Anyone have experience with the new ELAC DDP-2?


I've been seeing tiny bits of news about the ELAC DDP-2 streaming DAC since early last year and only recently has it become available online at a few retailers.  However, there isn't a single review of it that I can find anywhere.  With previous Audio Alchemy products getting great reviews, I can assume a certain level of quality nearly enough to go out on a limb and buy it for a 30-day trial, but I wanted to see if anyone has already taken that leap of faith.

From what I've read it combines the external DC power supply of the DDP-1 internally and uses AKM DACs in a balanced setup with onboard DSD and MQA decoding, upsampling, Spotify Connect and Roon and a headphone amp.

Anyone?
rickallen81
I am too waiting someone to give their impression on this new DAC/Preamp/ Streamer from Elac AA.  Jim Clark Stereo is selling this online, maybe he can give some more info on this nice looking equipment.
Read the show reviews of the ELAC Andante speakers. Lots of raves.

Now notice that Andrew Jones always demos these speakers with Alchemy electronics. And he was partnering with Alchemy before Alchemy was part of ELAC. There is a reason for that. 

I agree the new packaging is a little .... plain .... but IMO the insides are awesome. Peter Madnick, the designer, was VP of Engineering at Constellation as well as a principal in the old Alchemy. He definitely knows how to get really awesome sound at a price point. 

Go listen. I think you will be impressed.
If you try one I hope you will post your first impressions.  I'm in the market for such a device to replace my DAC, toslink switch,  network player and preamp which all sound great but are a nuisance to control even with a programmable remote. 
I’m getting close to just trying one out from a place with a good return policy. Waiting for a job offer to either happen or not happen. If it does, I’ll have some extra disposable income. 
I recently purchased the matching phono preamp PPA-2.  The styling is a little utilitarian, but it is a phono preamp after all. The performance and sound quality is excellent so far.  Sound quality is what I was after, so the styling of the casework was not a big deal.  It's a phono preamp after all, not the centerpiece of the system. For a system centerpiece, I'm not so sure.  The circuit topology for the PPA-2 phono preamp, and also the DPA-2, employ discrete differential JFET gain stages with servo controlled outputs. The electronics seem to be top notch.  These new Alchemy components would cost quite a bit more with a bunch of expensive casework.  Value-oriented audiophiles should give these Alchemy products serious consideration.

The PPA-2 hits most of my requirements for a phono stage for less than $1K and sounds better than anything else I have had in my system - and not by a small measure. There are a couple of little nits I could talk about that are probably just my own issues. The adjusters for input loading are on the back of the unit and very fiddly to adjust.  But, they work and are very effective.  I can live without a third input and an extra 6 dB of gain for the very low output MCs (I will use an SUT for those) .