Recommended Components

Digital Processors:

A+:

Benchmark DAC3 HGC: $2399 (includes remote) $$$ ★
Benchmark DAC3 B: $1899 $$$ ★
Benchmark’s DAC3 HGC—the last three letters designate this as the audiophile version, with a headphone amp and two analog inputs—supports files up to 24/192 and DSD64, the latter as DoP (via USB). Bearing in mind the manufacturer’s suggestion that there should be no audible difference between their DAC1 and DAC3, Jim Austin wrote, “In fact, I found the sounds of the two DACs quite different. The DAC1 was brighter; … the DAC3 was all about depths, in several respects … I heard deeper into the music.” The concise conclusion to John Atkinson’s Measurements sidebar: “All I can say is ‘Wow!’” In a Follow-Up, Austin wrote of using the Benchmark processor with the same company’s AHB2 power amp—a combination of high source output voltage and modest amplifier gain that he describes as “optimal for minimizing noise and distortion”—and reported hearing “richer and more interesting” reproduction of very subtle details. The DAC3 B is a stripped-down, lower-priced version of the DAC3 HGC, which omits the headphone amplifier, balanced and unbalanced analog inputs, volume, mute, and polarity controls, and the remote control. It has a fixed output level of 12.3V, which is about 10dB too high to be optimal with a typical domestic audio system. The DAC3 B retains the HGC’s high-resolution ES9028PRO DAC chips, and when he auditioned it using the USB input, Atkinson found it offered a fatigue-free, musically involving wealth of recorded detail. “An audiophile bargain,” he concluded. Using the DAC3 B with the Wattson Emerson network bridge, Robert Schryer experienced a sense of stillness. “Not the absence of motion per se as a sense of poise and permanence, calm in place of stress. The Benchmark presented a large, colorful vista of dimensional, malleable, moving images, but it did so in a rather … peaceful way,” he wrote. He noted that hi-rez through the Benchmark was even more convincing and concluded that the DAC3 B “offers a remarkable combination of stability and transparency.” (Vol.40 No.11, Vol.41 No.10; HGC version WWW; Vol.46 No.3, Vol.49 No.7, B version WWW)

Bricasti Design M21: $16,500
For PCM data, the M21 offers a choice of two linear-phase and two minimum-phase reconstruction filters, and two different DAC modes, labeled Sigma-Delta (8× oversampling), using an Analog Devices AD1955 DAC, and Ladder (R-2R), using a resistor ladder. For DSD decoding it uses a true one-bit modulator, but DSD data can also be converted to PCM. Stephen Mejias started his listening with the R-2R DAC and one of the minimum-phase filters and heard a “Technicolor smorgasbord of textures and timbres,” adding that “the dynamic range was spectacular—a full spectrum of musical flavors, from the most delicate of sounds to huge outbursts. Lovely sound, literally entertaining, realized at a high technical level of reproduction.” He tried Sigma-Delta mode with a 24/384 recording of a Patricia Barber album, again with a minimum-phase filter: “The M21 brought that low range of Barber’s voice fully to life. Tactile bass, crisp, detailed drums. Easily the best playback of Patricia Barber recordings I’ve heard in my reference system.” Which DAC mode did Mejias prefer? “I’ll take either, or both. There is a certain ease about R-2R that I found addictive, but this is strictly a matter of taste.” The Bricasti M21’s measured performance in Sigma-Delta DAC mode was superb, concluded John Atkinson, with high measured resolution, very low distortion, and excellent rejection of data-related jitter. However, he noted that relative to Sigma-Delta mode, the Ladder DAC mode offered somewhat compromised measurements. (Vol.48 No.10 WWW)

CH Precision C1.2 DAC/Controller: from $36,000; As reviewed $43,500
In standard form, priced at $36,000, this modular Swiss processor offers AES3 and coaxial and optical S/PDIF digital inputs. Optional inputs are asynchronous USB ($3000), Ethernet ($6000), an analog input board, with one balanced and one unbalanced input ($2500). An optional clock synchronization board costs $1500, while it can be used with an external power supply ($20,500) and clock ($24,500). The C1.2 incorporates a volume control and uses four 24-bit PCM1704 chips per channel. With the exception of the USB input, it upsamples the input data to 705.6kHz or 768kHz. It will also accept MQA data, and DSD data via DoP. Jim Austin wrote that with classical recordings, what he heard with the C1.2 “is what acoustical instruments sound like, precisely rendered in space. The sense of that space, and of the sounds flowing through it, is expansive and relaxed; … it simply sounded right.” On the test bench, its measurements indicated that the C1.2’s reconstruction filter is a linear-phase type optimized for time-domain performance. Noise, jitter, and distortion were extremely low and resolution was high, between 19 and 20 bits. However, it appeared that the LSB with 24-bit data was being truncated. Nevertheless, the C1.2, both with and without its external clock and power supply, produced the best sound Austin had heard from a digital source. (Vol.46 No.2 WWW)

CH Precision C10 Reference DAC: $105,000
As reviewed, the C10 comprised a single-chassis, two-channel D/A processor with an external power supply. As well as the standard input module (S/PDIF, AES3, TOSLINK, and CH Precision’s proprietary I²S CH-Link HD), the review sample added Ethernet ($6000) and USB ($3000) input modules. (Adding a gold or anthracite finish adds $5000 to the price.) Each channel of the C10 uses multiple DSP devices, one to decode MQA data and another to apply CHP’s PEtER upsampling algorithm, which uses spline interpolation to insert new data points between the original PCM data. (DSD data are converted to PCM.) After that, an FPGA chooses the correct datastream, sending the 16×-upsampled data to another DSP, which applies the PEtER algorithm a second time, increasing the sampling rate by another 16× before sending the data to eight PCM1704 R-2R 24-bit DAC chips. Each successive sample goes to a different DAC, allowing this long-discontinued chip to handle the high sample rate. The C10 can be controlled with CH Precision’s Android app. Jim Austin found that with feedback set to Local, the C10 sounded similar to the less-expensive C1.2, “but with a bit more soundstage depth and width (especially depth) and transients that were a touch more natural, with (crucially) a greater sense of ease.” In John Atkinson’s test lab, the C10’s reconstruction filter appeared to be an extremely short, linear-phase type, offering close to a perfect delta function. The C10 offered high measured resolution, superb channel separation, very low levels of harmonic and intermodulation distortion, and superb suppression of data-related jitter, in both Local and Global feedback modes. (Vol.48 No.10 WWW)

