Digital Reviews

My friends at Harmonia Distribution sent me a little challenge package—2 Bluesound NODEs (N130), one stock and one with the Sbooster AIB Connection Kit and matching Sbooster ECO Power Supply.

Let’s make this easy—totaldac’s new Live Clocking Option offers a subtle yet clear improvement.

There’s part of me that wonders why all DACs aren’t streaming DACs—Ethernet in/analog out. Simple. Truth be told, I love a good streaming DAC.

Non-digital digital.

Q: Why do you have a Network Acoustics Muon Pro Ethernet filter in your hifi? A: Because it makes music sound better.

NOS or OS, the audiophile’s choice.

“Now, I’m not one to stand on ceremony or suggest that a given technology is inherently superior to another—it’s all in the implementation…”

If you want to hear the best digital music reproduction I’ve heard by an obvious and distinct margin, you’ll need to find a Grimm MU2 to listen through.

The two most important factors in HiFi performance are system effects and environment.

DACs are like dinner party guests: you don’t want loud and obnoxious but you also don’t want overly polite and boring.

The big question for me regarding the Auralic ARIES G2.2 was a simple one—is it better than the Auralic ARIES G1.1 and if so, how.

How much do we really know about a DAC we’ve never heard? The answer depends on who you ask.

Sometimes simple is all you need.

I spent about 7 years reviewing just digital gear as Editor of AudioStream. Streamers, servers, DACs, software, and cables filled my days, nights, and nightmares with the ever elusive goal of making digital music sound like just music, minus the digital part.