Eversolo DMP

The name Eversolo sounds like this is the one. Its a good name for Android media player. That is right, this is an Android media player by the famous Zidoo (China) in some of the highest end Android player today which cost over RM10,000 being the top of the line (Zidoo Alpha) which is well known in the home theater world. With success of Zidoo in the home theater segment, the company is venturing into the stereo world. Eversolo is not new in the line of Zidoo's product line up. It started of with the Eversolo Z6 and Z8 DAC which is quite a hit in the market. With the success of their DAC, it comes with the latest product of DMP A6 which is a streamer and media player (audio only). 

It comes with 2 different edition or models. The standard edition and the master edition.

Standard Edition

                                                                           Master Edition

The difference of the unit other than the gold batch in front of the master edition, is the internal clock of master edition is upgraded version . Two accusilicon femtosecond oscillator. The op amps is also upgraded to OPA1612. In simple summary the upgrade reduce noise and with low distortion. 

The video of unboxing is the standard edition. In terms of packaging, both standard and master have the same boxing. The box itself is pretty good looking. Inside of the box packing is definitely top notch and the player itself wrap within a beg. Out of the beg the unit itself is aluminium chassis. Well build of the casing, pretty solid and quite weighty of 3kg for such a small unit 187mm x 270mm x 90mm. 

Looking at the back of the unit, this one media player that covers all kinds of connection you can think of. There are 3 antenna on this unit for wifi and also bluetooth. It can support ethernet as well. The HDMI is has the ARC feature will be useful for connecting to TV. 2 x USB3.0 for external storage connection and also output to external DAC. It has digital input as well if someone will like to use it as a DAC. Optical, coaxial and USB C input can be use to connect computer or any other external player to the Eversolo. The player also support optical and coaxial output. Finally the analog output has the RCA and XLR. The only connection not available on this unit is AES. 

The front LCD touch screen is really a good size (3 inch) which is good to enough to see the wordings from about 3 feet away. As per picture above the lay out is good enough and not too pack. The meta data is download from internet as soon as the music starts playing. 

At the home display of the LCD panel is pretty standard look of an Android. I will describe it similar to a mobile phone (Android). Additional apps can be installed into the player like any other Android system. Anyone familiar with Android will be easily navigate around. At least it doesn't take any kind of computer know how to get it working.  The Eversolo apps can also be download into mobile for Apple or Android for remote control.

The apps is quite user friendly. Simple layout, which is pretty much the same kind of standard Android type of user interface. Streaming or playing directly from player and pretty much any kind of configuration can be done from the apps itself. This is pretty useful while seating some distance away and able to control the entire unit. Having said that, this unit does not comes with remote control like a traditional player. With this interactive remote apps, really do not need anything else. The unit can also be access remotely from web browser by accessing the IP address.

Now is time to give the unit a go. First try out with the USB connected to external drive. The playback is pretty straight forward after the files are display in the screen and playing it back. The downside here is the time it takes for the unit to build the list (depend on storage size) can be quiet long. First song tried out on Ed Sheeran  "How Would You Feel". Its a FLAC file being use. The vocal is pretty sharp but I will say is a little over the top. The lower end is pretty solid but a little boomy. Sound stage is pretty good overall in covering the listening area of 200 sq feet room. Definitely can feel the energy of the song. Next tried out with Eagles "Hotel California". Definitely the bass is pronounced and tight but still a bit boomy. A little bit lacking on the mid bass. The electric guitar play back is like the vocal, sounded sharp and a little over the top. The overall DSD compare to FLAC playback is a little smoother and more musical. 

One plus point on the player, is the display can be turn on with VU meters. During playback is quite nice to watch one. Pretty cool. Definitely makes me thinking of HIFI ROSE minus the high price tag. 

The streaming apps support Tidal, Spotify and Apple Music. Pretty meet all the needs of most users at least here in Malaysia. The apps can be install at the main menu and after installation is done just have to sign in with your account and ready to play. Only able to test it with Apple Music which I have subscripted. The sound quality of streaming is pretty average. Nothing to shout about but is definitely convenient to let it play especially if the unit is at living room or bedroom for casual listening. If you have an external USB drive, can be connected to it and be use like any CD player with direct playback. This is another useful feature to save some cost. All in all this unit is feature pack, has all kind of connection and pretty plays almost anything from streaming to files playback. For anyone who is about to get into Hifi digital world, I will think this a great choice to choose from. 

 

TAD Technical Audio Devices and Innuos Launch Event at AV Designs

Posted by Tan 

AV Designs recently held a launch event for new products from TAD and Innuos.

For TAD, the primary focus was on its flagship loudspeaker, the TAD-R1TX, which was the first pair AV Designs brought into Malaysia. The TAD flagship loudspeakers are now in their third iteration, from the first-generation TAD-R1 to TAD-R1mk2 and now the TAD-R1TX. The TAD-R1TX largely retained the key design features of the series, being a 3-way design using a concentric mid-tweeter driver made of Beryllium and dual 10-in woofers, but also went through internal design improvements and subtle changes to its look.

The woodwork of the TAD-R1TX enclosure, which feels luxurious and looks excellent even on very close inspection, is now a collaboration with Tendo Mokko, a renown Japanese furniture maker, who on its website says that “when we at Tendo consider excellence in furniture, we imagine family assets original owners can hand down to the next generation. Tendo delivers furniture that parents will want to pass on to their children, who will in turn leave it to their own children”. So now TAD loudspeakers can also be considered heirloom.

In the case of Innuos, a digital music server and streamer brand from Portugal that AV Designs took on as distributor, we saw the introduction of its top-of-the-line Statement music server. AV Designs also put some of its entry level models on display. The Statement is a beautifully made 2-piece machine, consisting of the streaming electronics in one chassis and the power supply in another. The Statement is idiosyncratic as it is an all-USB affair, it does not provide RCA or XLR input or output.

