Preamp/DAC Reviews
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Resonessence Labs Invicta DAC
DAC Reviews, Preamp/DAC Reviews
Michael Lavorgna • May 03, 2012 • 9 comments
Megahertz Tickles
The Invicta DAC is the first product from Resonessence Labs. The main man behind Resonnessence is Mark Mallinson, former Operations Director for ESS Technology and if you know about ESS Technology you'll know they make, among other things, the line of ESS Sabre DACs that you find inside a number of DACs from companies including Peachtree Audio, Weiss, Wavelength Audio, Wyred 4 Sound, Mytek Digital and many more. And now you can also find them inside the Resonessence Labs Invicta.
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47 Laboratory Model 4733 Pre Amplifier/USB & Coax DAC
DAC Reviews, Desktop Component Reviews, Integrated Amp/DAC Reviews, Preamp/DAC Reviews
Michael Lavorgna • Oct 21, 2011 • 2 comments
I'll start by saying I've been a fan of 47 Labs designs from the first time I saw and heard the 4706 Gaincard and 4713 Flatfish. It helped that Herb Reichert wrote about the 47 Labs Gaincard (Listener, volume 5, number 2 Spring 1999) since he was a favorite writer on Hi-Fi and someone I felt I could relate to in ways that included non-Hi-Fi stuff (now that I've had an opportunity to meet Herb on a few occasions, I discovered I was righter than I knew). If a minimal design aesthetic appeals to you in a general sense, i.e. you enjoy the work of Ray and Charles Eames, Donald Judd, Ad Reinhardt, the Bauhaus, etc., then the design approach of Juni Kimura should tickle a similar fancy. Juni Kimura's quote, "Only the simplest can accomodate the most complex" adorns the 47 Labs US Distributor's home page.
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Audio Alternative
Preamp/DAC Reviews
Michael Lavorgna • Oct 19, 2011 • 0 comments
The Fort Collins, CO-based brick and mortar store Alternative Audio room featured the Bryston BDA-1 DAC/BDP-1 digital player combo ($2,195/each). The rest of the system I listened to included the Audio Research VSi60 integrated amp ($4,495) and the new Vandersteen Treo loudspeakers ($5,990/pair) all wired with AudioQuest cable. Stevie Ray Vaughan was playing here too and the sound was "hefty yet nimble" and I remember thinking—nice, real nice.