Disc & File Players:
A+:
Aurender N50: $38,500
The three-chassis, Roon Ready N50 takes music data streamed from a streaming service or stored in its internal SSDs or USB-connected media and outputs it as a clean digital signal to an external D/A processor. As well as a galvanically isolated USB Audio output, the outputs include electrical S/PDIF, optical S/PDIF (TOSLINK), AES3, and dual-wire AES3 (for use with dCS and Esoteric DACs). A custom module bay can accommodate an I2S-over-HDMI output module (standard), an MSB ProISL output module (optional, for use with MSB DACs), or a CH Link HD output module (optional, for use with CH Precision DACs). The N50 can play back DSD data as DSD-over-PCM (DoP), natively (but only via its USB and I2S outputs), and transcoding to PCM (for DACs that support neither DoP nor native DSD). MQA-encoded data can be unfolded in the N50 by purchasing a license or can be sent to be decoded by an MQA-capable DAC. Aurender’s Conductor app is available for iOS and Android and is well-designed, mature, and well-supported, wrote Miguel Barrio; as well as playing files from local storage, Tidal and Qobuz are natively supported. The app offers filtering by recently added, format, sample rate, bit depth, and favorite tracks and also supports gapless playback. Playing “Contrabajísimo” from Astor Piazzolla’s album Tango: Zero Hour, Barrio found that this track, played back on the N50 through its dual-wire AES3 connection to a dCS D/A processor, sounded spacious and effortless, with sharply delineated tonal colors. “It simply sounded right: mesmerizing and memorable, not mechanical or sterile.” Playback from the single-ended S/PDIF output was, to Barrio’s ears, indistinguishable from the dual-wire AES3 connection, though he found that files played with Roon rather than the Conductor app consistently sounded less sweet, with less color. He concluded that the Aurender N50 was a superbly executed piece of gear. “The ease, tonality, and expansiveness of the music it serves up to my dCS Rossini APEX DAC are above and beyond what I had heard before. … Highly recommended.” (Vol.49 No.5 WWW) dCS Rossini SACD Transport: $29,900 ★
Unlike the earlier Rossini Player, which only played CDs, the Rossini Transport uses a new mechanism from Denon that plays both SACDs and CDs. The Transport outputs audio data on twin AES3 links, to allow it to send native DSD data and CD data upsampled to DXD, DSD, or double DSD (these both encrypted) to a dCS DAC. John Atkinson used the Transport with a Rossini DAC and was mightily impressed by what he heard. He consistently preferred the sound of SACDs played on the Transport compared with the same data sent to the Rossini DAC over his network, feeling that the low frequencies sounded more robust. “Once these words have been laid out on the pages of this issue,” Atkinson concluded, “I’ll have to return [the Rossini Transport] to dCS. It breaks my heart.” (Vol.42 No.5 WWW) dCS Varèse Transport: $39,950
The front-loading Varèse Transport uses a Denon/Marantz mechanism to play both CDs and SACDs. Its rear panel contains a single dCS proprietary ACTUS output port, for connection to the dCS Varèse Core processor. As well as offering dCS’s standard clock circuitry, the Varèse Transport can be locked to the master clock signal sourced from the Varèse processor’s Clock module. When Jason Victor Serinus auditioned the Varèse Transport, he was amazed to hear what he heard and astonished to feel what he felt. “CD and SACD playback often sounded as direct-to-the-source as anything I’d ever heard,” he wrote. Playing male ensemble Cantus’s album While You Are Alive, Serinus noted that he didn’t expect to hear so much color, vibrancy, shading, and pristine silence from a 16/44.1 CD. He concluded that the dCS Varèse Transport, as part of a complete Varèse Music System, “sets a new standard in silver disc reproduction.” (Vol.49 No.5 WWW)
Grimm Audio MU1 music streamer: $14,400 plus cost of internal storage ★