The supporting cast of the demo system was no less impressive. It consisted of the TAD-D1000TX DAC, TAD-D700 CDP, TAD-C600 pre amp and TAD-M700S power amp, wired throughout with Wywires Diamond series cables. The TAD-M700s power amplifier was perched on a massive hifi stand from made by Bassocontinuo of Italy, called Gargantua. I believe we’ll hear more about the Bassocontinuo line when the full range arrived in the near future.

Joki leading the attendees through the varied music selection in the demo session

This listening session confirmed with no doubt for me that moving up TAD’s product hierarchy consistently brought added sonic improvements. You can name any hifi performance parameter, such as details and resolution, frequency extension, dynamic range, soundstage size, loudness capability etc. the higher in the range you go, the more you’ll get. The performance envelope simply expands in all directions.

At the end of the listening session that saw music of multiple genres played, I was left with one simple word in my head. That word was ‘COMPLETE’. The music I heard from this system did not require my brain to have to work to fill in any blanks, nor the sound I heard needed me to, consciously or subconsciously, interpret as to what it is. I enjoyed the musical presentation tremendously at the same time. This was a realization that I hardly ever had in any listening session with any other systems in the past. Absolutely impressive!

Innuos Pulse and Zen Series on display

TAD Evolution Series on display

Sharing a couple of video clips from the demo session (videos taken on an iPhone SE):

Nicki Parrott's "Fever" 

Jeff Beck's "Space for The Papa"

Call AV Designs James Tan at +603 62411237 to arrange a listening session.

My Humble CAS, Asus Tinker Board & Teac UD-501 DAC

Asus Tinker Board in it's most basic form

I first experienced CAS in 2010 and quickly adapted to it with excitement back in 2011 in the form of Bryston BDP-1 & DAC-1 combo. It's now more than 10 years since, and at one point, even before I started my hifi sabbatical in 2016, I had already given up on CAS. Somehow, I still prefer physical medium for my emotional connection to music. While the conveniences of CAS and sound quality can be highly achieved indeed, I somehow still have a preference for physical medium when it come to music. Something that you can hold in hands just feels more real. Should you feel otherwise, then to each his own. I am not one who likes to argue and get stressed over hifi matters.

I have also since learned not buy packaged music streamers & DAC sets such as the above mentioned Bryston duo. As technology moves too fast, and so does the rate of depreciation. It's a killer blow, never mind the sound!

Then a buddy of mine, Simon introduced me to this dinky little CPU called Asus Tinker Board, which is the equivalent of the Raspberry Pi CPU. Coupled to Volumio Music Player interface app on one's smart phone, it's an easy & cheap solution to music streaming. Simon says the Asus Tinker Board can be used as a HTPC too, but with different set up & interface app. Now, who wants to play a game of Simon says?

Power supply goes in from side, unused HDMI output, and all other USB inputs/outputs & LAN from the back. Note the blue/black Oelbach USB cable which connects to the Teac UD-501 DAC

Simon had the Asus Tinker Board set up in a small plastic casing with window top. The Asus allows 4 USB input/output, and 1 LAN input. On the side, it has a Type B Micro USB power connector, and HDMI output. The Asus can be powered from any Android phone 5V power supply with the above mentioned connector. While any old Android phone power supply or charger will do the job, the Asus does sound a whole lot better when powered by a 1.2 Ampere, 5V  linear power supply. There are now plenty of such power supply to choose from, mostly China of origin. I got mine from a Asus users group buy sometime back.

The good part about using the Asus Tinker Board or any Raspberry Pi CPU as streamer is that it will adapt to any music storage resolution formats such as WAV, FLAC, or DSD at no extra cost. The only question is, can your DAC process it? With this, I took the opportunity to pick up a used unit of Teac UD-501 DAC, which can do all the resolution format available today, and for a half sized hifi component, it also has XLR analog outputs, which are definitely my preferred connection. Back in 2014, when this unit first became available, I had a go with it and really liked it. A few years later today, the latest Teac UD-505 DAC model revision still bears much functionality and design cues based upon the UD-501.  

The whole CAS set up from left: Teac UD-501 DAC, Multi USB Input, 5V Linear Power Supply(bottom) & Asus Tinker Board(Top) 

I used USB Type A to Type B cable from Oelbach to connect between the Asus & the Teac. With the overall tonal neutrality of the Teac DAC, it was actually the music file ripping quality doing the talking most of the time. The system was totally transparent & highly revealing of the rip quality. Using Cardas Neutral Reference XLR cable from Teac DAC to pre-amp, I did gain back some of that much needed warmth to make some of those busy sounding hi-res audio just bearable. 

For me this very cheap(costing less than MYR3000, excluding cables!) & cheerful CAS set up is all I have to continue with convenience music,or when I just need some back ground music.

Pathos Musiteca Music Server On Demo Now!

It's 2013 and the Pathos Musiteca has the honour to be the first new product in Malaysian shores.

What do your get when you add together fine Italian styling, chic design, functional ergonomics, computer server, tube circuitry, and lastly great sound with audiophile brand credibility?

The answer is the Pathos Musiteca music server, featuring integrated touch screen interface, with iTunes like album cover art menu. The Musiteca also functions like an all in one solution for those getting in to high end music server. First, there's a slot for loading CDs which one can play immediately, or ripp using it's built in software. Then there's the touch screen interface mentioned above. And lastly, the a built in DAC capable of decoding 24/196kHz hi-rez audio files. As with all Pathos products, there's a tube output section where one can choose to use single ended or balanced connections.

All the above means nothing if it does not sound good either, and the Musiteca does not disappoint in this respect. The sound is smooth and detailed, with a liquid top end, and honeyed mid range.

It's now on demo in Centre Circle Audio's Taman Tun showroom, so why don't you drop by for a listen?

