Berkeley Audio Design Alpha DAC RS - Impressions and Information

[Audio_ELF]

Do you know if they have it CE certified so it can be distributed in Europe?

 

Also... I notice it's made you give up your preamp? Though also perhaps you have new power amps not Spectral any more?

 

There's another article you need to update ... Your listening room!

 

Eloise

[Audio_ELF]

Depending on one's source there may be a need for the Alpha USB. So far I'm leaning toward using the Alpha USB as an added layer of isolation to feed the DAC as pristine of signal as possible. When one can remove noise it just makes sense to do so.

Chris... I'm slightly confused with this statement. I was of the impression that the new Berkeley required a Alpha USB (or alternative USB interface) operating only with SPDIF or AES; am I correct?

 

What is your primary source these days? A CAPS or are you using the Aurender (or something else)?

 

Eloise

[Audio_ELF]

sorry for the off-topic, but I really do believe that hi-res is actually better than 16/44.1 and not by a small margin.

I hope I'm not putting words into anyone's mouth but I don't think anyone (in this thread) was arguing agains High res being better than CD (though they may argue how large the margin is but that's not the question here).

 

What was being said (IMO) is that well done CD replay can be superior to mediocre High Res (and this applies at many levels) and that for many people CD level replay is more important as the music they want to listen to is only available to them in this format. Certainly for me I would give up all the high res music I have if it meant better CD level replay.

 

Eloise

[Audio_ELF]

+1

 

Though I was thinking you can but a Audi A5 or an R8 :-)

I don't think the new berkeley dac is supposed to replace the alpha 2 is it? I took it to be their attempt to build a really maxed out dac with no expense spared. You can still buy a Nissan 370Z for $30k, or you can buy a GT-R for $100k.

[Audio_ELF]

Geeze you'd better find a new line of work soon ...

Work? Work? You call what Chris does work?

 

Swanning around the world, listening to the best that HiFi can offer.

 

He can complain after a day down't pits!!

 

All in good fun

Eloise :-)

[Audio_ELF]

Love learning new colloquialisms. We in the US might say after a lunch break, "Back to the salt mines."

And for those who prefer visual references...

[video=youtube_share;Xe1a1wHxTyo]

[Audio_ELF]

Who is a better painter Rembrandt or Van Gogh?

 

Can you tell by reading opinions about each artists and his paintings?

 

Can you tell by viewing pictures of the paintings online?

 

Oh wait, there is no such thing as a "better" painter. Their work is subjective art.

 

 

This applies to Audio as well. All engineers start with the same rules. Creating a final product is an art that produces different results. A "better" or "best" DAC can only be decided upon by each one of us. As it stands now the Alpha DAC RS is the best DAC I've ever heard in my system.

Then perhaps you should just close the forums now and stop blogging about audio equipment >:-)

[Audio_ELF]

It doesn't appear that the German magazines have yet heard the new Reference Series (RS) version of the Berkeley DAC which is an entirely different product.

It's unlikely a German (or British or French or Belgian, etc.) magazine will ever review a DAC which is not able to be sold in Europe.

[Audio_ELF]

Does this mean the RS isn't ROHS compliant as the BADA2?

Thats what Chris suggested when I asked him in the review thread...

 

Based on my reading of Chris' reviews, I came to the conclusion that he has stated the DACs are in the following SQ order: Alpha DAC Reference >> DAC 2X >> Alpha DAC. This is based on comments from the current review, and the DAC 2X review. In the current review and comment section, he stated the Reference is significantly better than than anything he has heard including the DAC 2X.

If you read Chris's comments he specifically says...

The Alpha DAC RS is without question the best DAC I've heard anywhere when it comes to 16/44.1 playback.

and

I know of no DAC available today that can reproduce Redbook CD content as well as the Alpha DAC RS.

 

Eloise

[Audio_ELF]

No chance we join the EU! :-)

 

You'd rather just continue to poison the planet...?