jeffro

I've evaluated a heck of a lot of USB cables through the Cable Co and purchase. I've found the Transparent the best in my system for the price. It does tonality and dynamics right. The only $100+ cables I like better are the WyWires LITESPD and AudioQuest Coffee. One of them will soon replace the Transparent. ----- 2010 Mac Mini/8GB/160GB SSD - iTunes - Classe CP-800 - AudioQuest Colorado XLR - Classe CA-2300 - Anti-cables - Paradigm Studio 100 v2

If you want something with some flexibility to record analog sources (A/D), I recommend the TC Electronic Impact Twin ($400). This will do 24/192 through firewire. I have the previous model (Konnekt 8) and I am very surprised by how good this unit sounds playing 16/44 WAV files. I put it up against my older $1K DAC and it sounds almost identical, and that unit is no slouch. It sounds better than my Squeezebox Duet. I recommend getting a better firewire cable (Monster Digital Firelink) because it makes a difference. It has noticeably better imaging and detail after putting that in. You also will need a special cable to go from 1/4" TRS to XLR if your target has that connector type. Roland has a new unit out that has similar specs called the Quad-Capture but I haven't heard its sound quality. Jeff

The Classe CP-800 sounds incredible with USB redbook files. It is very natural and analog sounding, and it does that while still presenting all the detail in the recording. Close your eyes and the performance is in the room, or very close to it. The music just flows out of it. Acoustic instruments have their position in space and are 3 dimensional. The soundstage is deep and wide. The timbre of instruments sounds natural. I heard it with the Classe CA-2300, Moon 400A, and McIntosh MC452 amps. Primary speakers were B&W 804D. It went well with the Classe and Moon amps, but not so well with the McIntosh (sounded dead). There is a definite synergy between the Classe preamp and amp as that sounded the best to me. One thing I did notice is that the USB cable matters, even though they are reclocking things. I found the AudioQuest Carbon cable sounded noticeably better than the Transparent Performance cable. Needless to say, the Classe CP-800 and CA-2300 found a happy home on my hi-fi rack. At home, a Mac Mini is the source, and they are driving Paradigm Studio 100s better than ever. To be honest, I didn't even want to buy a preamp with built-in DAC, but some of the stand-alone DACs are at or above that price point. I though this was on par with the best DACs (and entire systems for that matter) I ever heard so why not just replace my aging Audio Research Preamp with this. The other nice thing is it eliminates another pair of interconnects from the DAC to pre. I heard the Rowland Aries prototype and it sounds awesome, but costs $10K (ouch). Too much for me for a digital source. I would ultimately let your ears and budget be the deciding factor. Have fun... Jeff

I heard it this weekend at Art's CAS listening session and it was excellent. It was very natural sounding with good tonal balance, soundstage and imaging. It sounded more analog than any digital source I've heard. I haven't heard all of the latest high-end DACs, nor did we do any A-B testing against other DACs, so I wouldn't take my impressions as gospel. But there were a number of dedicated vinyl members there that were really impressed with the DAC. We listened to mostly redbook wave files played through a Windows laptop via USB. A few tracks were played through a SACD player via S/PDIF. At the end of the night he spun some vinyl too. It was nice to hear some vinyl as a reference point against the DAC. It was plugged in to a Rowland pre-amp and the Rowland 625 power amp and some huge electostatic speakers. Now if I could just afford all of this sweet gear. Jeff