Call Sky wong or Nelson at 03-77282686 for enquiries or appointment.

Polished Deck, The Rega DAC.

The matching Rega Apollo-R(left) feeding signal to the Rega DAC(right).

My last review left you with Daivd's CD player, Rega's kill all Apollo-R. Now that you've got the tiny but mighty David, how do you go top it?

The Rega DAC is the off the shelf answer. Coming from the same shoe box design concept as the Apollo-R, The Rega DAC visually matches and if put along side, by side forms a full size equipment physically. Like the matching Apollo-R, the front face plate is very simply laid out with three buttons, a power ON/OFF switch on the left, a filter slope selector switch, and lastly an input selector switch. As usual the REGA logo glows amber when power is switched ON. There's 2 Toslink input and 2 co-ax input plus a USB input, and one output each. An un-common club shaped power input receptacle is provided so no after market power cord tweaks allowed here! Thank fully, the power cord supplied by Rega is of high enough quality.

I connected the Apollo-R CD player to the DAC via 1 meter of industrial standard Belden co-axial cable, and it's analog out put to my pre-amp via a pair of The Chord Company Crimson Plus RCA interconnect for consistency sake, as a follow-up to the CD player review.

I plug in the power cord, turn power ON and and started spinning a CD on the Apollo-R as a CD transport, then select input till the LOCK indicator lights up on the DAC. The DAC also automatically senses the in-coming signal sampling rate and lights up the respective indicator. I turn up the music volume and music sweet, music flow in to my room. I then proceeded to play around with the filter mode settings and the default filter 1 setting sounded just fine. I found filter 2 rolled off the high highs just a bit more, followed by filter 3, which does the same but more aggressively and filter 4 bordering on too laid back a tonal presentation. I settled on filter 1 setting, which I felt gave the most even handed tonal pallete. The sound description of this review is based entirely on filter 1 setting.

I've always loved Kenny G, for all the brick bats hurled at him, he had brought me in to Jazz as a musical genre.

I started my listening session again with Phil Collins Hits! CD. Easy Lover is easily the hardest rocking track on the CD which is a duet with Philip Bailey, and where with the Apollo-R as a stand alone player started to lose it's composure even if just ever so slightly, the out put via the DAC seemed rock solid, and could carry the tune with continued confidence. Yes, that's the word, confidence! With confidence the high hats and crash cymbals on the track seems more tidy and self assured, and less all over the place. There's also thin layer of ozone, notice able around each instrument too. Phil's voice is less shouty, and lyrics sounded just that bit more tangible. The whole track is somewhat less jarring. Bass is no less punchy but only slightly more articulate in the note to note transfer.

Playing The Essential Kenny G, yes I am a fan of the man who made elevator music pay big time! Some of the tracks on this double CD compilation can sound rather harsh, due to recording or mastering techniques deployed, but thank fully, none of that bothered me too much, thanks to the smoothness and refinement in presentation of the Rega DAC. In fact playing this Kenny G CD on this Rega combo was rather enjoyable, as I repeated my favorite tracks over and over again, including that duet with Hong Kong superstar, Andy Lau!

I would've liked to try linking up my Bryston BDP-1 digital media player to the Rega DAC to test the unit with hi-res music files, but that was not to be, due to the broken co-axial connector on my BDP-1 unit. It was still waiting for spares as this review came and went by. Too bad then, I can only evaluate with what I have in hand, but that I believe, has already showed me what the DAC is capable of.

The back panel input/output connections of the Rega DAC, note the club shaped power cord receptacle.

The sonic merits of adding The Rega DAC to the Apollo-R is not considered much, but for those with more matured, confident and refined preference for audio performance, it can be very tangible and persuasive, due to it's not inconsiderately low retail price of RM$2,621.00/unit.

For those who are happy with the giant slaying Apollo-R as a stand alone CD player, the DAC can offer a step up in audio performance without breaking the bank.

Rega is sold by Asia Sound Equipment, contact Eddie Tan at 03-79552091.

Digital Tour de Force - Wadia 571 CD Transport, 931 Digital Controller, 922 Mono Decoding Computers

This set of Wadia is breaking all the records at Hifi Unlimited.

In the foreground of the photo, from left to right, Wadia 931 Digital Controller, 2 pieces of Wadia 922 Mono Decoding Computers and Wadia 571 CD Transport

Firstly, it is the one system component, in this case a digital frontend, that consists of the most number of pieces. We are used to seeing a CD player coming in 2 pieces, such as a transport plus a DAC or a CD player plus an external power supply. However, this Wadia system goes a couple more steps further – it comes in 4 pieces. There is the Wadia 571 CD transport; the Wadia 931 digital controller; and 2 pieces of Wadia 922 mono Decoding Computers. ‘Decoding Computer’ is what Wadia calls their top of the line DAC.

Secondly, weight. The Wadia 571 CD transport alone weighs 24kg. The weight of the others was not mentioned in their spec sheets but I would venture to guess that the Wadia 931 Digital Controller would be about 20kg and the Wadia 922 mono DAC about 15kg each. That makes a grand total of 70-80kg (150-175lbs) worth of muscle, all this to play a CD that is less than 20g in weight. I was lucky to have a couple of friends helping me to carry them up to my listening room, helping me to unpack and set up, repacking them again and bringing them back to the CMY.

The weight is no doubt contributed by the solid aluminium enclosure that makes up each box, giving them a bomb-proof solidity that inspires confidence. I am sure these heavy weight enclosures made the Wadia system immune to all external vibration and all sorts of mechanical interference.

Thirdly, price. Hold on to your chairs - the Wadia quartet costs a total of RM174,880. It has set the record as the most expensive hifi component we ever write about on hifi-unlimited.

