 

and low-level detail were all better than stock 

iTunes. 

I spent the majority of my listening time with 

the Bel Canto REFLink, comparing it to my current 

reference, the Empirical Audio Off-Ramp 5 

with a Short-Block USB dongle. And as I discovered 

during the review, the “best” USB solution 

depended on which DAC the USB device was 

attached to and which digital interface methodology 

was used. For all my A/B tests I used 

identical 3-meter lengths of AudioQuest Carbon 

USB cable between my Mac Pro and the 

USB converters and identical lengths of Wireworld 

S/PDIF cable between the USB converters 

and the DAC. 

For my first comparison I used the April 

Music Eximus DP-1 DAC/pre and connected 

the Empirical Audio and Bel Canto USB 

devices via S/PDIF. After several consecutive 

days of listening I was unable to discern any 

noticeable sonic differences between the 

two USB converters. Both delivered slightly 

more precise soundstaging and imaging than 

the DP-1’s own USB interface, but I could not 

consistently distinguish one from the other in 

“blind” tests. 

Next, I replaced the DP-1 with the Bel Canto 

DAC 3.5 VB. Once more I had two S/PDIF 

inputs for A/B comparisons, as well as Bel 

Canto’s AT&T glass optical connection. Once 

more, during blind comparisons between the 

Empirical Audio Off-Ramp and REF Link using 

the S/PDIF, I could not reliably tell one from 


mLink 

Input: High-speed USB type-B 

receptacle 

Output: Coaxial S/PDIF on BNC 75 

ohms 

Supported sampling rates: 44.1kHz, 

48kHz, 88.2kHz, 96kHz, 176.4kHz, 

and 192kHz 

Supported word lengths: Up to 24-bit 

Compatibility: Native MAC USB 2.0 

compatible on OSX 10.6 and later, 

custom Windows USB 2.0 driver 

Power Requirement: USB Bus 5VDC 


Weight: 1 lb. 

Price: $375 

uLink 


receptacle 


ohms, LightLink ST Fiber 


48kHz, 88.2kHz, 96kHz, 176.4kHz, 

and 192kHz 



compatible on OSX 10.6 and later 

custom Windows USB 2.0 driver 

Power Requirement: USB Bus 5VDC 

REFLink 


receptacle 


ohms, balanced AES on XLR 110 

ohms, LightLink ST Fiber 


48kHz, 88.2kHz, 96kHz, 176.4kHz, 

and 192kHz 



compatible on OSX 10.6 and later 

Custom Windows USB 2.0 driver 

Power Requirement: 120VAC/60Hz 

or 240VAC/50Hz set internally 

Dimensions: 8.5" x 3.5" x12.5" 


Price: $1495 

Associated Equipment 

Source Devices: MacPro model 1.1 

Intel Xeon 2.66 GHz computer with 

16 GB of memory with OS 10.6.7, 

running iTunes 10.6.3 and Amarra 

2.4.3 music playing software, 

Pure Music 1.85 music playing 

software, and Audirana Plus 1.35 

music playing software DACs: April 

390 DD digital integrated amplifier 

Amplifiers: Parasound A23, Bel 

Canto M-300, April Music Eximus 

S-1,NAD C 390DD Speakers: Aerial 

Acoustics 5B, ATC SCM7s, Silverline 

Minuet Supremes, ProAc Tablette 

Signatures, Role Audio Kayaks, 

Velodyne DD+ 10 subwoofer 

Headphones: Sennheiser HD 600, 

Grado RS-1, Ultimate Ears Reference 

Monitors, Beyer DT-880 (250 

ohm), Beyer DT-990 (600 ohm), 

Audio-Technica ATH-W3000ANV, 

HiFiMan RE-272 in-ear monitors, 

Audio-Technica AD-900, Audio- 

Technica A-700, Sol Republic Tracks 

HD, B&W P3, Etymotic Research 

ER-4P, Shure SRH-1440, Stax SR-5, 

Stax Lambda Pro, Stax SRM-1 Mk 

II headphone amplifier Cables and 

Accessories: Wireworld USB cable, 

Synergistic Research USB cable, 

AudioQuest Carbon USB cables. 

PS Audio Quintet, AudioQuest CV 

4.2 speaker cable, AudioQuest 

Colorado interconnect, Cardas 

Clear interconnect, PS Audio 

PerfectWave i2s/HDMI cable, Crystal 

Cable Piccolo interconnect, and 

Audioprism Ground Controls 


Weight: 1 lb. 

Price: $675 

Music Eximus DP-1, Wyred4Sound 

Dac2, Empirical Audio Off-Ramp 

5, Bel Canto DAC 3.5 VB, NAD C 



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the other. But when I compared the Rifling’s 

AT&T optical with the Off-Ramp’s coaxial I 

could consistently hear differences between 

the two converters. The AT&T glass optical 

input rendered depth more convincingly with 

greater image solidity and dimensionality than 

the either unit’s S/PDIF. 

The last conventional DAC/pre I tried with 

the Ref Link and Off-Ramp was Wyred4Sound’s 

DAC2. On their S/PDIF connections both USB 

boxes once more I could not reliably identify 

which USB converter I was listening to. But 

when I connected the Off-Ramp 5 via its I 2 S 

HDMI input I noticed a change that noticeably 

increased the Off-Ramp’s fidelity. Through I 2 S 

the Off-Ramp had a slightly increased image 

size, as well as greater solidity. Also when I 

used the I 2 S’ connection with the Off-Ramp, my 

own live 192/24 concert recordings sounded 

more relaxed with a better sense of individual 

harmonic textures and greater spatial cohesion. 

The last system I used for A/B comparisons 

was the NAD C 390DD digital integrated 

amplifier. Once again I compared the two units’ 

S/PDIF feeds and once again was unable to 

tell the two units apart during blind listening 

sessions. But I could readily tell the difference 

between them and the NAD’s own internal USB 

connection. Both the Empirical Audio and Bel 

Canto USB were better. 

USB Made Simple 

So what sonic conclusions could be drawn 

from all this listening The changes and sonic 

improvements wrought by a USB converter 

are not merely a function of the device, but 

also of how it interacts with the DAC that 

it is connected to. I obtained the best sonic 

results from the Bel Canto REF Link when it 

was coupled to Bel Canto’s own DAC 3.5 VB 

via its AT&T glass optical connection. The only 

situation where the REF Link failed to equal 

or surpass the Empirical Audio Off-Ramp 5 

was when the Off-Ramp 5 was connected to a 

Wyred4Sound DAC 2 via its I 2 S connection. In 

both situations when one of the USB converters 

sonically excelled, it was because it was hooked 

up via its “best” connection to a device that 

supported that kind of connection. 

Three Choices 

With the introduction of the mLink, uLink, and 

REFLink, Bel Canto has successfully added 

the missing parts to create an all-Bel Canto 

192/24-capable computer-audio system. If you 

already own a Bel Canto DAC/pre equipped with 

AT&T glass optical, adding a uLink is almost 

a no-brainer way to upgrade your system’s 

sonics. For Bel Canto DAC 3.5VB owners, the 

REF Link’s AT&T glass connection makes for 

an exceedingly synergistic combination. Even 

if your DAC is limited to AES/EBU or S/PDIF 

inputs, the Bel Canto Links can deliver a lowjitter 

stream that should improve the sound 

from all computer-audio sources. 

Expect the Unexpected 

Coming soon, two revolutionary personal audio products by 

the makers of The Absolute Sound’s “Editors’ Choice” awardwinning 

Blu-ray Disc TM players. 

• Over-the-ear Planar Magnetic headphones with 

open-back design, high sensitivity and ultra-low 

distortion 

• Class A, fully balanced headphone amplifier, DAC & 

stereo pre-amp 

OPPO Digital, Inc. | (650) 961-1118 | www.oppodigital.com 


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facebook.com/oppodigital 

@oppodigital


Plinius Tiki Network 

Audio Player 

Excellent Sound, Drop-Dead Looks 

Vade Forrester 

Computer-audio music files are the hot topic in audio magazines these 

days. To listen to this form of recorded music, you’ll need two items: 1) a 

server, which displays the music in your collection, lets you pick which 

music you want to listen to, and then plays that music for you; and 2) a digitalto-analog 

converter, or DAC, which converts the digital PCM stream from the 

server to an analog signal that your amplifier can handle. Like most anything in 

audio, there are a variety of ways the server and the DAC can be implemented. 

One area that has several possible configurations is where your music is stored. 

Some servers store it on internal hard-disk drives, some store it on solid-state 

drives which have no moving parts, some store it on external hard-disk drives, 

while others store it on a network, where it’s available to all devices which 

can access that network. In its $4495 Tiki server, Plinius has opted for the 

network-storage option, which is why they call the Tiki a network audio player. 

Plinius cites its reasoning for picking network storage for the Tiki as isolation, 

clock configuration, simplicity of design, cable lengths, and multi-room capability. I 

would add that using network storage for your music files lets you load and retrieve 

those files from any device attached to the network. 

Like any design choice, there are tradeoffs. First, you must have a wired Ethernet 

network in your home as well as Wi-Fi, and second, you need a network attached 

storage unit (or NAS for short) connected to your network. From Wikipedia: “A 

NAS unit is a computer connected to a network that 

provides only file-based data storage services to other 

devices on the network.” If you have to buy a NAS 

to use with the Tiki, it can be a sizeable additional 

expense, depending on the number of drives involved 

and the size of the drives. 

The Tiki follows traditional Plinius styling motifs with 

a front panel that curves back into the sides of the unit. 

You can have any color Tiki you want as long as it’s black 

or silver. Except for a large engraved “Plinius” label 

and a blue pilot light, the Tiki’s front panel is blank. The 

Tiki’s bright blue rear panel is fairly austere, too; there 

are left and right channel outputs (balanced XLR and 

unbalanced RCA jacks), a ground-lift switch, an Ethernet 

input, an IEC power connector, and the on/off switch. 

The Tiki combines the player part of the server with 

an internal DAC. I suspect that many audiophiles will 

appreciate that configuration, since it eliminates the 

need for two separate components, as well as a cable to 

connect them. It also eliminates the need for a separate 

shelf on your equipment rack. There is no remote control; 

you’ll need a tablet computer or smart phone for that. 

You probably have one or more of those already, so a 

separate remote would be a waste of money. 

What’s missing from the Tiki For one thing, there’s no 

S/PDIF or AES/EBU digital output. That means you’re 

limited to the Tiki’s internal DAC. I’m not suggesting 

it’s not a quality unit, but no matter how good it is, 

eventually a better DAC will come along. Also, there’s no 

volume control, so you can’t use the Tiki to directly drive 

a power amplifier. And except for the RJ-45 Ethernet 

network input, there’s no digital input, so external digital 

sources like a CD transport can’t use the internal DAC. I 

find a CD transport still comes in handy for playing CDs 

brought by visiting friends, or when I want to play a CD 

checked out from our local library. If you want an optical 

drive, Plinius makes a device called the Toko, which 

looks like a Tiki with a slot-loaded drive. The Tiki has no 

indicator to tell you what digital sampling rate is being 

played—useful, if not essential, especially if you have 

several copies of a song with different sampling rates. 

But maybe that’s something only reviewers or other 

nut-cases would care about. 

The Tiki will play music files in the following formats: 

FLAC, WAV (which it calls LPCM), AIFF, and MP3. 

Except for MP3s, files up to 192kHz/24-bit will play 

for all formats. The Tiki can’t play DSD files, and while 

it’s uncertain whether that format will become widely 

popular, a few servers do offer that feature. With a 100- 

ohm output impedance, the Tiki should be compatible 

with any well-designed preamplifier or integratedamplifier 

input and capable of driving long interconnects. 

The Tiki uses the ThreadX real-time operating system. 

I had not heard of ThreadX; see Wikipedia if you want 

more information about it. 

Physically, the Tiki is a full-width component, 

measuring 17.75" by 3.5" by 15.75", and its solid build 

feels like it weighs more than its 12 pounds. It should fit 

on virtually any equipment rack shelf and won’t cause a 

hernia when you pick it up. 

In my experience, a server’s success depends largely 

on the quality of the user interface that controls its 

operation. Plinius offers an app for iPads called Arataki 

Media Controller, which is the Tiki’s user interface. That 

means it shows you the music you’ve loaded on the NAS, 

lets you select which music you want to hear, and then 

creates a playlist of songs for the Tiki to play. At the 

suggestion of Frank Gazzo, Sales Manager of Plinius 

USA, I also downloaded PS Audio’s eLyric Controller 

app for iPad. Although not written specifically to control 

the Tiki, eLyric does that nicely, providing a different 

interface than Arataki. Arataki costs $7.99 from Apple’s 

App Store, eLyric, $9.99. 

Setting Up and Using the Tiki 

As I mentioned earlier, the Tiki requires a network 

attached storage, or NAS, drive to store music files. 

There’s no way you can plug in an external USB drive or 


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EQUIPMENT review - Plinius Tiki Network Audio Player 

use some other form of storage. The NAS must 

be connected to the Tiki via a wired network. For 

purposes of the review, Plinius USA loaned me 

a 1TB NetGear ReadyNAS Ultra 2 unit, already 

loaded with 273GB of music, and a NetGear 

wireless router. Since there are a number of 

other NAS’s available, each with its own set-up 

process, I won’t go into set-up details for this 

one. Setting up servers on a network can be very 

challenging, but the Tiki was almost plug-andplay. 

If you run into a snag, your Plinius dealer 

should be able to help you set up the Tiki. The 

NetGear NAS was so quiet I put it on a shelf of 

my equipment rack. Several visitors complained 

that the NetGear’s blue pilot LED was too bright, 

but I figure that’s what duct tape is for (no, I 

didn’t try it). If I planned to have a NAS around 

on a long-term basis, I’d put it near my desktop 

computer in a separate room. 

Once the network was established, I installed 

Plinius’ Arataki remote control app. The first 

version I installed was version 1.1, which I later 

updated to version 1.2. Arataki’s screen layout 

has two windows. The right window shows the 

cover art for each album installed on the NAS, 

so you can use it to select the music you want 

to play. To select an album, touch the cover art 

thumbnail and drag or flick it towards the left 

window, where a playlist is built. To play songs 

on the playlist, touch the Play button at the 

bottom of the left window, and Arataki will play 

the playlist in the order created. If you don’t 

want to play an entire album, touch the cover 

art thumbnail and Arataki will show you all the 

songs on the album, and you can flick or drag 

the songs to the left window to create a playlist. 

There’s a trash can icon in the left window; when 

you’re through with the playlist, touch the trash 

can icon, and the playlist is cleared. 

Sounds easy, doesn’t it It was, but there were 

a few glitches. First off, not all of the albums on 

the NAS had cover art, and those that didn’t had 

only a couple of musical eighth notes displayed 

as a cover art placeholder. There’s no text to tell 

you what the album is. You have to touch the 

cover art placeholder thumbnail on the screen 

to view a song list, which also shows you text 

that tells you what the album title is and who 

the performers are. Since you can’t tell what the 

album is, it will probably take several trial-anderror 

iterations to find the album you want to 

play. To make things tougher, Plinius has chosen 

a color scheme for Arataki’s control buttons— 

black symbols on a dark grey background—that 

makes it very hard to see what function a button 

performs. And Arataki’s screen layout wastes 

lots of screen space for cosmetic purposes, 

space that could make the information displayed 

easier to read. For example, there’s a ¾" border 

around the two windows that comprise the app. 

Even on a 10" iPad3 screen, I found it difficult 

to read Arataki’s information. Also, some of 

the albums I loaded onto the NAS just didn’t 

show up at all in the album view window. To be 

fair, this problem sometimes occurs with other 

servers’ album views. Several servers provide 

folder views, which lets you view the files like 

a folder on your computer. This view shows all 

the music files on the drive. So I had a problem: 

To evaluate the sound of the Tiki, I needed to 

listen to music with which I was familiar, and, 

after I copied the music files to the NAS, some 

of those files didn’t show up on Arataki’s screen 

so I could select them. 

ELyric to the rescue. Its user interface was 

more fully developed than Arataki’s, on a par 

with other control apps I’ve used. Thankfully, 

eLyric has a folder view that let me see most, 

though not all, of the files I loaded onto the 

NAS. So I wound up using eLyric for most of my 

critical listening. I also found eLyric’s operational 

controls more flexible, although that’s a personal 

reaction. The eLyric app has a few quirks of its 

own; after you make a playlist and start it playing, 

when the iPad turns off its screen to conserve 

battery power, the playlist stops working. You’ll 

need to set your iPad to never turn off its screen, 

which rapidly drains the battery. Be sure to reset 

the iPad to turn off after a short wait when you 

finish using it as remote control. Even though I 

use a PC with Windows 7 installed as one of my 

servers, I usually rip CDs to Apple’s AIFF format. 

Unfortunately, eLyric didn’t display the AIFF files 

I had uploaded to the NAS, so even though the 

Tiki will play those files, eLyric can’t queue them 

up in a playlist. Arataki will display and play AIFF 

files—if it can find them. 

I placed the Tiki on a shelf on my equipment 

rack. I connected the analog outputs of the Tiki’s 

internal DAC to my linestage with Audience 

Au24 e balanced interconnects, and used an 

Audience powerChord e to provide power. The 

Tiki was already broken in, but for around 100 

hours I played music over the network, with the 

Tiki driving the linestage. 

Sound 

The Tiki sounded harmonically rich and 

dynamically robust. Frequency response was 

extended. On Jennifer Warnes’ CD The Well, the 

song “The Panther” has a variety of percussion 

instruments that produce lots of high-frequency 

information. A system with overemphasized 

highs can sound a bit brittle on this piece. The 

Tiki presented the high frequencies with no 

peakiness or edge—no digital nastiness here. 

Argento’s “For the Angel, Israfel,” played by Eiji 

Oue and the Minnesota Orchestra on Reference 

Recordings’ 30th Anniversary Sampler, opens 

with delicate strikes on orchestral chimes, 

which were detailed without any edge; however, 


File formats: AIFF, WAV, FLAC, MP3 

Bit rates: 16 and 24-bit 

Sampling rates: 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4, 192kHz 

PCM files 

Outputs: Analog balanced (XLR) and unbalanced 

(RCA); no digital output 

Inputs: RJ-45 Ethernet 

Internal storage capacity: None 

External storage: On network attached storage (NAS) 

drive connected via network 

Optical drive included: No 

Operating system: ThreadX 

Remote control: Yes, via user-provided Apple iPad 

Dimensions: 17.75" x 3.5" x 15.75" 


Price: $4495 

PLINIUS USA (U.S. distributor) 

3439 NE Sandy Boulevard #128 

Portland, OR 97232 

(503) 662-8210 

pliniususa@gmail.com 



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EQUIPMENT review - Plinius Tiki Network Audio Player 

through the Tiki I could tell that each of the 

chime strikes was louder than the one before. 

I’ve never heard that effect before, so obviously 

the Tiki was capable of resolving very slight 

differences in microdynamics. 

Remember when digital recordings of stringed 

instruments sounded somewhat bleached and 

threadbare The Tiki belied that impression, 

sounding sweet and harmonically dense with 

stringed instruments. On Rachel Podger and 

arte dei suonatori’s recording of Vivaldi’s La 

Stravaganza (192/24 FLAC, Channel Classics), 

the sound of the strings was delicate and 

harmonically complete, disproving the notion 

that digital string sound has to be unpleasant. 

The Tiki’s bass had plenty of weight and 

detail. I’ve heard a few DACs with a bit more 

low-frequency extension, but the Tiki’s lowfrequency 

performance was solid. You don’t 

normally expect to hear deep bass on early music 

recordings, but on Jordi Savall’s music from the 

CD La Folia 1490-1701 [Alia Vox], the bass drum 

extends down into the mid-40Hz range. The Tiki 

did a respectable job of reproducing both the 

frequency extension and the detail of the bass 

drum. On the cut “Folia Rodrigo Martinez,” it 

was obvious that the Tiki accurately tracked the 

continuously varying microdynamics, allowing 

the music to sound more expressive. You could 

tell the musicians were having a terrific amount 

of fun playing the piece. 

Already on the NAS was a recording of The 

Tallis Scholars’ “Allegri Miserere,” which I 

assumed was ripped from CD Gimell’s Allegri 

Miserere. This a cappella choral setting of Psalm 

51 has the singers arranged in two groups within 

a church. The larger main group has several 

singers placed at the front of the soundstage, 

while a small solo group is located well behind 

the main choral singers. A good measure of 

a component’s ability to reproduce depth is 

provided by comparing the main group of singers 

with the more distant solo group. Through the 

Tiki, the solo group sounded appropriately 

distant, but was a bit nebulous, slightly fuzzy. 

I’ve heard them sound slightly more focused. 

Comparison 

A computer-based music server uses a standard 

computer running a server program to perform 

the server functions. Music files may be stored 

on the computer’s internal drive or externally. 

For comparison to the Tiki, I used a Hewlett- 

Packard dv7-3188cl laptop computer running 

64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium, and JRiver 

Media Center music management software. 

JRiver can play WAV, AIFF, FLAC, ALAC, and a 

host of other PCM file formats, and can also play 

DSD files with a compatible DAC. My HP laptop 

is connected to my Audio Research DAC8 DAC 

via a superb WireWorld Platinum Starlight USB 

cable. So whereas the Tiki puts all the hardware 

(except the NAS) in one box, my server consisted 

of two boxes (the computer and the DAC) plus 

an expensive USB cable. Although JRiver 

has a beautiful user interface, the computer 

is tethered to the DAC by a relatively short 

cable, so I used a third-party iPad app called 

JRemote to remotely control JRiver. Unlike 

JRiver, JRemote lacks a folder view, but even 

so JRemote's album view displays almost every 

music file on the server. 

