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Adcom GDA-700 D/A processor Measurements

Sidebar 2: Measurements

The Adcom GDA-700 had a maximum output level of 4.44V from the balanced outputs and 2.1V from the single-ended jacks. The output impedance was a low 78 ohms (unbalanced) and 156 ohms (balanced). DC levels were low (2.9mV left channel, 1.3mV right channel), and the unit doesn't invert absolute polarity. The GDA-700 also had no trouble decoding 32kHz and 48kHz sampling frequencies.

Fig.1 shows the GDA-700's flat frequency response and perfect de-emphasis tracking. The rolloff of 0.5dB at 20kHz is slightly steeper than in many processors, but should be…

Adcom GDA-700 D/A processor Specifications

Sidebar 3: Specifications

Description: Digital/analog converter with multi-bit DACs. Inputs: two S/PDIF on RCA jacks, one AES/EBU, one TosLink. Outputs: one S/PDIF on RCA jack, one pair analog outputs on RCA jacks. Frequency response: 20Hz–20kHz, +0, –0.5dB. THD: <0.009%, 20Hz–20kHz, full-scale. S/N ratio: 106db (20–20kHz, unweighted), 112dB (A-weighted). Dynamic range: 98dB. Crosstalk: –106db (20Hz–20kHz). Linearity: >1dB at –100dB. Filtering: Pacific Microsonics PMD100 oversampling with HDCD decoding. Analog output voltage: 2.234V RMS at full scale. Power consumption: 25W.
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<I>Miles Davis at Newport, 19551975</I>

Miles Davis has been dead for nearly a quarter century, but, as he predicted in his rowdy memoir, the record companies keep rolling out product in his name. Not that there's anything wrong with that. We're talking, after all, about the great protean figure in jazz, a man who changed the music four times in as many decades and played at the top of his game at some point in each phase, often for years at a time.

News of yet another boxed-set of previously unissued Miles recordings never fails to zap the juices of anticipatory pleasure—and Sony's vaults, in particular, hold a lot of them.…

California Audio Show 2015: Day One

On paper, the 6th annual California Audio Show, taking place this weekend at the Westin SFO in Millbrae, CA just south of San Francisco, qualifies as the smallest consumer audio show in the United States. But you wouldn't have known it from the lines at the registration table at 10:30am on opening day. The place looked packed. And the reality was, given 29 active exhibit rooms, some with multiple systems, plus other active exhibits in the lobby, Friday's turnout felt perfect.

On Friday, August 14, only once did I find myself the sole visitor in a room. Often, in fact, every seat in the…

California Audio Show 2015: Day One Continued

The California Audio Show may be for consumers, and the Consumer Electronics Show for members of the industry, but they have one thing in common: the venues in which they display high-end gear, the Westin SFO and Venetian Las Vegas, share a similar upper floor layout where corridors fan out from a central area near the elevators. But there, the similarities end. Because at CES, where displays are identified by identically sized signs in long corridors that seem to stretch down three very long roads, only to terminate at some unholy confluence between Infinite Bliss and the dreaded Black Hole…

Hot Contenders at the 2015 CAS

"Do you two have a bodyguard?" I asked Elac speaker designer Andrew Jones (right) and equally legendary Audio Alchemy electronics designer Peter Madnick (left) upon hearing the tremendous sound pouring forth from their bargain system ($5500 including custom-made music server and cabling). "If you don't, you'd be wise to consider hiring one. Given the virtually illegal amount of warmth, bass, and full-range sound you're getting from those tiny little speakers and that sub, I wouldn't be surprised if at least one high-priced manufacturer is tempted to do you in, lest you give the lie to the…

California Audio Show 2015: Second Day Rounds

Mexico's most distinguished audio manufacturer, Margules Audio, demmed a system at CAS6 headlined by the Margules U280-SC 25th-Anniversary, stereo tube amplifier ($5399). The midrange was warm and wonderful—just what the doctor ordered, in fact. Despite a little brightness on top, and a bit of shallowness on bottom, the set-up was supremely musical and capable of conveying joyful, delicate beauty with panache. That, my friends, means a whole lot in my book.

Also doing the honors, besides a Densen CD-410 CD player ($2200) and full complement of Atlas cables ($7000 total), were Margules'…

California Audio Show 2015: Day 2 Continued

I wish I could tell you about the Linn system in this room, but both times I tried to enter, Steven Lester was in the middle of a long rap. Lester's video components always provide some of the most fun and unexpected treats at a show, and usually result in packed rooms. That was certainly the case the first time I came by.

Grant Fidelity, PureAudioProject, and Mundorf won my Best Slap-Silly Dance Music of Any Show Award with Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines." Believe me, it was no contest. It was also no contest between the two amps in the room, the rockin' Psvane TS845 SET…

The 2015 California Audio Show: Sunday

Greek actress Melina Mercouri may have abstained on Sunday, but for audiophiles and distributors, slow slow Sunday is the day when systems are at their best. It's also the time when attendance dips markedly, and visitors can often spend all the time they want in rooms without preventing others from joining in the fun.

Sunday, for Stereophile, began in the larger rooms on the 2nd floor of the Westin SFO. In the first I visited, Pass Labs mated its INT-60 integrated amplifier ($9000) and XP-15 phono preamp ($3800) with a modified Technics SP10 Mk.II turntable fitted with a My Sonic Lab…

California Audio Show 2015: Striking Gold on Day 3

How to explain this one? At other shows, the most problematic rooms for an exhibitor to control are usually the large rooms on the ground level, where a combination of air walls, air-conditioning ducts, wall composition, and secrets pacts between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (which, in this case, was literally across the street from the Westin SFO) can defeat any and all attempts at good sound. But at both the California Audio Show and the last T.H.E. Show Newport Beach, most of the big rooms on the ground floor produced excellent sound.

The first additions to a "Best Sound at CAS6"…