Digital

Nicolas Bedworth has posted a review of the Audiophilleo 1 and 2 USB to S/PDIF converters at 6moons which contains a detailed discussion of jitter. It is well worth reading. His conclusions on the Audiophilleo units: The flexibility and overall functionality of the Audiophilleo 1 and 2 are about the best available outside of...
Read More »

Chris Heinonen has posted a review, including test measurements, of the Sony SCD-XA5400ES SACD Player ($1500) at Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity. His conclusions: Combined with my wife, we have well over 400 CD’s in our collection, and I know there are people out there with far more than that. The Sony...
Read More »

Jack Roberts has posted a review of theMarantz SA-11S2 SACD player ($2999) at Dagogo. His conclusions: It doesn’t matter if you’re playing redbook CDs or SACDs, the SA-11S2 sounds very nice. It has a warm sound with more than adequate detail. In many ways, it reminded me of the sound of Marantz’s original SA-1...
Read More »

Steven Austen has posted a review of the Audio Note UK CD-2.1x MkII CD player ($3850) at Dagogo. His conclusions: I listen to a wide array of music from several genres and I was impressed at not hearing the CD player’s voice. Disc after disc sounded wildly different from each other and in some...
Read More »

Steven Stone has posted a review of the Weiss DAC 202 24bit/192kHz FireWire DAC ($6670) at AVGuide. His conclusions: It’s difficult to remain complacent when you review a component that outperforms anything you’ve reviewed in the past. The natural tendency is to go into rave mode and turn the review into fan-boy screed. I...
Read More »

Has posted a less than enthusiastic review of the Micromega AirStream WM-10 Wireless DAC ($1599) at Home Theater. His conclusions: If your goal is to get high-quality music from iTunes to your stereo, you might think you could simply hook your computer’s headphone jack to your system and be on your way. That’s fine...
Read More »

Alan Sircom, Editor of Hi-Fi+, has posted a review of theNeodio NR22 CD player ($18,900) at AVGuide. His conclusions: If there’s one word that can sum up the Neodio NR22 sound, it’s probably ‘lithe’. The performance is fluid, natural, well-balanced, but most of all, it manages to sound like real music. This, above all...
Read More »

Srajan Ebaen has posted a review of the Antelope Audio Zodiac Plus DAC ($2500) at 6moons. His conclusions: As a 1st-gen pro-audio platform introduced to the consumer audio market, Antelope's Zodiac+ is an impressive debut. Out of the gate it competes on the level of the two DAC2s from Wyred4Sound and Weiss respectively and...
Read More »

Phil Gold has posted a review of theEMM Labs XDS1 CD/SACD Reference Player/Converter ($25,000) at Superior Audio. His conclusions: n short, SACD performance is raised to unmatched levels in my experience, while CD comes closer than ever before to SACD. In every single area of performance, resolution, timing, transient response, decay, image size and...
Read More »

Jeff Parks has posted a review of the Marantz SA-11s2 ($3000) SACD player at Positive Feedback Online. His conclusions: How does the SA-11s2 sound when playing SACDs? For the first time while listening to SACDs I truly believe what a reference instrument is all about—that being to play the music without adding any artifacts...
Read More »

Chris Connaker has posted a reviewoftheArcam rDAC Asynchronous USB DAC($479) at The Computer Audiophile. His conclusions: The Arcam rDAC has three big things going for it, very good sonic performance, reasonable price, and great exterior design. This level of sonic quality starting with a great async USB interface is not common for $479. Throw...
Read More »

Wes Phillips has posted a review of the NuForce CDP-8 CD player ($1450) at Stereophile. His conclusions: There's nothing wrong with being "just" a CD player. In fact, NuForce points out that by optimizing the CDP-8 to do just one thing and do it well, they've created a product superior to Swiss Army Knife...
Read More »

Chris Groppi has posted a review of the Bryston BDA-1 Digital to Analog Converter ($2150) and Halide Design USB to SPDIF Bridge ($450) at Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity: His conclusions: The combination of the Bryston BDA-1 and the Halide Audio USB to SPDIF bridge is something very special. It was good...
Read More »

Anthony Cordesman has posted a review of the EMM Labs XDS1 CD/SACD player ($25,000) at AVGuide. His conclusions: The most musically natural SACD and CD player I have yet encountered. A true pleasure to listen to! I owe HP one for introducing me to EMM Labs. I should also say that I am making...
Read More »

Todd Whitesel has posted a review of the Cary MS-1 Digital Music Server/Player ($2500) at AudioVideoRevolution. Here’s an excerpt: I've sung the praises of HDtracks and the company's high-resolution FLAC downloads. And it's here that the MS-1 clearly separates itself from conventional compact disc players. I love being able to have 24/96 audio files...
Read More »

Gary Lea has posted a review of the Ayon CD-7 CD player ($2995) at Positive Feedback Online. His conclusions: Overall the CD-07 represents a great value and a remarkable feat at the price. You get a top flight CD transport and player with the added bonus of the iPod capability. If you do not...
Read More »

Edgar Kramer has posted a review, including a full suite of measurements, of the Bel Canto DAC3 with USB input ($2495) at AVHub. His conclusions: Ergo, the Bel Canto DAC3 serves oodles of detail and superb dynamics with a sense of speed and tight control of the whole frequency span. Put on an acoustic...
Read More »

Jason Kennedy has posted a review of the Rega Isis CD player ($9995) at The Audio Beat. His conclusions: Whilst the Valve Isis was in residence, I enjoyed an all-too-fleeting period with a Metronome Kalista Intégré, an alarmingly expensive French CD player (£38,000 here in the UK, $65,000 in the US) that does everything...
Read More »

Kal Rubinson has posted a review of the Logitech Squeezebox Touch network music player ($299) at Stereophile. His conclusions: By now you'll little doubt of my enthusiasm for the Logitech Squeezebox Touch. Streaming music from the Internet is great for an unlimited supply of background music, but high-definition downloads can be brought to your...
Read More »

Larry Cox has posted a review of the m2tech hiFace USB to S/PDIF converter ($150) at Positive Feedback Online. His conclusions: I also had an opportunity to compare the hiFace in my system to the Ayre QB-9 USB DAC. Dave brought the QB-9 over for a listen along with a $2800+ USB cable from...
Read More »