JRiver can be adjusted to provide excellent 

sound quality. For some, that’s a drawback: To 

get the best sound quality, you have to adjust 

JRiver properly, whereas with a prefab server 

like the Tiki all the adjustments necessary for 

best sound have already been made, giving 

you a plug-and-play unit. The cost of my digital 

playback system, including the server, cable, 

and the DAC, was around $6360. That’s nearly 

$2000 more than the Tiki/eLyric system, 

although that price doesn’t include the cost of 

the NAS and the router, which you may already 

have. If you have to buy a NAS and a router, they 

could cost $500–$700, maybe more, depending 

on the capacity of the drives you choose. 

Through the computer server, “The Panther’s” 

high frequencies were hard to distinguish from 

the Tiki’s. The Tiki made the microdynamic 

differences on “For the Angel, Israfel” more 

distinct, though; on my system, they sounded 

essentially equally loud. Remember when I said 

“I’ve heard a few DACs with a bit more lowfrequency 

extension” Well, the Audio Research 

DAC8 was one of those DACs. On “Folia Rodrigo 

Martinez” the DAC8 produced noticeably deeper 

bass with more slam, and just as much detail as 

the Tiki. Leading-edge transients seemed better 

defined by a slight margin. 

I tried to compare the DAC8’s performance on 

“Allegri Miserere,” but I had replaced my 44.1/16 

rip with a 96/24 FLAC version downloaded from 

Gimmell, which absolutely stomped the 44.1/16 

rip. In my experience, one of the most audible 

advantages of a high-resolution music file is a 

better-defined soundstage, which the 96/24 

version displayed in spades. It also had higher 

definition and clarity, so that I could better hear 

how each individual singer sounded. Finally, the 

high-res version's channel balance was better. 

But although interesting, 44.1/16 vs. 96/24 is 

not really a fair comparison. 

Bottom Line 

Excellent sound, drop-dead looks, a quality 

built-in DAC—what more can you ask for 

Well, in today’s market, you can ask for and 

expect an easy-to-use user interface, and 

while serviceable, Arataki 1.2 doesn’t measure 

up to other control apps I’ve tried. Arataki is 

constantly being upgraded and may someday 

be competitive with other remote-control 

apps, but for now it made using the Tiki harder 

than other servers I’ve tried. Fortunately, PS 

Audio’s eLyric Controller resolved most of my 

objections to Arataki. It’s weird to recommend 

part of a server system from one manufacturer, 

and another part from a different manufacturer, 

but if I didn’t do that I would be unable to give 

the Tiki a strong recommendation. Besides, if 

Plinius recommends eLyric, why shouldn’t I 

The Tiki itself sounded excellent. It had no 

trouble playing all commercially available PCM 

files I loaded onto its NAS, including 192/24 FLAC 

files. While I would prefer the upgradeability that 

a digital output provides, I suspect most people 

will appreciate that the Tiki has an excellent 

built-in DAC, which won’t need to be upgraded 

for some time. Like all Plinius gear, the Tiki looks 

smashing—a welcome change from the typical 

box-with-a-thick-faceplate styling of most 

components. The Tiki will grace any equipment 

rack, looking right at home beside the highestend 

equipment, providing high-resolution sound 

that’s easy on the ears. I hope Plinius upgrades 

the Arataki Media Controller to make an all- 

Plinius system easier to use. 


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Astell&Kern AK100 and AK120 

Portable Music Players 

Finally, a Portable Player Fit for Audiophiles 

Alan Taffel 

You know how people these days mime that their heads are “exploding” 

over some revelatory fact or idea How their hands poof outward from 

their temples, their lips purse, and their mouths faux-detonate the 

nearby air That’s a deliberate signal. But recently I witnessed my 14-yearold 

daughter’s head “explode” involuntarily—but no less dramatically. Her 

eyes bulged, her jaw dropped, and her temples visually throbbed. What 

on earth could have elicited a reaction of such astonishment The latest 

from Apple A surprise Abercrombie gift card No, it was the simple act of 

listening to a familiar song through the Astell&Kern AK120 portable music 

player. 

Mind you, this revelatory incident took place 

without the benefit of a decent pair of headphones. 

Rather, my daughter had auditioned Jason Mraz’ “I 

Won’t Give Up” [Atlantic] through both the AK120 

and her regular music player, an iPhone 4, with her 

usual, standard-issue Apple earbuds. Nonetheless, 

she found the difference between the AK120 and the 

iPhone obvious—and obviously unexpected. “I can hear 

instruments I never heard before!” she exclaimed at 

one point. “His voice sounds much more beautiful!” 

When I offered my Sennheiser HD600 headphones 

and she listened to the track through the AK120 yet 

again, she fairly swooned. 

It’s worth noting that the AK120 had a hidden 

advantage in this impromptu evaluation. The version 

of the song on the iPhone was in the typical lowresolution, 

lossily compressed format that populates 

such devices. In contrast, the AK120’s version was 

in glorious 96/24. So this was not a true apples-to- 

Apple (ahem) comparison. But that’s beside the point. 

The takeaway here is the amazed and enthusiastic 

reaction to high-quality sound from someone who 

had never shown any interest in it—despite regular 

exposure—until it was delivered on her own turf. 

I was amused to note that my daughter’s response 

to the AK120 was identical to that of any audiophile 

smitten with a new component. After hearing the 

Astell&Kern, she began admiring it from every angle, 

clutching it like it was … well, the latest from Apple. 

She asked how much it cost and began scheming to 

find the money. Then, my biggest surprise: She started 

exploring the music, all of it unfamiliar, that A&K had 

thoughtfully pre-loaded onto the player—exactly the 

way we audiophiles go through our own collections 

and seek out new material just to play it through a 

new component. Kids, it turns out, may all be dormant 

audiophiles just waiting to be awakened by something 

like an AK120. 

Fogey Liberation 

I first heard the Astell&Kern AK100, which is the 

AK120’s lower-priced sibling, through some excellent 

headphones at this year’s New York Audio Show. As 

I wrote in my show report, the debut impressed me 

mightily. However, I added the usual caveat that I would 

have to evaluate the device under more controlled 

conditions before I could take its full measure. 

What I failed to understand at the time was that 

that had already happened. Not until I was packing 

for a week at the beach, fretting about losing valuable 

review time and aware of the oncoming deadline, 

did I realize that a portable music player and a good 

set of headphones create their own self-contained 

conditions. This was a foreign thought. With more 

than a little incredulity, I grasped that I could review 

these devices pretty much anywhere—no reference 

system required. 

And in the very next moment, another revelation: I 

can, for the first time, also simply enjoy music at the 

audio level I’m used to without being anywhere near 

my reference system. This was a liberating and bracing 

concept. We audiophiles tend to associate high-quality 

sound with particular systems in specific places. A 

high-end portable player untethers us. We can travel 

with high-end audio, exercise with high-end audio, 

listen privately to high-end audio. The generation that 

“grew up digital” takes such freedoms for granted; but 

for discriminating old fogeys, the concept of physical 

liberty without sonic compromise is new. 

And so I threw my Sennheisers into my bag, stashed 

the AK100 and AK120 in the car’s glove box, and 

set off for the beach knowing that I could not only 

evaluate but savor high-quality sound in a house that 

contained nary a lick of audio equipment. 

The AK100 vs. the Classics 

Since I had already heard the AK100 through good 

headphones at a trade show, I knew it sounded superb. 


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EQUIPMENT review - Astell&Kern AK100 and AK120 

The player had impressed me with true highend 

qualities like timbral richness, airiness, 

detail, and pace. Still, as part of the review 

process, I wanted to put the AK100 in context. 

That meant comparing it to other players on the 

market. Both iPods and iPhones were obvious 

touch points, but based on long experience with 

my own current-generation iPod Classic, I knew 

any comparo was going to be a slam-dunk win 

for the AK. I wanted to present the AK100 with 

a rival that promised to be more challenging. 

And since portable music players with highend 

aspirations are not (yet!) prevalent, I had 

to look elsewhere. 

The answer came from an unexpected 

source: Apple itself. You see, once upon a 

time—before music was just another app on a 

phone—Apple actually cared about the sound 

of its iPods. So much so, that it went to the 

trouble and expense of putting genuine Wolfson 

DACs—the very same brand that graces these 

Astell&Kern players—into iPods. This was 

true up to and including the 5th generation 

of the iPod Classic (before there were Nanos 

or Shuffles). The Classic 5.5 was the last iPod 

to include the Wolfson chip. Samples of goodcondition 

Classic 5.5s are readily available 

on eBay for roughly $100. I bought one, and 

it took me about two seconds of listening to 

relegate my modern iPod Classic to storage. 

All indications were that the Classic 5.5 would 

be a worthy challenger to the AK100. 

Before I turn to sonics, a few words about 

the relative aesthetics and functionality of 

the AK100 and the iPod/iPhone. In industrial 

engineering, the Astell&Kern sacrifices 

nothing to Apple. The AK100 is finished in 

a black, finely-brushed aluminum case that 

screams luxury. True, the AK100 is thicker, 

heavier and larger than the latest waif-like 

iPods. Yet I find the AK100 easier to handle 

than those devices, as well as reassuringly 

substantial in the manner of a bespoke watch. 

The sensation of being in the presence of 

something special continues when pressing 

the AK100’s buttons, turning its volume knob, 

or navigating the bright, instantly intuitive 

touchscreen. Once operations begin, that 

roomy screen becomes a font of information 

about the source material. 

Functionally, the AK100 is best thought of 

as an iPod on steroids. Whereas an iPod maxes 

out at a tepid 48/16 resolution, the AK100 

goes up to 192/24. And while recent Apple 

devices use an inexpensive Cirrus Logic DAC 

chip, the A&K employs Wolfson’s costly new 

WM8740. As for formats, iPods and iPhones 

support AAC, MP3, Apple Lossless, AIFF, and 

WAV. The A&K handles all those, plus Media 

Monkey’s APE, Windows’ WMA, Xiph.org’s 

OGG and, most importantly, FLAC. The latter 

means that a user can, for example, download 

a losslessly compressed hi-res album from 

HDtracks and transfer it directly to the AK100. 

Such transfers, by the way, are as simple as 

dragging and dropping selected music files to 

the player, which appears as an external drive 

when connected via USB to a PC or Mac. 

With the ability to support hi-res material, 

a music player’s memory capacity becomes 

critical. A 192/24 file is 6.5 times as large as a 

CD-standard 44.1/16 version, and many times 

more than that compared to MP3-like formats. 

The upshot is that, unless you commit the 

sacrilege of dumbing down your music to 

MP3, 32GB on an AK100 won’t go nearly as far 

as the same capacity on an iPod. The AK100 

comes standard with 32GB of memory, and its 

two microSD card slots permit expansion to 

96GB. Even so, users will have to be selective 

about what they load onto the player. 

Users should be selective, too, about 

the headphones they pair with this player. 

Unlike the iPod and iPhone, the AK100 has 

a relatively high 20-ohm output impedance. 

(The AK120 has more typical 3-ohm output 

impedance.) This means that the sound of a 

particular set of headphones, depending on 

its own impedance characteristics, may be 

altered or even compromised by interaction 

with the player. Therefore, be sure to audition 

the AK100 using whichever headphones you 

intend to listen through. 

Given the impedance situation, the true 

sound of the AK100 is virtually impossible to 

ferret out—at least without using an outboard 

headphone amp, which would be anathema. 

However, I compared all the assembled players 

using multiple headphones and my findings 

proved consistent from ’phone to ’phone, 

giving me confidence in my ultimate rankings. 

The headphones I used were: my own Grado 

Professional Series SR80; my aforementioned 

Sennheiser HD600; the ultra-portable, onear 

Sennheiser PX-100, which came courtesy 

of TAS writer Karl Schuster; and a set of the 

incredible Fostex TH900s, very kindly loaned 

to me by my local (D.C. Metro) high-end dealer, 

JS Audio. Ultimately, I did the bulk of my 

listening through the Fostex, which offered 

the highest resolution and the stoutest bass. 


iriver Astell&Kern AK100 

Display: 2.4" IPS touchscreen 

Supported audio formats: WAV, AIFF, FLAC, ALAC, 

APE, MP3, AAC, WMA, OGG 

Maximum sample rate: 192/24 

Continuous playback time: Up to 16 hours 

Memory capacity: 32GB (plus up to 2 x 32GB 

microSD) 

Supported OS: Windows XP and up; MAC OS X 10.6.5 

and up 

Dimensions: 2.33" x 3.11" x 0.57" 

Weight: 4.3 oz. 

Price: $699 

iriver Astell&Kern AK120 

Display: 2.4" IPS touchscreen 

Supported audio formats: WAV, AIFF, FLAC, ALAC, 

APE, MP3, AAC, WMA, OGG, DSD 

Maximum sample rate: 192/24 

Continuous playback time: Up to 14 hours 

Memory capacity: 64GB (plus up to 2 x 64GB 

microSD) 

Supported OS: Windows XP and up; MAC OS X 10.6.5 

and up 

Dimensions: 2.33" x 3.5" x 0.57" 

Weight: 5 oz. 

Price: $1299 

iriver Inc 

39 Peters Canyon Rd 


(949) 336-4540 

astellnkern.com 



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These headphones allowed me to hear every 

little difference between players, which is 

exactly what I needed. 

Once I listened to the Jason Mraz piece, I 

immediately understood why Astell&Kern had 

included it on the players they sent me. This 

is an admirably clean recording, with perfect 

tonal balance. Bass has a solid thump, the allacoustic 

guitars are ultra-clear, and Mraz’s 

voice, while no great instrument, is recorded 

well enough for his earnestness to come 

through. 

Unfortunately, the recent-generation Apple 

gear lived down to my expectations. Through 

the iPhone 4, “I Won’t Give Up” is, shall we say, 

less than gripping. You’d never know how plump 

the bass is, because the iPhone’s bass is wispy. 

You’d never discern any character to the singer’s 

voice, because the iPhone renders it generic. 

You’d never know the dynamics swell, because 

the iPhone compresses them. Highs roll off 

before they get started. Forget about hearing 

details. Put it all together and the iPhone’s 

rendition of this song is just plain boring. I did 

not bother listening to the iPhone any further. 

Fortunately, the iPod Classic 5.5 turned 

out to be another matter entirely. This 

player restored all the detail, dynamics, bass, 

character, and life to the track. Simply put, the 

Classic 5.5 sounds darned good, and it spins 

out music that is far more engaging than its 

latest Apple counterparts. 

Of course, on the Mraz track the AK100 

slaughters the 5.5, since the A&K is playing 

back a higher-resolution version. The point is 

that the AK100 can play hi-res files, and the 

iPod can’t. What does that capability anount 

to sonically In this case, the vocals take 

on a “right there” quality; bass is even fuller 

and tighter; and you can now appreciate the 

carefully assembled instruments in the overall 

arrangement. Finally, dynamics are improved to 

the point where the song is, at times, actually 

rousing. Clearly, this level of resolution—and 

the sonic and musical benefits that resolution 

entails—is one of the AK100’s chief virtues. 

I wondered, though, how the AK100 would 

measure up to the Classic 5.5 on a more 

level playing field—that is, with both tackling 

identical tracks at the same resolution. For 

that test, I selected Prada’s lovely recording 

of Dvorak Serenades. The Classic 5.5, it turns 

out, delivers such music more than respectably 

well. Indeed, I found little to complain about 

sonically or musically. In regard to the latter, 

the 5.5 allows the instrumental interplay at 

the heart of these octets to come through. 

The AK100 does sound better than the Classic 

5.5 on these pieces, but in ways that initially 

seem subtle. What the Classic 5.5 lacks—and 

the A&K delivers—is the last degree of timbral 

nuance and dynamic inflection. The Classic is also 

afflicted with a mild digital haze that, while not 

overtly objectionable, does make listening a less 

serene experience. Furthermore, the AK100’s 

dead-quiet background allows instruments and 

transients to stand out effortlessly, as if in basrelief. 

Add up these subtleties and the sum is a 

not-so-subtle advantage. While the Classic plays 

well beyond modern iPod-gear, it cannot match 

the AK100’s purity, ease, and authority. 

In sum, the AK100 establishes itself as 

a superior player in not just one but two 

key ways. First, given material of moderate 

resolution, the AK100 is unquestionably the 

higher-fidelity device. But the Astell&Kern 

takes another step by allowing the listener 

to enjoy higher resolution material. In my 

listening, this ability to support hi-res reaped 

benefits with everything from Keith Jarrett’s 

solo piano to Led Zeppelin’s thunderous rock 

to pop productions like Jason Mraz. Once you 

have held hi-res in your hands, you will never 

settle for less. 

Sibling Rivalry 

Now that we’ve established that the AK100 is 

a cut above the best iPod Apple ever made, 

let’s find out if the nearly twice as dear AK120 

tops it. The latter certainly has advantages 

in specs, componentry, and functionality. 

Internally, the primary difference between the 

two players is the AK120’s inclusion of dual 

Wolfson DACS. In general, the use of multiple 

DACs provides greater linearity and lower 

noise. A&K claims significantly lower jitter for 

the AK120. 

The flagship model also has more memory 

capacity; it comes with twice the AK100’s 32GB 

as standard, and its microSD slots support 

higher-capacity cards. All told, the AK120 can 

hold 192GB of music—a key advantage over the 

AK100. All this additional componentry makes 

the AK120 slightly taller than its sibling. The 

AK120 also sports a snazzy leather case, a 

racy red stripe around its volume knob, and 

pegs that protect that knob. 

There is really only one functional difference 

between the two units: The AK120 will play 

DSD files, while the AK100 won’t. However, 

Astell&Kern has a history of incorporating 

AK120 features in the AK100. For instance, 

at one point the AK120 was the only model 

that could be used as a USB DAC. However, in 

mid-review, Astell&Kern released a software 

upgrade for the AK100 that conferred upon it 

the same capability. 

The decision, then, to spring for the AK120 

boils down to two important features—more 

memory and DSD support—plus potentially 

better sound. To find out if the 120 delivers 

on that last promise, I first turned back to the 

now-familiar Jason Mraz track. As I compared 

the two players, I was furrowing my brow trying 

to detect differences. I ended up hearing two 

on this track (more on others), but they were 

obviously small in degree. 

The first difference between the AK120 and 

the AK100 is that the former removes a very 

mild grain, especially from vocals. This is not 

to say the AK120 is quieter; both players boast 

wonderfully silent backgrounds. But the AK120 

has greater purity. Although I dare say the 

AK100’s mild deficit in this area would likely 

go unnoticed without an even cleaner point 

of direct comparison, the AK120’s grain-free 

sound does make for even easier listening. The 

second difference this track makes apparent 

is in the bass. The AK120’s is a hair fuller and 

better defined. Yet, again, without a great set 

of headphones, hi-res source material, and an 

A/B comparison, I doubt anyone would find the 

AK100’s bass lacking. 

To confirm these findings, I fired up a series 

of disparate recordings. The first was “Whole 

Lotta Love” from the terrific 192/24 version of 

Led Zeppelin II [Atlantic]. Let me state from 

the outset that both of these players rock out 


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with abandon, and that this track is a bracing 

experience through either. Other than that, 

the previous comments—less vocal grain and 

better bass on the AK120—fully apply, with two 

additions. There is an extended instrumental 

passage in the middle of this track that 

consists mostly of noises. As the passage 

begins, the dominant sound is John Bonham’s 

cymbals. It is in the quiet moments between 

his cymbal taps that the AK120 conveys a 

sense of space that the AK100 lacks. Later 

in the passage, sounds swing from ear to 

ear—oops, I mean channel to channel. On the 

AK120, when the sound moves to one side, 

it moves far to that side, indicating superior 

channel separation and lower crosstalk. 

Easing my way into orchestral music, I 

turned to Paul McCartney’s Kisses on the 

Bottom [Hear Music], a superb hi-res recording 

of standards that I reviewed in a recent TAS 

“Downloads” piece. Once again, both players 

have the right stuff, rendering strings sweetly, 

almost caressingly. McCartney’s voice has 

great intimacy; on “My Valentine,” you can 

almost see the dew in his eyes. Still, the 

AK120’s greater air and purity benefit the 

proceedings, particularly the strings. Further, 

the superior definition of the upright bass 

makes it easier to follow its line—and to a 

surprising degree. 

Moving to classical music, I wondered if 

the AK120 could top the AK100’s sensitive 

portrayal of the Dvorak Octets. It did, and in 

now-familiar ways: a greater sense of air and 

better bass. The AK120’s timing is also a tick 

more precise than the AK100’s, as can be 

heard at the opening of the first Octet, where 

the strings should be metronomic. 

The Final Grade 

Assigning grades to each of these players seems 

an efficient way to convey their relative merits. 

The latest generation of iPods and iPhones, 

thanks to manifest sonic shortcomings, sonic 

shortcomings, earns a D—barely a passing 

grade. 

The iPod Classic 5.5 is on a completely 

different level and has chops that allow real 

immersion in the sound and a real connection 

with the music. Still, it is a dated device, as 

evidenced by its less-than-pristine background 

silences. In the context of mainstream music 

players, the 5.5 earns an A. In high-end terms, 

it still musters a solid B. If you can’t afford 

an A&K, you will hug yourself for spending a 

hundred bucks on one of these babies. 

The Astell&Kern AK100 is very, very difficult 

to fault. Indeed, its subtle compromises come 

into focus only in direct comparison—using the 

highest-quality sources and headphones—to 

the AK120. Here is a player that brings true 

high-end performance to portable music. As 

such, I would feel churlish giving the AK100 

anything less than a well-deserved A. 

