Digital Processor Reviews

Metaphor 5 loudspeakers, the Valve Amplification Company's PA 80/80 power amp, and the McCormack Micro Line Drive or Audio Alchemy's DLC preamps were used for all evaluations. I compared the DAC-1 to Krell's Reference 64, McCormack's DAC, Micromega's DAC, Arcam's Black Box 50, and Audio Alchemy's DAC in the Box (DITB) and DDE v1.1 D/A converters, as well as to the internal DACs in the Audio Research CD-1, Arcam Alpha One, NAD 504, and MicroMega Stage 2—using the transport sections of those units to make the comparisons.

A McCormack Digital Drive supported by a Townshend Seismic Sink drove the coaxial input, and a Marantz LV-510 laserdisc player was attached via TosLink. Digital cables utilized were Transparent Audio's coaxial Digital Link and MIT's Terminator 2. My usual assortment of reference cables includes Transparent Audio Music Link Reference and Magnan 4 Vi interconnects, as well as Transparent Audio Music Wave Reference and OCOS speaker cables. That's a lot of stuff, but I was so fascinated by the results that I just kept going.—Wes Phillips