ben_san

After extended listening I'm still very impressed with the sound. My only concern right now is the lack of gain on the headphone amp - it's just sufficient for my AKG K702's and definitely wouldn't work for less efficient or higher impedance cans. Overall it's an amazingly versatile unit in a small form factor with very few sonic compromises.

The more I listen to this little guy the more I like it. The DAC section has a very nice blend of detail and refinement, which is a trait I've heard in other Bel Canto gear. The headphone amp is a highlight for me, I do a lot of headphone listening on hard to drive cans and this is the best sound I've heard short of a high end dedicated head amp. The speaker amp section sounds good with my Gallo Strada's, nice imaging, no digital grain. I'd prefer a wider soundstage but what is there is well defined in width with some depth. The digital volume control works great for me, and I don't hear any problems at low volumes. It is also the quietest piece of gear I've ever heard with no audible noisefloor at any volume. The pitch blackness of musical space really is quite eerie at times. The optical inputs work well with my airport express with no jitter related dropouts I've experienced on other DAC's so whatever reclocking solution they use works well. The USB input sounds particularly good, and is driverless to 24/96 on my Macbook Pro. I haven't had a chance to try the phono preamp as I sold my table to fund the C5i but I'll be in the market for a new table eventually so it's nice to have. I also haven't tried the one analog input but was pleased to see it could be configured for home theater passthrough. So far I'm very happy and I'd recommend it as an ideal integrated solution for digital sources, especially if you don't need built in UPnP/DLNA streaming support. I upgraded from a Peachtree Decco and the Bel Canto sounds much more accurate to me while retaining lots of musicality. The build quality appears to be miles ahead of the Decco as well.

I just received my C5i, one of the first batch manufactured and apparently they will be back ordered for some time. So far my impressions are fairly positive and I'll update over the next few days as I get time to listen some more. Any one else out there got their hands on one?

Word I recieved from Bel Canto is that it will be ready end of January with an MSRP under 2k. From the ad I saw it appeared to be a combine DAC, ADC and integrated amp functions with a phono section. Pretty sure all the analog inputs will go through the ADC much like the DAC 2.5 / 3.5. Looks there will also be a headphone amp like the new DAC's. I'll be buying one when it gets released, it's pretty much exactly what I've been looking for but couldn't find in one box.