What, then, of the AK120 It is better than the 

AK100, though not drastically so. Yet the more 

you listen to it, the more addicted you become 

to its subtle benefits. If you can afford the 

tariff, the AK120 will reward your investment. 

This player deserves a higher grade than the 

AK100, though the differences do not justify a 

full grade jump. Conveniently, there is one last 

grade available on our scale. The AK120 gets 

an A+. 


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3beez Wax Music 

Management System 

Simple Things Should Be Simple 

Andrew Quint 

When a music lover of the audiophile persuasion decides 

to take the plunge into computer audio and organize a 

large collection of recordings, he chooses one of two basic 

approaches. The first is the “roll-your-own” method: Dedicate a 

computer (or part of one) to storing music files and get ripping/ 

tagging/playback software such as JRiver, Media Monkey, MusiCHI, 

Foobar, MusicBee, or a host of others. This is clearly the economical 

course, even if the music lover decides to get a brand-new musiconly 

computer. But there are hidden expenses and potential 

complications. Assuming that he’ll be employing lossless formats 

and that there are a sizable number of high-resolution downloads 

in his collection, he’ll probably need to purchase supplemental 

storage. And he won’t want to use the stock sound card in his new 

computer for D-to-A conversion. An audiophile-grade sound card 

or, more likely, a USB DAC or some other conduit to his processor’s 

converters will give superior sonic results. 

The other tack is to buy a music server, a traditional audio 

component that packages hardware and software in one 

box. Theoretically, this method will be less trouble for the 

poor soul who just wants to listen to music rather than hone 

his IT skills. Olive, Meridian, Sonore—you know the names. 

The 3beez Wax Music Management System represents 

the second approach, and it’s worthy of close consideration 

by anyone at all anxious about the leap into the breach. 

3beez (as in the three B’s—Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms) is 

the current project of electronics industry veteran Jeffrey 

Barish. Barish is an MIT-trained electrical engineer who 

also had success as an architectural acoustician. His first 

job was at Fairchild Semiconductor designing integratedcircuit 

preamps and power amps; he also worked at Sound 

Technology, famous for a widely used distortion analyzer. 

Before 3beez, he founded and led another start-up, 

EuPhonics, that specialized in applications of computer 

technology to audio and electronic music. Barish comes by 

his audio design skills honestly: His father started NAD. 

Jeffrey Barish is a record collector with broad interests 

who had been considering a music organization system 

even before the introduction of Apple’s epochal platform. 

“To the best of my knowledge, iTunes didn’t exist when I 

began thinking about this,” Barish told me. “Because of my 

computer background, I started planning a ‘home project’ 

that would realize the vision I had for a system that I, 

myself, wanted. It took some time before I was able to start 

working on it and by that time, iTunes did exist, though I 

made a conscious decision to ignore it. I wanted to come up 

with something that was ideal for my needs and I didn’t want 

to be prejudiced by what others had done. As the system 

developed, I began to show it to friends, all of whom reacted 

along the lines of ‘I want one for my own system!’ So I started 

thinking about the possibly of commercial application.” 

A distinction should be made between Wax, which is 

Barish’s proprietary music-organizing software and the 

Wax Box, which is the commercial product in which that 

software is available. Together, they comprise the Wax 

Music Management System. You cannot purchase the 

Wax software “engine” separately. “It’s conceivable that 

someday I’ll have a software-only product, but I don’t 

have it today largely because of issues of support. 3beez 

is not a large enough company to support a software-only 

product. Another reason is that my thinking in developing 

this product was that I wanted to offer something that was 

as close to turnkey as possible. That is, a user should be 

able to take the product out of the box, connect it easily to 

an audio system, and use it. There is no software to install 

or additional components to connect. There aren’t any more 

purchase decisions to make.” 

The Wax Box is a compact component, built into a 

standard computer enclosure measuring 13.4" x 12.6" x 

2.7". The case is so loaded to the gills there isn’t room for 

a pair of standard RCA outputs, and you’ll need a 3.5mm 

mini-plug-to-RCA cable if you want analog output from the 

Wax Box. The device’s CPU does generate heat and to avoid 

the need for a cooling fan and the noise issues that would 

entail, Barish employs passive cooling. His product has the 

expected fins on its enclosure but also a series of six copper 

pipes that transfer heat from the CPU’s environment to 

the outside world. The DACs installed in the Wax Box are 

Realtek ALC892s. While they do support sample rates up 

to 192kHz, Barish freely admits that they don’t provide 

“audiophile-level performance”—and wonders if that goal is 

actually realistic in a server. “Putting a DAC inside a box 

that is essentially a computer makes it difficult to provide 

good sound quality because there is a lot of electrical noise. 

You really want to have the DACs in a separate box. It’s an 

argument that I don’t want to have, so I’ve provided options. 

If you’re happy with the sound, great. Just use the analog 

output. If not, connect a USB DAC.” Which is what I did, 

more or less. I connected the Wax Box from one of its six 

USB outputs via a Halide Bridge to my Anthem Statement 

D2v processor to employ the better DACs in that excellent 

component. 

Underneath the optical drive—the Wax Box slot loads from 

the front—are two 1TB hard disk drives (HDDs) and a single 

solid-state drive (SSD). Barish needed to use 2.5" drives 


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EQUIPMENT review - 3beez Wax Music Management System 

instead of the more common 3.5" size because 

of the enclosure’s smallish dimensions, but there 

were other concerns as well. “I was sensitive to 

issues of noise because this is a product that’s 

going to live in a user’s listening room,” he 

told me. “I didn’t want to have the sound of a 

mechanical device interfere with the enjoyment 

of music. The first thing I did to address that 

issue was to choose 2.5" drives. They have less 

mass and they tend to be a little quieter than 

3.5" drives. They’re carefully mounted in a box 

with a solid base using mechanical isolation to 

prevent the transmission of mechanical noise.” 

The operating system is on the solid-state drive. 

“I included the SSD for two reasons,” Barish 

said. “One is that it allows Wax Box to start up 

and stop more quickly so that it acts more like 

a standard audio product. The other reason is 

that it permits completely silent operation when 

playing. Wax, when you make a request for a 

recording, checks first to see if that recording is 

available in a cache on the SSD. If it’s not there, 

it turns on the HDD with the sound archive long 

enough to transfer all of the files it needs off of it 

and store them in the cache on the SSD. It then 

turns off the HDD—it idles it. To any substantial 

degree, the only time you use the hard disk drive 

is when you’re ripping and tagging. Otherwise, 

it’s all SSD.” 

Barish uses 1TB hard drives because, as of 

this time, that’s the largest capacity available 

in the 2.5" size. This will be changing (if it 

hasn’t already), and Barish promises to use the 

highest-capacity 2.5" HDDs he can. The two 

HDDs hold identical data: Wax Box automatically 

backs up your music files once a day. “I decided 

to build the backup capability into the Wax 

Box because many people are negligent when 

it comes to backups. I think almost everybody 

knows that you’re supposed to do backups 

but my experience is that many people never 

get around to it. My fear was we might have a 

situation where somebody invests a tremendous 

amount of time ripping an entire collection and 

carefully entering all the metadata desired 

and then, because of a disk crash—over which 

I have no control—he loses everything. I highly 

recommend that you create additional backups, 

especially if you’re so conscientious that you 

move your backups off-site. If your house burns 

down, you still have the data.” Likewise, Barish 

is also watching out for you when it comes to 

software updates. If you leave your Wax Box on 

at night, they will occur automatically between 

midnight and 3 AM. 

There are two ways for a user to operate 

the Wax system. Option 1—“Direct Control”— 

is simpler. After establishing an Ethernet 

connection for the Wax Box, you plug a monitor 

into either the DVI-D, D-Sub, or HDMI ports 

on the back of the unit and a keyboard and 

mouse into two of the USB ports. You could 

use this method permanently but most users 

will configure Option 2 to allow remote control 

from the listening position using a tablet, 

smart phone, or desktop system. The excellent 

55-page user’s manual (included in the Wax 

software—print it out and put it in a binder) 

explains clearly how to set up a “remote 

desktop viewer” with pretty much any device 

(an iPad and Android or Windows-based tablets, 

for examples.) Viewer applications—there are 

quite a few—range in cost from free (the Real 

VNC Viewer for Windows) to $30 or so. 

The heart and soul of the Wax Music 

Management System is the Wax software. How 

smoothly it works with all kinds of music is 

what makes Wax Box worth the $5000 asking 

price (which is actually right in the middle of the 

pack for this kind of product.) Wax is based on 

the Linux operating system, both for economic 

reasons—no licensing fees—and because it’s 

open-source software, which allowed the 

designer to “dive into the source code” when 

necessary. Barish carefully examined the way 

he interacted with physical media to devise a 

platform that’s exceptionally intuitive to use. 

This is apparent the very first time you turn 

the thing on and encounter the uncluttered 

Graphical User Interface (GUI). 

The central organizing principle for Wax is 

musical genre. In the left upper corner of the 

GUI, the user is presented with a list of options: 

Anthology, Chamber, Comedy, Film, Jazz, Opera, 

Pop, and so on. You can add your own genres. 

Some have sub-genres. For “Symphonic,” you 

can parse the recordings as Baroque, Classical, 

Romantic, etc; for Pop, choices include Blues, 

Country, Electronic, New Age, Rock, and so on. 

Once you’ve clicked on a genre (or sub-genre), a 

list of recordings already in your library appears. 

For each genre, the identifying information—the 

“primary metadata”—is a little different. So, for 

“Symphonic,” the recordings are described by 

three columns—composer, work, and conductor. 

For “Show,” it’s the musical, composer, librettist, 

and date (of the production). In a large collection, 

you might have a dozen versions of Beethoven’s 

Eroica Symphony. Wax’s presentation lets you 

quickly know what your options are and choose 

the version you want to hear. 

Also prominently located on the GUI is a 

button labeled Mode. Clicking on Mode reveals 

four choices that direct you to everything Wax 

can do. Select lets you choose what you’re 

going to listen to from the music files in your 

library. Play presents all of the metadata for the 

recording you’ve selected, including cover art. 

The Edit mode is used to add recordings or to 

modify the metadata of a recording already in 

the library and Config lets one engage various 

housekeeping functions—which codec to use 

when you rip, the status of updates, and many, 

many more options for advanced tweaking of 

the software’s functionality. 

It’s in the Edit mode that the critical tagging 

process occurs. I’ll emphasize Wax’s performance 

with classical recordings because it’s this 


Drive capacity: Two 1TB drives (one for backup) 

Interface: Direct Control with attached mouse, 

keyboard, and monitor or TV; Remote Control with 

VNC or RDP remote desktop viewer—available for 

tablets and smartphones (iOS, Android, Windows 

Phone) and for desktops (OSX, Windows, Linux) 

Analog output: 3.5mm miniplug 

Digital output: Four USB-2 ports; three USB-3 ports; 

TosLink; DVI-D; D-Sub; HDMI; RJ45 

Dimensions: 13.4" x 12.6" x 2.7" 

Price: $5000 

3beez 

contact@3beez.com 



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EQUIPMENT review - 3beez Wax Music Management System 

material that presents the biggest challenge 

to music-organizing software, the area where 

the ID3 standard employed by iTunes fails most 

miserably. Several aspects are worth mentioning. 

First, entering the “work metadata”—the 

most basic identifying information about each 

recording—is facilitated because the prompts to 

complete blank fields differ from genre to genre. 

So, for “Symphonic,” you’re asked for the composer, 

work, and conductor as opposed to “Jazz,” 

where the requests are for “ensemble” and “title.” 

Additional work metadata fields can easily 

be added on the fly (Barish refers to this as “infinite 

metadata”) as you are processing a disc or 

download. Second, Barish has thought long and 

hard about where Wax should go on-line for information, 

choosing MusicBrainz as his primary 

source of metadata. The MusicBrainz database is 

curated, meaning that an editor has viewed the 

metadata submitted by a user and declared it reliable. 

Additionally, MusicBrainz has established 

standards for the manner in which the metadata 

is presented, which makes it possible for Wax to 

extract information about a recording—say, the 

conductor—and put it in the right place. FreeDB is 

Wax’s backup source for metadata—there’s information 

on a larger number of recordings, though 

that information is more likely to be inaccurate. 

Third, Wax has a clever way of organizing 

the “track metadata”—the designations of the 

individual movements of a string quartet or 

the titles of the arias on an opera recording, 

for example. Say a recording of Puccini’s La 

Bohème has 40 tracks. You can highlight the 12 

tracks of the First Act, hit the “Group” button 

that appears, and watch the 12 tracks collapse 

into a single line that can then be labeled “Act 

I.” The same is then done for the eight tracks 

of Act II, the ten of Act III, and the ten of Act 

IV. Each act opens automatically to show the 

track metadata when you actually listen to the 

recording but, in the meantime, you don’t get 

a screen of track listings when you’re deciding 

what to play. 

Barish recognizes that a collection is often 

best-served by taking a “work orientation” to 

cataloging classical music, as opposed to an “album 

orientation.” If a CD holds both Beethoven’s 

Fifth and Eighth Symphonies, you’ll want separate 

entries under “Beethoven” for each work. 

Working in the Edit mode, it’s a snap to specify 

“New Entry” for the two works as you’re cataloging 

them. 

The workflow when ripping and tagging is 

very efficient. A CD is placed in the Wax Box’s 

front slot and the user hits the on-screen “Find 

CD” button. You decide which tracks to rip (all 

of them, usually) and click Rip and the fourto-five-minute 

ripping process begins. With 

ripping underway, you then turn to producing 

the desired tags and specifying the cover art 

from the choices Wax finds on-line. Before long, 

you’re completing the tags before the CD rip 

has finished. Very satisfying. In the Edit mode, 

Wax has you choose between “CD” and “File,” 

in terms of what you’ll be adding to the library. 

If it’s the latter, Wax helps you to navigate to 

wherever it is on your computer that you keep 

your downloads. Processing multi-disc sets is 

especially slick. Whether it’s a 4-CD recording 

of Parsifal or a 12-disc Grateful Dead box, as 

one disc finishes ripping, you simply click “Add 

Tracks” and Wax knows that the next CD coming 

belongs with the previous one(s). Happily, Wax 

provides “gapless” playback, controlled on a 

track-by-track basis, so playback of The Rite of 

Spring or Sgt. Pepper doesn’t result in pauses 

between tracks. 

Sonically, Barish has made design choices 

with two constituencies in mind—the record 

collector who doesn’t value sound quality to an 

obsessive degree and, well, those of us who do. 

Barish declares that he, himself, is no Golden 

Ear and rips his own CDs to Ogg, a lossy codec 

(M4A and MP3 are other alternatives with Wax.) 

As a result, Barish has had no problem fitting his 

own substantial collection onto Wax’s 1TB HDD. 

But Wax also lets one encode with WAV or FLAC 

(personally, I do not hear any difference between 

these two and see no reason to waste precious 

disk space on the former.) Likewise, listening 

to the Wax Box’s analog output—AudioQuest 

makes a decent cable for the purpose—falls 

short of the stellar sonic result achieved by 

connecting the 3beez product with the Halide 

Bridge to my Anthem. A well-made piano 

recording (Leon Fleischer’s Two Hands) sounded 

more dimensional, with more commanding bass, 

when the Anthem’s DACs did the conversion. 

But the Wax Box’s Realtek DACs are surely 

better-sounding than the stock soundcard in an 

off-the-shelf computer. 

The Wax Box isn’t perfect, of course. It doesn’t 

do multichannel and some audiophiles will be 

disappointed by the relatively limited encoding 

options, specifically the lack of DSD-sourced 

codecs. Its storage capacity will strike some as 

limited, especially if large, losslessly encoded 

HD files are part of the mix. (An additional HDD 

can be easily connected to increase storage 

capacity.) But Barish is a man we need more 

of in the burgeoning area of computer audio: 

a creative engineer who makes a real effort to 

understand the needs and IT capabilities of his 

potential customer base. 

The above descriptions of the Wax Box’s 

operation barely scratch the surface of what 

it can do, and, in a way, that’s the whole point. 

There are layers and layers of functionality 

that are kept, unthreateningly, just out of 

view until you are ready to use them. You 

can create playlists (“Queues”), search for 

a composer or artist of interest, export files 

to a portable player, and accomplish the bulk 

import of music already resident on your 

computer with gratifying efficacy. A new user 

can start processing a large music collection 

effectively on day one: The Wax software is 

highly sophisticated yet unquestionably the 

easiest to learn in my experience. Jeffrey Barish 

makes this point. “There’s a well-known phrase 

in designing computer software: ‘Simple things 

should be simple; difficult things should be 

possible.’ There are many music lovers who are 

not audiophiles. They just love music—they just 

want to hear Beethoven.” 

Point taken, Jeffrey. Mission accomplished. 


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Integrated Amps with 

USB DACs 




Micromega AS-400 Integrated Amplifier/Wireless DAC 

A High Wire-Less Act 

Neil Gader 

What do you get when you combine an integrated amplifier, premium DACs, and a cuttingedge 

wireless network Micromega calls it the AS-400. Based on the Micromega IA-400, 

a 200Wpc (400Wpc into 4 ohms) Class D integrated amplifier, the AS-400 raises the 

ante by adding the company’s core wireless network connectivity, AirStream, to the package. 

Like the original stand-alone WM-10, the Airstream standard (Micromega calls it WHi-Fi) is based 

on Apple’s iTunes software and AirTunes wireless transmission protocol. However the latest 

incarnation is an entirely different animal. It’s been thoroughly revised in-house by adding threestage 

R-core power-supply regulation, a custom-made 25MHz master clock to reduce jitter, 

superior Cirrus Logic CS 4351 24-bit/192kHz DACs, and a lower-noise analog section. All the user 

needs to supply is an Apple or Windows-based computer running iTunes music software. A Windows 

machine without iTunes will not connect to the AS400. 

Visually the AS-400 is a home run. It sports a 

clean and direct front panel—its hefty volume 

knob has a nice action and is augmented only 

by the necessary input buttons plus dual minijacks 

for an iPod and a set of headphones. 

The solidity of the chassis and casework is 

impressive, and a marked improvement over 

the Micromega preamp/amp separates I 

reviewed in Issue 199. Like the IA-400, the AS- 

400 features a large blue fluorescent display, 

with easily readable, 7mm-tall characters that 

indicate input and volume. 

Some may well ask: Do I need this level of 

network connectivity when I already have 

a wireless network in my home Can’t I just 

piggyback my music streaming onto that 

network The short answer is yes, but you’ll 

miss the payoff. Because the AS-400 creates 

its own dedicated network, music doesn’t 

compete with the home network for bandwidth. 

And that’s a big plus given the potential 

bottleneck created by multiple family users 

who might otherwise be gaming, surfing, or 

number-crunching. The result is fewer potential 

dropouts. In fact, so much faith has Micromega 

placed in its AirStream technology that it opted 

to exclude digital inputs. There’s no S/PDIF, 

TosLink, or USB. Now that’s what I call a high 

wireless act. 

Limitations Sort of. The Apple AirTunes 

encoding algorithms currently used to transmit 

to the Marvel IC inside the AS-400 and Apple 

AirPort Express don’t support high-resolution 

music sampling rates above 16-bit/44kHz— 

at least for the time being. But not to worry, 

thanks to its internal Cirrus Logic 24/192 

DACs, the AS400’s wireless AirStream will 

be compatible with high-resolution streaming 

content whenever iTunes makes that option 

available. 

Trouble-free setup is everything for a 

computer-phobe like yours truly. Happily, 

Micromega has endeavored to make wireless 

connectivity as routine as plugging in any 

traditional source component. And it has 

largely succeeded, assuming you have some 


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EQUIPMENT review - Micromega AS-400 Integrated Amplifier/Wireless DAC 

Inside the AS-400 

Micromega is a company on the move. In recent years it’s been 

rejuvenated by new owner and CEO Didier Hamdi, and guided in the 

States by its importer/distributor Audio Plus Services. 

In Issue 199 I reviewed Micromega’s PA-20 preamp and PW-400 power 

amp quite favorably. The AS-400 is a continuation of that upward trend. 

The AS-400’s preamp stage features a low-noise gain section matched 

with low-noise power supplies. An R-core transformer is dedicated to all 

low-level signals, thus avoiding cross-coupling between the two sections 

and preventing any hash from the mains line from disturbing the circuit. 

Ultra-low-noise regulators feed the preamplifier section to allow accurate 

low-level resolution. Input switching is done by relays, and the 100k ohm 

input impedance means that the preamplifier section will not adversely 

load the various sources connected to it. The output of the preamplifier 

section is buffered by JFET amplifiers and then balanced to avoid ground 

coupling between the preamplifier section and the power amplifier 

modules. A moving-magnet phono section is included. Volume control is 

by a digitally controlled resistor ladder. 

The power amplifier section uses a robust 1kVA toroidal “quiet design” 

power transformer, ultra-fast soft-recovery rectifiers, and four 10,000pF 

smoothing capacitors in a dual-mono configuration. The Class D modules 

are rated at 200W into 8 ohms and 400W into 4 ohms. A DC detection 

circuit prevents any damage to the loudspeakers in case of a failure 

occurring to the power modules. 

