Clik here to view.
Musical Fidelity M1 CLiC universal music controller
The taxonomy of audio products used to be easy. An amp, a preamp, speakers, a disc player or two—done. Now that hard drives, streaming clouds, and computers have entered the scene, unless your world...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Abbingdon Music Research DP-777 D/A processor
Computer audio is more than just a pleasant distraction. For the jaded reviewer, USB digital converters and the like are an escape from that humdrum, if only because they bring with them so many...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Mark Levinson No.35 D/A processor
When a manufacturer sets out to design and build a product, be it in high-end audio or any other field, the final retail price is usually a prime consideration. Parts and assembly are only part of the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Extraction vs Generation
Many years ago I bought the first model of the Audio/Pulse ambience synthesizer. Like many audiophiles, I was convinced (and still am) that the standard two-speaker stereo experience provides an...
View ArticleMeitner IDAT D/A processor
There are as many ways of designing a digital-to-analog converter as there are engineers. One approach is to select parts from manufacturers' data books and build the product according to the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Peachtree DAC•iT D/A converter
It's common knowledge that manufacturers tune the sound of each DAC model. There are the facts of product design and marketing: inputs, outputs, case materials, price points. After that, what's left...
View ArticleNAD M51 Direct Digital D/A converter
Who wants only a digital-to-analog converter when you can have a DAC with benefits? How about if those benefits also come with some high-resolution attitude? That's what I pondered while setting up...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Halide Design DAC HD D/A converter
When it comes to getting audio from a PC via its USB port, the buzzword du jour is asynchronous. This cryptic term refers to which device has control over the timing of the audio data being streamed...
View ArticleMusical Fidelity V-DAC II D/A processor
There's so much uncertainty and confusion surrounding computer audio and high-resolution downloads. Which hi-rez formats will win out? How do you store the downloads you've bought? (Easy. Don't buy...
View ArticleAudio Alchemy DTI•Pro 32 Jitter Filter
With the introduction of Audio Alchemy's Digital Transmission Interface (DTI) more than three years ago, the company created an entirely new category of hi-fi product: the jitter filter. The original...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Classé CP-800 D/A preamplifier
I was setting up for some musical demonstrations I was to present for a Music Matters evening at the ListenUp! store in Boulder, Colorado, in May 2011. For these events, an audio store invites...
View ArticleClik here to view.
AudioQuest DragonFly USB D/A converter
"This product is an industry disrupter." Thus spoke AudioQuest's Steve Silberman, VP of development, of their brand-new USB D/A converter, the DragonFly. "There are a lot of very good DACs out there,"...
View ArticleClik here to view.
MSB Technology Platinum Data CD IV transport & Diamond DAC IV & D/A...
The audiophile does not pursue music reproduction because it is useful; he pursues it because he delights in it, and he delights in it because it is beautiful. If music were not beautiful it would not...
View ArticleAyre Acoustics QA-9 USB A/D converter
Since its founding in 1993, Colorado-based Ayre Acoustics has made its name with amplifiers and preamplifiers based on truly balanced, solid-state circuitry that didn't use the ubiquitous panacea of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Devialet D-Premier D/A integrated amplifier
Most reviews are straightforward. One preamplifier or power amplifier replaces another. DACs are swapped out. A new pair of speakers takes up residence in the listening room. But some products demand...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Arcam FMJ D33 D/A processor
As I wrote in my review of the Bricasti M1 D/A processor in February 2012, it seemed a good idea in the late 1980s: upgrade the performance of your CD player by feeding its digital output to an...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Peachtree Audio decco65 D/A integrated amplifier
Whether one was surprised, in 2010, by the success of Peachtree Audio's iDecco may have more to do with age than anything else. My peers and I wondered, at first, who would want their high-end...
View ArticleClik here to view.
iFi Audio iDAC & iUSBPower USB D/A processor & outboard power supply
Bratty, mollycoddled, and altogether spoiled consumers such as you and I have inflicted on computer audio the same injustice that laparoscopic surgery, antilock brakes, mobile telephones, word...
View ArticleClik here to view.
M2Tech Young D/A processor & Palmer Power Station battery power supply
You know what's fascinating? As digital audio technology matures, DAC design is not converging on a single most popular or overall best approach. Multiple design paths continue to thrive, new ones are...
View ArticleHRT Music Streamer HD USB D/A processor
No history of the computer-audio marketplace could be complete without some mention of High Resolution Technologies, the California company whose Music Streamer was, in 2009, the first...
View Article