Anyone have experience with the new ELAC DDP-2?

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) .  

I bit the bullet on trying out a DDP-2 in home.  I'll circle back and let you know how it turns out.

I'm using a Parasound ZDAC right now, which is fine and sounds good, but it's developed a transformer hum which spurred me into jumping on a replacement.  It's only recently become audible in the signal chain that the transformer is humming.

The rest of the system is a Primaluna Dialogue Premium Integrated with Electro-Harmonix KT88s and Mullard NOS 12AU7s feeding Spatial Audio M3 Triode Master open baffle speakers with Zu speaker cabling and Blue Jeans interconnects.