Using the processor bypass and subwoofer I/O permits volume-control 

switching for a sub in two-channel and multichannel configurations. Via 

software control, inputs can be renamed from a library list stored in the 

AS-400’s memory, while unused inputs can be switched off. A headphone 

amplifier is available with a front output, and its separate volume control 

setup is stored in the AS-400. A true monitor loop is accessible for users 

willing to insert an external unit in the signal path. The unit is equipped 

with a full-featured remote control that’s comprehensive enough, though 

with such a dizzying number of identical buttons it’s more than due for 

an upgrade. NG 

basic familiarity with a computer and iTunes. The 

initial handshake between your computer’s WiFi 

and the AS-400 takes just a moment. As the AS- 

400 powers up for the first time it activates the 

AirStream network and the small icon on the frontpanel 

display changes from red to blue. Then, if 

you’re running a Mac, simply click on the WiFi icon 

in the upper right portion of the Mac’s desktop and 

select the AS-400 network “Music,” which appears 

as an available network connection. The first time 

you do this, the computer will prompt you for the 

password “airstream”; after that, you’re off to the 

races. Then open iTunes and select the AS-400 in 

the pull-down menu located in the lower right corner 

of the iTunes window. If you prefer controlling 

iTunes via an iPhone/iPad/iTouch, you have two 

options. The first is to stream audio directly from 

your handheld device to the AS-400 via Apple’s 

AirPlay. The second, and better-sounding option, is 

to download the “Remote” app (free at Apple’s Web 

site) that sends just the commands to your laptop 

or desktop machine running iTunes. In this scenario, 

the audio data are not transmitted wirelessly, just 

the track selection, volume, and other commands. 

I evaluated the sound of the AS-400 on two 

levels: as a traditional integrated amplifier from 

a CD source and in wireless mode. With compact 

disc, right out of the block the AS-400 had a 

powerful sense of midrange presence and stability, 

lively dynamics, and a pleasingly propulsive 

energy. For me, these attributes created a 

resolution of vocal nuances that instantly made 

this amp a top contender in its segment. Whether 

I was listening to the darkly sensuous styling of 

Shelby Lynne singing “How Can I Be Sure” from 

, or the homespun sweetness of James Taylor’s 

“If I Keep My Heart Out of Sight” from , or Marc 

Cohn’s throaty cover of “The Only Living Boy In New York” from , the AS- 

400 never failed to uncover the subtlest micro-information about vocal 

inflection and interpretation. Tonally, the AS-400 was neutral through 

most octaves with only a slight darkening on top and small losses of air at 

the frequency extremes. Piano harmonics were rich and full-bodied with 

a sweetness in the treble that I didn’t typically hear with earlier switching 

amplifiers. There was a reassuring sense of resonance and harmonic 

weight throughout. The top end was clean with just a hint of coolness and 

a slightly brittle complexion on leading-edge details. Transient behavior 

was elsewhere uniformly excellent—clean, concise, and well integrated 

into the performance. 

The Rutter [Reference Recordings] with the Turtle Creek Chorale is 

pivotal for my listening evaluations, and the AS-400 didn’t disappoint. The 

vast assembly of pipe organ, choristers, and strings was anchored firmly 

to the soundstage and there was little to no smearing among adjacent 

instrumental or vocal images—which is no small accomplishment. Lateral 

soundstage presentation was excellent, as well. Only at the frequency 

extremes did the AS-400 lose a little ground. The Chorale’s upper 

reaches were just a shade dry and constricted. And the full dimensions 

of the cavernous acoustic and stage of Meyerson Center were just not 

as faithfully replicated as I’ve heard with other gear. During Vaughan 

Williams’ the landscape of symphonic images lacked the sense of neartopographical 

relief that defines the layering of string sections, and the 

ability to reproduce the corners and boundaries of the venue, as well 


Power output: 200Wpc into 8 ohms, 

400Wpc into 4 ohms 

Inputs: Three analog, one phono, one 

processor 

Outputs: Preamp, headphone, subwoofer 

Dimensions: 17” x 3.75” x 14.5” 


Price: $4995 

Audio Plus Services 

156 Lawrence Paquette Industrial Drive 

Champlain, NY 12919 

(800) 663- 9352 

audioplusservices.com 

micromega-hifi.com 

CLICK HERE TO COMMENT IN THE FORUM at avguide.com 


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as the sensation of ceiling height and of the 

backwall upstage behind the musicians. 

Bass control was excellent, something I’ve 

come to expect from Class D power—the rolling 

thunder of tympani during Copland’s being a 

prime example, the steady kick of the bass drum 

during Steve Winwood’s “Higher Love” being 

another. The Wilson Sophia 3, on the other hand, 

is a speaker that demands an awful lot from an 

amplifier. In most instances the Micromega was a 

model of unflappable consistency and the Sophia 

sounded fabulous. But if concert-level rock ’n’ roll 

is your thing, then you’ll find the AS-400 bottom 

octaves a little soft. 

Turning to the AS-400’s wireless AirStream 

performance, the sonics maintained the 

essential character established with the disc 

player in the system; yet now the music was 

streaming from my kitchen to the listening 

room some 25 feet away while I controlled 

it via an iPad using Apple’s Remote app! The 

AS-400’s wireless sonic abilities weren’t just 

a rough approximation of the CD source, or 

vaguely in the ballpark, or a “close-but-nocigar” 

attempt. Rather, they were close. Image 

placement was spot on, as was the rendering of 

three-dimensional space. The tonal distinctions 

between wireless and the CD reference were 

small enough that it might just as easily be 

ascribed to a simple choice of disc player 

interconnect or the individual personalities 

that the DACs might be contributing. 

That’s not to say the character of the 

AirStream was identical. As I listened to solo 

piano and the acoustic space that enveloped 

it, the sound via wireless was actually a little 

more weighty, as if the midrange had a slightly 

thicker waistline. The top end was a bit sweeter 

and more harmonically complex—something 

I never would have predicted. Moreover, the 

sound was more coherent, as though each piano 

note was more clearly defined. Likewise, during 

singer Jen Chapin’s cover of “Renewable” her 

sibilance range was more finely textured and 

cleanly aligned with her voice’s body. 

Only in the lowest register did the CD source 

narrowly edge out the AirStream. For example, 

when pianist Evgeny Kissin comes down hard 

on the keyboard, the instrument was a bit more 

explosive in the dynamic sense, the soundboard 

resonance suggesting a little more body and 

bloom. To tell the truth no one was more 

surprised than I was when I kept reaching for 

my iPad rather than the disc player’s remote 

control. I kept thinking to myself while gleefully 

scrolling through my iTunes playlists that I could 

really get used to this. (Tip: If you’re running a 

Mac make sure the format setting in iTune’s MIDI 

setup matches the sampling frequency you’re 

streaming—most likely 44.1kHz/16-bit. I speak 

from experience when I say that an incorrect 

setting degrades the wireless sound quality.) 

The Micromega AS-400 is not just about 

musicality and performance. It’s equally about 

the user experience. For many of us the mere 

mention of music, computers, and wireless 

networks sets off fire alarms. Micromega, 

however, has done its homework with the AS- 

400 and removed any lingering reservations. 

Now anyone can contemplate a computerbased 

music collection and step fearlessly into 

a future of wireless possibilities—or not. The 

AS-400 happily let’s you have it your way. And 

believe me, that’s a tough act to follow. 

Powerful 

Dynamic 

Natural 

New HEGEL H80 integrated amplifier: 

More powerful, less additives, more inputs, more possibilities... But still that addictive HEGEL sound. 

HiFi & Musik (Sweden 2013): 

“It will take a while for me to recover after this. This may be the best value for the money I have 

reviewed in my carreer.” - Jonas Bryngelsson - Editor 

Lyd & Bilde (Norway 2013): 

“Home run (klokkeren inntertier)! To say that HEGEL did it right with the H80 is an understatement. 

AMPLIFIER OF THE YEAR” - Lasse Svendsen - Editor 

Hegel USA 

Hampton, MA 

Phone: 641-209-3210 

www.hegel.com 



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NuForce DDA-100 

Integrated Amplifier 

A PWM Integrated Amplifier for the Masses 

Steven Stone 

Insomniacs must populate NuForce’s R&D department. That’s 

the only explanation I can come up with for NuForce’s rapidly 

expanding stable of new products. I reviewed its excellent DAC- 

100 in Issue 228, and now NuForce has introduced an even more 

revolutionary digital product—a direct-digital integrated amplifier 

that utilizes pulse-width-modulation technology. 

Priced at a paltry $549 the DDA-100 delivers value with a capital V. 

You get four digital inputs (no analog—remember, this is an all-digital 

amplifier), one TosLink digital output, and one pair of speaker terminals. 

NuForce even throws in a nice little credit-card remote control. Add a 

computer to the front end and a pair of speakers on the back and you’ve 

got a completely modern audio system. And, I will brashly 

add, the DDA-100 sounds better than any conventional 

integrated amplifier I’ve heard priced under $2500. 

Technical Tour 

According to NuForce, “The DDA-100 doesn’t require 

the typical DAC stage found in most of today’s digital 

audio products. Rather, its PWM power amplifier stage is 

modulated directly by the incoming signal, and the digitalto-analog 

conversion takes place at the speaker outputs. In 

effect, the PWM power amplifier stage operates as a power 

DAC.” The DDA-100 supports any 16- or 24-bit digital 

signal, from 44.1 to 176.4 (but not 192 kHz) via its one S/ 

PDIF input. The two TosLink and single USB 2.0 inputs 

support up to 96kHz and 24 bits. 

For a description of how PWM power amplifiers work, 

please read Robert Harley’s sidebar. Suffice it to say that 

PWM is not the same as switching amplifiers, such as Class 

D or T designs, and offers the technical advantages of a 

simple signal path and fewer active components, as well as 

a few ergonomic drawbacks. 

Setup and Ergonomics 

The DDA-100 principal market is audiophiles who want 

a simple, moderately priced, one-box solution to go 

from any conventional digital source directly to a pair of 

loudspeakers. Headphone and subwoofer users will need to 

add additional components to the signal chain. Using either 

a USB to S/PDIF converter box with multiple digital outputs 

(one for the DDA-100 and a second one for your headphone 

DAC) or a USB DAC with an auxiliary S/PDIF output, will 

expand a DDA-100-based system’s capabilities to handle 

more ambitious systems. 

Hooking up the DDA-100 is easy as long as you keep it 

simple. If you do any amount of headphone listening you’ll 

need to add another DAC to your system, since the DDA- 

100 has no headphone output. For headphones I used the 

NuForce DAC-100—I gave it the TosLink output from the 

DDA-100. Using the DAC-100 also supplied me with a linelevel 

subwoofer feed if I needed one. Another option I looked 

at was NuForce’s new headphone amplifier, the HAP-100, 

but it only has analog inputs. You will need a headphone 

amp that has a DAC and a TosLink input to interface with 

the DDA-100. 

At 50W RMS (8 ohms) the DDA-100 is far better suited for 

speakers, even desktop speakers, that are at least 88dB 

sensitive. With some of my less sensitive monitors, such as 

the Aerial Acoustics 5B’s (86dB), I could hear the amplifier 

section beginning to strain during dynamic peaks. And 

because the DDA-100 is such a low-noise device (true 95dB 

S/N from digital input to analog power output) variations 

from its optimal operating range were readily apparent. 

For computer sources NuForce supplies a basic USB 

interface that supports up to 96/24. For higher resolutions 

you must use either the RCA S/PDIF input or TosLink. 

Unfortunately for us high-resolution addicts, 176.4/24 is 

the maximum resolution supported by the DDA-100. If you 

try playing full-resolution 192/24 files through the DDA-100 

all you will hear is modulated noise through your speakers. 

Sound 

The DDA-100 was my first encounter with a PWM amplifier, 

and I was impressed by its lack of coloration and the 

absence of electronic noise. In my desktop system, 

regardless of what speakers the DDA-100 was tethered to, 

it always produced a more convincing soundstage than I’ve 

experienced before. Locational cues were simply easier to 

decipher, as was all sonic information. 

During the initial stages of my review I used the DDA- 

100’s USB input, and while it didn’t sound bad, the USB 

input is certainly not the DDA-100’s “best” input. Through 

the USB the sound had a slight but pervasive opaqueness 

when compared to better, lower-jitter sources coming 

from the S/PDIF input. I used several outboard USB/SPDIF 

converters with the DDA-100, and in every case the inclusion 

of a dedicated outboard USB converter in the signal chain 

rewarded me with a better and more transparent sound. 

Since this is a review of the DDA-100, not USB converters, 


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EQUIPMENT review - Oppo BDP-105 Universal/Blu-ray Player and DAC 

I will not go into great detail enumerating 

differences between various USB boxes 

through the DDA-100, but I will tell you that 

the DDA-100 offers sufficient resolution 

to easily hear that a Bel Canto RefLink or 

Empirical Audio Off-Ramp 5 delivered better 

low-level detail and resolution than a $60 

Matrix converter. 

But how does the DDA-100 sound different 

than more conventional amplifier designs 

During listening sessions I was continually 

aware of the DDA-100’s lack of haze and 

homogenization in the “black space” between 

Why the DDA-100 

Isn’t a Conventional 

Class D Amplifier 

A true digital amplifier such as the NuForce 

DDA-100 is not a conventional Class D switching 

amplifier. In a conventional switching amplifier, 

analog input signals are converted to a series of 

pulses that turn the output transistors fully on 

or fully off. The signal’s amplitude is contained in 

the pulse widths, and an output filter smoothes 

the pulses into a continuous waveform. 

But in the DDA-100 PCM digital signals fed 

to the amplifier’s input (such as from a music 

server, or other source) stay in the digital domain 

and are converted by digital-signal processing 

(DSP) to the pulse-width modulated signal that 

drive the output transistors. This is an important 

distinction, because the true digital amplifier 

(the DDA-100) eliminates from the signal path 

the DAC and its associated 

instruments. The edges and dimensions of 

each instrument were defined in a more 

concrete manner through the DDA-100 than 

any amplifier I’ve heard near its price. On 

my recently recorded “field recordings” of 

Chris Thile, Chris Eldritch, and Gabe Witcher 

from a Rockygrass Academy workshop on 

improvisation, not only did the DDA-100 place 

each musician in a cohesive and dimensionally 

convincing soundstage, it also allowed me to 

hear into the background so well that I could 

clearly identify Pete Rowan’s vocals coming 

from another tent 75+ feet away. 

As for any traces of a “characteristic” sonic 

signature in the DDA-100, I have yet to hear 

one. Unless driven into clipping, I could not 

identify any additive colorations that I could 

attribute to the DDA-100. As for subtractive 

colorations, compared to a traditional tube 

design, the DDA-100 will not be as warm or 

harmonically rich in the lower midrange, but 

I wouldn’t call this a subtractive coloration as 

much as a lack of an additive one. The bottom 

line was that for me, with current sources, 

the DDA-100 was sufficiently transparent and 

uncolored to be used as a reference device as 

long as it was mated with sufficiently sensitive 

and unproblematic transducers. 

Final Thoughts 

You can view the NuForce DDA-100 in two 

ways—it’s either a supremely high-value entrylevel 

integrated amplifier or it’s a component 

that lacks just a few vital features needed to 

make it into a devastating price-no-obstacleto-performance 

component. 

The issues with the DDA-100 are primarily 

ergonomic. It can play 176.4/24, but lacks the 

ability to play 192/24 files. Through USB it can 

support only up to 96/24, but will handle up 

to 176.4 through S/PDIF. It also has no analog 

outputs for headphones or subwoofers, and 

is only 50W RMS (into 8 ohms). And while you 

can remedy the paucity of analog outputs by 

linking the DDA-100’s sole digital output (which 

is TosLink) to a second DAC with headphone and 

analog line-level outputs, this adds substantially 

to the complexity and cost of a system. 

But the sound of the NuForce DDA-100 is so 

impeccable, up to the point when it runs out of 

power, that even after adding a NuForce DAC- 

100 to augment the ergonomic flexibility of the 

system, the final cost is still a sonic bargain. 

I haven’t heard any integrated amplifier with 

DAC capabilities priced near this combo that 

offers any serious sonic competition. 

If you have sensitive speakers, at least 

88dB, and can work around the DDA-100’s 

ergonomic limitations, you may find that 

the DDA-100 is simply the best integrated 

amplifier solution that you’ve ever heard. And 

for those readers who still firmly believe that 

all-digital amplifiers are for someone else’s 

system, listening to the DDA-100 will be, as it 

was for me, a revelation. 

Digital input: Two TosLink, RCA coaxial 75-Ohm, USB 

2.0 adaptive mode 

Sampling rates: USB: 44.1, 48, and 96kHz; S/PDIF: 

44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4kHz 

Resolution: 16–24-bits 

Power: 75W (4 ohms), 50W (8 ohms) 

Frequency response: 20 to 20kHz +/- 0.1dB 

SNR > 95dB A-weighted 

Dimensions: 9" x 2"x 8.5" 


Price: $549 

NuForce, Inc. 


382 South Abbott Ave., 

Milpitas, CA 95035 

(408) 890-6840 

nuforce.com 



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Peachtree Audio Grand 

Pre X-1 Hybrid Tube 

Preamp & DAC 

Chameleon 

Wayne Garcia 

While typing my finishing thoughts to this article, my hometown team won its 

second World Series in three years. As it was in 2010, this year’s edition of the San 

Francisco Giants seems a most unlikely champion of the big leagues. Their twotime 

Cy Young award-winning pitcher had a terrible year; their best closer was out early due 

to season-ending surgery; their best offensive weapon, a crowd-favorite and All-Star Game 

MVP, was suspended after the half-way mark for illegal drug use; and their starting firstbaseman, 

a star of their previous championship team, was relegated to a pinch-hitter role due 

to anxiety attacks. But after a few key trades the Giants turned a roster of smart, scrappy 

players into a feisty, never-say-die team that nearly collapsed in two hard-fought playoff 

games, before sweeping Detroit in four. Versatility was a huge key to the team’s success; 

witness that Cy Young Award winner being left out of the World Series rotation, only to shine 

from the bullpen. 

My baseball musings are a way of saying 

that many of today’s most exciting and 

interesting audio components offer their own 

brand of chameleonic versatility, appealing to 

traditional audiophiles while at the same time 

embracing the needs of those who prefer their 

music not from vinyl or compact discs but 

rather streamed via computer. 

Elsewhere in this issue I reviewed Wyred 4 

Sound’s mINT, a tiny integrated-amp/DAC. 

Now we’ll look at Peachtree Audio’s Grand Pre 

X-1, a $3299 hybrid-tube preamp and DAC. 

Peachtree is best known for its line of 

affordable, wood-clad designs, but the Grand 

Series, which as of now also includes the 

$4499 Grand Integrated, charts new, higherend 

territory for this Bellevue, Washingtonbased 

firm. The hefty, round-cornered chassis 

sports a half-inch-thick aluminum faceplate, 

titanium buttons, and engraved rather than 

screened input names. Likewise, the design 

and internal component choices reflect the 

company’s drive for excellence. 

Given Peachtree’s commitment to computerdriven 

audio, the Grand Pre X-1—which is 

slightly upgraded from the original Grand Pre 

(more on that later)—employs Reference ESS 

Sabre32 9018 DACs to significantly reduce 

jitter from highly jitter-prone computer 

and other sources. A newly designed 

asynchronous USB input is said to provide the 

best possible connection between computer 

and DAC by allowing “the Grand Pre’s internal 

high-precision clock to control the flow of 

data coming from the computer. This method 

lowers incoming jitter so the Sabre DAC has 

less timing errors to re-clock.” Capable of 

24/192 resolution, the Grand also accepts 

sampling rates of 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4, 

and 192kHz. Galvanic isolation, used to break 

ground loops when multiple circuits need to 

speak to each other, is said to eliminate the 

noise caused by the switching power supplies 

commonly used in computer and other devices. 

And to sweeten the harsh digital nasties from 

poor or compressed recordings, Peachtree 

commissioned the legendary Bascom King 

to design a tube buffer stage. Using a pair of 

12AU7s running in mono, a front-panel tubebypass 

switch allows listening in either a 

completely solid-state or hybrid-tube mode 

from both the preamp as well as from the 

built-in headphone amplifier. As with any good 

design, the preamp stage uses the shortest 

possible signal paths, while a VCA (voltagecontrolled-amplifier) 

gain control changes 

current in the preamp without having the 

signal pass through a potentiometer. Hence, 

the motorized pot’s role is to simply feed a 

reference voltage to the VCA unit. Peachtree 

feels strongly that the result is superior 

channel matching, excellent soundstaging, low 

coloration, and high dynamic range. 

Because early editions of the Grand Pre 

reportedly had a few minor issues, Peachtree’s 

David Solomon wrote me about the changes 

that went into the X-1 version, which also 

created a few-hundred-dollar price bump. 

Some listeners were said to get a slight popping 

noise while adjusting gain, so Peachtree added 

a few caps to the gain control to eliminate any 

noise. Secondly, Peachtree changed the USB 

receiving chip from a Tenor TE8802L chip to a 

more stable XMOS device. 

This is my first review of a Peachtree Audio 

design and, though I’m aware that I’m starting 

at the top, the Grand Pre X-1 is a mighty 

impressive effort. 