I had no rack space to house the 4 heavy boxes, so they go onto the floor. Having the Wadia system spread out in front of me thus was awe-inspiring and intimidating, to say the least. The first thing for me to do was to deal with the technology that went into these impressive pieces. It was no longer as simple as hooking up the powercords and the interconnects, load a CD, press play and you’d get music. Well, the powercord part still applied, each piece of gear needed its own power, so the owner would have to come up with 4 power outlets and 4 powercords. The analogue interconnects were still needed too, going from the analogues output of the 922 mono Decoding Computers to the pre-amp, or straight to the power amp if you desire ( the Wadia 931 comes with digital pre-amp function).

In-between the Wadia 571, 931 and 922, Wadia applied their technology and connecting scheme. Everything is strung together not with metal cables but glass fibre optic cables, supplied together with each component.

Wadia 931 Digital Controller

Let’s start with the Wadia 931 Digital Controller which acts as the heart of the system. The 931 Digital Controller essentially functions like a digital pre-amp - it has multiple digital inputs, which support up to 24bits/96kHz (which we also confirmed by streaming digital music files from a Bryston BDP-1). Wadia says on its website that provisions have been made for the 931 to accept 24/192 data when a standardized input is agreed upon. The 931 has a 100-step volume control implemented in the digital domain allowing you to bypass an analogue pre-amp. More importantly, the 931 supports two established Wadia jitter-reduction technologies: RockLok and ClockLink. I quote Wadia: “RockLok is Wadia’s proprietary circuit that uses cascaded Phase-Locked-Loops (PLL) to recover the clock signal from the incoming data. RockLok produces a low-jitter clock signal from any standard digital source and can be used with all sources that comply with industry standards. With ClockLink, the clock signal embedded in the incoming data stream is ignored in favor of a local crystal oscillator. This requires that the source component be synchronized to the 931 Digital Controller via a ClockLink output. Any of the inputs can be user-configured for either ClockLink or RockLok mode”.

On the left side of the back panel are the digital inputs, which consist of 1 AES/EBU (XLR), 1 optical, 2 SPDIF (BNC) and 2 ST glass fibre optic
At the centre is a ST glass fibre optic connection for clock output to the transport
On the right side are eight configurable clock and digital outputs to go to the DACs

In use, two fibre optic cables lead from the Wadia 931 Digital Controller to each of the Wadia components, one cable carrying the clock data, and the other the music’s data stream. So with the 571 CD transport and the two 922 mono Decoding Computers, we have a grand total of six fibre optic cables being used, as you can see in the photo below.


The Series 9 components are Wadia’s top dog, however CMY has not gotten the 971 CD transport. It has its junior, the 571 CD transport instead, and that is how we use this Wadia set.

Wadia 571 CD Transport

The ClockLink and digital outputs at the back of the Wadia 571 CD Transport

The Wadia 922 mono Decoding Computers have only fibre optic inputs, which means that they must be mated with the 931 Digitial Controller. It has both RCA and XLR analogue outputs. The proprietary DigiMaster 1.4 decoding software employed comes with a sampling rate of 2.8224Mhz and a digital resolution of 26bits.

Wadia 922 mono Decoding Computer. The analogue outputs consist of 1 RCA and 1 XLR. The digital inputs consists of 2 fibre optic, 1 for digital clock and the other for the digital music stream

I started my listening after a day of continuous playing to warm the components up. They were barely warm to the touch after that. I first compared the sound of going through my Pass Labs pre-amp and without. Sans pre-amp, the big improvement was in the treble region, which sounded more detailed and cleaner. For example cymbal hits were more distinct from one to another. With pre-amp, the portrayal was a little muddier. On the other hand, with pre-amp, music had a little fuller body and a little more colourful (or some may call colouration, whichever way you want to see it). Both presentations were good. If you wanted to hear everything clearly, go without a pre-amp. At the end of the day, I decided to do my listening with the pre-amp in the chain.

The Wadia system never put a foot wrong in the 2 weeks I had them. Every piece of music was produced with complete technical excellence. I had the impression that everything on the silver disc was completely dug up for the presentation; nothing could escape the laser sharp analytical capability of the Wadia.

The Wadia turned up the system’s transparency a few notches, the window on the music was wide open. Separation and focus were both very good. There was no blurriness or smearing anywhere from top to bottom. The width and depth definition of the soundstage conjured up with the Wadia was excellent. The wealth of details allowed all the ambient cues to be heard. Listening to orchestral music, every section was nicely delineated, following the playing was made very easy.

The dynamic expression of the Wadia was impressive too. Passages ranging from whisper quiet to thunderously loud never fazed the Wadia quartet, it went up and down the dynamic scale with ease. Bass performance was one of the very best I have heard in my system. It was tight and punchy. The slightly lean bass characteristic, rather than the ‘phat’ kind, allowed the bass line to be followed easily.

Adding to the flawless performance of the Wadia system was the level of refinement to the sound. The smoothness will allow one to listen on and on for hours without listening fatigue.

The Wadia system portrayed the truth encoded in digital recordings, it did not embellish. I feel that to get the best from this combination, you’d have to partner them with the best, anything that has any hint of dryness or too squeaky clean further down the chain should be avoided, as the Wadia's sound had no excesses, and those qualities in the others will be exposed for what they are.

The combination of Wadia 571 CD Transport, 931 Digital Controller and 922 Mono Decoding Computers are at the forefront of digital technology. If you are shopping at this exalted level, there are but very few choices. With Wadia, you’d be certain that you won’t miss anything on your discs.

Wadia is carried by CMY. To listen to this Wadia combo, call CMY Damansara Uptown 03-77272419

DAC Marketing Malice?

For the CAS DIY crowd, the above pictured ESS Sabre DAC kit is one of the most popular today!