dCS Bartók APEX Upsampling DAC/Network Streamer: $22,000; including headphone amp $24,100
The result of extensive changes to dCS’s Ring DAC hardware and an improved power supply, among other changes, the APEX version of Herb Reichert’s daily-driver D/A headphone amplifier produced musical sounds that were more fantastically appealing than the ones generated by the original Bartók or any other DAC he’d reviewed. Using the dCS Mosaic app, DXD upsampling, Filter 3, and Map 1, he wrote that “the Bartók APEX has a wet feel to its clarity. The original leaned toward transistor-dry … [The APEX] mixed an R-2R naturalness … with a muscular, free- flowing dynamic that kept my attention focused on musical content.” (Vol.46 No.8 WWW)

dCS Lina Upsampling DAC/Network Streamer: $14,400
dCS Lina Master Clock: $8150
The Lina, dCS’s lowest priced streaming DAC, offers two AES3 inputs, two electrical S/PDIF, one TOSLINK, one USB Type B, and one USB Type A, plus Ethernet (LAN). Using dCS’s Mosaic network control and streaming app, Herb Reichert auditioned the Lina both by itself and clocked by the Lina Master Clock. With the DAC alone he noted how spatially expansive and physically present the Poor Things soundtrack sounded and how big-screen the soundspace “looked.” Compared with the dCS Bartók Apex, the Lina’s “light” felt “slightly more brilliant and maybe 3° cooler.” Connecting the Lina Master Clock to the Lina’s word clock input, Reichert heard an easily noticeable increase in vividosity, dimensionality, and transparency. “It was not a loud change, but neither was it subtle,” he wrote. “The clock-enhanced repro seemed distinctly calmer and sharper focused, with smaller, more clearly outlined molecules of sound.” Reichert concluded by noting that he judges the quality of digital playback “not by its resolution but by its density, rhythmic force, and the beauty of its space and light. The Lina excelled at all three.” (Vol.47 No.5 WWW)

dCS Rossini APEX Upsampling DAC/Network Streamer: $34,500 ★
The successor to the English company’s well-regarded Rossini, the APEX edition is based on a reconfigured Ring DAC circuit board with an all-new analog output stage. (Earlier Rossinis can be upgraded for $9000.) Using his preferred settings—Filter 5 for Red Book, F3 for 24/88.2 up to 24/192, F6 for higher PCM resolutions, F1DSD for DSD, and M1 for MQA, DXD upsampling, and Ring DAC Map 1—Jason Victor Serinus compared the APEX with the earlier 2.0 version with an album of Ravel piano concertos and immediately noted that with the APEX there was “a deeper silence between notes, a greater sense of grace, flow, and warmth from string instruments, and a beautiful finish to the sound that epitomized fin de siècle elegance.” With a Talk Talk track, he felt that the Rossini 2.0 “sounded thinner than the APEX, with less substance. Everything seemed diminished and less involving. There was less there.” Serinus concluded that the Rossini APEX DAC was “more than another upgrade; it’s a major advance in digital sound reproduction, one that elevates an already excellent DAC to a much higher level.” While noting that the behavior of the six choices of reconstruction filter was identical to those of the earlier Rossini and dCS Vivaldi processors, John Atkinson commented that overall, “the dCS Rossini APEX’s measured performance was beyond reproach.” (Vol.40 No.1, Vol.41 No.5, Vol.42 No.5, original version; Vol.42 No.6, 2.0 version; Vol.45 No.10 WWW)

dCS Varèse Music System (Core, User Interface, Mono DAC Pair): $294,000
The five-chassis Varèse D/A processor is the ultimate digital statement from British manufacturer dCS. One chassis houses what is called the Core, which manages audio input, conversion, oversampling, noise shaping, filtering, and streaming. It includes an integrated network streamer that, together with the new dCS Mosaic ACTUS app, enables PCM rates up to 24/384 and DSD up to DSD512 and automatically oversamples PCM. The processed data are sent to two mono Ring DAC chassis, one for each channel, via proprietary ACTUS cables. Chassis four is the User Interface. A full-color touch screen tracks data, album artwork, play queues, and other settings. Complete with a Bluetooth antenna, it works in tandem with the Varèse remote control and the Mosaic ACTUS app. Chassis five contains the Master Clock, which utilizes new ACTUS and patented Tomix protocols. The Varèse’s signal processing options are the same as those offered by the dCS Vivaldi; Jason Victor Serinus stuck with his Vivaldi choices for his auditioning—6V output, Mapper 3, and DXD oversampling—and moved between PCM filters F3, F4, and F5. His data source was an Innuos Statement NG/PhoenixNet combo connected to the Core via USB, and he used the Innuos Sense app as well as the dCS Mosaic ACTUS app. The result? “I forgot about note taking as my critical faculties ceded to a sense of wonder. … All the key elements of the audiophile experience—the ‘you are there’ presence and aliveness, the absence of a veil between you and the music, the depth and weight of images, the drop-dead ‘Is it live or is it Memorex?’ veracity, and the overarching sense of being swept up and transported by the music and its creators’ collective achievement—continue to overwhelm me.” Serinus concluded his review by writing “From the time the Varèse entered my system, my sole frustration was that I was unable to listen all the time, every day. I have never experienced so much pleasure and satisfaction, reveling in all kinds of music, in my music room.” Not surprisingly, the Varèse excelled on Paul Miller’s test bench, with superbly low levels of distortion, noise, and jitter and high resolution. (Vol.48 No.5 WWW)

dCS Vivaldi APEX DAC: $52,500
dCS Vivaldi Master Clock: $25,900
dCS Vivaldi Upsampler Plus/Network Streamer: $34,400
The result of the same painstaking development process that produced the dCS Rossini Apex, the Vivaldi APEX features the same analog board and the same choice of coefficient mapping for its Ring DAC and reconstruction filters as the Rossini. However, its larger chassis allows for allows greater flexibility in transformer positioning, component isolation, and what can be done with I/O and the control board. According to dCS, “Vivaldi’s hardware represents a much more ambitious approach to D/A conversion than the Rossini’s digital processing platform.” As the Vivaldi APEX doesn’t have the upsampling options offered by the single-box Rossini, Jason Victor Serinus auditioned the Vivaldi APEX with the Vivaldi Upsampler Plus, as well as with the Vivaldi Master Clock. Compared with the superb-sounding Rossini APEX and its matching Clock, Serinus found the midrange richer and the highs a mite less bright. The Rossini APEX’s depiction “seemed lighter and less substantial, with smaller images,” he wrote. In the test lab, the Vivaldi APEX offered superb measured performance, with very high resolution and channel separation, and extremely low noise and jitter. Serinus summed up his experience of the Vivaldi APEX by writing “It is rare, in a home listening room, to experience anew the full impact of great orchestral music heard in a concert hall. But the Vivaldi APEX DAC, Vivaldi Upsampler Plus, and Vivaldi Master Clock together have made that possible, repeatedly.” Upgrades for the earlier Vivaldi DAC and Vivaldi One cost $9000. (Vol.46 No.3 WWW)

