San Francisco's AudioVisionSF (1628 California Street) is hosting "From Digital to Analog" on Thursday December 3, 8–11pm. The event will feature Robert Watts (Chief Digital Designer for Chord Electronics, whose Mojo portable D/A headphone amplifier is pictured above) and Jeff Dorgay (Editor of TONEAudio magazine). Shown and demonstrated will be the latest in turntables, cartridges, tube amplifiers, cables, and electrostatic loudspeakers, as well as DACs, streamers, and servers.

In July 2000, I reviewed the Mark Levinson company's first integrated amplifier, the No.383, and found that its sound had "clarity, transparency, liquid mids and highs, with dynamic contrasts." Also evident were the No.383's power-output limitations, the result of building large power supplies and heatsinks into a single case that had to fulfill multiple functions. Still, the No.383's price of $5900 was much less than the total cost of the equivalent in Mark Levinson separates. Later, in April 2007, I reviewed a similarly powered integrated amplifier, Bryston's B100-DA ($3195), which included a built-in DAC.