Review: California Audio Labs Gamma DA converter
Category: Digital
I listen to all types of music.The most important aspects of the sound to me are clarity and accuracy with smoothness coming in last.moving from a dual 1 bit sherwood newcastle 5 disc cd player to this d/a converter(multi bit)you hear a complete clarity that you will never hear with any 1 bit converter I imagine--playing rock music one can now easily hear the words which were muffled or indecipherable before.The sound is not smooth but at the same time not harsh which suggests good jitter reduction--or it could be that the power supply is seperated,in this case in the form of a seperate power brick that is plugged into the wall.The timing of the sound is much better than the sherwood which makes the sound more lifelike and beleivable.The only negatives with this converter are a lack of deep bass(or it could just be more accurate i.e less bass boom than my newcastle 1 bit player)--this is likely to only be a problem if you are a bass "freak" or if your system is very bass weak.If money was no object I think I would still be very happy with this d/a converter-I have heard several more expensive players that I did not like as much as this one.I have only had this converter a few months but due to the complete lack of harshness in the sound Im sure I'll be listening to it for a long time unless I upgrade to something much more expensive.
Associated gear
roksan kandy amplifier-bic speakers-audioquest type 4 sp. cables-cheap ixos interconnects
Similar products
mass market one bit cd players-roksan kandy cd player
I listen to all types of music.The most important aspects of the sound to me are clarity and accuracy with smoothness coming in last.moving from a dual 1 bit sherwood newcastle 5 disc cd player to this d/a converter(multi bit)you hear a complete clarity that you will never hear with any 1 bit converter I imagine--playing rock music one can now easily hear the words which were muffled or indecipherable before.The sound is not smooth but at the same time not harsh which suggests good jitter reduction--or it could be that the power supply is seperated,in this case in the form of a seperate power brick that is plugged into the wall.The timing of the sound is much better than the sherwood which makes the sound more lifelike and beleivable.The only negatives with this converter are a lack of deep bass(or it could just be more accurate i.e less bass boom than my newcastle 1 bit player)--this is likely to only be a problem if you are a bass "freak" or if your system is very bass weak.If money was no object I think I would still be very happy with this d/a converter-I have heard several more expensive players that I did not like as much as this one.I have only had this converter a few months but due to the complete lack of harshness in the sound Im sure I'll be listening to it for a long time unless I upgrade to something much more expensive.
Associated gear
roksan kandy amplifier-bic speakers-audioquest type 4 sp. cables-cheap ixos interconnects
Similar products
mass market one bit cd players-roksan kandy cd player
0 responses Add your response