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EQUIPMENT review - Peachtree Audio Grand Pre X-1 Hybrid Tube Preamp & DAC 

Whether spinning vinyl, CD, or streaming 

from my MacBook Pro, which was a snap 

to set up for use with the Grand Pre X-1, the 

sound was open and airy, with a nice feeling of 

drive and pace, good re-creation of dynamic 

extremes, and fine microdynamic shading. The 

tube buffer is certainly that. Over time I would 

go back and forth with different sources, and 


Type: Hybrid Tube 

Preamp & DAC 

Inputs: Aux/HT analog, 

Aux 2 analog, balanced 

(XLR) analog, USB 

digital, one BNC digital, 

two coax digital, two 

optical digital 

Outputs: Coax: pre, line, 

high pass pre, balanced 

(XLR) 

Tube complement: 12AU7 

(2) 


x 16.5" 


Price: $3299 

PEACHTREE AUDIO 

2045 120th Avenue 

North East 

Bellevue, Washington 

98005 

(704) 391-9337 

peachtreeaudio.com 

Associated 

Equipment 

Acoustic Signature 

Challenger turntable, 

Funk FX-R Pickup Arm, 

and Transfiguration 

Phoenix moving-coil 

cartridge; Sutherland 

20/20 and Simaudio 

Moon 310LP 

phonostages; Cary 

Audio Classic CD 303T 

SACD player; Apple 

MacBook Pro computer; 

Exposure 3010S2 mono 

amplifiers; Magnepan 1.7 

loudspeakers, Tara Labs 

Zero interconnects, 

Omega speaker cables, 

The One power cords, 

and BP-10 Power 

Screen; Finite Elemente 

Spider equipment racks 


Peachtree’s stated design goals for the unit 

proved to be true—meaning that with LPs and 

all but the poorest-sounding CDs, I preferred 

the unit with the buffer off. For example, with 

something like HK Gruber’s marvelous, funny, 

very well recorded, and always surprising 

Frankenstein!! [Chandos], the Grand Pre did 

a fine job of carving out a large stage with 

excellent depth and spot-on imaging. Gruber’s 

singspiel, performed while standing in front 

of a horizontally arranged orchestra, was 

articulate, strings were lively, percussion was 

delivered full of verve and snap. But the tube 

buffer softened things too much, and dulled air 

and edges. On the other hand, while casually 

streaming from lower-quality sources such as 

Pandora, or a poor-sounding older compact 

disc, the tube buffer did a fine job warming 

things up, adding a bit of golden tone, rich 

texture, and generally saving one’s ears from 

that harsh, edgy, aural-icepick effect. 

My advice is to experiment. If you’re going 

to listen to a lot of digital sources of varying 

quality—and if you’re reading this I’d say that’s 

a safe assumption—then the tube buffer should 

prove a welcome feature. 

But not surprisingly, the Peachtree Grand 

Pre X-1 shines with superior sources such as 

the Gruber mentioned above. Fine LP sources, 

too, are impressive, and of genuine high-end 

quality when played through this design. I 

highly enjoyed my record collection over this 

peachy unit, and compared to analog-only 

models never felt that the Grand Pre was 

a compromise approach. For one example, 

Analogue Productions’ superb 45rpm edition 

of Dave Brubeck’s Time Out displayed a 

marvelous sense of the intricate timing 

changes that still make this music so inventive 

and satisfying so many decades after it was 

released. The interplay of Brubeck’s piano 

with his terrific small ensemble was always 

revealing, drawing me into tune after tune. 

The Peachtree’s tonal quality neatly splits 

things nearly down the middle, with perhaps 

a nod toward the lighter side of the spectrum, 

which I generally prefer to the darker side. 

Streaming high-resolution files proved 

to be a rewarding experience over this 

Peachtree model. As I said in my review of 

Naim’s outstanding SuperUniti (Issue 225), 

the world of computer-derived audio is still 

relatively fresh territory for me and one I’m 

not quite comfortable with, as the technical 

micro-details and very different musical/sonic 

experience, in many ways superior and in 

others not, are issues I’m still grappling with. 

Nevertheless, with something like the truly 

fine 192/24 rendering of Cat Stevens’ Tea for 

the Tillerman, the Grand Pre X-1 was a model 

of resolution, tonal complexity, and “thereness.” 

Vocals were superb, the stage was big, 

wide, and open, dynamic range from whisper 

to thunderclap and back, and the experience 

was highly impressive as well as musically 

compelling. So I’ll now confess that I found 

Analogue Productions’ QRP vinyl pressing 

even more engaging. 

Like I said, Peachtree Audio’s Grand Pre X-1 

sets a new standard for this company. It’s a 

thoughtfully designed, well built, and truly 

versatile performer that should more than 

satisfy a wide range of music lovers—from 

those who have enthusiastically embraced 

computer audio to geezers like me who are 

still straddling the proverbial fence. 


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Peachtree Audio Nova125 Integrated 

Amplifier/DAC/Headphone Amplifier 

Power and Refinement to Spare 

Chris Martens 

Some years ago, Peachtree Audio recognized that a seismic shift in the high-end audio 

universe was at hand—a shift wherein PCs would step outside of their traditional roles 

as office tools to become full-fledged digital-audio source components. Thus, long before 

others began to pursue the idea, Peachtree was hard at work developing integrated amplifiers 

fitted with easy-to-use, built-in, high-performance DACs. In retrospect, the concept not only 

seems brilliant, but downright prescient. Peachtree also understood that with the rise of interest 

in computer audio there would come a golden opportunity for high-end manufacturers to reach 

out to young music lovers who might never otherwise have considered owning high-performance 

audio systems of any kind. As a result, Peachtree has always sought to build components clever 

enough, hip enough, and accessible enough to appeal to young, computer-centric music lovers, 

but that also offered credible high-end features that appeal to veteran audiophiles. This requires, 

of course, finding a balance between simplicity and sophistication and between price and 

performance—a point of balance many Peachtree components have struck in a successful way. 

If there is any drawback, I think it may involve 

the fact that some Peachtree components 

may suffer from a perception problem: Are 

they mid-fi (albeit very good mid-fi), or are 

they the gateway to the serious high end, or 

perhaps both What causes these questions to 

be raised is that earlier-generation Peachtree 

amp/DACs traditionally have had front-end 

sections (typically comprising a preamp, DAC, 

tube buffer stage, and headphone amplifier) 

that offered considerably stronger and more 

sonically sophisticated performance than 

their associated power amplifier sections 

did. In fairness, the power amplifier sections 

of those earlier generation Peachtree amps 

could perform pretty well when matched with 

relatively easy-to-drive loudspeakers, but 

they offered limited current drive and power 

output capabilities and thus were not suitable 

for driving some of today’s best, but also 

most demanding, value-priced speakers (e.g., 

Magnepan’s excellent but power-hungry model 

1.7s). Faced with this dilemma, Peachtree Audio 

founders Jim Spainhour and David Solomon 

did what high-enders have always done: They 

upgraded, and in a big way. 

Accordingly, Peachtree has revised its 

entry-level integrated amps by improving 

their already very good front-end sections 

and then by equipping their new models with 

powerful, high-current Class D power amplifier 

sections. Consider, as an example, Peachtree’s 

new Nova125 amp/DAC ($1499), the subject of 

this review. The old Nova put out 80Wpc into 

decidedly benign 6-ohm loads. By comparison, 

the new Nova125 belts out a generous 125Wpc 

at 8 ohms and an even more impressive 220Wpc 

into 4-ohm loads. Moreover, Peachtree claims 

the Nova125’s “high-current output stages 

can comfortably drive any speaker load from 2 

ohms” (something that could never have been 

said of the earlier Nova). 

Then, where the original Nova provided a 

24/96-capable DAC with an adaptive USB input 

and four SPDIF inputs, the Nova125’s onboard 

ESS Sabre 9023 upsampling DAC offers 24/192 

resolution (except for the optical input, which 

is limited to 24/96), with an asynchronous 

USB input and three SPDIF inputs (two coaxial 

and one optical). Peachtree points out that 

the ESS 9023 DAC uses “a patented process 

called Hyperstream,” which “buffers the 

incoming digital bitstream and reclocks it from 

thousands of picoseconds of jitter to less than 3 

picoseconds.” Expanding on this theme, the firm 

says the new 24/192-capable asynchronous USB 

input, “keeps digital jitter at bay by not relying 

on the audio clock in the computer, which can 

get thrown off by the thousands of processes 

running in your operating system’s background.” 

Finally, the Nova125’s DAC section is backed by 

a decidedly performance-minded new Windows 

device driver, which is provided on an included 

CD ROM. In addition to its many digital inputs 

the Nova125 also provides one analog input 

to support any legacy analog components the 

owner may wish to connect. 

Astute Peachtree observers will notice 

that the old Nova did have a somewhat more 

generous mix of inputs than the Nova125 does 

(the old Nova offering five digital and three 

analog vs. four digital and one analog for the new 

model). But, given that the new DAC supports 

higher-resolution formats and asynchronous 

USB backed by more sophisticated device driver 

software, there is every reason to think that the 

sonic performance of the Nova125 should be 

significantly higher than that of the old Nova. 


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EQUIPMENT review - Peachtree Audio Nova125 Integrated Amplifier/DAC/Headphone Amplifier 

To give users a measure of control over amplifier voicing, 

the Nova125 can be run purely in solid-state mode, or, when 

desired, with a triode 6N1P tube buffer section engaged 

(the tube buffer can be switched on directly from the 

Nova125’s remote control). The tube buffer also provides a 

Class A tube-powered output for the Nova125’s headphone 

amplifier. According to the manufacturer, the Nova125 

power amplifier section uses “the newest generation of 

Class D technology” with benefits said to include “extended 

bandwidth, improved dynamic range, and exceptionally 

low distortion,” plus the aforementioned ability to handle 

low impedance loads. The bottom line is that, apart from a 

modest reduction in the net number of inputs supported, 

the new Nova125 appears to be better than its predecessor 

in every way, but costs only about $300 more. All of this, of 

course, sounds good on paper and in theory, but how does 

the Nova125 sound in real life 

Well, let me come right out and say it: Peachtree’s Nova125 

sounds terrific. Taking nothing away from the original Nova 

(and iNova) designs, I would say this new amp sounds like 

it belongs in an entirely different and better class of equipment 

than the original Novas did. The original Nova had a 

warm, friendly, inviting sound, but a sound that in truth did 

not provide the last word in resolution, definition, or focus. 

What is more, the original Nova’s dynamic capabilities were 

highly load dependent. By comparison, the Nova125 sounds 

as if someone has turned its resolution, definition, and focus 

“knobs” up to 12, yet without in any way causing the amp 

to sound sterile, mechanical, or edgy. More importantly, the 

Nova125 sounds powerful (and is powerful) in a way no previous 

generation Peachtree Nova Series amp has ever been. 

In short, this thing flat-out rocks, yet in a quite sophisticated 

way. 

Some will surely ask, “Yeah, but can it actually drive truly 

demanding speakers” To settle the question once and for 

all, I connected the Nova125 to my undeniably power-hungry 

Magnepan 1.7s, put on a dynamically challenging track, and 

let things fly. And man, did they ever fly. The track I am 

speaking of is the exuberant and boisterous all-percussion 

cut “Stank” from Jamey Haddad’s Explorations in Space 

and Time [Chesky]. “Stank” features some low percussion 

drum thwacks that are likely to loosen your molars, plus 

a plethora of (somewhat) more delicate higher percussion 

voices that supply piquant commentary and textures, 

with the proceedings as a whole captured in a wonderfully 

reverberant, natural acoustic space. In short, it’s the sort 

of track where there is a lot going on at once, serving up 

everything from bombastic, brute-force dynamics to multiple 

layers of delicate textural and transient detail. There is, 

quite simply, no place for amplifiers (or transducers) to hide. 

Happily, the Nova125 has no need or desire to hide from 

any types of music or loudspeakers, because on “Stank” it 

rolled up its figurative sleeves and pushed my Magnepans 

with serious authority and a welcome dash of brio. The big 

drums on the track crackled and thundered as they should, 

while the higher-pitched drums exhibited excellent transient 

“snap” and beautiful variegated skin sounds that conveyed 

an impression of real players deftly varying the intensity 

of their touch and attack from note to note. Through all of 

this, the Peachtree did not whimper, whine, or wilt; instead, 

it just cranked out the song’s ultra-funky groove for all it 

was worth. In my view, this is something the old Nova could 

never have done—at least not with Maggie 1.7s. With the 

Nova125, then, Peachtree has cooked up a sensibly priced 

amplifier that possesses, in roughly equal measure, both 

serious dynamic muscle and a generous measure of finesse. 

To explore the finesse dimension more fully, though, I 

decided to put on one of my favorite orchestral recordings: 

namely, the Michael Tilson Thomas/San Francisco Symphony 

performance of the Henry Brant-orchestrated version 

of Charles Ives’ A Concord Symphony (SRS Media). In 

particular, I focused on the third movement of the symphony, 

entitled “The Alcotts” (each of the symphony’s movements 

is named for an important figure or figures in the American 


Power output: 125Wpc into 8 ohms, 

Processor, Rega Isis CD player/DAC, Musical 

Fidelity kW SACD player, Oppo BDP-105 

220Wpc into 4 ohms 

Inputs: One asynchronous USB, two coaxial universal/Blu-ray player. Windows PC feeding 

the DAC sections of the above devices 

SPDIF, one optical SPDIF, one stereo analog, 

one 12V control signal. 

with uncompressed digital audio files. 

Outputs: Speaker taps, 1/4-inch headphone Linestage Preamplifiers: Burson Audio 

jack, one variable level stereo preamp Soloist, NuForce Reference P8, AURALiC 

output 

TAURUSMkII 

DAC: ESS Sabre 9023 

Power Amplifiers: NuForce Reference 9 

Jitter:


EQUIPMENT review - Peachtree Audio Nova125 Integrated Amplifier/DAC/Headphone Amplifier 

Transcendentalist movement). What I’ve found 

appealing about this live recording (captured 

in Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco) is 

the way it provides rich but believable amounts 

of orchestral detail, while also placing the 

orchestra within the context of a naturally 

resonant, three-dimensional performance space 

(or at least that is what should happen with 

good electronics driving a music system). 

Happily, the Nova125 did not disappoint. 

It did a lovely job with the voices of the 

various orchestral sections at hand, offering 

a particularly fine rendition of the winds and 

brass. Indeed, the brass theme introduced 

about three minutes into the movement 

sounded heart-meltingly beautiful, conveying 

that elusive mix of transient bite and blooming 

burnished “glow” so characteristic of brass 

at its best. Throughout the movement, the 

Nova125 also revealed enough low-level detail 

to remind me that the recording was captured 

live, yet without pressing details forward so 

insistently as to make a nuisance of itself. 

While the Nova125 can and does sound very 

focused—much more so than the original Nova 

did—there is also about this amp/DAC combo 

an over-arching quality of “just-rightness” 

that reminds me of the old adage regarding 

the importance of enjoying all good things in 

balance and moderation. 

How did the Nova125 fare as a DAC To find 

out, I used an Oppo BDP-105 as digital transport 

to test the SPDIF inputs and a Windows PC 

loaded with 100% uncompressed digital audio 

files to try out the asynchronous USB input. 

As a comparison standard, I used my reference 

Rega Isis CD player/DAC. What I discovered 

was that the Nova125’s DAC and SPDIF inputs 

sounded, again, more detailed and focused 

than the DAC section of the original Nova did. 

However, I felt that the DAC section’s best performance 

was realized through the asynchronous 

USB input, which was even more refined, 

tightly focused, and generally more spacious 

and three-dimensional than the SPDIF inputs. 

While the Nova125 could not match the even 

higher levels of resolution and all-round refinement 

of my Rega Isis, I felt it acquitted itself 

admirably given the huge price differential between 

the two components. 

What of the Nova125’s 6N1P tube buffer 

Frankly, I came into this review thinking that I 

might enjoy using the buffer, since I have been a 

proponent of hybrid tube/solid-state amplifiers 

in the past. However, in doing some admittedly 

crude “blind testing” with and without the tube 

buffer, I consistently found that I preferred the 

clearer and, to my ears, more explicit and less 

colored sound of the Nova125’s solid-state circuitry. 

Your mileage, of course, may vary, but 

for the bulk of my listening tests I felt more 

comfortable with the tube buffer disengaged 

(though I continued to try it from time to time, 

just to keep an open mind). 

Finally, I wanted to check out the Nova125’s 

headphone amplifier section and for this purpose 

I listened through my reference Audeze 

LCD-3 planar-magnetic headphones, comparing 

back and forth between the Nova125 and 

the superb Burson Audio Soloist headphone 

amp (the Burson is essentially a handmade 

Australian headphone amp/preamp that sells 

for just under $1000). What I found was that 

the Nova125 sounded very good, with plenty 

of output for powering the Audezes (which are 

not the easiest-to-drive headphones around), 

a reasonably low noise floor, and a rich (but 

not overly rich) and articulate sound. Nevertheless, 

the Burson sounded even better, with 

more detail, superior three-dimensionality, and 

an even lower noise floor. In fairness, though, 

let’s acknowledge that the Burson costs two 

thirds what the Nova125 does, yet provides 

only a fraction of the Nova125’s functionality. 

Once you throw that consideration into the 

mix, I think the Nova125’s headphone amp section 

has got to be considered icing on the cake. 

To sum things up, I would say that Peachtree 

has taken the Nova125 forward, not just by a 

small incremental step, but by a giant leap. 

Relative to the original Nova, which was a very 

high-value product in its own right, the Nova125 

offers a front-end DAC section that is better, 

an asynchronous USB input that is much better 

than the original Nova’s USB section, and a 

power amplifier section that is just light years 

ahead of the original Nova’s amp. Perhaps 

best of all, the Nova125 has lifted many of the 

equivocations and qualifications that applied 

with the original Nova; at last, Peachtree has 

given us an affordable amp/DAC that can drive 

fine but power-hungry speakers in an effective 

way. 


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Hegel H300 

Integrated Amplifier 

From Oslo With Love 

Neil Gader 

It seems as if Hegel Music Systems, the Norwegian electronics manufacturer, 

can do no wrong these days. Kirk Midtskog has written glowing reviews of 

the Hegel H100 and H200 integrated amplifiers (in Issues 206 and 211). And 

when Editor-in-Chief Robert Harley evaluated the H30 Reference stereo amplifier, 

he characterized the 350Wpc behemoth as a contender for any well-heeled 

audiophile’s short list (in Issue 223). So, when the opportunity for me to review 

the H300, Hegel’s latest and most powerful integrated amplifier, presented itself, 

I figured, “Okay. Let’s see what all the excitement is about.” 

Even before I started delving into what makes the H300 tick I cued up “Georgia 

Lee” from Tom Waits’ Mule Variations [Anti-Epitaph]. It’s a favorite track of mine—a 

raw performance, underscored by Waits’ gravelly, chesty voice. With the mbl Corona 

C31 CD player handling front-end duties, I could already hear straight through the 

H300 to the tattered felt hammers of his old upright sounding uncertain pitches, 

the noisy sustain pedal thumping along with the piano, the song’s tempo shortening 

and lengthening with the shifts in the tune’s emotional landscape. It’s a track 

adorned with low-level found-sound ambient clatter and birdcalls. I felt that I was 

hearing and feeling this performance at its deepest levels. 

I then turned to the Jimmy Cobb Quartet’s bossanova-accented 

cover “If Ever I Would Leave You” 

from Jazz in the Key of Blue [Chesky]. The easy 

ensemble playing was captured in a stunning display 

of discrete imaging, micro-dynamic gradients, and hihat 

detailing—and of course trumpeter Roy Hargrove’s 

tasteful playing and carefully measured dynamics. Even 

after just a couple tracks I was beginning to understand 

what all the Hegel brouhaha was about. 

The H300 is a high-power, line-level integrated 

amplifier that outputs a generous 250Wpc into 8 ohms 

(430Wpc into 4 ohms). Visually, the flat black exterior 

is seriously Spartan with merely a pushbutton on/off, 

and rotary knobs for input and volume selection plus 

a large blue-lit display, easily legible from afar. Paired 

with the H300 is a beautifully machined aluminum, 

full-function remote control that makes front-panel 

visitations essentially irrelevant. The back panel 

houses ample analog and digital connectivity and one 

big plus. The H300 joins a new and relatively select 

segment of electronics, the DAC/integrated amplifier— 

new in the sense that amplifiers and DACs, though not 

novel in themselves, have mostly been marketed as 

independent components. However, in recent issues 

I’ve reviewed DAC/integrateds from Simaudio and 

Perreaux, and more are either currently available or 

coming to market. Given the ever-expanding popularity 

of digital media the trend is logical and not unlike the 

built-in phono/RIAA inputs that were commonplace 

when vinyl was dominant. 

The H300 represents a ground-up redesign, which 

Hegel characterizes as a Hegel 2 amplifier platform; 

improvements are geared to increase channel 

separation and decrease noise levels. The H300 

evolved during the design phase of the P30 Reference 

preamp and the H30 Reference monoblocks. The most 

significant change, according to Hegel chief designer 

Bent Holter, is in the preamp section—a dual-mono 

design with new advancements in circuitry, optimized 

board layout, improved components, hand-matched 

FET transistors, and, perhaps most significant of all, 

a newly devised precision volume attenuator that’s 

based largely on the P30. The amplifier stage features a 

robust dual-mono 1000VA power supply with 90,000uF 

capacitors and an output stage formed by twenty 15A 

150W high-speed bipolar transistors. Hegel’s newest 

generation core technology, SoundEngine, was also 

spawned during the H30 project. It’s based on a 

proprietary topology and highly selective transistormatching 

that is said to eliminate dynamic crossover 

distortion in Class AB amplification. (See RH’s H30 

review in Issue 223 for Holter’s thorough explanation 

of the SoundEngine technology.) 

The 32-bit DAC stage is built around the AKM 

AK4399 chipset. For Hegel it’s AKM’s best pro audio 

chip and capable of 24-bit/192kHz resolution. For USB 

throughput, resolution tops out at 24-bit/96kHz, but 

extends to 192kHz through either the optical or coaxial 

SPDIF inputs. Hegel notes that the new DAC improves 

over the HD11 with more robust and cleaner power 

supplies and newly designed, higher-precision clocking. 

Like the HD11 it features proprietary reclocking circuitry 

and a Hegel designed clock. 