EMM Labs DA2i: $35,000
This made-in-Canada, Roon Ready processor is the successor to the EMM DV2 that Jason Victor Serinus reviewed in 2019. The DA2i features a brand-new “folded cascode” analog output stage designed by Ed Meitner. Unlike the otherwise identical DV2i, it doesn’t have a volume control, but it offers the same optical and coaxial S/PDIF, AES3, USB-B, and network inputs; there is also a USB-A port for connecting an external drive. All the inputs support 24/192 PCM and DSD; the USB-B and network inputs also support up to 2×DSD, DXD (352/384kHz), and MQA data. The DAC uses EMM Labs’ proprietary, discrete, dual-differential, “MDAC2” D/A converters, which render everything as very high-rate (16×) DSD. Serinus used Roon to audition the DA2i—the MConnect app can also be used—and noted that it accurately reproduced the timbres of violin, cello, and piano. Bass was as solid as it gets. “The EMM Labs DA2i Stereo D/A Converter is one of those all-too-rare components whose every sound speaks truth,” he concluded. On Paul Miller’s test bench, the DA2i excelled, offering high resolution, very low audioband noise, superb channel separation, and very high rejection of jitter. “All told, the DA2i is a wonderful example of a proven technology tastefully matured,” he decided. (Vol.48 No.3 WWW)

exaSound s88 Mark II: $7599 ★
Kalman Rubinson was impressed by this network-connected 8-channel D/A processor, writing that “the s88 sounded just right from the first notes, and that impression endured as I immersed myself in a wide range of music over several weeks. … In fact, it exceeds the performance of any DAC that I have used. I would describe its sound as transparent rather than detailed, dynamically responsive rather than lively, and honest in how it presents voices.” On the test bench, the s88 offered a resolution of 21 bits, which is among the highest the magazine has found. The default reconstruction filter is a minimum-phase type, and harmonic distortion, intermodulation distortion, and noise levels were all extremely low. Rubinson concluded: “For some who are already committed to multichannel, the s88, with its superb DAC, convenient streaming and that oh-so-welcome volume control, may be the realization of their dreams. It is of mine.” Rubinson has since obtained the Mark II upgrade, which has no discernible effect on sonics. (Vol.44 No.4 WWW)

Ferrum Wandla: $3195
This slim, MQA-capable D/A processor from Poland can be used with its line-wart supply or with Ferrum’s HYPSOS external supply ($1195). Digital inputs include AES3; optical and electrical S/PDIF; USB-C (PCM up to 32/768, DSD up to DSD 256); and HDMI ARC. There is also a single-ended analog input as well as balanced and unbalanced analog outputs. The Wandla offers three of the reconstruction filters incorporated in its ESS Sabre ES-9038PRO DAC chip plus two “HQ” filters created for Ferrum by Signalyst, known for their work on the HQPlayer app. (Herb Reichert preferred the default HQ Apodizing filter.) With the Wandla’s standard supply, Reichert felt that “melodies felt inhibited, and there was a subtle but distinct metallic hardness that infused the body of every note. Reverb tails were shortened.” Adding the HYPSOS supply set to 22V “made menu-surfing a pleasure,” commented Reichert, adding that hardness was relieved. “Martha Argerich’s Winter Music became supple and distinctly more three-dimensional, with clear, vibrating open spaces between notes.” He wished that this power supply upgrade was something every audiophile could experience. The improvement was not subtle, “and it leaves no doubt about how much a component’s source of energy affects the flow, luster, and body of reproduced music.” Reichert concluded that the Wandla-HYPSOS combo “is a thoroughly, wisely engineered converter that made me look forward to using it and made me smile every time I did. At its best with the HYPSOS, the Wandla danced in the same ballroom as DACs costing over $10,000.” On the test bench, the Wandla performed supremely well with both analog and digital inputs, even without the HYPSOS supply. “It boasts very high resolution, very low distortion and noise, and a bombproof output stage,” wrote John Atkinson. (Vol.47 No.2 WWW)

HoloAudio May KTE (Level 3): $6098 as reviewed ★
This well-constructed, hot-running, R-2R ladder DAC–based, two-box processor costs $3798–$4998 depending on options. It offers seven digital inputs—two coaxial, one optical, an AES3, a USB, and two I²S over HDMI—and balanced (XLR) and single-ended (RCA) analog outputs. The input stage uses op-amps, the output stage discrete transistors biased into class-A. It can be operated as a NOS (Nonoversampling) DAC or in three different oversampling (OS) modes. (The DSD mode reduces the output level by 6dB.) When Herb Reichert auditioned the top-of-the-line Level 3 version of the May in NOS mode, the very first album he played “sounded more fundamentally right than any digital reproduction I have experienced in my little bunker,” he wrote. “Better than any DAC I know, the May recovers the natural pressure behind musical flow.” He found that PCM oversampling added a harsh glare and muddled image specificity, and while the sound was clear with CD data and DSD oversampling, with a nice flow and fine musical textures, the bass was softer and soundstages less precisely drawn. “The May’s true-to-life demeanor made recorded music seem infinite and beautiful,” he concluded. John Atkinson was equally impressed by the transparency and neutrality of the May, though he found that the excellent soundstage depth and sense of musical “drive” in NOS mode had to be set against this mode’s tendency to make pianos sound too “clangy.” Piano in OS DSD mode remained clean and closer to the true sound of the instrument, he decided. In addition, densely scored climaxes “clogged up” a little in NOS mode while remaining clean in DSD mode. On the test bench, the May offered superb measured performance, including 22-bit resolution, greater even than that offered by the overperforming Weiss DAC502! (Vol.43 Nos.8 & 9 WWW)

