Berkeley vs. Simaudio

Did you try the Alpha Dac through both it's AES and S/PDIF inputs? Was the sound equally good?

No, only the S/PDIF. Very musical, natural sounding. I have heard the Reference is even better and hope to hear it someday. I worked a room at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest last year and this was the DAC we used with the Baetis Revolution II Music Server so had the opportunity to listen to virtually every genre of music over three days and it never ceased to amaze me.

Thanks Hifimaniac.

There's a review of the Berkeley Audio Reference DAC in this month's edition of The Abosolute Sound. Robert Harley put's the DAC's performance right up there with much more expensive DAC's from the likes of DCS!

Camb,

I remember Robert Harley's review of the Berkeley 1. I believe it is still online. This reminds me of Ted Denney (Synergistic Research) when he wrote about the famous Master Coupler -- and a lot of other products. Superlatives are the norm with manufacturers and with the reviewers who do their bidding. Let your ears tell your mind what you are hearing -- not a manufacturer or a seasoned reviewer with an agenda. Can you count the times you were let down by an audio product -- and were left scratching your head about the manufacturer's copywriting or the reviewer's applause?