Digital Reviews

Digital music replay can feel like wearing someone else’s shoes—rarely do you get a perfect fit. Whether too loose, too tight or too lumpy, getting digital right can be an elusive task.

On the backside of 6+ years reviewing nothing but digital hifi gear, you learn a few things. One of those things being—in digital, absence makes the ears grow fonder.

Perhaps more than any other audio component, you want a streamer to get out of the way. The less you ‘hear’ a streamer, the better.

My history with Mytek dates back to RMAF 2011, where they debuted the Stereo192 DSD DAC. At the time, this DAC represented a rather large leap toward the affordable in DSD-capable DACs.

In some ways, I’d like to be able to tell you that the Melco N50-S38 Music Library made no audible difference in my system because that would be simpler than the truth.

I had to know.

You might think that after spending nine years or so reviewing DACs, there’d be no real surprises left.

What are the odds that Denafrips will pull a hat trick? Or would that be a DAC trick?

Sometimes you don’t realize that something was ever 
missing. . .until you find it.

There’s a lot to like about streaming directly from a service like Spotify, Tidal, and Amazon Music Unlimited. No middle man for starters.

You can think of the ALTAIR G1 as a one-box solution for all of your streaming, serving, DAC and digital preamp needs. One and done.

If you expect the Sonnet Morpheus DAC to sound a particular way because of acronyms associated with its design, be prepared for a surprise.

The Denafrips PONTUS II DAC employs a balanced, dual mono R-2R network design to convert bits to waves. Like its little and much-loved brother, the Denafrips ARES II DAC, the Pontus converts digital to analog in a way that makes music more than inviting.