As we rush head long in to the CAS (Computer Audio System) scene, we need to look very carefully in to many details for consideration. After all CAS is a new musical format that emerged out of the MP3 sector only as recent as three years ago or so. There is still many areas of uncertainty, mostly concerning the lack of standardization or common compatibility and interface. One area that I've found to have more grey description than others is in the DAC product specs. I'd be very wary about manufacturers claiming it's DAC capable of "Up To 24/192" or any other higher sampling rates.

This is due to the fact that after my extensive research(which is not that advanced by the way, and many are way ahead of me in CAS), that many DAC manufactures claims, on spec sheet are merely frivolous and are mostly marketing, and numbers game driven to trick gullible spec sheet brigade among the consumers.

After all, why say "Up to 24/192"? Which I find the statement suspicious to say the least. Other manufacturers even claim to offer "Up to 32/384 or 32/798" too! When I see spectacular looking numbers like that, my mind goes on RED ALERT!!! I hope yours does too, especially when the DAC manufacturer claims to be able to do so via the USB input, asynchronous or otherwise!

There are two questions that immediately spring to my mind on such claims.

1) If I find any Burr-Brown or other audiophile approved DAC chips from the older days, inside such a DAC, I'd immediately know there's a problem. The problem is that most established audiophile approved DAC chips are at best limited to 24/96 sampling rates, for use with the then hi-rez format of DVD-A and SACD. If any DAC claiming to have BB DAC chips inside, it is highly likely, the signal goes thru a post conversion internal up sampling to 24/192, 32/384 or what ever impressive figures published! This means that the signal is no longer native, but internally up sampled. It just means the up sampling chips just randomly fills up 0s in to the signal path, to make it whatever sampling frequency you want(it's actually a bit like the pre 2008 pre crisis US economy, where the stock brokers just add zeroes behind any number, which in return is translated as gain or profit. However, it's all just bits from the computer system in Wall Street, because the gains are not supported by any substantial form of solid asset, not even paper, so you can't even call it paper gain! Now we all know what happen after that?). It's the same with digital audio, which I on the other hand, am a firm believer of doing things native. There are only 2 or 3 DAC chips known at the moment that'll genuinely do 24/192 or higher sampling rates at the moment, but I believe technology is not stagnant, and more capable chips will be on the way soon.

2) Many form of digital audio connection only supports sampling rates of up to 24/96, such as the co-ax, USB version 2.0 and perhaps even toslink. My list is not particularly exhaustive, as I've not tested all the means of connection my self just yet. As it stands at the moment, my favoured mode of digital connection for hi-rez (meaning for sampling rates above 24/96) remains with either firewire, I2S and AES/ABU only.

While the PC or the computer set up details is just as important, which I've overlooked those, only because of my chosen safe route via the Bryston BDP-1 digital media player. However, if it helps, it always pays to beware when looking at such things.

Best Digital Gear 2010.

2010 probably marks the end of the CD player era as know it and 2011 may be the year digital media players like the Bryston BDP-1/BDA-1 combo could take over as the other dominant source. True enough, hi-rez musical software availability is still patchy at best and this may well end up as just another SACD/DVD-A like phenomenon, as the conservative British Hifi press has been predicting. I don't know what's in store, as nothing is set in stone yet, but if indicative reports coming from the industry insiders are true then, the coming C.E.S. Show in Vegas will see the launch of digital media players, coming from the stables of Weiss, and Consonance among others! The digital music land scape is changing fast, will digital media players truly take over? Only time will tell.
The Bryston BDP-1 and BDA-1 combo, digital source of the future?

The Bryston combo was easy to name as the clear class winner, due to it's stunning ability to play hi-rez files exceptionally well, and as a bonus ripped CD reproduction is good too. We are looking at possibly the future of audio source here, and the fact that the Bryston combo cost a little more than RM$17k, puts it clearly as a bargain of sorts when it comes to sound vs price performance ratio. Your audiophile lifestyle will surely change once you indulge in hi-rez done right!
Wadia 381i CD player, offers quite possibly the best performance attainable from a single box player for the now largely historic CD format, but still offers a bridge to the future by allowing a digital input to play hi-rez files up to 24/96 only.

If not for the untimely appearance of the Bryston combo above, the Wadia 381i would have surely taken top honours this year. The Wadia offers some of the best CD performance possible at any price, even if it came a little late to the party. It's future proof to some extent, with the 381i model, due to the inclusion digital input section which will decode 24/96(but not 24/192) hi-rez files. At RM32k for the Wadia 381i, one can think of it as your last CD player purchase, with the ability to add on some form of rudimentary computer audio for hi-rez or CD rips reproduction.
Esoteric X-05 CD/SACD player, sound very good but could be your last CD player purchase.

I have to admit that we got to lay our hands on this medium level Esoteric X-05 CD/SACD player a little late, but better late then never. It gives up a little of the excellent sound qualities of it's bigger X-03 brother at half it's price of RM$32k. This is a strictly disc only player with no digital inputs what so ever, so let buyer beware, that the Esoteric makes it to this list purely on sound quality performance only and nothing more.
The Apple Mac Mini computer is the most surprising entry of high end digital audio?

The Apple Mac Mini is not a hifi equipment and never reviewed before in these pages, but deserves a special mention here because it plays music beautifully. I've not heard any Windows based PC beat a Mac Mini(and I've heard enough systems to form that conclusion) for sound quality on CD rips just yet. When used in conjunction with Amarra Mini computer music player software, the Mac is capable of playing 24/96 hi-rez down loads, and partnered with any respectable firewire capable DAC, in an transparent enough system, will just edge out most sub RM$10k CD players for sound quality. All for the price of RM$2.3k for the Mac Mini plus RM$0.8k for the Amarra Mini software. Now is this really the biggest bargain in high end audio or what?

More Best of 2010 to come.

A Better Way Towards Hi Rez! Bryston BDP-1 & BDA-1 Combo.