Ideon Audio eos: $11,000
Manufactured in Greece, the eos offers electrical S/PDIF digital inputs on RCA and BN jacks and a USB port, the last featuring three-stage noise filtering. (Ideon calls this port a “Proprietary Triple Distillation USB input.”) A large display on the front panel displays the incoming data’s sample rate, the output level can be set to High or Low, and there are both balanced and single-ended analog outputs. Herb Reichert used the USB input for his critical listening; he found that neither of his reference processors, a dCS Lina and a HoloAudio Spring3, had greater raw clarity than the Ideon. “What the eos DAC was doing better than any DAC I’ve used is compel me to play songs over and over.” The eos played a favorite Alan Lomax track more clearly, with better tone and greater vibratory presence, than any Reichert could remember. With CDs played on a Sparkler transport feeding the Ideon’s S/PDIF input, he wrote that the eos’s presence, immediacy, and raw transparency “were now subordinated to an atmosphere of copious nuance and wide-spectrum tonal shading.” Overall, the Ideon eos’s sound character most closely resembled Wattson Audio’s Madison. “The eos has that same jet-engine, DAC-of-the-future presence and drive, to which it adds a lot of corporeal, tone-correct realism that I found extremely compelling,” Reichert concluded. On John Atkinson’s test bench, the measured resolution with the output set to High was 18 bits; the Low setting reduced the measured resolution by 1 bit. Both harmonic and intermodulation distortion were very low, and the Ideon eos was immune to jitter with both its coaxial and USB inputs. The only anomalous behavior Atkinson found was that with data sampled at 44.1kHz, the response rolled off sharply above 17kHz and was down by 16dB at 20kHz. (Vol.48 No.9 WWW)

Meitner MA3i Integrated: $11,500
The MA3i Integrated is a trickle-down version of EMM Labs’ flagship DA2i/DV2iM. Equipped with all the customary outputs and all digital and analog inputs except I²S, it converts PCM up to 24/192, MQA, and DSD up to DSD128. Like many other DACs, it only supports DSD128, DXD, and MQA through its USB and Ethernet (RJ45) inputs. Like earlier processors designed by Ed Meitner, the MA3i uses two different reconstruction filters, an IIR (Infinite Impulse Response) filter and an FIR (Finite Impulse Response) filter. A detector looks at the nature of the audio signal and directs the digital audio data to the filter best suited for that type of signal. Compared with the original MA3, Jason Victor Serinus found that the MA3i sounded fuller, richer, “more like music.” Images were convincingly round and 3D. While he noted that he didn’t hear the infinite variations of color delivered by costlier DACs, Meitner’s MA3i Integrated DAC presented music with soaring and pleasing treble, a natural midrange, and solid bass. “Far more than the sum of its parts, its sound was so complete and honest that I had no reservations using it to review recordings and share favorites with friends,” he concluded, adding that in its price range, he doubted you’ll find an equally up-to-date, well-built, reliable integrated streaming DAC manufactured in North America that sounds as good. In John Atkinson’s test lab, the MA3i produced very low levels of harmonic and intermodulation distortion, high measured resolution, and very low jitter. (Vol.49 No.5 WWW)

Moon 891: $25,000
Although the Moon 891 network player/preamplifier has no internal storage, it can play files from streaming services, a directly attached NAS, or a USB stick, using Simaudio’s MiND (Moon Intelligent Network Device) Controller app. (Both Jason Victor Serinus and Tom Fine noticed that tracks streaming from Qobuz through Roon sounded somewhat “blurred” compared to the same tracks streamed from Qobuz through the MiND app.) As well as two pairs of single-ended analog inputs and one balanced pair, the 891 has ARC HDMI, AES3, S/PDIF, and TOSLINK digital inputs. Its DAC converts PCM and MQA files up to 32/384 (with 24-bit files upconverted to 32-bit) and DSD files up to 256. It also includes a fully configurable MC/MM phono stage. Serinus used the 891 as a D/A processor for his original review, and discussed its performance as a line preamp in a follow-up review elsewhere in this issue; Fine auditioned the phono stage for a follow-up. Serinus was impressed by the 891’s digital-domain performance, writing that “it’s a fine-sounding, easy-to-operate one-stop front-end that requires minimal cabling and setup acumen for it to shine.” He concluded that it provides “truthful full-range sound that is so satisfyingly complete that the forever-seeking Serinus kept focusing on what was present rather than what was lacking. The 891’s performance is musical to the core. Highly recommended.” When he auditioned the phono stage with Ortofon and Shure MM cartridges, Fine wrote that “the Moon North 891’s phono preamp is exceptional: quiet and fully revealing. I’m sure it will play well and sound great with cartridges more complex and expensive than mine. On my simple, blue-collar rig, it made vinyl listening fulfilling and fun.” In the test lab, John Atkinson noted that the 891’s digital inputs offered a resolution of 22 bits, with superb rejection of jitter. He was also impressed by the phono stage’s performance in both MM and MC modes, though he noted that to get the lowest noise from the 891’s phono input, the gain should not be set too high. (Fine used the MM-appropriate setting of 40dB.) Atkinson concluded that the Moon 891 offered measured performance that was state-of-the-art for both analog and digital inputs. (Vol.48 Nos.1, 3 & 4 WWW)

NAD Masters Series M66: $7199
The Roon Ready NAD M66 integrates sophisticated streaming options with a modern, multiple input/output preamplifier complete with subwoofer outputs, D/A and A/D conversion, DSP, bass management, DDH to handle intersample overs, and Dirac Live room correction—a USB microphone is included—as well as MM/MC phono inputs. Digital inputs include Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, HDMI/eARC, LAN, USB, two RCA and two optical S/PDIF, and a single AES3. While there’s a remote control, the most practical and comprehensive means of operating the M66 is with the BluOS app. The M66 has an Analog Direct mode, where the signal with the phono, single-ended, and balanced line inputs remains analog from input to output. However, Analog Direct bypasses the tone controls, bass management, and Dirac Live with the analog inputs. It also eliminates the L/R balance control. By default, Analog Direct is defeated and the analog input is digitized at 24/96. Kalman Rubinson had the consistent impression that the Analog Direct pathway was a little more relaxed and open, but he could not consistently determine whether it was engaged or not. When he used the NAD as a D/A processor, Rubinson noted that the sound was clean, with notable delineation of instruments and a nice sense of space appropriate to each recording. “This tells me that the DAC in the M66 is superb, and the analog path through the M66 is transparent,” he commented. “As an analog preamp, as a digital ‘preamp,’ as a DAC, as a room-correction tool, as a Roon endpoint or BluOS-based streamer, its functional and sonic performance is outstanding,” he concluded. “The NAD M66 is a tour de force!” John Atkinson was equally impressed when he tested the M66: “The appropriate word to describe the measured performance of the NAD M66’s line, phono, and digital inputs is ‘superb.’” (Vol.47 No.11 WWW)

