Audiophilepure

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“To my ears, it was the treble that the DA2 was able to reproduce that stood out during this particular listening session and that too was the finest I’ve ever heard from a digital source. No, this SACD of course didn’t have a 20 kHz ceiling imposed by the Nyquist frequency that prevents the treble of “normal” CDs of having any ultrasonic extension, but I’ve heard this through many other DSD capable DACs in the past. Although, this time it was different, because the treble didn’t sound like it was being reproduced from an SACD file, it sounded like it was simply being reproduced. Period. And of course, the audible frequencies were reproduced with the utmost in realism and extension, and all the other things us audiophiles like to talk about in the high-end when we hear the best components, such as the ultimate soundstage, imaging, transient response, etc., but now all these things hardly mattered, as the DA2 became an invisible component simply doing its job. I’ve dreamed of the day when digital would sound as good as was promised back in the day. It’s here. Finally.

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“One feature that is very important to many users is the MPD-8’s digitally driven analog volume control. Using the balanced outputs, I connected the MPD-8 directly to my Ayre Acoustics MX-R Twenty monoblocks. The MPD-8’s analog volume control did not seem to color the sound or detract from the overall quality of sound obtained from the DAC. The remote allowed me to control the volume easily and precisely. Comparing the MPD-8’s analog volume control with my Ayre Acoustics KX-R Twenty preamp resulted in sonic differences that were small, but perceptible. While I favored the overall sound of the Ayre preamp when included in the playback chain, I could easily live with the MPD-8’s direct connection to my power amps.”

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“As I mentioned a few paragraphs earlier, I like to colour the sound after the d/a conversion step with my amplifiers. I like to bring a clear sound to my tube amplifiers. That is why the Qutest has been used mainly with the white filter, which is the pure reference filter. With this one in use there is a massive amount of details going through the RCA outputs.

Where the Qutest shines the most to me is the placement and separation of instruments. It paints a clean and clear, high resolution picture with impeccable imaging. The sound stage is both deep and wide as well as nicely airy. This comes especially to life when listening to live recordings, where you can really feel the you are in the room with the performer.”

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“And yet I knew this from the get-go. A first listen to the DAC 2.0 had me, quite literally laugh out loud at my hifi system, so pronounced was the upgrade’s magnitude. But a first impression isn’t a review. I took my time and I took to headphones; over a number of weeks, the Sennheiser HD800S confirmed my initial thoughts. The passive KEF LS50 set them in concrete.”

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