Audio Note DAC 5 Special Review: The $43,500 Question
When I was growing up my father spoke to me about the danger of hyperbole – I was 11 or 12 years old at time. I bring it up because that moment popped into my consciousness again as I was transcribing...
View ArticleReview: Prism Sound CALLIA USB Audiophile DAC and Pre-Amplifier
I reported on my positive impressions of the Prism Sound Callia DAC from RMAF and the the New York Audio Show which is unusual as I typically refrain from making comments on sound at shows. But the...
View ArticleLampizatOr Pacific Balanced DAC review
The ability to present the 3D-image of a recorded vocalist like Frank Sinatra in a startlingly realistic spatial and timbral manner was one of many initial sonic impressions of the LampizatOr Pacific...
View ArticleChord Qutest DAC review
I had to wonder out loud to myself (I just had a baby girl with my partner last week, so I’m talking out loud to myself a fair amount these days because of sleep deprivation) about the coincidence of...
View ArticleTotaldac D1-Direct DAC Review
Expectations can be a tricky thing. Some people say they are essential, others are of the “don’t get your expectations up” camp. I usually fall somewhere in the middle, but when it was time to write...
View ArticleAqua Acoustic Quality La Voce S3 Discrete DAC review
Sub·lim·i·nal – /səbˈlimənl/ Adjective (of a stimulus or mental process) below the threshold of sensation or consciousness; perceived by or affecting someone's mind without their being aware of it....
View ArticleLampizatOr Pacific DAC preview
The LampizatOr Pacific DAC makes you forget completely about the fact that it is reproducing the recorded event and unconsciously allows one to be utterly engaged in the music playing.
View ArticleAudio Note UK DAC 5 Special preview
I’ve heard the word “Special” used pejoratively or sarcastically in relation to my sense of humour and jokes, but in all seriousness it usually carried a more weighty connotation, or inference when I...
View ArticleChord Qutest DAC preview
Oh clichés, you wouldn’t be around if you weren’t so true so often and I’m going to start this little preview for what’s just dropped in at AudioStream with a classic cliché.
View ArticledCS DeBussy to dCS Rossini: A comparison review of two DACs
Whether a marketing stroke of genius, or merely as an honest statement of intent in their naming conventions, choosing 18th and 19th century composers’ names to represent their hi-fi efforts is...
View ArticleAurender N10 preview and a lack of subtlety
I’ve heard tell that subtlety is an art, but I feel that sometimes the art lies in not being subtle at all.
View ArticleAqua La Voce S3 Discrete arrival
Musicality, resolution and realistic timbre to instruments seems to be the overarching focus of the engineering behind the proprietary FPGA-based digital decoding (with no digital filtering) and the...
View ArticleReview: DENAFRIPS Terminator DAC
The several months I’ve spent living with the DENAFRIPS Terminator have been nothing but consistent, feral fun.
View ArticleMétronome Technologie C5+ DAC
As an audio reviewer, there are times I find it necessary to pull back from over-analyzing the sound of a product and get back to the fundamentals that drew me into this hobby in the first place....
View ArticleThe Great DAC-Off!
On a lovely March evening, Herb Reichert, Alex Halberstadt, Stephen Mejias, and I met up at John DeVore's place for The Great DAC-Off!
View ArticlePS Audio Stellar Gain Cell DAC/Preamp
Imagine your uncle Bob comes over unannounced and before he rings the bell, your doorbell rings. That's not right. That's not natural. Thankfully, the Stellar Gain Cell DAC/Preamp comes with your...
View Articletotaldac d1-seven
I first reviewed a totaldac, the d1-Dual DAC, in September of 2014 wherein I said, "...you end up with a presentation that sounds so natural, so life-like, it leads you directly to the music being...
View ArticleMytek Brooklyn DAC
Brooklyn The new Mytek Brooklyn DAC does not sport a slicked back undercut, big beard, skinny jeans, a plaid shirt, and tattoos. Wrong neighborhood. What this Brooklyn sports is a preamplifier, a...
View ArticleAudioQuest DragonFly Red and DragonFly Black
A DragonFly Tale[Parental Advisory Warning] I had an email exchange with my friend Joe about music and movies, as is our wont, and asked— Me "What are listening through?" Joe "I have two pairs of Shure...
View ArticlePlayback Designs Sonoma Series: Syrah Server, Merlot DAC, and OpBox
Andreas Koch, Founder, CEO, and Engineer along with Bert Gerlach, Engineer have recently released the new Playback Designs Sonoma Series that includes the Syrah Server, Merlot DAC, and OpBox conversion...
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