Digital

John Atkinson has posted a review of the Esoteric D-07 DAC ($4800) at Stereophile. His conclusions: The Esoteric D-07 offers solid construction, solid audio engineering, and equally solid sound quality. It presents a significantly cleaner, more sophisticated sound than the entry-level DACs, though its slightly dry soundstaging will work best in systems that are...
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Art Dudley has posted a review of the Chord Chordette Gem DAC ($799) at Stereophile. His conclusions: I admire John Franks and Chord: The power-supply technology used in their power amplifiers is among the most original and advanced in all of perfectionist audio (pity that a decidedly affordable product such as the Chordette Gem...
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Steven Stone has posted a review of the Wyred 4 Sound DAC-2 ($1499) at AVGuide. His conclusions: After my time with the DAC-2 I can’t help but be impressed with it. Wyred 4 Sound has combined a rich feature set with remarkable performance at a price that makes it hard to beat. While I...
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Michael Fremer has posted a review of the dCS Debussy D/A processor ($10,999) at Stereophile. His conclusions: You can't really fight it, nor should you: The Blu-ray disc excepted, the future of digital storage and playback is not any sort of silver optical disc. Rather, it will be hi-rez files downloaded from the Internet,...
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Chris Martens has posted a review of the High Resolution Technologies (HRT) iStreamer DAC ($199.95) at AVGuide. His conclusions: …the little iStreamer is very rich in detail in its own right, and that it is also sounds unfailingly smooth—even on difficult, high-energy treble transients that would give most other budget-priced DACs fits. The iStreamer...
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has posted a review of the Anedio D1 DAC ($1270) at Positive Feedback Online. His conclusions: In summary, Anedio has achieved its goals of providing the most realistic and faithful reproduction of music in an affordable way so it can be enjoyed by almost everyone. The D1 DAC is a truly modern, state-of-the-art component...
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Alan Taffel has posted a review of the dCS Debussy DAC ($11,000) at AVGuide. His conclusions: That leaves me with one last strength and one real weakness to report. Let’s get the bad news out of the way first. Although the Debussy is fully equipped to directly drive an amplifier, I found it quite...
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Stefan Gawlick has posted a review of, and lab report on, the Audionet ART G3 CD player (€5490) at i-fidelity.net. His conclusions: The ART G3 can’t either lever out one of my favourite riddles of the digital world: irrespective of careful decoupling measures one can hear the base which the player sits on. Whether...
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Ed Kobesky has posted a review of the Marantz SA8004 SACD player ($999) at Positive Feedback Online. His conclusions: Is this the value champion right now in terms of performance and versatility for under a grand? I won't argue with anyone who thinks so. It's my kind of machine: classy, unpretentious, well-built, pedigreed and...
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Anthony Kershaw has posted a review of the HRT Music Streamer II USB DAC ($149) at Audiophilia. His conclusions: I listened to hours of files various from my well spaced, toed in Joey Roth speakers (my review link below). The music was airy, spacious, with excellent depth and width to the soundstage (well recorded...
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Doug Blackburn has posted a review of the YBA Design WD202 USB DAC ($879) at Goodsound. His conclusions: While not perfect in every way, the YBA Design WD202 DAC is a good performer in a growing group of digital-to-analog converters in the $800-$1000 range. Its sound was articulate, enjoyable, and musical, with a slight...
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Steven Stone has posted a review of the Channel D Pure Music playback software ($129) which, like Amarra, integrates with iTunes. His conclusions: Pure Music is a great piece of software at a price that even a flea-market-scrounging audiophile hobbyist can afford. Combine Pure Music with any recent Mac computer and you have a...
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Srajan Ebaen has posted a review of Channel D’s Pure Music playback software ($129). Like the considerably more expensive Amarra, Pure Music integrates with iTunes and loads the selected tracks into memory for playback. His conclusions: Of the two Mac-centric music-player software programs—Amarra and Pure Music—not only is Channel D's cheaper. I think it's...
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John Atkinson has posted a review of the Halide Design S/PDIF Bridge USB-S/PDIF converter ($450) at Stereophile. His conclusions: When USB–S/PDIF converters can be had for not much more than $150, a product providing the same functionality but costing three times as much needs to offer sound quality that is beyond criticism. Fortunately, that...
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Chris Connaker has posted reviews of the Asus Xonar HDAV1.3 Slim ($150) and ASUS Xonar Essence STX ($199) sound cards at The Computer Audiophile for those interested in putting together a dedicated music server. His conclusions: Over the last 18 months I've become very familiar the ASUS Xonar HDAV1.3 Slim and Xonar Essence STX...
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Vade Forrester has posted a review of the Wyred 4 Sound DAC-2 ($1499) at Soundstage! Hi-Fi. His conclusions: There are as yet few high-speed USB DACs on the market, but that’s changing fast. The Wyred 4 Sound DAC-2 was the first I’ve had experience with. That wouldn’t matter if it sounded bad or even...
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