Unique to the H300 is the DAC Loop function, which 

allows the owner to add an external (and presumably 

more advanced) DAC down the road while retaining 

Hegel’s sophisticated reclocking circuit. Although 

naturally Hegel would urge owners bent on upgrading 

to buy its own HD25 DAC, the company stresses that all 

H300 owners can continue to take advantage of its reclocking 

circuitry by connecting any quality DAC to the 

H300’s digital output. Holter explained that the DAC loop 

has a high-quality SPDIF reclocker circuit that removes 

jitter from all digital inputs so that the H300 can be 

used as a stand-alone reclocker with any audio system. 

He adds that “the beauty of the H300 reclocking is that 

when feeding the reclocked SPDIF signal to the coax 

input of an external DAC you will reduce the complete 


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EQUIPMENT review - Hegel H300 Integrated Amplifier 

system digital jitter to as low levels as possible.” 

[I heard a demo of the H300 used as a reclocking 

device and can report that it improves the sound 

as claimed.—RH] 

The sonic character of the H300 is strictly 

neutral. Neutral, that is, in the sense that even 

the most minor tonal colorations or electronic 

detritus common to many amplifiers simply 

don’t materialize. There’s certainly no grit or 

grain. If you’re looking for a plush midrange 

warmth, some extra push in the bass, a golden 

bloom in the upper mids, or even a burst 

of sparkle in the treble, the H300 won’t be 

your ride. Hegel’s approach is holistic but nononsense—opening 

a transparent, harmonious 

window of sound. And neutral doesn’t imply 

dull by any means. For the H300 neutrality is 

merely the platform to exhibit a pristine lack of 

distortion, superb edge definition, and microdynamic 

liveliness. 

What the Hegel possesses in spades is 

the ability to reproduce the source material 

from an exquisitely low noise floor without 

compression, constriction, and transient 

distortions, in essence releasing music openly, 

rather than bullying it into submission. So to 

my ears, during Elgar’s Enigma Variations from 

the new Reference Recording disc [RR129], a 

snare drum thwack and a bass drum or tympani 

thwump never sounds cut off or artificially 

controlled at the resonant end of the note. It 

lingers as long as it can before it’s swallowed 

by the silence of the hall. And equally defined is 

the timbre of wind instruments, notably flutes, 

which is reproduced in a remarkably lifelike 

manner and always with the appropriate halo 

of surrounding air. 

The H300 provided a wide luscious 

soundstage during Dire Straits’ “Private 

Investigations” from Love Over Gold [Warmer], 

a track brimming with sound cues large 

and small. I was especially taken by the 

dynamic breadth of the performance, from 

the CinemaScope-styled drum fills emerging 

from somewhere approximating the center 

of the Earth to the delicacy of the nylonstringed 

guitar, marimba accents, and scratchy 

soles beneath the intermittently appearing 

footsteps. The sudden turn of a doorknob and 

a kitten’s mewing, noises I’ve heard dozens of 

times, still send shivers down my spine. 

Turning to the DAC, I felt it produced a 

startling, focused sound without the sensation 

of phasiness or smearing of stage and image 

information that has often accompanied DACs in 

this segment. Images were detailed and discrete 

yet possessed of a natural ambient connection 

with adjoining images on the soundstage. 

Like some of the elite DACs the H300 digital 

section suggests more than a hint of analoglike 

warmth, dimension, and continuity, a richer 

flow of information. On Jennifer Warnes’ “Song 

For Bernadette” [Impex] there’s plenty of image 

elbow room, the overall impression being one of 

expansiveness rather than clutter, right down to 

the very last element of reverb echo. 

How does this compare to the USB/DAC 

section aboard the mbl Corona C31, a $9200 

player It’s awfully close, but fair is fair. The mbl 

is more convincingly realistic on Holly Cole’s 

cover of “I Can See Clearly.” And it has more 

warmth and a stronger sense of dimensionality 

and physicality. Still, the H300 is excellent by 

any yardstick I’ve encountered thus far. 

I listened initially to the H300 primarily with 

digital sources, reserving LP playback for the 

latter stages of this review. And as expected 

my turntable rig plus the H300’s superior 

analog circuitry and low noise floor served as 

a stunning reminder that, as inspired as the 

performance of Hegel’s digital section is, the LP 

remains ensconced as stubbornly as ever in the 

playback throne. As I listened to the glorious 

Athena LP pressing of the Rachmaninoff 

Symphonic Dances the dimensionality, tonal 

ripeness, and bloom that were hinted at but 

not fully developed in digital playback were 

restored. This was most especially the case 

with massed strings, as a distinct sweetness 

and a sense of individuation spread across the 

section from front to back. 

As a testament to the high-level performance 

of the Hegel H300, only a benchmark 

integrated amp like the considerably more 

costly Vitus Audio RI-100 ($13,000) can help 

define the H300’s modest limits. The H300, 

by comparison, doesn’t have quite the same 

expansive soundstage as the Vitus, nor does it 

image quite as discretely. Vocals have a little 

less air and the resonance of piano soundboards 

is less palpable. The bass line vamp that 

introduces “I Can See Clearly” becomes less 

distinct as the song progresses. Toss the Vitus 

into the mix and the acoustic atmosphere of the 

Rachmaninoff thickens, the soundstage widens 

and deepens. Still the H300 cuts the margin of 

these differences awfully fine—coming so close 

to the Vitus at times that it’s scary. 

In fact, no matter how you cut it, the Hegel has 

got it all going on, as an unbiased transporter 

for music reproduction or in its sophisticated 

connectivity or in its forward thinking 

philosophy or sheer value. The greatest tribute 

I can pay the H300 is at once understated yet 

in its way an overwhelming affirmation: In all 

the hours I spent with this amp, I never wanted 

to shut it off. Ever. It represents the high end at 

its most rewarding. 

Power output: 250Wpc 

into 8 ohms 

Analog inputs: Five RCA, 

one balanced, three 

unbalanced plus HT 

bypass 

Digital inputs: Two coaxial 

SPDIF, two optical, USB 

Outputs: One preamp, one 

coaxial 

Dimensions: 17" x 4.7" 

x 15" 


Price: $5500 

Hegel Music 

Systems, USA 

(641) 209-3210 


hegel.com 

Associated 

Equipment 

Sota Cosmos Series 

IV turntable; SME V 

tonearm; Sumiko Palo 

Santos, Air Tight PC-3; 

Parasound JC 3 phono; 

Synergistic Element 

Tungsten/CTS, Wireworld 

Platinum interconnect 

& speaker cables; 

AudioQuest Coffee USB & 

Firewire, Synergistic Tesla 

& Audience au24 phono 

& powerChord, Wireworld 

Platinum power cords 



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Download Roundup 

Pop/Rock 

Alan Taffel 

Talking Heads: Naked. 

(96/24) HDtracks.com 

1988’s Naked doesn’t sound like the farewell album it 

is. Here, the Heads are fully committed and the songs 

are an appealing fusion of the group’s earlier forays into 

rhythmic complexity and its later emphasis on a lighter 

spirit and melodic hooks. Of course, off-kilter lyrics are 

a given. If you don’t already own this album, it’s worth 

buying if only for the ebullient, ironic “(Nothing but) 

Flowers.” 

Though not as awful sounding as earlier Heads CDs, 

this one certainly has its problems, including a flat 

perspective and mildly muffled vocals. David Byrne has 

a quirkily emotive voice and, personally, I like to hear it. 

The first thing you notice about the download is that 

its level is much higher than that of the CD—usually 

a bad omen. True to form, the hi-res version shows 

signs of being taken from a compressed master. As a 

result, this is not the glare-free presentation we might 

hope for. Nonetheless, the download brings forward 

everything that the CD mix buries—from little details to 

Byrne’s voice. Add in a bit more dimensionality and the 

download wins on points. 

Elvis Costello: The Return of the 

Spectacular Spinning Songbook. (96/24) 

HDtracks.com 

Remember when live rock albums all sounded like they 

were recorded in high school gyms Remember when 

Elvis Costello played in high school gyms This new 

album is a throwback to those days, not only because the 

sound is abysmal, but because Costello hasn’t evolved 

these songs from the arrangements introduced decades 

ago. For an artist with Costello’s range and experimental 

sensibilities, this is unforgivable. 

Sonically, the album could hardly be worse. The 

naked reverb swallows the vocals, bass is a thudding 

drone, the guitars are cringingly metallic, and songs 

bleed unrecognizably from one to the next. There is no 

doubt this guy writes great tunes, with catchy melodies 

and biting lyrics (“I said I’m so happy I could die/She 

said ‘drop dead’ then left with another guy”), if only 

we could hear them clearly as we could from the studio 

versions. Given all this, it’s natural to wonder why this 

album gets the hi-res download treatment in the first 

place. The download sounds no less terrible than the 

CD, except that it allows you to hear the bombast a hair 

more cleanly. Is that a good thing 

Paul McCartney: Kisses on the Bottom. 


These days, it seems like every rock icon is making an 

album of standards. Most of them don’t work, but 

this one emphatically does. McCartney’s vocal charm 

and pop sensibilities are perfect for this material, and 

his intimate familiarity with the songs lends them an 

authentic feel that will eternally elude, say, Rod Stewart. 

McCartney’s voice remains astonishingly flexible and 

pure, and the rest of the supporting musicians, including 

Diana Krall on piano and Eric Clapton making acoustic 

cameos, are superb. In addition to the familiar and lessso 

standards, the album contains two new McCartney 

originals. One of them, “My Valentine,” fully holds its 

own in this exalted company. 

As befits the album’s tone, the CD’s sound is warm 

and liquid. McCartney’s voice has never sounded so 

mellifluous, undoubtedly aided by the use of the same 

mike employed by Nat King Cole (an experience 

McCartney calls “amazingly intimidating”). That doesn’t 

leave much room for improvement, but the download 

does offer a small lessening of grain, especially 

on McCartney’s voice. Both versions are highly 

recommended. This is a demo-quality recording. 

Bob Marley: Legend. 

(96/24, 192/24) HDtracks.com 

The original CD of this essential album—a thoroughly 

satisfying summation of Marley’s career and artistry— 

is anemic in the manner of so many discs of the era. 

But at least it gets the percolating rhythms right and 

has an unpolished mien that perfectly suits the music. 

The 96/24 download sounds comparatively subdued, 

both dynamically and timbrally. The lower noise floor 

allows some hidden details to emerge, but that doesn’t 

compensate for the loss of energy. Fortunately, things 

get cooking with the 192/24 download. Compared to 

the 96/24 edition, this download has tighter bass, even 

less grain, and more extended highs. Best of all, rhythms 

are even more propulsive than the CD’s. If you’re going 

the download route, suck it up and bypass the 96/24 in 

favor of the 192/24 version. It’s worth it. 

Donald Fagen: The Nightfly. (44.1/24) 

HDtracks.com 

We all oohed and aahed over this album’s sound when 

it first came out, but in truth the original CD is bright, 

bass shy, and…well, digital sounding. The subsequent 

DVD-A partially mitigates these problems. More bass 

would still be appreciated, and there’s no eradicating the 

digititis burned into the master tape, but this version does 

best the CD. For example, horns, which are an integral 

part of these arrangements, have a realistic bite, and 

dynamics open up. The download was clearly sourced 

from the same master as the DVD-A, and sounds just 

as good. The music itself holds up surprisingly well, 

especially the feel-good “I.G.Y.” 

Bonnie Raitt: Slipstream. 


Slipstream is a typical Bonnie Raitt album, with all that 

that implies. As per usual, the new collection finds the 

blues singer by turns sassy and sensitive. And, as always, 

Raitt’s choice of songs is beyond reproach. Here, she 

revisits chestnuts like Gerry Rafferty’s “Right Down 

the Line,” and unearths deserving deep tracks such as 

Bob Dylan’s “Standing in the Doorway” and Joe Henry’s 

“God Only Knows.” Raitt’s voice remains peerless, and 

she is never less than fully committed to her material. 

Her slide guitar playing finds welcome new prominence 

here, as she trades tasty licks with a band that’s even 

more crackerjack than usual. 

The trouble with Slipstream is that it hews to safe, 

often characterless song treatments. Only the Rafferty 

tune holds any surprise—it’s done reggae style. All 

else borders on—to borrow Simon Cowell’s one-word 

dismissive—karaoke. Super good karaoke, but still. 

Where is the bluesy twist that elevated past joys like 

“Thing Called Love” 

Another virtue we’ve come to expect from Raitt is sonics 

that eclipse standard pop fare. Slipstream is no exception. 

The recording is clean, uncluttered, and well balanced. The 

choice between CD and download is academic; they sound 

identical. 


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CLASSICAL 

Andrew Quint 

Vivaldi: La Cetra, Op. 9. Rachel Podger, 

violin; Holland Baroque Society. 

Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring. Firebird 

Suite. Scherzo. Tango. Budapest Festival 

Orchestra, Iván Fischer. 

The Mahler Album. Amsterdam Sinfonietta, 

Candida Thompson. 

All: 192/24. Channelclassics.com/highresolution-audio-downloads. 

A decade ago, when SACD was new, TAS gave sonic 

ratings to all “New Format” releases on a scale of 1 to 

10. Rachel Podger’s Channel Classics recordings of 

the twelve violin concertos of Antonio Vivaldi’s Op. 

4 (La Stravaganza), with the Arte dei Suonatori Baroque 

Orchestra, was among the very first to earn a “10.” Now 

Podger’s back with another Vivaldi set, this time the dozen 

works of the Red Priest’s Op. 9, La Cetra. Podger’s playing 

is as effervescent as ever but even more confident. Her 

“historically-informed” execution is perfectly natural, 

almost off-hand, “original instrument” playing all 

grown-up. This time out, the Holland Baroque Society 

collaborates and its playing, too, is invigorating. Fast 

movements are propelled along by two hard-strumming 

lutenists that occasionally knock loudly on the body of 

their instruments. The first time that happens, you jump. 

Iván Fischer is a contemporary master of Dvorák 

and Bartók’s orchestral music but doesn’t have the same 

affinity for Stravinsky. The opening pages of Firebird 

lack the necessary sense of mystery and expectancy and 

Fischer’s Rite of Spring is among the lowest key versions 

I know—it feels like many of the rough edges of this 

epochal work have been rounded off. Likewise, Channel 

Classics producer, engineer, and managing director C. 

Jared Sacks isn’t really a “sonic spectacular” kind of guy 

and if you’re looking for timpani and bass drum thwacks 

that rearrange the china, you’d probably better look 

elsewhere. 

The Mahler Album, from the Amsterdam Sinfonietta led 

by Candida Thompson, is an exceptionally interesting and 

coherent program. The familiar Adagietto from the Fifth 

Symphony leads off. Presented as a stand-alone piece, 

there’s room for more variation in tempo and dynamics, 

and Thompson fully exploits the emotional range of 

this much-beloved orchestral gem. We then hear a string 

orchestra arrangement of Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 

11 in F minor, Mahler’s remarkably successful attempt 

to reconfigure the chamber music experience for a 

big audience in a large hall. Finally, there’s the chamber 

orchestra arrangement by Hans Stadimair of the Adagio 

from Mahler’s unfinished Symphony No. 10. The 

27-minute movement is made even more psychologically 

intense by the homogenization of orchestral color. Those 

who love the piece will want to know how effective the 

famous gut-wrentching dissonant nine-note chord at the 

Adagio’s climax is, a sonority that so accurately reflected 

the composer’s desparate frame of mind at this time in his 

life. It’s devastating, I assure you. 

Compared to the SACD’s stereo versions, the 

192/24 downloads have more immediacy, openness, 

and detail, plus they allow one to listen more deeply 

into the soundfield. The playing of the Budapest 

Festival Orchestra’s principal bassoonist in Firebird‘s 

“Berceuse” seems more exquisitely nuanced and the 

triangle that bravely struggles to be heard over the final 

brass peroration of that work’s finale sounds less like a 

doorbell. 

Pop/Rock 

Alan Taffel 

Wilco: The Whole Love. (96/24) HDtracks. 

com 

A new Wilco album is cause for high expectations, and 

a good one is cause for outright celebration. The Whole 

Love, Wilco’s latest, is a good one. Whereas the band’s 

previous effort, Wilco (the album), was overly selfconscious 

(Exhibit A: that title), The Whole Love is all 

about good songs with catchy hooks played by musicians 

at the peak of their form. 

Unfortunately, in contrast to other recent Wilco 

albums, which have been models of natural recording, 

The Whole Love has sonic issues. The main trouble 

is that too many tracks sound grungy. In less severe 

cases, like the infectious title track, the CD and the 

HDtracks 96/24 download are sonically essentially 

indistinguishable—and fairly decent. But on the 

worst-sounding tracks, such as the equally-radioready 

“Dawned on Me,” the download is a bit cleaner, 

making it easier to enjoy. That’s reason enough to give 

the download the nod, but be forewarned that neither 

version is up to Wilco’s recent sonic standards. 

Beach Boys: Pet Sounds. (96/24 and 192/24) 

HDtracks.com 

In 1990, this legendary work finally received the goldengloved 

CD-remastering treatment. That disc is quite 

satisfying, with a clean, mostly relaxed sound that makes 

Brian Wilson’s handiwork easy to appreciate. In keeping 

with the style of the day, the balance is quite lean. On 

occasion, this version’s vocals get irritatingly edgy, but 

the problem isn’t pervasive. 

As for the 96/24 download, this is a case where hires 

really lives up to its moniker. Compared to the 

CD, the download more faithfully captures difficult 

instruments like the sleigh bells in “God Only Knows.” 

Strings invariably sound more realistic, too, and vocals 

lose some of that grating edge. The 192/24 version 

offers even more resolving power, so realism is amped 

up still further. Additionally, this version offers a greater 

sense of space and more solid rhythms than the 96/24 

edition. Most significantly, vocals at this resolution 

achieve a heretofore elusive purity. Indeed, the 192/24 

download is a surprisingly big jump up from the 96/24. 

It’s well worth the extra coin, especially for such a classic, 

archive-worthy album. 

Allman Brothers Band: Live at Fillmore East. 

(96/24) 

HDtracks.com 

This, as all must know, is the recording of the blues-rock 

band. I hadn’t heard it in quite some time, and though 

the songs have become perhaps overly familiar, I was still 

knocked out by Gregg Allman’s fabulously raw vocals and 

the swirling guitar work of masters Duane Allman and 

Dickey Betts. 

I had on hand two 44.1/16 versions of the album. The 

2003 Deluxe CD sounds great: airy, clear, rock solid. Dickey 

Betts’ guitar, in particular, is appropriately and deliciously 

raw. The only real drawback is that Greg Allman’s 

voice is recorded so brightly it’s occasionally piercing. Surprisingly, 

the 2004 MFSL hybrid CD/SACD is less successful, 

at least on the CD layer. (I didn’t have a way to play 

the SACD layer.) This version curtails the Deluxe CD’s 

sense of space, as well as the rawness of Betts’ guitar. Vocals 

are, if anything, even more stingingly bright. 

Fortunately, HDtracks has taken the 96/24 download 


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from the same master as the Deluxe CD version, so 

it starts with good bones. Liberating the sound with a 

higher sample rate and bit depth results in a far greater 

purity of raucousness, if such a thing is possible. 

Vocals become more natural (though still overly bright 

on certain tracks), as do the drums, which are after all 

the only acoustic instrument in sight. The download’s 

rhythms are also sharper than the CD’s. 

on hand, is very good indeed; but the download is a 

brighter shade of wonderful. Highs are more extended, 

so cymbals stop sounding pasty, and more subtle 

dynamic variations significantly enhance the emotional 

impact. Sonic check-listing aside, the download just has 

more verve than the CD, and I recommend it highly on 

all counts. 

only can the guitars be heard, they also have real body 

and air around them. Vocals remain prominent, but now 

there’s a band to balance them out. Meanwhile, all traces 

of vocal shrillness are gone. Clearly the download is the 

version to own. For me, at least, it’s revelatory. 

Crosby, Stills and Nash. (96/24) HDtracks. 

com 

overripe bass (to put it mildly) and smothered vocals. 

On the plus side, the download exhibits demonstrably 

better upper-frequency extension than the CD, as can 

be heard in the percussion on “49 Bye-Byes.” Overall, 

though, the download suffers from the same problems 

that mar every version of this album except the Gold 

CD. That’s the version I’d seek out. 

The Who: Tommy. (96/24) HDtracks.com 

One of the most impressive things about the rock opera 

Tommy is that it works perfectly well without “help” 

from visuals. The lyrics are so clear, the music so evocative, 

that scenes spring vividly to life within the listener’s 

mind. Even the unlikely conceit of Roger Daltrey singing 

all the parts is so successful that one never feels a 

need for different vocalists. Indeed, versions with visuals 

(e.g. the film) or additional singers (e.g. Elton John as the 

Pinball Wizard) have consistently fallen short. 

The decades since Tommy’s release have done 

nothing to diminish its appeal. Whatever else Tommy 

may be—the birth of a new art form, a commentary 

on industrialized society—it’s at root a collection of 

simply great songs. That’s why I never could leave it at 

“Overture/It’s a Boy,” which already told me everything 

I needed to know about each format’s sonics. I always 

got sucked into Tommy’s strange and melodic world. 

To modern ears the production and instrumentation 

seem quite basic, but that doesn’t distract from— 

indeed, it underlines—the excellence of the music and 

performances. 

