Digital Processor Reviews

The fundamental system used to assess the sound of the Delta Black Box consisted of the following: Celestion SL700 loudspeakers, sitting on their own spiked stands well away from room boundaries, were driven by a pair of VTL 100W Compact monoblock amplifiers, and were bi-wired with Monster M1 speaker cable. No active preamplifier was used, all signals being routed through the Mod Squad Deluxe Line Drive reviewed last month and since purchased as a line-level reference.

A Marantz CD-94 CD player was used as the source transport to provide data for the Black Box to handle; it also fed the expensive Sony DAS-R1 D/A converter unit reviewed by J. Gordon Holt in December. The Precision Audio DVIC-471 player reviewed last November was also used, as was an inexpensive Magnavox CD472 player I purchased to use as a reference. Interconnect was Audioquest LiveWire Lapis.—John Atkinson