This is the most high end USB thumb drive I've seen, it comes with a hair line finished metal cover and the Bryston logo printed on top. Bryston will include this thumb drive with 8 Chesky hi rez files pre loaded to start you up, only if you're the first 100 buyers of the BDP-1 and BDA-1 combo.

The past 2 weeks has been the most exciting time of my audio blog/reviewing life so far. The excitement is driven by a new format in the form of a USB thumb drive as a music carrier. There are merits to use the USB as a music carrier. It does not involve any mechanical device, i.e. no moving parts to degrade the signal or reliability issues. It's small, portable and cheap to purchase. Lastly, never did I imaging it'll sound so........ life changing good(for a dyed in the wool audiophile)!

This leads us to a new product range in the market called digital media players. The player in question today is the Bryston BDP-1. Bryston is not the first company to enter the market for this product niche, but it comes in with a bang!(a very big bang indeed) by offering the most bang for buck sound quality that any self proclaim high end hifi equipment can do for RM$8,400.00. One can argue that the humble PC or Mac computer, strap along with the latest USB DAC will do the same and much more for less, yes! I agree that much. But no, I've not heard any PC or Mac based music system reach the level of musical satisfaction that the Bryston combo offers. Read on if you're still interested.
The Bryston combo in my man cave! Note the 2 USB thumb drives in the front panel, and 2 more USB inputs in the back. The center alpha numeric display scrolls track information, but lacks a track timer like CD players have.

The Bryston BDP-1 is designed to match the Bryston BDA-1 DAC sonically and visually(finally, I now know the BDA-1 was meant for bigger things to come!). I came away impressed with the BDA-1 DAC when I played with it 2 months ago(refer to it's very own review dated 24/10/2010), but when partnered to the BDP-1 as a combo, the sonic results just completely blew my mind away! AV Designs, the local distributor for Bryston supplied the BDP-1/BDA-1 combo together with a computer router to link up with an iPad as system remote and a QED AES balanced digital cable. The BDP-1 is built in to the same solid casing as the BDA-1, and the spartan rear panel sports an AES digital balanced output, a BNC output, a network plug(for the a fore mentioned router) and an RS232 for future firmware up grades via the www. There's also four USB 2.0 input on the Bryston, two at the rear panel and 2 on the left side of the front panel. The front panel features a center display window with 2 rows of alpha numeric scrolling menu. Just on the right is an up/down, left/right navigation for the scrolling menu. Further right on the panel are the usual play, stop, pause, forward, reverse and power ON/OFF buttons. By the way, Bryston supplies a BR2 all aluminium body, with back lite buttons, remote along with the combo to access the music files just like a CD player remote, if one does not wanna splurge on an Apple iPad. However with an iPad, the music file access and management just got all the more fancier, sexier and just a whole lot more practical. I'd get an iPad for sure if the Bryston combo was mine!

If you're expecting the Bryston BDP-1 to do more than just play back, you'd be disappointed! Yes, just like your average CD player or turn table, the Bryston is a one trick pony, just specialising on playback only. You'll still need the support of a PC, connected to the Internet to do the down loadings and manage the music files for you.
Another look at a matching Bryston combo. They are available with either anodised black or silver front panels. I think the black one's look cool, but Malaysians tend to like silver panels more though.

I used the XLR balanced output from the BDA-1 to my pre amp and the rest of my system remains the same, but with the Marantz CD 7 player decommissioned. James also thoughtfully supplied me with a few USB thumb drives pre-loaded with some of my favorite CD rips @ 16/44.1 resolution and some other hi rez down loads from Chesky, HD Tracks, Linn Studio Masters and 2L web sites.

I had the Bryston combo set up and ready to play within 20 minutes after arriving home. I first listened to the CD rips which the musical contents that I am very familiar with, namely Charly Antolini's Crash, Diana Krall's Quiet Nights, Linn Super Audio Collection Vol.4, Dream Of An Opera by Rhymoi Music, Youn Sun Nah's Voyage, Danny Wright's Black & White and Jz8 by Lydia & Cher Siang. With the CD rips, the sound is even more transparent and truer to source than most CD players can muster. There's a lack of grain in the highs, full bodied mids with a bold & tuneful bass. On Charly Antolini's Crash rip, I found dynamic contrast and transient response of his drum kit and the bass guitar on the titled track to be even more extreme than the usual. The snare drums had real energy, and percussion tracks can swing to a dizzy musical spiral nearing sonic nirvana dom, as if such place existed. There's not much of a tonal quality to speak about here, and neutrality does not come to mind either. The chameleon like Bryston combo just gets out of the way and allows the music in the recording to speak for it self. The tonal quality and colour is therefore what the recording it self represents. It has shown me how awfully coloured my Marantz CD player was, for better or worse, and the weakness in the mechanical factor of the CD transport removed! I found that out when playing Danny Wright's Black & White solo piano tracks. If in the past, piano tracks were the sole digital advantage over analog, due to the later's poor speed stability, then the USB has shown up the flaws of jitter and it's correction factor apparent in the CD transport. I never suspect anything of such a miss with the CD player until I heard the Bryston combo. Practically every CD rip I played on the Bryston sounded consistently better than the CD player in so many ways. The back grounds were certainly quieter and darker, making musical nuances easier to absorb in to one listening experience, without the need to actively look for it.
The optional iPad remote interface is more user friendly and give more information about the music playing. It also allows one to program a play list and store favorites or recently played track listing. The picture above shows a Linn Studio Master down load playing at 24/192 sampling rate.

Another screen interface common with the iPad. The touch screen menu operation is cool too!

Now if the CD rips were impressive, then hi rez files, played back thru the Bryston combo is the deal breaker here. The whole hi rez experience is altogether in another league of it's own. I've certainly not heard hifi musical experience anymore life like than this, period. For once, I could just forget about digital, or analog? And just let the music take me away. The hi rez downloads musical experience is emotionally intense. Words just fail to describe how I felt after each long session of satisfying hi rez music, but it does not stop me from trying to share with you, our dear readers.