Because Tommy was written for—and works 

best in—the purely aural world, sound is especially 

important. The MFSL release, the only one I had 

Pop/Rock 

Alan Taffel 

Grateful Dead: Workingman’s Dead. (96/24) 

HDtracks.com 

Workingman’s Dead epitomizes the Dead’s ability to 

seamlessly fuse folk, country, and blues using mostly 

acoustic arrangements, unpretentious playing, and 

loose harmonies. It even includes a couple of tunes that 

have easily stood the test of time. If this is your thing, 

this is your album. But which format I didn’t have the 

original CD, but I did audition the subsequent Rhino 

release and found problems. On certain tracks, notably 

“Casey Jones,” the vocals are so sharp they’re piercing, 

which seriously messes with the album’s intended 

mellow vibe. Also, the vocals are so forward in the mix 

they relegate everything else to the background. Some 

tracks are less abrasive, but in no case do instruments 

emerge from the haze. 

It takes only two seconds to hear the sonic 

improvements in the download, which gives the 

impression that the players all took three steps toward 

the microphone—and they cleaned the tape heads. Not 

Although CSN and the Dead bear superficial 

resemblances—both are folk-forward, harmony-heavy, 

and mostly unplugged—they represent different eras. 

The Dead were laid-back hippie heroes, while CSN 

heralded a more commercial, perfectionist musical 

bent that’s still with us (albeit in very different forms). 

CSN’s eponymous first album makes it work through 

infectious energy and top-notch songwriting. Never 

again would the group feel so original. 

Once again I lacked the original CD; but, given the era, 

it’s likely pretty dreadful. However, I do own three other 

silver disc versions. The Joe Gastwirt remaster from 

1994 isn’t bad; the guitars and vocals sound good, if a bit 

recessed. However, there are a couple of issues. The bass 

is punchy but sloppy, and the top is rolled off. The Rhino 

“Expanded” version helps resolve both problem areas. 

It also brings the midrange forward—perhaps a little too 

forward—and that makes vocals and guitars more audible. 

The Steve Hoffman-remastered Gold CD on Audio 

Fidelity cleans things up considerably. The bass tubbiness 

is finally banished, and the midrange is dialed back (versus 

the Rhino version) just enough to achieve perfect balance. 

The leaner midrange does lead to occasional guitar and 

vocal brittleness, but not distressingly so. 

The download most closely resembles the Joe Gastwirt 

version, from which I assume it was taken. That means 

Rod Stewart: Every Picture Tells a Story. 

(96/24 and 192/24) HDtracks.com 

Listening to this classic album is refreshing in so many 

ways. Here’s a band, fronted by Stewart’s guitarist chum 

Ronnie Wood before he was a Rolling Stone, that 

could be considered “rag tag” or even sloppy. They 

didn’t bother about perfectly lining up every part to 

the measure marker—or even to each other. Stewart’s 

vocals could hardly be considered pristine, either. 

Yet the resultant music is so much more human than 

today’s quantized and auto-tuned exercises. Equally 

refreshing are lyrics that haven’t been through a political 

correctness filter. Imagine a modern paean for a “sliteyed 

lady” offering a “ride on the Eastern moon.” 

Finally, it’s bracing to hear Stewart in prime voice and 

feisty spirit, as opposed to his current incarnation as a 

standards crooner. The material has held up well, too. 

Most listeners will immediately think of the Stewartpenned 

hits, such as the title track, “Maggie May,” and 

“Mandolin Wind,” but the covers are equally rewarding. 

These include the definitive version of “I Know I’m 

Losing You” and a surprisingly tender “Someone Like 

You.” 

So how do the downloads sound Overall, pretty 

darned good, at either resolution. This is one album 

that will never fool you into thinking the musicians are 


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in the room. But nor is it harsh, muffled, bright, or 

afflicted with any of the other common pop maladies. 

Sound quality rises in inverse proportion to the number 

of musicians playing. For instance, several songs begin 

with a guitar, piano, or mandolin solo, with Stewart then 

joining in. These moments have a beautiful purity—a 

purity that crashes in flames as soon as the rest of the 

band enters. 

The 96/24 download is hard to fault; it does nothing 

to compromise the virtues described above. The 192/24 

version has a tad more top-end extension, which allows 

it to “breathe” a little more. The difference is subtle, 

so unless you have a top-drawer USB DAC and cable 

I doubt you’ll be able to hear it. On the other hand, 

the various CD editions clearly can’t compete with 

either download. The 1988 re-master sounds tubby and 

claustrophobic, and suffers from some sort of timebased 

distortion that raises the hair on the back of my 

neck. The MFSL version fixes both problems, but this 

version is muffled throughout. Bottom line: download 

the highest-resolution file you think your system 

can handle and prepare for a thoroughly enjoyable 

experience. 

CLASSICAL 

Andrew Quint 

Beethoven: Symphony No. 3. Creatures of 

Prometheus and Egmont Overtures. Orquesta 

Sinfónica Simón Bolívar, Gustavo Dudamel. 


Mahler: Symphony No. 5. Philadelphia 

Orchestra, Yannick Nézet-Séguin. (96/24) 

HDtracks.com 

Gustavo Dudamel is to conducting what Lang Lang is 

to piano playing. Both men are phenomenally talented 

(and photogenic) young musicians with an ultradynamic 

stage presence who’ve been in the public eye 

since they were teenagers. Both have hyperactive PR 

departments behind them to support each new release. 

And both seem immune to any sort of criticism, as 

if it would be unseemly to ever suggest that these 

two anointed saviors of Classical Music could ever be 

capable of an artistic misstep. 

Sometimes good hair and podium pirouettes aren’t 

enough. Dudamel’s new version of the “Eroica” 

Symphony with the Orquesta Sinfónica Simón 

Bolívar—the ensemble of which he was named music 

director at 18; now 32, he’s also in charge of the Los 

Angeles Philharmonic—is pretty ordinary. The opening 

Allegro con brio gets a bit sing-songy and Dudamel’s 

Funeral March is the longest I’ve ever encountered, the 

conductor dragging the movement out to 17:39. After 

the Symphony comes two shorter Beethoven items, The 

Creatures of Prometheus and Egmont Overtures; the latter 

may be the most successful selection on the program 

in achieving a Beethovian solidity. The musicians of 

the Venezuelan ensemble play competently, sometimes 

more than that, as with the stirring horn passage in 

the Eroica’s third movement Trio section. The sonic 

presentation is rather flat and not especially refined, no 

better than a good CD. 

It’s a very different scenario in Philadelphia. When 

Yannick Nézut-Séguin was named the eighth Music 

Director of the Philadelphia Orchestra in 2010, most 

casual music-lovers in The City of Brotherly Love 

hadn’t heard of him. (Even now, that last name is too 

complicated and most locals simply refer to the 36-yearold 

conductor as “Yannick”.) The French-Canadian 

steadily built a career over the past 15 years and has 

been impressing Philadelphia audiences since he 

arrived with memorable performances of blockbusters 

like the Verdi Requiem and Mahler’s Sixth Symphony. 

If this reading of Mahler’s Fifth isn’t as white-hot as 

venerated versions of old from Bernstein and Solti, 

it nonetheless manifests the composer’s characteristic 

emotional volubility. We also get prima facie evidence 

that the PO has been built into one of the finest 

orchestral groups on earth by its recent conductors; a 

special treat is Jennifer Montone’s graceful execution 

of the Scherzo’s obbligato French horn part. The 

sound from Verizon Hall has superior front-to-back 

layering and a good sense of the performing space. 

Chesky: New York Rags. (192/24) HDtracks. 

com 

By the time you’re reading this, the CD iteration of 

David Chesky’s astounding New York Rags will have 

been released. Don’t get it: This music and recording 

deserve the highest of high fidelity and that’s just what 

the 192/24 download delivers. The piano sound is 

immediate but not claustrophobic. The listener gets 

an enormous amount of detail: it’s apparent that the 

Yamaha DCFX Mark IV Disklavier concert grand 

recorded at the Hirsch Center in Brooklyn has been 

meticulously regulated, voiced, and tuned. This is 

certainly among the finest piano recordings ever made. 

And do try it with headphones for an extraordinary 

binaural “dummy head” experience. You’re getting the 

performer’s aural perspective. Except, of course, that 

there is no performer: the instrument is a “reproducing 

piano,” programmed to flawlessly render Chesky’s 

pianistically impossible miniatures. 

Chesky is a New Yorker through-and-through. (“I 

really don’t go to the Colorado Rockies or the Pacific 

Northwest and look at sunsets. I’m not inspired by 

that,” he told TAS’s Bill Milkowski, who wrote the 

album’s program notes.) These pieces, in addition to 

serving as an homage to the great ragtime composers 

of generations ago (Scott Joplin, James Scott, Joseph 

Lamb, et al.) also reflect Chesky’s irrepressible love for 

his hometown. Most of the rags are played at brisk, 

sometimes manic tempos that reflect the pace of 

life in The Big Apple, both public (“Times Square”, 

“Penn Station”) and domestic (“Kids You’re Late 

for School Rag”). The “J Walker Rag” has a slightly 

loopy feel—a native citizen ignoring a flashing Don’t 

Walk sign, oblivious to the traffic rushing by—while 

the “Fourth Street Rag” sports the vibe of a Lower 

Manhattan hipster. There are nods to other musicians 

besides the Ragtime gods. “The Bernstein” has the 

slightest whiff of West Side Story (Chesky has always 

been a genius at just hinting at the essence of another 

composer when he pays tribute) and “The Duke” 

suggests both Edward Kennedy Ellington’s refined 


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piano style and a big band sonority. Those familiar with 

Conlon Nancarrow’s player-piano studies may also 

detect affinities to those spidery, jangling mid-century 

excursions in superhuman rhythmic complexities. But, 

mostly, we get David Chesky’s distinctive, disciplined 

yet spontaneous voice: The harmonic language is a 

sophisticated polytonality, meters are often irregular, 

and melodies asymmetric and spiky, as Chesky 

conjures up panoramas of his beloved Gotham. 

Pop/Rock 

Alan Taffel 

Carole King: Tapestry.(96/24, 192/24) 

HDtracks.com 

No amount of remastering or re-rezing is going to 

rescue Tapestry from its early 70s leanness or its mix, 

which renders indistinct every instrument other than 

King’s piano and vocals. Exhibit A: The drums are all 

but inaudible on most tracks. On the other hand, no 

amount of sonic butchery can diminish the quality 

of material or the sincerity of the performance on 

this quintessential singer-songwriter album. These 

songs are as timeless and well-crafted as any in the 

rock canon, although the arrangements are by now 

hopelessly quaint. 

Would that the downloads rectified the album’s sonic 

ills, but unfortunately that’s not the case. Indeed, the 

96k version manages to sound worse than the CD. 

Tonally, the download is even paler, and what few high 

frequencies the disc exhibits are pretty much squelched 

on the file. Dynamics, too, are more restrained. The 

192k version is better in than the 96 in every respect, 

yet compared to the CD it still represents a trade-off; 

the download has greater purity, but it’s still rolled off 

in the highs. 

Given the generally poor quality of this recording, 

and the fact that the CD can be had for a mere six 

bucks on Amazon, it’s hard to justify spending three to 

five times that amount on one of the downloads when 

neither is superior to the CD overall. 

Michael Jackson: Bad. (48/24) HDtracks.com 

When we reminisce about Michael Jackson in his 

prime, most of us think of Thriller or perhaps Off the 

Wall. Yet Bad was another solid collaboration between 

the “King of Pop” and producer Quincy Jones. The 

album includes a surprising number of hits, including 

the title track, “The Way You Make Me Feel,” “Man 

in the Mirror,” “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You,” and 

“Smooth Criminal.” They all hold up well, and all 

give the lie to the legion of feeble MJ pretenders that 

populate modern pop radio. 

The “25 th Anniversary Edition” CD is a bit more 

bass-heavy than the download. I suspect that in this 

respect the CD is “right,” given the nature of the 

music, but who really knows in this purely electronic 

context In any event, the CD is mildly punchier than 

the download, but the latter more than compensates by 

being liberated from the CD’s digital edge. 

This last point should not be taken lightly. Jackson’s 

voice on the download is far more dimensional and 

refined. The entire presentation is smoother, which is 

a good thing because this jagged, synthesized music 

can do without any sonic “help” in those departments. 

Overall, the download is simply much more listenable 

than the CD. 

Billy Joel: The Stranger. (88/24) HDtracks. 

com 

Typical of Billy Joel’s music, The Stranger contains songs 

of undeniable loveliness and catchiness—as well as an 

all-too-generous helping of maudlin moments. But by 

now you know how you feel about this music, so I’ll 

talk no more about it and turn instead to sonic matters. 

The Stranger has seen numerous CD-format releases. 

I had on hand the original issue as well as the superduper 

Legacy version, which includes an entire extra 

disc containing a live concert. Between these two 

the original is decidedly better sounding. The Legacy 

edition is louder, but you know what that usually means. 

Sure enough, this version is compressed, and that 

compression renders Phil Ramone’s production lifeless 

and the sound irritating. 

So what about the download It’s one of those slam 

dunks. The hi-res version of this album is much more 

revealing than the CD; yet, at the same time, it is also 

far more relaxing to listen to. And that’s not all. Upbeat 

songs like the title track get newfound drive, while 

softer entries such as “Just the Way You Are” take on 

greater beauty. In sum, the download is a major step up 

from the CD, and highly recommended. 

Janis Joplin: Pearl. (192/24) HDtracks.com 

The original CD of this superb blues-rock standard— 

sadly, Joplin’s last studio release—suffers from a surfeit 

of grunge and puts an artificial edge on Joplin’s voice— 

the last thing it needs. A later CD, The Pearl Sessions, 

contains additional material but no sonic improvement 

to the original tracks, which sound identical. (The liner 

notes are unclear about whether this is supposed to be 

the case, but either way, it is.) 

HDtracks offers Pearl in two resolutions. The 96k 

version at first resembles the CD. Then you notice that 

it is blessedly missing about half of that nasty vocal 

edge and virtually all the grunge. On further listening, 

you become aware that the download has noticeably 

tighter rhythms and greater top-end extension. 

At 192k there are even fewer digital artifacts; yet, 

for some reason, the music doesn’t “move” as well at 

this sample rate. The music sounds bogged down and 

sluggish. This appears to be a case where, in going to 

an even higher resolution, the baby got thrown out 

with the bath water. (It happens more often than you 

might think.) At any rate of all the digital versions of 

Pearl extant, the best I’ve heard and the clear choice is 

the 96k download. 


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Pop/Rock 

Alan Taffel 

Grand Funk Railroad: We’re An American 

Band. (96/24, 192/24) HDtracks.com 

As a teenager I worshipped GFR even as the critics 

scorned them. Now I’m a critic and I see what my 

forerunners were talking about. So why did I reviews 

these downloads, especially as I have no CD or other 

digital format to compare them with Sheer curiosity: 

I wondered why the album merited the high-res 

treatment. Did it have stellar sonics Had I missed 

something in the music Well, no on both counts. 

This is juvenile music played by a not-particularly-tight 

band (but they’re American). As for the sound, the 96k 

download is what you’d expect of the era: flat, bass 

heavy, smothered, monodynamic. The 192k version 

is more transparent and open, allowing the music to 

make an almost-compelling case for itself. Almost. 

Bob Dylan: Highway 61 Revisited. (88/24) 

HDtracks.com 

Highway 61 Revisited includes several of Dylan’s most 

famous songs, including “Like a Rolling Stone” and, 

of course, the title track. Unsurprisingly, given its 

status in rock’s pantheon, the album exists in a mindnumbing 

mélange of releases—in both mono and 

stereo. I shan’t attempt to catalog them all here. Let’s 

just say the various CD-format versions all capture the 

fresh brashness of a youthful, confident Dylan, while 

occupying a fairly narrow sonic spectrum characterized 

by a subdued high end and more or less midrange 

honk. Until, that is, you get to the DCC Gold Disc, 

which is markedly brighter and bouncier than what 

came before. The same is true of the hybrid SACD’s 

CD layer, and of this 88k download. These two are 

pretty much dead ringers for each other, and I find 

them both too tipped-up for comfort. My bottom line 

here is that the old CDs are just fine, but the DCC is 

also a good way to go. 

Paul Simon: Graceland. (96/24) HDtracks. 

com 

Unlike the LP, the original CD of Paul Simon’s 

watershed meld of African rhythms and American folk 

sensibilities is not all that great sounding. Simon’s voice 

is full and natural, as are the other-worldly harmonies 

of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, but other instruments 

are tonally neutered and lacking in dynamics. The 

HDtracks download is a whole ’nuther animal, in part, 

I’m sure, because it was taken from the re-mastered 

25th Anniversary Edition of the album. Pretty much 

everything about the download stomps the CD. The 

resultant album has a rich tonal palette, perfect topto-bottom 

balance, dynamics galore, and propulsive 

rhythms. In short: awesome. 

The Band: The Last Waltz. (48/24) 

HDtracks.com 

Here’s the soundtrack to one of rock’s greatest concert 

films (along with Stop Making Sense and Woodstock). 

Its charms are many, including the enduring songs, 

superior musicianship—especially Robbie Robertson’s 

herky-jerky guitar and Levon Helm’s gravel-throated 

vocals—and the amazing guest roster (Eric Clapton, 

Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, and on and 

on). Yet the most astonishing thing about The Last 

Waltz is the chameleon-like way The Band just drops 

into the perfect style for each guest artist. Without 

seeing Martin Scorcese’s masterful film, for instance, 

you could be forgiven for thinking Muddy Waters 

brought his own backup players. 

Still, for all its musical strengths, the original CD is 

not especially pleasant to listen to. Dynamics are flat, 

as is spatial perspective. The sound can get rather 

gritty, too. In 2002, Rhino Records came to the rescue, 

bestowing upon the album the full deluxe re-issue/ 

re-master treatment. The contrast to the original CD 

is dramatic. Forget about a veil being lifted; Rhino 

removed all seven! Dynamics, space, extension (both 

high and low), pace, and a visceral sense of presence 

are all are here in spades. So the question for the 

download becomes: how does it stack up against the 

Rhino CD One would expect them to be close. After 

all, the resolutions aren’t that different—the download 

is 48k to the CD’s 44.1k—though of course the 

download enjoys a 24 to 16 bit-depth advantage. As 

it turns out, these small differences are insufficient to 

compensate for the superiority of the Rhino re-master, 

to which HDtracks presumably didn’t have access. Yes, 

the download is more refined and transparent than the 

original CD; but it can’t match the openness and verve 

of the Rhino disc. 

That a particular physical disc sounds better than 

the corresponding download is academic if the disc 

in question is an audiophile limited-release and now 

hard to obtain. That’s not the case here. So while this 

download is good, the superior Rhino CD is readily 

available. If you don’t have it, you should. 

Leon Russell. (96/24, 192/24) HDtracks. 

com 

From the meltingly beautiful “A Song for You” to 

the raucous closer “Roll Away the Stone,” this is an 

essential album from the master of Delta blues/rock. 

I don’t own the original CD, but I did have on hand 

the Steve Hoffman re-mastered DCC Gold CD, which 

sounds terrific on low-level tracks. But the disc becomes 

quite strained when Russell hits full boogie mode. 

Fortunately, the 96k download is an improvement 

in every respect. Russell’s piano takes on welcome 

warmth and body, and his voice has greater immediacy. 

Too, there’s more air around instruments and dynamics 

are far more convincing. Most importantly, you can 

thoroughly enjoy the boisterous tracks without fear of 

cringe-inducing distortion. Although I recommend the 

96k download unreservedly, the 192k version is even 

better. The two are very close, but the nod goes to the 

higher-res edition thanks to a hair more clarity, images 

that fill the stage more completely, and rhythms that 

are even more rollicking. Who would have thought that 

was possible Alan Taffel 


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CLASSICAL 

Andrew Quint 

Stravinsky: Le Sacre du printemps. Firebird 

Suite. Scherzo à la Russe. Tango. Budapest 

Festival Orchestra, Fischer. 

Vivere. Ragazze Quartet. 

BOTH: Channel Classics. (DFF stereo and 

multichannel) channelclassics.com 

Channel Classics is one of a very few labels to currently 

sell DSD downloads. Its entire SACD catalog, over 130 

titles, is available as stereo DFF files and, as of this 

writing, there are about a dozen multichannel offerings. 

These files are huge—an SACD-length program 

weighs in at 5-7 gigabytes—and takes a few hours to 

download. 

If you’re not one of the very few who can actually 

decode a DSD file with your processor, you’ll be asking 

your music management software to convert the DFF 

files to PCM. Things will work out much better if you 

pick a multiple of 44.1 kHz, rather than 48, 96, or 192. 

Also—and I have TAS computer-audio maven Karl 

Schuster to thank for the advice—resist the temptation 

to convert to 176.4kHz and go instead with 88.2. The 

lower sampling rate will prevent contamination of your 

sound with the ultra-high-frequency “noise-shaping” 

artifact of the DSD encoding process. As Karl put it, 

unless you want to “drive away bats or torture dogs,” 

don’t invite that stuff in. 

Whether the repertoire is Dvorák, Beethoven, 

or Mahler, Iván Fischer is not a conductor given to 

grandstanding. His reading of The Rite of Spring has 

neither Leonard Bernstein’s savagery nor the precision 

of Pierre Boulez. It’s nonetheless an appealing 

performance that’s beautifully shaped and colored, and 

undeniably danceable. Fischer’s interpretive tendencies 

are better suited to Firebird, where the splendid tonal 

resources of the Budapest Festival Orchestra are put to 

good use. Stravinsky’s circus-like Scherzo à la Russe and 

his tart but wistful Tango fill out the program. 

The four young women who make up the Ragazze 

Quartet trained for two years at the Dutch String Quartet 

Academy and have since seen international success. 