Okto dac8 Stereo: €1289 (€1408 with Streaming Option) $$$ ★
Almost identical to the multichannel dac8 PRO in appearance, the dac8 Stereo features a ¼" headphone jack, two pairs of balanced-output XLR jacks, and a plethora of inputs: one AES3 (XLR); four S/PDIF (two coaxial RCA, two TOSLINK optical); USB Type B; two USB Type A; and Ethernet (RJ45). The ESS Sabre DAC chips offer a choice of seven reconstruction filters for PCM data and two ultrasonic low-pass filters for DSD data. Despite its affordable price, the dac8 Stereo was one of the highest-resolution D/A processors John Atkinson had experienced—21 bits, rivaled only by the HoloAudio May, the MBL N31, the Mola Mola Tambaqui, and the Weiss DAC502. The USB input offers lower jitter than the S/PDIF and AES3 inputs, he found, and so is preferred. The dac8 Stereo “opened a transparent window into recorded soundstages, unaccompanied by any feeling of fatigue or undue tonal emphasis,” Atkinson wrote, adding that he continued to be impressed throughout his auditioning by the Okto processor’s combination of upper-bass weight and leading-edge definition. “Not only does the Okto dac8 Stereo offer superb sound quality and state-of-the-art measured performance; its price is a fraction of what you’d pay for competing products,” he concluded. Listed price includes a Raspberry Pi 4–based streaming module (€89 when bought separately) and an Apple remote control (€25 when bought separately). (Vol.44 No.2 WWW)

StormAudio ISP Evo immersive sound preamp/processor: $20,799–$24,999 depending on channel count and digital format
While this multichannel preamp/processor offers a few “legacy” analog inputs, it is for the most part all-digital, input to output, including network connections on both ends. Since it is “AoIP (AES67/Ravenna) Dante Compatible,” it can communicate directly to network-enabled loudspeakers, DACs, amplifiers, etc. Kalman Rubinson used Merging’s MAD ASIO driver package installed on his PC server and was then able to send the Evo’s output to the network input of his Ravenna-compliant Hapi II multichannel DAC. The central graphical display on the front panel indicates input choice, source format, overall volume, and an active level display of the individual channels. Menu access is accomplished with the Up, Down, and Home buttons to the left of the display and the large multifunction knob to the right. There is also a remote control and a Web app, both of which Rubinson preferred. The Evo incorporates Dirac Live Active Room Treatment (ART), which utilizes the low-frequency output of all the speakers and subs (each within its own useful bandwidth) to control the room by sending out antisignals to cancel low-frequency resonances, taking into consideration the in-room acoustical interaction of all the speakers and subs up to 150Hz. While the ISP Evo limits its output sample rate to 48kHz while applying its digital signal processing, Rubinson found that the sound with the ISP Evo was remarkably clear and undistorted, fully capable of distinguishing between lossy sources and higher-resolution, discrete, lossless sources, as well as between lossy streamed Atmos and Atmos TrueHD. Rubinson concluded that he was confident that the ISP Evo, as a purely digital processer, did not impose significant, audible coloration on the sound. “What’s more, the sophisticated yet lucid configuration procedures and the smooth integration of functions and controls are up to the standard that one expects from a high end product. In particular, the ISP Evo offers the most integrated and effective implementation of Dirac Live I’ve ever used.” (Vol.47 No.3 WWW)

Totaldac d1-unity: €11,500
Listening to a 16/44.1 stream of the soundtrack to Todd Haynes’s 2007 film I’m Not There, Alex Halberstadt commented that the body of Salvador Duran’s Martin acoustic guitar “sounded rich, dense, and distinctly solid, as it does through a good record player and on stage. Hearing it hanging between my speakers produced what my brain had assumed was a distinctly analog thrill. The French DAC was allowing me to revel in one of the most fun illusions of reproduced music—the realistic presence of voices and instruments—using a digital signal.” Halberstadt concluded that the Totaldac made music sound more unrestrained and physically believable than any digital front-end he’d heard. (Vol.46 No.12 WWW)

Wattson Madison Streamer: $5500
This small, light, Swiss, Roon Ready streaming processor has three digital inputs—100Mb/s Ethernet, S/PDIF on RCA, and TOSLINK—a volume control, which incorporates lossless LEEDH processing, and balanced, single-ended, and headphone outputs. A stereo Wolfson WM8742 DAC chip is used for each channel, with upsampling and spline-filtering implemented with a Sharc DSP chip. In addition to Roon, the Madison is compatible with UPnP/DLNA, AirPlay, Qobuz, Tidal Connect, and Audirvāna. Supported formats are PCM up to 384kHz and DSD to DSD256. Wattson Music, the company’s iOS App, allows you to change inputs, control volume, adjust the brightness of the front-panel lights, and perform some DSP equalization for “acoustic correction of speaker placement.” Listening with loudspeakers, Herb Reichert found that the Madison LE sounded vivid and compelling; he was struck by the clarity and vibrancy of the musical presentation. He was equally impressed when he listened with headphones, writing that the Madison’s headphone output made Beyerdynamic’s easy-to-drive DT 1770 Pro MKII closed backs sound more liquid clear and pro-level resolving than they had any right to at their $599 price. Reichert concluded that the Madison LE streamer-DAC delivered a level of vibrancy and vital clarity he had not previously encountered for under five figures: “My highest recommendation.” On the test bench, John Atkinson found that the Madison’s reconstruction filter was a very short linear-phase type optimized for time-domain performance. Noise, jitter, and distortion were extremely low, and resolution was very high, at 21 bits. “The measured performance of the Wattson Audio Madison LE is state of the digital art, at a relatively affordable price,” concluded Atkinson. (Vol.48 No.4 WWW)

Weiss Engineering DAC204: $3990 $$$
This unassuming-looking processor is based on the ESS Sabre 9018S DAC chip and features USB, AES3, and S/PDIF on RCA and TOSLINK digital inputs. Accepted formats are DSD64 and DSD128 and PCM 44.1kHz–384kHz, though 352.8 and 384kHz frequencies get downsampled to half their value to be compatible with the AES3 and S/PDIF output specifications. As well as balanced and single-ended analog outputs, there are AES3 and S/PDIF digital outputs. Two toggle switches on the back panel allow the DAC’s output to be lowered by 10dB, 20dB, or 30dB to optimize system matching. Images were solid, with outlines that were clear but not etched, found Robert Schryer. Detail was plentiful and naturally presented. “Perhaps the most striking characteristic of the 204 was how it endowed instruments with physical presence, providing each with its own small, deep soundstage within the overarching one,” he wrote. The Weiss DAC204 allowed him to hear deep into recordings. “Its presentation has an analog-like flow, but it doesn’t sound analog,” Schryer concluded. “Rather, it sounds digital but ultraclean, vivid, and pure.” In John Atkinson’s test lab, the Weiss DAC204 offered a jitter-free analog signal with measured resolution of 21 bits and vanishingly low noise and distortion. “The measured performance of the Weiss DAC204 is state of the digital art,” he concluded. (Vol.48 No.8 WWW)

