Article: Berkeley Audio Design Alpha USB Review

[Part-Time Audiophile]

Hi, Chris! Glad to see your comments on the BADA USB. Nice work, and thanks for digging in there.<br />

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I don't think you've done with the companion piece with the Series 2 DAC, yet, have you? If not, let me request that you try and tease apart the contribution of the USB transport? Running the Alpha USB into both the Series 2 and into, say, a dCS Debussy (I think that'd have to be by BNC S/PDIF, wouldn't it?) or another DAC of similar "level" that also sports an on-board USB interface may help us get a handle on what the Alpha USB does, or doesn't, do for the DAC over and above what using an on-board USB receiver might do. <br />

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I've found that the Alpha USB can certainly "level up" just about any DAC I've used it with, even on DACs that have explicit isolation and great oscillators. Not sure why that is as I'd think that adding in an additional translation into and out of S/PDIF would do bad things to the overall sound quality. There are DACs out there that take USB and translate into I2S, for example, instead of translating into S/PDIF first, yet again, every DAC I've tried it with, benefits. <br />

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IME, the Alpha USB really helps the Berkeley DAC shine and I completely agree with you that the bass on the Series 2 DAC is one of it's comparative strengths. With the Alpha USB, the already very good bass on the Series 2 is far better (best I've heard out of that DAC). <br />

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But you have access to, and way more familiarity with, more DACs than I, and more DACs of varying character. So I am curious, does the Alpha USB "add bass to" (improve the bass performance of) bass-light (or DACs that aren't necessarily known for their bass performance) DACs? What about "liquid DACs", that is DACs that really do mid range well like a tube DAC (LampizatOr or AMR DP-777), or an "airy DAC" like the dCS -- any contribution of the Alpha USB there to the (non-bass) character of those DACs?<br />

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Thanks, Chris. Appreciate the comments and still loving the site 2.5 years in. ;-)