LATEST ADDITIONS

The big news in this excellent-sounding system was the two new power cables from Purist Audio Design. First was the Purist Diamond Limited Edition AC Power Cable ($6300/1 meter, with an ultimate length of 1.8 tip to tip). Composed of 10-gauge Nano silver, the cable includes a five-stage filter box intended to counteract RMI and EF from outside forces and the internal workings of equipment. Beneath that baby lies Purist's all-new Diamond Revision Neptune AC Power Cable ($3800/meter), which contains 8-gauge copper wrapped with strands of Nano silver.

The new EMM Labs NS1 Network Streamer ($4500—the smallest of the three products in the above photo), due in two months, seems to be Ed Meitner's response to the dCS Network Bridge. The NS1 will decode up to 24/192 PCM and DSD 64 and fully unfold MQA, and is a Roon-ready endpoint. In addition, when connected via the company's proprietary Optilink to other EMM Labs products, including the DV2 Integrated Converter that received a rave when I reviewed it for Stereophile, the NS1 can be optically isolated from the network to reduce noise. The NS1's inputs include ethernet and USB; its outputs, in addition to the aforementioned Optilink, include AES and Toslink.

When I entered the MSB room, a track from the JVC XRCD version of Sonny Rollins's Rollins Plays for Bird was transmitting all of the recording's smooth, warm, and sophisticated elegance. That last word isn't one I use often when describing high-end systems, but that's exactly what I experienced here.