Playing my current fav, the Linn Super Audio Collection Vol,4 on hi rez Studio Master download is a whole new experience again, comparing to the CD rip and the CD playback it self! Maeve O' Boelye's Pray It Doesn't Happen renders her more life like, with much more guitar notes that the CD rip and CD play back it self missed. Playing track 9, excerpt from Aria: Sehet, Jesus Hat Die Hand where the Diva is even more clearly separated and relief ed from the mass strings in the back of stage. The mass strings do not sound like a lump of sound, but clearly separated individual string each in their own place, this level of detailing is breath taking to say the least.

The hi rez down loads simply blows any CD or LP based play back system in terms of sheer musical transparency. There's so much resolution loses in the CD and LP play back system, that when compared to hi rez, one is like trying to fill in the gaps/blanks within a sonic picture without even realizing it all this while. The hearing of minute instrument textures, harmonics and timbre with each note just lingering around a bit longer than before is just astonishing. Dynamics is un restrained, with out compression and every beat just hits harder and every pitch is more accurately defined. The highs are smooth and never piercing, totally devoid of digitalis, mids more highly dense than CD rips, not only mouth, head and chest, but there's body to the imaging. Bass is bold and tight when need be, or supple and organic too when a tune calls for it. Listen to hi rez down loads also reminded me of the naturalness of analog, perhaps more so....

If the back ground of the CD rips were already dark, then comparing to hi rez makes the back ground of the former seemed a little hazy white. This allows imaging to prop up of a 3D staging that much more convincingly, with hall acoustics and spatial cues a plenty, easily transporting the listener to the recording venue, all the more enjoyable with classical and "live" recordings. I've seldom have listening sessions longer than 2 hours usually, but during the time of the Bryston combo with me, I often stay up till way past mid night in sessions exceeding four hours. The easy going naturalness, non edgy and fatigue free sonic character of the Bryston combo just make me wanna try out hi rez music file after file! James managed to bring over a Paul McCartney & The Wings hi rez file towards the end of the review period, playing the track Band On The Run just made me re-discovered, why I liked this song so much when I was a kid, but hearing it on hi rez also made me discovered how much of the notes in music I did not hear then! There's also a feeling of imeadiacy in the Paul McCartney recording that makes it so endearing.
A CD player's worst nemesis?

Now the Bryston combo also showed me that not all hi rez music files are created equal, and higher sampling rate does not automatically means better sound either! This was the case when I compared some of the Linn Studio Master files at 24/88.2 against Chesky's hi rez at 24/96. At best we can probably call it even on sound quality, but I always find my self drawn to the Linn Studio Master files more than the Chesky, despite Linn's lower sampling rate. I found the Linn sound to have more crystaline clarity quality, and opposed to Chesky's more muted and slightly opaque characteristic. A matter of preference at play here perhaps? I guess it doesn't really matter either way, because these files are operating at SACD/DVD-A sampling rates, but I must question why did I never experience the same intense musical pleasure from either hi rez disc based format? It's just a thought, but hmmm.......

However, it was the recordings from Linn Studio Master files and 2L, a Swedish web site offering mainly classical music down loads, operating on the edge of the Bryston BDA-1 DAC's sampling frequency at 24/192, offered the most superior sound quality of all previously mentioned by comparison. I won't even go there and repeat to dissect the sound all over again, but I urge all audiophiles to at least try and sample these wonderful hi rez files on the Bryston combo for your selves.
The Bryston BDP-1 rear panel. By the way, the BDP-1 is less sensitive to after market power cords compared to the BDA-1 DAC.

The cost of the Bryston combo, as reviewed is as follows:
Bryston BDA-1 DAC - RM$8,800.00
Bryston BDP-1 Digital Media Player - RM$8,400.00

Then there's the cost of an AES digital cable of your choice and should one fancy a sexy iPad remote, then add a dedicated router to the cost of setting up the Bryston combo.

To be honest, I am not sure if I can return to normal CD or analog vinyl playback after this prolonged hi rez experience. I know a fellow Linn LP12 owner and good friend certainly couldn't and have already purchased this combo. James tells me the first batch of this Bryston combo bound for Malaysia is already sold out(Only this review pair is on demo at the AV Designs showroom for now). And should you be impressed enough to buy one after reading this, or an experience with it at the showroom, then please form an orderly queue to get yours, right after my dear friend!

It's quite possible that I've not heard better sound quality from a source component at any price.(Well, perhaps except the most esoteric of turn tables, cartridge and phono stage combos, which we are are clearly looking at well in to six figure price tags no less!) Clearly, this Bryston combo is the better way towards hi rez music files, if not the best yet!

Bryston is sold by AV Designs, contact James Tan at 03-21712828.

Digital Music Center. Bryston BDA-1 DAC.

The Bryston BDA-1 DAC, front and back view.

This review might come in some what late for most people who are already on the media server band wagon. This Bryston BDA-1 DAC isn't exactly new product either. It's being reviewed many times over, and in the process have garnered a string of industry awards and accolades. If anything, this review serves to only re-enforce that stellar reputation.

Priced at RM$8,800 each, the Bryston BDA-1 isn't exactly short of competitors either, mostly of newer and more advanced designs too! That puts the Bryston DAC in a technical disadvantaged position today. However, it more than makes up for it in serious sound quality as you shall read on.
Digital stack, top to bottom: Sony DV-NS730P DVD player, Bryston BDA-1 DAC and Marantz CD7.

The Bryston is very well built in a sturdy case design matching those found on their BP-26 pre amp and BCD-1 CD player. Bryston has put in special emphasis on stiff power supply and regulation stages plus the discreet class A output circuitry, around the garden variety Crystal CS-4398 DAC chip, implemented in balanced pair configuration. The Bryston also has 8 digital inputs of various types, including one USB.