Their death-obsessed debut program for Channel 

is, oddly, entitled Vivere, Latin for “to live.” Never 

mind. We get robust but aptly scaled performances 

of two chamber music staples, Haydn’s “Quinten” 

and Schubert’s “Death and the Maiden” quartets. 

Technically, the playing is top-notch and ensemble 

blend is gorgeous—but it’s the lyrical, yearning quality 

that makes this program essential. Completing the 

program is a work by the contemporary German 

composer Jörg Widmann, his Hunting Quartet. The 

four players start off amiably enough but…well, let’s 

just say that the Ragazze finishes as a trio. 

Comparing the stereo DFF download to stereo 

SACD playback, while both are excellent, the download 

gets the nod. With the files, there’s more tonal richness, 

superior spatial representation, and a more effortless 

sense of dynamic headroom—those 11 cataclysmic 

timpani/bass drum strokes that begin “Glorification 

of the Chosen One” in Part II of The Rite, for 

example. As for multichannel playback of DFF files: 

two-channel 88.2kHz data can exit your computer via 

a USB DAC for decoding in your processor but that 

doesn’t fly for HD surround sound. For that, most will 

employ HDMI and standard implementations won’t do 

the 44.1 multiples. Converted to 96 or 192kHz PCM, 

Channel’s DSD-sourced multichannel downloads 

sound much less involving than the corresponding 

silver disc program. But an Oppo 103/105 will happily 

read a multichannel DFF file off a hard drive and 

send it via HDMI for processing as 88.2kHz; I spent 

an evening with a Beatis music server that could do 

it as well. The sonic results were Nirvana for the 

multichannel devotee. 

Recital: James Welch. 

Beethoven: Violin Sonata No. 10. Enescu: Violin 

Sonata No. 3. David Abel, violin; Julie Steinberg, 

piano. 

BOTH: Wilson Audiophile. (176/24). HDtracks. 

com 

Wilson Audiophile Recordings—dormant all these 

years—has chosen well for its first HD downloads. 

Recital: James Welch is a stunning recording of a modestsized 

Flentrop organ. The program is mostly Bach, with 

a few less familiar composers thrown in, notably Jan 

Koetsier, whose exquisite Partita for English Horn and 

Organ opens the program. Organ recordings are usually 

judged by their dynamic power; this one impresses 

by virtue of its tonal and timbral nuances. Details of 

Welch’s registrations can be fully appreciated: it’s quite 

obvious when a stop that isn’t an octave multiple of the 

fundamental pitch has been added. 

I've long felt that David Abel and Julie Steinberg’s 

two violin-and-piano records for Wilson are the 

best-sounding chamber music recordings I’ve ever 

heard. The hall has been effectively eliminated from 

the equation and the two musicians are there in your 

listening room, palpably scaled and positioned. Abel 

has a small but attractive tone, and he plays with 

spot-on intonation and a narrow, even vibrato. The 

subtlety and control of his playing is matched by his 

accompanist. 

I have a pristine copy of the Abel/Steinberg LP and 

it pains me—I’m no vinyl fetishist—to report that the 

record sounds better. The two players are presented 

in even sharper relief and the overtone structure of 

Abel’s instrument is delivered with exceptional realism. 

Some of these Wilson LPs go for hundreds of dollars 

on-line. I can see why. Time for Wilson to reissue them. 

Andrew Quint 


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Marantz Reference Series SA 11S 

$3999 

Marantz products almost always stand out from their 

Marantz UD9004 

$5999 

The UD9004 is one of the first Blu-ray-capable universal 

parts, circuitry, and construction way disproportionate to its 

105 at its price point (or even near its price point), because 

competitors for a very musical sound that is notably free 

players with high-end ambitions, and it makes a strong 

low price—virtues that are mirrored in its equally superb- 

the Oppo offers a seemingly unbeatable combination 

from harshness, glare, or anything remotely abrasive. Such 

case for both itself and this new category. After a rather 

CD/SACD PLAYERS 

for-the-money reproduction 

of music. Tonally neutral, 

authoritative and natural, 

of versatility, flexibility, and serious high-end sound 

quality. Clean, clear, and decidedly detail-oriented, it 

hews somewhat toward sonic leanness, but is far more 

is the case with the SA‐11S. The tonal balance is neutral, 

which means that nothing calls attention to itself up and 

down the spectrum. It has state-of‐the-art control and 

complex set-up process, the Marantz juggles formats with 

alacrity. Its playback of video and high-resolution music— 

particularly SACD—is unimpeachable. Meanwhile, CD 

with just a hint of warmth— 

revealing than it has any right to be for the money. With 

resolution yet also an elusive naturalness and musicality 

playback is reference-caliber in dynamics, neutrality, bass 

thus simply sumptuous on big material like operas and 

the BDP-105 what you hear is what’s on the record, with 

that banish all memories of the digital sound of yore. On 

and depth, though the UD9004 imparts some grain to 

nineteenth-century symphonies—the SA8004 is a music 

no comforting (but perhaps sonically misleading) infusions 

SACD sources especially, the SA‐11S is one of the best PS 

vocals and softens leading edges. In addition to excellent 

lover’s dream. Fans of hard rock, heavy metal, and the like 

of softness, warmth, or bass enrichment. In sum, the do-all 

has heard anywhere and unquestionably the best he has 

overall performance, the Marantz delivers all the luxurious 

may—may—find it a little too smooth, but it’s certainly no 

Oppo is a multi-format disc player and multi-input DAC 

had in his house. If he were in the market for an integrated 

aesthetics and refined operation one would expect at this 

sluggard with such fare. It’s hard to imagine anyone who 

appreciates what real music actually sounds like not being 

with which your system can grow (and it is also the vehicle 

of choice for many firms offering ultra-high-performance 

player to handle both Red Book and SACD sources, this 

is the one he would buy owing to its lineage, its perfect 

price. 

us.marantz.com (204) 

seduced. PS bought the review sample. 

us.marantz.com (211) 

upgrade mods). Finally, did we mention the Oppo 

sounds terrific when heard through top-tier headphones 

oppodigital.com (232) 

mediation of musicality and neutrality on CD sources, and 

its absolutely magnificent SACD performance. 

marantz.com (233) 




BUYER’S 

GUIDE 


Cary CD 303T 

$6495 

Cary’s CD 303T is a remarkably complete digital audio 

mbl Corona C31 

$9200 

The Corona line from MBL may well be just about the 

Esoteric K-03 

$11,650 

A brilliant concept beautifully executed, the Esoteric K-03 

dCS Puccini and U-Clock 

$18,999; dCS Puccini U-Clock; $5499 

If you’re part of the 99.99% of audiophiles who can’t 

playback device. Its bag of tricks includes Red Book 

most purely beautiful electronics on the market with 

is much more than a CD/SACD player. It is also a full- 

afford dCS’ $110k Vivaldi digital playback system, the 

CD playback with selectable upsampling frequencies of 

sonics to match. However, in today’s computer-driven 

fledged DAC, with ample inputs, multiple upsampling and 

company’s Puccini CD player is the next best thing at less 


44.1, 96, 192, 384, 512, 

and 768kHz; decoding of 

HDCD-encoded CDs, 

marketplace, if you needed further proof that the CD 

player is alive and well, look no further than the C31. 

A slot-loading CD player at heart, it includes a high- 

filtering options, and even provisions for an external word 

clock. Its USB interface is state of the art, supporting the 

highest resolutions and asynchronous clock control. As 

than one-fifth the price. As with the Vivaldi, the Puccini is 

packed with dCS’ proprietary technologies, including the 

brilliant Ring DAC and a custom software-based digital 

and, of course, SACD 

performance DAC with inputs for USB, SPDIF, and 

a DAC, the K-03 has few peers. Both the S/PDIF and 

filter. The sound from CD is extraordinarily dense in detail 

playback. Both two-channel and multichannel modes are 

TosLink. At times NG found himself giving the CD player 

USB interfaces are among the best AT has heard. In either 

and tone color, with a solid bottom end and spacious 

available, and the 303T’s internal clock processes DSD at 

a slight nod for superior image focus and the reproduction 

case, rhythms are unflagging, details emerge clearly and 

soundstaging. The icing on the cake is the Puccini’s 

22.5792MHz, which is double the norm. What’s more, the 

of low-level detail. But moving to 24-bit/96kHz material, 

naturally, and listener fatigue is non-existent. Dynamics are 

fabulous rendering of SACD. The U-Clock is an outboard 

unit has selectable solid-state and tube output stages. Even 

he preferred USB hands-down. The classic MBL 

superb as well, and the sound is always open and airy. The 

clock that not only improves the Puccini’s sound quality but 

in transistor mode the sound is quite warm (though never 

signature—the bloom and analog warmth that informs all 

K-03 also excels as a disc player, especially when playing 

also serves as a USB interface so that you can access the 

sluggish) in a way that highlights musical expressiveness, 

as opposed to more angular, detail-oriented designs that 

its gear—is built into the C 31’s DNA. A fabulous two-fer. 

mbl-northamerica.com (228) 

SACDs. CD sound is not quite up to the K-03’s benchmark 

in other modes, but it is ravishing nonetheless. Though it 

Puccini’s DAC with a computer-sourced signal. Recently 

updated to support DSD on USB and Puccini digital 

arguably deliver more impressive hi-fi effects. It also 

delivers convincing soundstaging both large- and small- 

is not cheap, the K-03 delivers a level of versatility, buildand 

sound-quality, and operational smoothness that fully 

inputs. 

tempohighfidelity.com (183) 

scale, and layered three-dimensionality with plenty of 

ambience. 

caryaudio.com (213) 

justifies its price. 

esoteric.teac.com (213) 




BUYER’S 

GUIDE 


Esoteric K-01 

$20,450 

The entry fee for Esoteric’s flagship K-01 isn’t chump change, 

Burmester 089 

$30,495 

Burmester’s versatile 089 can be used as a pure CD player, 

dCS Vivaldi Digital Playback System 

$108,496 

The four-box Vivaldi is unquestionably the state of the art in 

Esoteric D-07X DAC 

$4650 

Despite being Esoteric’s entry-level DAC, the D-07X is 

but how often does such a sum purchase three reference-level 

but it also features a built-in linestage—identical to the 

digital sound quality, functionality, and technical sophistication. 

a serious piece of kit. Its high-grade componentry and 

components The K-01 is the best CD player and SACD 

$30,000 088 standalone linestage—a volume control, plus 

This flagship from dCS incorporates technology unlike that of 

lush chassis make it appear underpriced. That impression 


player and USB DAC AT has 

ever heard. Even as an SPDIF 

DAC the K-01 fully competes 

with reference models, and 

a digital and an analog input. Thus, this player can serve as 

both the source and the nerve center of an audio system. 

As with all Burmester products, the 089 positively oozes 

quality. Sonically, the 089 has an ultra-quiet background 

any other digital product, with all the key subsystems designed 

and built by dCS using proprietary hardware and software. It 

sounds unlike other digital products as well, with a density of 

information, saturation of tone color, bottom-end authority, 

dacs 

continues upon listening. 

Sonically very similar to AT’s 

reference DAC, on both SPDIF 

and USB sources the D-07X 

as a transport it puts many stand-alone units to shame. In 

that gives free rein to an intense musicality. The player is 

and highly spacious yet precisely rendered soundstage that 

is a lively, dynamic powerhouse, with tight rhythms 

either player or DAC mode, the K-01’s resolution, dynamics, 

highly but gently resolving, exquisitely renders dynamic 

outdo the competition. Although the complete system 

and rich timbres. The Esoteric lacks a reference’s sonic 

soundstaging, and timing are all top drawer. Meanwhile, the 

and emotional shadings, and provides an uncanny sense of 

comprises four separate chassis, not all of them are required. 

purity—it adds a very thin digital veneer—and sense of 

internal linestage, often an afterthought in otherwise good 

“inevitable” pace. As a linestage, too, the 089 is excellent. 

The pairing of the Vivaldi Transport and Vivaldi DAC 

effortlessness, but these shortcomings are audible only 

DACs, is a standout. Sum it up, and the K-01’s sonics are never 

Using the 089 as a DAC sacrifices some of the integrated 

($74,998) will get you most of the way there. The Clock and 

via direct comparison. On the other hand, the D-07X 

less than riveting. Esoteric has packaged all this performance 

unit’s magic; nonetheless, it is perfectly suited to supporting 

Upsampler are nice additions, but not required to realize the 

distinguishes itself even from many reference models with 

and functionality in a flawlessly operating, elegantly hewn 

an external DVD player or cable box. In any configuration, 

Vivaldi’s extraordinary sound quality. Note that the Vivaldi 

its massive sense of space and surprisingly respectable 

chassis, making the K-01 one of the high end’s best values. 

If AT had to choose a single yet singular digital source 

component, the Esoteric K-01 would be it. 


the 089 delivers a truly captivating musical experience. 

burmester.de (212) 

is a highly sophisticated instrument that requires more user 

involvement than most digital-source components. 


linestage. Care must be taken when setting the D-07X’s 

myriad upsampling, filtering, and clocking options; they are 

plentiful enough to tailor the sound to your liking—or to 

get you into trouble. That’s really the only proviso when it 

comes to recommending this excellent DAC. 





BUYER’S 

GUIDE 


Berkeley Audio Design Alpha DAC Series 2 

$4995 

The Golden Ear and Product of the Year Award-winning 

Alpha DAC is not only one of the best-sounding digital-toanalog 

converters, it’s also an amazing bargain. In addition 

to world-class decoding of CD sources, 

the Alpha DAC can handle any sampling 

rate to 192kHz and word lengths to 24 bits. 

Its robust analog output stage and variable 

output level allow it to drive a power amplifier directly. This 

dacs 

dCS Debussy 

$11,499 

The least expensive DAC from England’s digital specialist, 

the Debussy nonetheless makes use of virtually the 

same circuitry and technology as its far more expensive 

stablemates. Further, its generous feature list includes 

plentiful source-format options, single-ended and balanced 

outputs, and a front-panel sample-rate display. Most 

importantly, though, the Debussy’s sound is pure dCS, with 

a density of musical information that sets it apart from 

Music Servers 

& Peripheral 

productS 

Amarra 

$189, $99, $85, $49 (price varies 

depending on the feature set) 

When Amarra first appeared on the scene it was pricier 

than most of its software competition. But with current 

pricing that barrier to ownership has been greatly reduced. 

While there are sonic differences between Amarra and its 

competitors, the nature, scope, and perceptibility of those 

Audirvana 

$50 

If you have so far 

resisted buying any 

third-party music 

playback software for 

your Mac, Audirvana offers some compelling reasons to 

reevaluate that decision. Especially if you use multiple 

DACs or listen to higher-res files and DSD, Audirvana 

Plus is a more ergonomically elegant and sonically superior 

alternative to iTunes. And for readers who need to see and 

hear for themselves, you can download the trial version of 

Audirvana Plus for free. For fifteen days you can use the 

full version with no restrictions. I’d be very surprised if, by 

the sixteenth day, you haven’t anted up that $50 to become 

a licensed user. audirvana.com (225) 

feature is significant, because the Alpha DAC is capable of 

the competition. Nor is there any sense of frenetic digital 

differences will vary drastically depending on the other 

such resolution, timbral purity, and dynamics you’ll want 

to hear it without the limitations of a preamp in the signal 

path. When used at its best—fed by true high-res sources 

from a music server, and driving an amplifier directly—the 

Alpha DAC delivers stunning resolution of the finest 

machinations; AT found that sound winds out of the 

Debussy like thread from a spool. Moreover, this DAC’s 

USB interface is one of the industry’s best-sounding, and 

was recently upgraded to accommodate 24/192 and DSD 

over a single cable. AT did not care for the Debussy’s 

components, both hardware and software, in your system. 

Still, after all these years, if you want to hear how good a 

Mac-based system can really sound, Amarra is one of the 

few playback programs you must have. In the end, it’s that 

simple.sonicstudio.com (225) 

Channel D Pure 

Music 

$129 

Pure Music is a great 

musical detail, throws a spectacularly large and well-defined 

sound when directly driving a power amp, but otherwise 

piece of software 

soundstage, and plays back music with gorgeous tone color 

the lack of a front-panel alphanumeric display is about the 

at a price that even 

and purity. A reference-quality product at a moderate price. 

berkeleyaudiodesign.com (189) 

only drawback of this superb DAC. Despite being about 

$10,000 less than the next “cheapest” model, the Debussy 

a flea market-scrounging hobbyist audiophile can afford. 

Combine Pure Music with any recent Mac computer and 

boasts a sonic and musical imprimatur that unquestionably 

you have a front end that will play back any digital file from 

identifies it as a true dCS. Recently updated to support 

FLACs to lowly MP3s on up to 192/24 high-resolution 

DSD on USB and all other digital inputs. 


files with ease. Mate this front end with a top-flight DAC 

and you have a digital playback system that will catapult you 

to the forefront of the new computer-playback revolution. 

channld.com (211) 




BUYER’S 

GUIDE 


Meridian Streaming System 

$7500 (Price varies with configuration) 

When RH had the Meridian music server (formerly called 

Sooloos) for review, he gave a visiting speaker manufacturer 

Wadia 170 iTransport/151 Power DAC Mini 

$299/$799 

Wadia’s 170 iTransport was the first Apple-sanctioned 

Berkeley Audio Alpha USB Interface 

$1895 

The folks who brought us the amazing Alpha DAC have 

Bryston BDP-1 Digital Player 

$2195 

The astonishing new BDP-1 Digital Player is a technological tour 

a two-minute crash course in how to use it. Five minutes 

later the manufacturer exclaimed: “I’m getting one!” Such 

is the power of having instant access to your entire music 

library with the tap of a finger on the album art. But the 

iPod docking device that let you tap into the iPod’s 

finally solved the problem of how to get high-resolution 

de force that bridges the divide between the Old World CD play- 

Meridian also anticipates from your browsing what you 

digital output, bypassing the iPod’s compromised 

audio out of a computer with the highest possible quality. 

er and the New World of high-resolution files and music-library 

might want to hear and suggests alternatives. That’s just the 

internal D/A converters and analog output stage. 

The Alpha USB is a sophisticated solution to an apparently 

management. The Bryston BDP-1 performs the same function 

tip of the iceberg in how Meridian’s server revolutionizes 

Digital output appears on a standard jack for 

simple problem: how to connect a DAC to a computer’s 

as a CD transport, but it plays data files from removable USB 

the way you interact with your music library. This is the 

connection to an outboard D/A converter, providing 

USB output. The Alpha USB connects to your computer’s 

storage media, capable of recording thousands of hours of 

state-of-the-art in music servers. After you’ve lived with 

the convenience of the iPod with the sound quality 

of your outboard DAC. As a companion to the dock 

USB port, outputting a coaxial signal (on BNC jack) 

or AES/EBU (on an XLR jack) so that you can drive a 

music, rather than from optically-encoded discs. It plays files of 

all industry-standard sample rates at their native resolution— 

a Meridian, it’s hard to go back to searching for CDs. 

meridian-audio.com (204) 

Wadia has recently created the 151 PowerDAC mini 

DAC. The Alpha USB’s sonic magic is the result of heroic 

from CD-quality 16/44.1 up to mastering-grade 24/192—in a 

digital integrated amplifier. This little all-in-one box 

measures to isolate the “dirty” USB signal from the “clean” 

multiplicity of file formats too numerous to list. As with CD 

should be ideal for a den, bedroom, or desktop system. 

S/PDIF or AES/EBU output, and the precise, low-jitter 

transports, the BDP-1 offers digital-only output in both S/PDIF 

Coupled with a pair of top-echelon monitor speakers 

clocking of the digital-audio output. The sonic result is 

and AES/EBU formats for connection to an external DAC. The 

and the Wadia 170, the Wadia 151 will deliver sonics 

state-of-the-art playback of standard-resolution and high- 

Bryston BDP-1 doesn’t merely “sound better”; the experience of 

that will enthrall anyone who gives it a listen. 

wadia.com (204) 

resolution files, exceeding the performance of even the 

best soundcards. 

berkeleyaudiodesign.com (214) 

hearing music through it is qualitatively different. It plays music 

with an unprecedented purity closer to the real thing. 

bryston.com (216) 




BUYER’S 

GUIDE 


Astell & Kern AK100 and AK120 Portable Music Players 

$699, $1299 

These portable players are best thought of as iPods on steroids. With their finely-brushed black aluminum cases and intuitive 

controls, they give up nothing to Apple in industrial engineering. But iPods max out at a tepid 48/16 resolution, whereas 

the AKs go to 192/24. The AK120 will even play DSD files! Sonically, these players simply stomp modern-day iPods and 

iPhones, which sound dull and dreary by comparison. Even on moderate-resolution material, the AKs deliver high-end 

qualities like timbral richness, airiness, detail, and pace. And once you have held hi-res in your hands, you will never settle 

for less. The AK120 boasts dual Wolfson DACs and twice the memory capacity (a precious resource when storing hi-res 

material) of the AK100. The flagship also has marginally more air, a smidge less grain, and stronger bass. Both players 

constitute wild successes, bringing true high-end sensibility and performance to portable music. iriver.com (236) 

Holm Acoustics DSP 

$10,000 

This DSP unit for room and speaker correction gives excellent results in automatic mode, but offers the opportunity to work 

with DSP in depth—all the way up to designing digital crossovers for multiway speakers. Doing what should be done, the 

unit measures independently the direct response of the speaker and the in-room response of the speaker below 500Hz and 

then makes a correction using both data sets. The results are sonically stunning. Measurement for DSP correction always 

tends to point up how much correction is needed. But the Holm delivers not only the bad news of how much needs to 

be done, but also the very good news of what your system can sound like when it is done right. holmacoustics.com 

(208)

DIGITAL SOURCE COMPONENTS

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