Weiss Engineering Helios: $25,790
The Roon Ready Helios superficially looks identical to the DAC502 that John Atkinson reviewed in August 2022, but it uses a new output stage that can drive headphones directly (headphone adapter cables cost $495). While the Helios uses the same ESS Sabre ES9038PRO HyperStream II DAC chip, four of the DAC channels are operated in parallel for each analog output compared with the DAC502’s two. The Helios offers the same DSP functions as the earlier processor—Room EQ, Creative (parametric) EQ, DeEsser, Dynamic Adaptation, Vinyl Emulation, and Crosstalk Cancellation—and there are now a large number of equalization presets available for headphones. In the test lab, the Weiss Helios featured a resolution between 21 and 22 bits, which is the highest Atkinson had encountered, greater even than that of the DAC502. The Helios also offered very low levels of harmonic and intermodulation distortion and excellent rejection of word-clock jitter. Atkinson wrote of the DAC502 that it retrieved more information from the digits than any other DAC he had auditioned. With both loudspeakers and headphones, he found that the Helios echoed the DAC502’s extraordinary clarity, “but with an enhanced sense of involvement with the music.” Atkinson concluded that three decades ago, choosing a product that favored “accuracy” or “musicality” may have been necessary, but today that isn’t the case. “The Weiss Helios shows you can have both.” (Vol.47 No.3 WWW)

A:

Cambridge Audio EXN100: $1799 $$$
This streaming, Roon Ready D/A processor offers Ethernet, USB-A 2.0 (for attached storage), USB-B asynchronous (for computer connection), S/PDIF on RCA, optical S/PDIF TOSLINK, and HDMI-eARC digital inputs. As well as Roon, the EXN100 supports UPnP, USB Media, Apple AirPlay 2, Google Cast, Spotify Connect, Tidal, and Qobuz, with PCM up to 32/768k and DSD up to DSD512. The DAC chip is ESS ES9028Q2M. Outputs are balanced and single-ended analog and coaxial and optical digital. Although the EXN100 has a volume control, it can also be controlled with Cambridge’s user-friendly StreamMagic app. While the Cambridge didn’t sound quite as precisely detailed as the much more expensive dCS Bartók, Tom Fine found that the EXN100 sounded “quick, precise, and complete,” like the “killer-priced” Cambridge MXN10 he reviewed in May 2024 “but even more so.” Listening to a needle drop he had made of Clifford Brown and Max Roach’s Study in Brown, Fine noted that the EXN100 sounded cinematic, “with a bit more flesh-and-blood humanity to the voices and punch and drive to the instruments” than the MXN100. He summed up his review by writing, “If you want to hear streaming sound truly hi-fi, without breaking the bank, I suggest you check out the Cambridge EXN100. It may be just the ticket to freshen and expand your relationship with music.” In John Atkinson’s test lab, the EXN100 offered superb measured performance, with resolution close to 21 bits and vanishingly low levels of distortion and noise. (Vol.48 No.4 WWW)

Cambridge Audio MXN10: $499 $$$
The affordable, Roon Ready MXN10 features Ethernet and Wi-Fi inputs, coaxial and optical digital outputs, and unbalanced RCA analog outputs. A USB-A port allows files stored on a memory stick to be played. It can be controlled by Roon or fed audio data with the Cambridge StreamMagic app, which works on Apple and Google smartphones and tablets and natively incorporates Spotify Connect, Qobuz, Tidal, and Deezer. Tom Fine was surprised how well the MXN10’s converter and analog output stage stood up in comparison to the much more expensive dCS Bartók. While a careful listener “probably will favor the Bartók’s improved detail and tighter low end,” he wrote, “let me stress how unfair a comparison this is and let me say again, the MXN10’s built-in DAC sounds damn good.” Fine concluded that “the MXN10 is a thoughtfully considered, high-performance bridge to the future-present, at a price that’s friendly to most budgets.” On the test bench, the MXN10 offered superb channel separation and very low noise and distortion, coupled with excellent jitter rejection. “That the MXN10 performs as well as it does suggests that Cambridge Audio has some serious engineering talent in-house,” John Atkinson concluded. (Vol.47 No.5 WWW)

Eversolo DMP-A6 Master Edition Gen 2: $1399 $$$
This compact, reasonably priced, Roon Ready processor uses dual ESS Sabre ES9038Q2M DAC chips and offers EQ options and room correction, implemented with an XMOS 3rd Gen XU316 processor. Control is via a touchscreen on the front panel or via Eversolo’s Control app. Digital inputs include optical and coaxial S/PDIF, USB-B, and HDMI ARC, and there is also a network port, USB-A ports, and Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity. Roon recognized the Eversolo as an MQA decoder and renderer that could handle 32-bit network PCM data with sample rates up to 384kHz. As well as balanced and single-ended analog outputs, there are optical and coaxial, and HDMI audio digital outputs that support stereo PCM up to 24/192, as well as DoP64 and MQA. (Downloaded or ripped multichannel DSD or PCM files can be output from the HDMI audio output, though the user needs to be able to distribute the music from the HDMI connection to multiple channels.) After using the Eversolo app to apply the parametric filters for his KEF speakers, Kalman Rubinson found that listening to two-channel audio was rewarding. Playing a 24/96 FLAC file of a collection of music for woodwind orchestra, he noted that he was able to relish the ensemble and its textures “as a Partita chortled and bounced along.” “The soundstage via the DMP-A6 was a bit wider than my speaker spread,” he noted, adding that there was a comfortable aura of ambience, but he was more impressed by its presence. “Playing files from my NAS via its internal library, the DMP-A6 sounded just as transparent and balanced as it did when I fed its DAC from my PC server,” he wrote. “It played everything I threw at it, at any resolution, and was able to reveal remarkable detail and nuance, to the very limits of modern recording technology.” Rubinson summed up his time with this processor by writing “the DMP-A6 is a cost-effective entry to a world of music. Its clear, balanced sound makes it a suitable partner for sophisticated amps and speakers many times its modest price. The multichannel output is a bonus.” The DMP-A6 Master Edition Gen 2 did superbly well on John Atkinson’s test bench, offering low jitter, noise, and distortion, and a state-of-the-art 21 bits of measured resolution. (Vol.49 No.7 WWW)