I tested the Bryston BDA-1 in 3 modes, first using my Marantz CD7 as a CD transport connected via the coax 1 input of the Bryston DAC. I evaluated the BDA-1 with and without the up-sampling engaged, but ended up preferring the more airy spatial, and detailed qualities of the up sampled sound. I normally do not favour up sampled sound, so here's a little unusual. The rest of the review description is based on the up sampling engaged, unless mentioned otherwise.

I found the Bryston DAC to offer class leading sound qualities, competitive with the likes of the Metronome, Wadia and Esoteric x-03(all previously reviewed here and the Esoteric is my reference CD player) as it's equal playmates. The tonal balance is near neutral with a twist of sweetness in treble and warm mid range reproduction. The bass is tight, extended and powerful. For the first time, I felt there is beauty associated with near neutral tonal balance which isn't normally exclusive either. The level of transparency is startling, and puts the Bryston in the same league as the Wadia and the Esoteric mentioned above. Sound stage is huge, enveloping with great depth perception. Imaging is solid, and packed with density. Each musical performance, irregardless of genre, comes alive. I've never enjoyed digital gear quite like this since the Wadia and the Esoteric. There's a musical element present here(very much like the Linn LP12's ability to carry a tune), that seldom comes with digital gear.

Next up, I thought since my Marantz CD7 uses the highly rated Philips CD-Pro transport, I'd try and use the Bryston with something a little more generic, like a DVD player for transport duties? The unit used is an old Sony DV-NS730P DVD player. Like the Marantz, I used the coax connection to the Bryston DAC. I found that with the generic Sony DVD transport, the sound qualities of the Bryston changed little, except there's now less low level recording detail and resolution on offer. Otherwise, the beautiful near neutral tonal balance and big enveloping sound stage plus musical qualities remains unchanged. In both cases, a Wireworld Starlight coaxial cable and PS Audio Statement SC power cord was used.
Another look from the back.

Finally, who'd buy a DAC these days without a USB input for use with media servers? So I lugged the Bryston BDA-1 to my buddy's place for a DAC shootout and evaluation session. My buddy is an expert, when it comes to the topic of computer audio. So anything he says goes with me. First he said that comparing the Bryston DAC against the other newer designs is quite futile, as the former does not have an asynchronous USB input, on top of that, it locks the input bit rate at 16/44.1k only. Music files of higher resolution would be down sampled to the locked input bit rate of the Bryston USB input. My buddy said "the Bryston would be fighting the other newer DACs with one arm tied around it's back!".

In the 3 DAC comparison session, the Bryston goes head on with a state of the art DAC costing at least 3 times the price, and one newer competitor of the latest design in the same price range. I cannot reveal the identities of the other 2 DACs for they were not officially submitted to me for a review. In the interest of keeping everything the same, only 16/44.1k rips stored in a Mac Mini were used in the evaluation process. All the DACs had their up sampling feature dis-engaged.

In terms of sound quality, I taught the Bryston to be surprisingly competitive with the latest batch of DACs. All the sonic qualities mentioned above was still there, only this time when compared to the super high end DAC costing 3 times more, the Bryston sounded a bit noisier in the back ground, as in a bit of whitish hazy compared to the jet black back ground of the later. The mid range of the Bryston is slightly forward against the creamy rich mids of the more expensive design.

When compared to the newer competitor of the latest design in the same price range, I thought the Bryston to sound more refined and less edgy. Overall, the most expensive state of the art DAC still wins by a small margin. The Bryston and the other competitor is virtually neck to neck in terms of overall sound performance. The newer competitor had more snazzy and up to date features like an asynchronous USB input that allows up to 24/96k input resolution files. The newer competitor also features a volume or gain control pot for output level matching, or can be used to by pass the need of a pre amp. In all three DACs a Wireworld Ultra Violet USB cable and Wireworld Silver Electra power cord was used to standardised the variables. All three DACs were also level match as close as possible for the comparison.

I think if one is shopping for a DAC in the ball park of up to RM$10k for price, one can find quite a few options, all featuring newer technology and offering more features for the money. However, if one uses sound quality as the sole criteria for evaluation, than I believe the Bryston is a champ! Ignore it at one's peril, as they say.

I can see the Bryston BDA-1 DAC being put in to service to upgrade one's aging CD player's(preferably one with a good quality CD transport) performance, at the same time function as a digital music center for computer audio and other secondary digital component requirements. And by the way, the BDA-1 does respond rather well to good quality power cords and isolation cone tweaks.

This Bryston DAC has shown me new found respect for the Crystal CS-4398 DAC chip and it's capabilities, and not necessarily the better the spec list, the better the sound. Why does that sound so familiar, especially when it comes to audio products?

Bryston is sold by AV Designs, contact James Tan at 03-21712828.

KLIAV 2010 - Hi-Way Laser

Hi-Way Laser will cover both home theatre and hifi in KLIAV2010.

On the home theatre front, you'll get the see the best of projection technology from Vivitek and Mitsubishi,

and get to hear the best cinema sound that MK Sound System has to offer with its top range, the MK150 THX system.

On the hifi front, Hi-Way Laser will be showcasing Ayre's digital, the QB-9 DAC and top of the line KX-R pre-amp and the MX-R monoblocks which had impressed us greatly recently.

QB-9 DACKX-R Pre-amp

MX-R Monoblock

Loudspeakers featured will be from ATC and Canton.

They will all be strung together with cables from Cardas and Kimble Kable.

Hi-Way Laser will also be holding a number of special offers with discounts up to 50% during the show, check out their announcement banner on the right side.

What can be better at the show than finding your next upgrade at a great price from Hi-Way Laser?