PMCH
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Well after going down to Mike's showroom in Sarasota and purchasing a new Aurender N10 it was time to get a new DAC to go with it. While my wife and I were demoing the N10, Mike let us listen to a variety of DACs to go with it. We liked them all but the Berkeley Alpha DAC Reference Series 2 MQA really made an impression on us. The sound of that DAC just had us sold within the first few seconds of listening to it and we knew we had to have it. We finally got around to ordering it recently and it arrived a couple of weeks ago. We have just started breaking it in and now have about 100 hours on it. It keeps sounding better and better. I haven't gotten around to putting it in my rack yet. It is just on top or the rack so far. What really amazed me was how much vibration control affected the sound quality. I don't have the best rack in the world but it looks pretty. I had originally put it on a Symposium Svelte shelf but over this weekend I put some Symposium Rollerblock Jr's that I had laying around under the Berkeley and on top of the Svelte shelf. Wow, the level of detail and sound quality took a dramatic leap for me. I will be trying some Stillpoints I have under it soon to also do a comparison. If you have a Berkeley, I would suggest you try some isolating footers.
I also ordered a Berkeley Alpha USB which Mike says should be here this week. It will be interesting to find out if I can get any more improvement than the fantastic sound that I am already getting. I will set it up to start with an isolation shelf and footers.
I also ordered a Berkeley Alpha USB which Mike says should be here this week. It will be interesting to find out if I can get any more improvement than the fantastic sound that I am already getting. I will set it up to start with an isolation shelf and footers.
