Berkeley Audio Design Alpha DAC Reference

joeinid

joeinid

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Credit to Wizard ....

http://cybwiz.blogspot.com/2013/12/berkeley-audio-design-alpha-dac.html

I think this will be a killer....

Berkeley Audio Design Alpha DAC Reference


​

$14000

Berkeley Audio Design is extremely pleased to announce the availability of the new Alpha DAC Reference Series.

The Alpha DAC Reference Series embodies everything we know about digital to analogue conversion taken to an unprecedented level – a level that requires new design concepts & new components at the edge of what is possible. The result is an immediacy and presence of music reproduction that is simply real.
 
Its not "native" DSD at all. Just offline DSD to PCM conversion in the computer I prefer the Lampi solution of try-level analog filtration. Not saying that the BA wont sound great, but its really a more optimized way of doing conversion to PCM.
 
Why should this be any better than the new Chord Hugo which is a Qute EX on battery power?
 
Bel Canto is also in the same boat as BA with regards to DSD playback. With my Bel Canto DAC3.5VB mkII I do the same thing (Transcoding) DSD with JRMC v19 and it sounds AWSOME!
 
Oh goody! Another flavor of the month DAC! :)

In all seriousness, I would love to review this unit against my S1. But with Chris describing the DAC2X as "fat sounding" compared to the new Berkeley DAC in the comments section....all I can say is YIKES. But listening is believing.
 
Mike said:
Oh goody! Another flavor of the month DAC! :)

In all seriousness, I would love to review this unit against my S1. But with Chris describing the DAC2X as "fat sounding" compared to the new Berkeley DAC in the comments section....all I can say is YIKES. But listening is believing.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that caught my attention as well. I've not known him to be this effusive in previous reviews, so this certainly has my curiosity piqued.
 
Mike said:
Maybe he found something to finally tame those TAD's!
Click to expand...

Chris did use a lot superlatives!!! in his review "" ,truly a game changer", " so good it renders much of the competition irrelevant", "absolute magic can be heard with standard CD quality 16 bit / 44.1 kHz material" , "I know of no DAC available today that can reproduce Redbook CD content as well as the Alpha DAC RS. Period ""

But is it $10k better than a $5k dac at playing redbook and since this dac in the review doesn't play dsd , who knows... Mike you need to get one and test it.
 
From what I understand, the guys at Berkley are the real deal when it comes to digital repro. When it comes to price of the Ref DAC and is it worth it, that's a different story but in terms of the digital audio engineering chops, these guys are legit.
 
cmalak said:
From what I understand, the guys at Berkley are the real deal when it comes to digital repro. When it comes to price of the Ref DAC and is it worth it, that's a different story but in terms of the digital audio engineering chops, these guys are legit.
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I know that the Berkeley USB converter elevated my digital playback in a dramatic way. If this latest Berkeley DAC is anything like that, I might have to take a closer look.
 
Looks like Hartley has weighed in too with a very positive review. I've got access to one on the way. Will report back after I get it.
 
CPP said:
Chris did use a lot superlatives!!! in his review "" ,truly a game changer", " so good it renders much of the competition irrelevant", "absolute magic can be heard with standard CD quality 16 bit / 44.1 kHz material" , "I know of no DAC available today that can reproduce Redbook CD content as well as the Alpha DAC RS. Period ""

But is it $10k better than a $5k dac at playing redbook and since this dac in the review doesn't play dsd , who knows... Mike you need to get one and test it.
Click to expand...

What I want to know is if it is 5 times better than the his $3500 Auralic Vega. Since I use the Vega, my guess is no. :)
 
At least this one looks good. But 16k for a DAC when another one in a few months will better it. That's hard to swallow.

Sent from my HTC One.
 
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