HiFi Rose RD160: $5995
The RD160 uses signal-processing and delta-sigma DAC chips from AKM to provide multiple operational modes: upsampling data to 705.6kHz (for the 44.1kHz family of sampling frequencies) or 768kHz (for 48kHz); PCM (which keeps PCM PCM but converts DSD to PCM); DSD (which converts PCM to DSD64); and Bypass, which keeps the incoming digital signal unaltered. There are six reconstruction filters: Sharp, Slow, Short Sharp, Short Slow, Super Slow, and Low Dispersion Short Delay. The output level can be set to Fixed, ranging from 1V to 4V (via the balanced outputs), or to Variable, with the volume control active. Herb Reichert auditioned the RD160 with upsampling bypassed—he found that upsampling to DSD dulled and darkened the sound, while upsampling to 705.6kHz PCM made recordings sound bold and more forward—and the filter, set to Low Short. With this filter Qobuz over USB sounded crisp and clean and a little sparkly. Super Slow was soft and unsparkly, he noted. With an album of John Field’s Nocturnes performed by Alice Sara Ott, Reichert loved how the Rose’s USB input circuit was scrubbing the grunge off his Mac mini’s USB output. With the RD160, he could sense the mood of each nocturne while feeling Ott’s fingers touching keys was a high-level pleasure. He concluded that without upsampling, the RD160 announced “This is what the bits proclaim!” On John Atkinson’s test bench, the HiFi Rose RD160 offered superb measured performance, with state-of-the-art resolution and very low harmonic distortion and noise. However, that performance was dependent on which of the six reconstruction filters was used. “As always, the better-behaved a filter is in the time domain, the worse it behaves in the frequency domain, and vice versa,” he wrote. Reichert’s preferred Low Short filter offered a good balance between the performance in the two domains. (Vol.49 No.4 WWW)

HiFi Rose RS250A: $2695
The original version of the Roon Ready RS250 offered every feature a downsizing audiophile would need other than a power amplifier and loudspeakers: network, FM radio, digital, and line-level analog audio inputs; video, digital, and analog outputs, including a headphone jack; and a four-color touchscreen that, as well as controlling the RS250, displays streamed videos. The RS250 can also be controlled with the RoseConnect Premium app for iOS and Android. Optional accessories include an internal SSD for music-data storage and a CD drive. Of several filters on offer, John Atkinson preferred the apodizing “Corrected minimum phase Fast Roll-off” filter, which he felt offered maximum transparency to recorded detail. Upsampling, he found, slightly softened the highs. The only measured shortfall was higher-than-usual jitter from the internal DAC, which might have been associated with a slight lack of low-frequency clarity. The RS250A replaced the RS250’s ESS ES9038Q2M two-channel DAC chip with the higher-performance ESS ES9028PRO and supports PCM data formats up to 32/768 and DSD formats up to DSD512. Atkinson concluded his review of the original RS250 by writing, “the sound quality of the HiFi Rose RS250 suggests that nothing had been compromised in packing so many features into its small chassis.” Atkinson repeats that conclusion for the new RS250A, adding that “it is an elegant-looking, well-engineered, multipurpose component.” (RS250, Vol.44 No.12 WWW; RS250A, Vol.46 No.10 WWW)

HoloAudio Spring 3 KTE: $3098 ★
The original nonoversampling (NOS) Spring, which Herb Reichert and Art Dudley reviewed in Vol.41 Nos.5 & 7, was Reichert’s reference DAC for two years. The Spring 3 is available in three versions; the sample reviewed was the top-of-the-line KTE Level 3, which sports a flat-wire-wound O-core power transformer, high-purity 1.5mm OCC silver wiring, R-2R DAC modules hand-selected based on measured performance, and the “enhanced” USB module found only in the Level 2 and KTE versions of HoloAudio’s May. Reichert found that the Spring 3 sounded more like the May than the original Spring but noted that it brought “something uniquely its own to the HoloAudio experience, something lively and bright and rosy-cheeked alluring.” One might almost say “springlike.” He summed his time with the Spring 3 by writing that in terms of build quality, engineering intelligence, and the ebullient character of its solid, stirringly vital sound, the HoloAudio Spring 3 is equal to or better than any DAC he’d used. (Vol.45 No.5 WWW)

LAiV Harmony µDAC: $1194 $$$
This small, affordable, well-finished processor has four digital inputs: I²S over HDMI, coaxial and optical S/PDIF, and USB Type-B. It uses a resistor ladder (R-2R) DAC architecture and a discrete class-A output buffer feeding balanced XLR outputs. A menu offers setup choices including absolute phase, oversampling (OS) or NOS modes, and display brightness. Feeding the LAiV CD data sourced from a TEAC transport with the µDAC in NOS mode, Herb Reichert found that a 1987 recording of Bartók’s string quartets sounded natural and precise, relaxed, and focused. With USB data, the LAiV presented the demonstration-quality recording of the soundtrack to Yorgos Lamthimos’s film Poor Things with less transparency and wetness than the HoloAudio Spring3 LTE but with more torque and raw giddyap, punch, and immediacy. Reichert mainly liked what he heard with the µDAC in NOS mode, but he preferred a recording of Hilary Hahn playing Bach’s Violin Sonatas in OS mode: “Tone became a vibrant force of its own; … tempo was the star of the show,” he wrote. “When I returned to NOS, the sound softened, and the soundstage spread out in all directions—especially depth. The spectrum of harmonics widened. Oversampling’s third-harmonic beat-keeping was replaced with plush overtones. Dimensionality upstaged tempo.” Reichert subsequently compared the µDAC with T+A’s MP 3100 HV G3 and noted that the MP 3100 presented recordings with a more obvious physicality, a finer resolve, and greater dimensionality. But compared to the easy-flowing LAiV, the T+A sounded tense and a tad stern. “What the LAiV DAC does that I find so beguiling is relaxed immediacy,” he concluded. With the Harmony µDAC on his test bench, John Atkinson commented that its measured performance in OS mode was respectable; that in NOS mode was affected by the lack of a reconstruction filter. However, he was concerned by the right channel’s truncation of 24-bit data and the presence of spurious tones in the audioband noisefloor, even in OS mode. (Vol.48 No.12, Vol.49 No.7 WWW)

