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I measured the BorderPatrol DAC SE with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 "As We See It", using both the Audio Precision's S/PDIF outputs and USB data sourced from my MacBook Pro running on battery power with Pure Music 3.0 playing WAV and AIFF test-tone files. Apple's USB Prober utility identified the DAC SE as "USB2.0 High-Speed True HD Audio\000" from "C-MEDIA Inc.\000," its serial number as "0 (none)," and confirmed that its USB port operated in the optimal isochronous asynchronous mode.

BorderPatrol specifies the DAC SE as…

Consistent with that last characteristic is the Brooklyn Amp's output architecture: it operates in class-D, a technology that remains controversial. In my first review for…

Description: Dual-mono stereo amplifier; biamped or bridged operation available, user-selectable. Inputs: XLR x2, RCA x2. Output power in dual-mono/stereo and bi-amp modes (1kHz, 1% THD+N): 250Wpc into 8 ohms (24dBW), at 300Wpc into 4 ohms (21.7dBW), and at 400Wpc into 2 ohms (20dBW). Output power in bridged mode (1kHz, 1% THD+N): 600W into 8 ohms (24.7dBW). Maximum peak output current: 35A. Frequency response: 10Hz–30kHz, +0/–3dB. Gain: 23 or 29dB, selectable. Input impedance: 10k ohms. Output impedance: 0.025 ohm. THD+N (1kHz at 1W): 0.002%. THD+N (typical):…

Analog Sources: Kuzma Stabi S turntable & Stogi S tonearm, Thorens TD 124 turntable & Jelco TS-350S tonearm; Denon DL-103, Ortofon Quintet Bronze cartridges.
Digital Sources: Apple MacBook computer running Audirvana Plus; Halide DAC HD, PS Audio NuWave DACs; LG BD550 Blu-ray player; Western Digital T2 Mirror Drives (2).
Preamplification: Auditorium 23 A23 moving-coil step-up transformer, Heed Audio Quasar phono stage, Shindo Laboratory Allegro preamplifier.
Power Amplifier: Shindo Laboratory Haut-Brion.
Integrated Amplifier: Heed…

I measured Mytek's Brooklyn Amp using my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 "As We See It"). Before I test a class-AB amplifier, I usually precondition it with both channels driving a 1kHz tone at one-third power into 8 ohms for an hour. As the Brooklyn Amp has class-D output modules, such preconditioning is irrelevant. However, the Mytek did get warm in use: after an hour or so, the temperature of the top panel was 107.4°F (41.9°C). As class-D amplifiers produce RF noise that could drive my analyzer's input circuitry into slew-rate limiting,…

Editor: Great writing by Herb Reichert: His left brain/right brain/heart trilemma is fascinating stuff.

Herb's review is the sixth very complimentary review of the BorderPatrol DAC, and all the reviewers have emphasized its relaxed, natural quality. Four reviewers, including Stereophile's and C-NET's Steve Guttenberg, have purchased the DAC.

Despite inferior measurements, there is a good argument to be made that R-2R NOS DACs are more accurate than delta-sigma DACs, which use upsampling and massive error correction to achieve good measured…

"We picked CARE because they're incredibly efficient for a large charity—they have only 10% overhead—and are well known among audiophiles," says Robert Stein, founder of The Cable Company. "They've also become known as one of the…

Anders Ertzeid, who serves as the Norwegian manufacturer's vice president of marketing…

My first CD player was a portable: a Sony Walkman. My second CD player was a sturdy black TEAC VRDS 7, which I quickly relegated to transport-only duties serving one or another DACs from Audio Note. From the start, I enjoyed playing CDs. But compared to LPs, digital sounded deficient in contrast and conspicuously artificial, in a plastic-bottles-in-the-ocean kind of way. It felt distant and mechanical. Nonetheless, my brain readily adapted to its shortcomings.

After the TEAC, I switched to a C.E.C. TL2 belt-drive CD transport, which I…