Audiophilepure

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“The Brooklyn Bridge is truly a jack of many a trade, and will suit, well, anyone looking for a compact do-it-all DAC plus pre-amp plus headphone amp. It even makes a good stab at vinyl when set to MM mode. For the most part it was tested as an audiophile stereo DAC though, and here it has mastered its trade. There are even sweeter sounding DACs if you have another £1,000 or so in your budget, but for under £3,000 it is very hard to better. And if streaming isn’t your bag or you already have that covered, the Brooklyn DAC+ is still available at around £800 less.”

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“We now have 2 coaxial inputs instead of one, with the second one being a BNC connector. For those with upsampling devices or streamers such as Cayin’s iDAP-6 or the Chord Hugo M Scaler, this will be a handy additional input.

Not least with the M Scaler’s excellent switchable upsampling which is capable of delivering a maximum 352kHz rate to the iDAC-6 MK2 from a 16BIT/44.1kHz source file using a single BNC connection. With the BNC coaxial via the iDAP-6, for example, you can also decode up to 24BIT/192kHz and DSD64 (DoP only), much like its RCA coaxial counterpart.”

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“I was also impressed by the DAC 9’s build quality. It was apparently designed to last a lifetime and could become a legacy product. There are a lot of serious Audio Research fans out there and I can see why after my time with the DAC 9. It will hold its value like all other Audio Research components before and after.

The unit was packed up and shipped back some time ago. I still remember the performance of the DAC 9 like it was yesterday. This is one of the few components I have reviewed that I think about often because of how great it was. The tube analog stage doesn’t put a halo on the sound but it did make everything that passed through there sound like authentic music. I am not sure if you can offer higher praise for a DAC!”

https://hometheaterhifi.com/reviews/dac/topping-d10-usb-dac-and-usb-spdif-converter-review/

“There is no funny reconstruction filter that is said to sound better. The Topping has a high-performance FIR that is flat to 20kHz and has a sharp stopband down 90dB. The output at 0 dBFS comes in at 2VRMS, the industry standard. Channels were remarkably well matched in all tests. It is 0.5dB down at 80kHz!!

I have a complete set of measurements below but nothing on the market at $90 will produce numbers within an order of magnitude of what I measured above. You could stop here and run out and purchase one but I’d advise you to please read my next section on shopping advice when purchasing small brands from the Far East first.”

https://www.headfonia.com/chord-hugo-vs-hugo-2-review/

“Yes, the Hugo 2 presents an analytical sound especially against its predecessor. But I don’t find it too analytical, at least not that much like the people say. To me it has great dynamism, very sharp separation and sublime transparency. But there’s a sense of musicality in it, and if you pair it with a warmer headphone/IEM, it is simply wonderful to listen to.

Overall, the Hugo 2 makes you think about the “taps” that Rob talks about. The more taps you have, the better sound you will hear. It has better bass decay, a blacker background, better imaging and better micro detail reproduction. The timbre is more realistic as well, which I put a lot of emphasis on because it’s one of the most important aspects.

But among all of those improvements, the most striking difference when I switch to Hugo 2 is the air. The original can’t give you that, as it’s made of romanticism and intimacy. It has that organic gene, which you can’t change or alter in any way. And that’s totally fine. You win some you lose some, it’s normal.”