Gary

Just bought one of these, and I'm really enjoying it. Smooth, rich, and detailed from a black background. I think Chris's review really nails it. I've been listening to music obsessively all day. Haven't gotten a damn thing done.

Sad news. One of my favorite bands growing up. RIP Walter. Thank you for the great music and memories.

Great review as always. I've always had a fondness for McIntosh products. Looking forward to part 2. CA is consistently a rewarding read.

Congratulations on a great review! I've had the Red for a few months, and I couldn't agree more with Chris's conclusions. I've been extremely happy with its portability and sound quality through my JH Audio Roxannes. I bought it on a whim, and was quite simply blown away by the improvement in the sound coming out of my iPhone. I recommend it very highly.

This is the first album that I ever bought, although I believe it was called "The Beatles Again." I was nine years old, and I bought it at Frank's drug store for $3. I played it over and over while sitting in front of my parents Magnavox console. The last song on the first side (Revolution) and the first song on the second side (Hey Jude) changed my life. It is one of my most prized possessions.

Voodoo Child (Slight Return)

I felt that the people of France stood with us after September 11th, and we stand with them today.

Really great review. I enjoyed reading it. Did you happen to get a sense of the USB implementation?

Thanks Kimo. I'm curious if anyone has had the chance to compare it to other highly-touted tube dacs, like the Aesthetix Pandora SE, the AMR DP 777 SE, or the EAR. I've never heard a ladder dac, and the Acqua La Scala II sounds like one to audition.

Thank you for taking the time out to give us your impressions. It sounds like a special dac. Could you let us know the other components of your system and the music that you used in your testing? Also, were there other dacs that you've heard that you thought were comparable?

I guess for the most part we are a bunch of old guys and an audio elf. I have no problem with not spending (wasting?) money to buy digital recordings when you already have the vinyl, and I can see why you would want to listen to recordings that were originally mastered for vinyl as vinyl. My point was only that after a certain point in time nearly all recordings began to be made in digital. Even if vinyl is a perfect medium, which I doubt, some sort of DAC had to be used to convert the digital recording to vinyl and the vinyl logically can be no better than the quality of that DAC. If the vinyl sounds "better," then there is probably something artificial going on to color the music, which is fine if that is what you like. I'm also over 50, but enjoy keeping up with more modern music. It's just a hobby, though, and there's no right or wrong to it.

Much as I love a good Dean Martin record, Dino has left us. For better or worse, we are still here, and the music of our times - with the exception of an occasional novelty - is recorded in PCM. I don't see how a PCM transfer to vinyl can exceed the quality of PCM decoded by a good DAC. While I don't believe that the sound quality of vinyl will exceed that of well-recorded digital played back over a good system, I think that vinyl may capture more accurately what engineers and artists of the "analogue era" had in mind when recording, mixing, and mastering the music of their day. So if you predominantly listen to the music of yesteryear, then vinyl may be the way to go. I won't be joining you. I think that Fremmer was wrong for using the tone that he did.

I think that the Auralic Vega would meet your requirements. I haven't heard it, but Chris put it on the CASH list, which is high praise, and it has received good reviews elsewhere as well. The Ayre QB-9 DSD, which doesn't have spdif, is also on the CASH list, and may meet your needs if you find that you can live w/o the spdif connection. Happy hunting. Let us know what you come up with.

I think that Peter Aczel has been an important voice in audio, and I'm glad to hear his perspective one more time.