Linear Tube Audio Aero: $3950 ★
The US-made Aero uses the vintage Analog Devices AD1865 18-bit, nonoversampling, R-2R DAC chip and a balanced output stage with two GE 12SN7 twin-triode tubes. (Conventional 6SN7 tubes can also be used; a rear-panel switch makes the necessary change in the tube heater voltage.) Optical and coaxial S/PDIF inputs accept data sampled up to 96kHz, and a USB input accepts 24-bit data sampled up to 192kHz. Herb Reichert streamed remastered, pre-1949 mono recordings sourced from Qobuz to the USB port and noted that LTA’s DAC featured the “Kodachrome tone” he’d come to associate with NOS R-2R converters. “Best of all,” he wrote, “the Aero added a faint halo of tube luminosity that accentuated room tones and piano harmonics while hinting at the tube gear these recordings were made with.” He expected that; what he didn’t expect “was for the Aero to present these recordings with such a stirring sense of rhythm and momentum, traits I don’t usually associate with NOS DACs.” He summed up the Aero as offering “extreme clarity, timbral beauty, and fit, athletic boogie factor.” On the test-bench, the NOS topology delivers time perfect performance, though the price paid for this is the presence of a large number of aliased products in the audioband with high-level, high-frequency audio data. The distortion signature was dominated by the subjectively benign second harmonic. THD was higher from the single-ended output than from the balanced. (Vol.47 No.8 WWW)

McIntosh DS200: $4000
The DS200 is a Roon Ready streaming DAC that supports Apple’s AirPlay2, Google’s Chromecast, and Bluetooth. On the back panel are two coaxial and two optical S/PDIF digital inputs, an AES3 digital input, a USB port, an HDMI-ARC input for a compatible TV, a DIN socket for McIntosh’s MCT interface, and both wired (Ethernet) and wireless network connections. The DAC is an ESS ES9028PRO eight-channel 32-bit chip used in a stereo quad balanced mode. Analog outputs are both balanced (XLR) and single-ended (RCA). Operating parameters are initially set with menu trees, pushbuttons, and knobs on the front panel, but once the DS200 is on the user’s network, settings can be adjusted via a webpage accessible at an IP address. Tom Fine noted that DS200 had a “sound”: a bit warm in the upper midrange, not overdone in the lowest octaves. “It’s a bit ‘vintage,’ in that it’s not ‘neutral’ or ‘clinical,’” he wrote, but he found it pleasing with many types of music. He heard these same qualities with every input source. He was impressed by the DS200 “because it was easy to use, sounded good, and presented no exotic or annoying issues. Its refined fit and finish and high-quality sound contrasted with yet also complemented its ‘meat and potatoes’ usability and sturdy looks.” In John Atkinson’s test lab, the McIntosh DS200 offered excellent measured performance, with high resolution, excellent rejection of data-related jitter, and very low levels of distortion and noise. However, Atkinson was bothered by poor channel separation at low frequencies with both output types and at all level settings. (Vol.48 No.11 WWW)

TEAC UD-701N: $4299.99
The Roon Ready UD-701N uses a discrete delta-sigma DAC comprised of discrete circuitry that uses field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA). Up-conversion can be used with all digital inputs and comes in three powers: 2×, 4×, or 8×Fs. Users can also set the delta-sigma sampling frequency: 128×, 256×, or 512×Fs. There are multiple digital inputs—two TOSLINK, coaxial S/PDIF on RCA and BNC, USB, Ethernet, and Bluetooth. As well as Roon, the UD-701N can be used with TEAC’s HR Audio Player and HR Streamer apps. However, this isn’t just a D/A processor—it’s also a fully balanced, two-input (RCA + XLR) line-level preamplifier and a two-output headphone amplifier (4-pin XLR and ¼" jack). The analog input signals remain analog all the way through, including to the headphone outputs. Herb Reichert commented that the 701N’s analog stage “put a nice semigloss on the sound” and offered “unusually deep, perfectly tuned bass.” With digital data, he found that DSD sounded better than PCM. With PCM data, he switched to 1-bit when a piano recording needed firming up, and to multibit when he needed more color and atmosphere on a vocal recital or movie soundtrack. However, he felt that the upsamplng modes were “more of a placebo than a panacea.” Overall, “TEAC’s UD-701N rendered my analog and digital content with a powerful, unprocessed, extrasolid this-is-it feel that made extended listening easy and something to look forward to.” On the test bench, there was no reconstruction filter with upsampling turned off—the impulse response was a time-perfect delta function. This was also the case with all the upsampling modes, but these offered improved rejection of aliased images. Digital resolution in all modes was close to 16 bits. John Atkinson reported that the UD-701N’s behavior as an analog preamplifier offered a wide frequency response coupled with superbly low crosstalk, noise, and distortion, even into 600 ohms. (Vol.47 No.12 WWW)

B:

Fezz Audio Equinox: $3295
This Polish processor, designed by Lampizator’s Łukasz Fikus, uses a Burr Brown PCM 1794 converter chip with a single 12AU7 output tube. There is a USB Type B port, as well as coaxial and optical S/PDIF digital inputs. Herb Reichert used the USB input; John Atkinson found that the optical inputs only worked with data sampled at 44.1kHz, and then only with one particular optical cable. Listening to a favorite Sun Ra album, Reichert wrote that bass and treble came through with extra-clean transients and extraordinary low-level detail. “Qobuz streaming sounded unusually alive and communicative. There was punch, and leading-edge transients felt electric. Images were conspicuously large,” he found, and concluded that the Equinox is “a price-conscious reimagining of what an audiophile D/A converter needs to be. … It is simple to use, fashionable looking, and it delivers 80% (or more) of the sound quality you’d get with a DAC with a five-figure price tag.” In the test lab, the Equinox offered a lower-than-usual maximum output level, a very high output impedance, a measured resolution of between 17 and 18 bits, power supply–related spuriae in its output, and substantial levels of second harmonic and second-order intermodulation distortion. “Disappointing,” concluded Atkinson. (Vol.48 No.6 WWW)

Lejonklou Källa: $9250
Audiophiles turn up their noses at the lossy compression used by the Spotify streaming service. But to his amazement, Alex Halberstadt found that with this bare-bones Swedish DAC—it is limited to 16/44.1 resolution and the manufacturer says it’s designed to work best with AirPlay—“Spotify drew me into my music in a way I hadn’t experienced previously with digital. It did away with the invisible glass wall digital often places between the music and the listener more thoroughly than any device I’ve heard.” Compared with lossless audio streamed to the Källa from Qobuz, Halberstadt found that while he heard slightly more solidity, more incisive detail, and maybe a bit more tone color with Qobuz, with Spotify “the music simply soared and jumped, while with Qobuz it kind of sat there, glowering.” Compared to the far more expensive Grimm MU2, the Källa sounded tonally lighter, a touch less colorful and resolute, but also a hair more engaging. (Vol.46 No.3, Vol.49 No.4 WWW)

Deletions
Eversolo DMP-A8, Mojo Audio Mystique X’25 AM, discontinued. Bel Canto E1X-DC1, Mola Mola Tambaqui, Audio-GD R7HE MK3, not auditioned in a long time.