The MU1 is based on an Intel twin-core i3 processor running a Linux-based operating system. It incorporates a Roon Core and is fully integrated with the Roon Server app. It can be controlled by rotating and pressing a top-mounted, bronze-colored disc; a high-precision digital volume control and other functions can be selected with this control. While its Ethernet and USB ports can be used to send audio data from the Intel board to a DAC, the MU1 upsamples PCM data and downsamples DSD data sourced from its AES3 outputs using what Grimm calls a “Pure Nyquist” decimation filter hosted in a Xilinx FPGA. (Measurement revealed that this is an ultrafast-rolloff filter, reaching full stop-band attenuation at half the original PCM data’s sample rate.) John Atkinson very much preferred the sound from the AES3 outputs, finding that the upsampling of CD-resolution data reduced congestion, added depth to the soundstage, and increased the separation among acoustic objects. Atkinson recommended the MU1 highly as a streamer, writing that it can also operate as a network bridge with legacy D/A processors that don’t have USB or Ethernet ports. It can also be used as the sole source component with active speakers that have digital inputs, including Grimm’s own LS1c, reviewed in our April 2025 issue. A 1TB SSD adds $225; 2TB SSD adds $430; 4TB SSD adds $805. (Vol.44 No.3, Vol.48 No.4 WWW) Grimm Audio MU2: $20,000 without internal storage
This Dutch streaming player features digital and analog inputs and can operate as a Roon Server with internal and external storage. (An internal 2TB SSD adds just $235; 8TB SSD adds $630.) It can also act as an End Point for other Roon servers on the same network. There are balanced and single-ended analog outputs as well as a 6.3mm headphone jack. A wheel on the top panel allows access to the settings menu and volume and input selection. The MU2 can also be controlled with the Grimm UI (GRUI) web interface; once the Grimm’s Ethernet port is connected to the user’s network, this page can be found by scanning the QR code shown on the front panel’s menu display. Playing a 24/96 remaster of Ligeti’s Six Bagatelles for Wind Quintet from a 2TB drive plugged into the MU2’s USB port, Kalman Rubinson noted a definite illusion of the presence of the instruments in his room. “Each was clearly delineated, and the overall balance was neutral, favoring nothing but revealing the full, inherent color and body of the instruments,” he wrote. Rubinson’s conclusion: “The Grimm MU2 is a bang-up success. It combines cutting-edge digital processing and digital-to-analog conversion with a Roon Core and a remarkably transparent volume control and input/output selector. … It offers completely satisfying sound and flawless ergonomics. It is worthy of the very best amplifiers, speakers, and critical listeners.” John Atkinson noted that the MU2 offered superb measured performance with both digital and analog sources. One of the first tracks Alex Halberstadt listened to through the Grimm was a Qobuz stream of Paul Desmond playing “My Funny Valentine.” The MU2 presented this track with superb timing and separation, he wrote, adding that the sound was full and rich, with admirable color saturation and not a hint of the hollow, etched sound one hears from unconvincing digital. He concluded that the Grimm offered some of the best—and least musically destructive—sound from streaming he’d experienced. (Vol.47 No.8. Vol.49 No.8 WWW) Ideon Audio Absolute Stream meta edition (2024) server/streamer: $28,500
The Absolute Stream meta edition can render music files stored on its internal 4TB SSD (an 8TB SSD is also available) or on USB- or network-connected external storage. It can natively stream internet radio, Spotify, and Qobuz, and adds an embedded Roon core. Features include a CPU that’s “highly prioritized for audio playback only, ensuring highly optimized sound quality” and a reclocking circuit that includes “no-compromise femto clock architecture embedded as standard” on an upgradable platform that is said to eliminate jitter. Ideon considers a USB source of data less prone to noise than a network connection; the optional Alpha Wave LAN optimizer ($6900) takes in an Ethernet signal, converts it to USB, reclocks it, and outputs the music data over USB 3.0. Jason Victor Serinus found that Ideon’s web-based app had metadata problems with WAV files; it did much better with FLAC. “Never before have I reviewed a standalone streamer/server so accomplished in the hardware department, yet so behind the best in software implementation,” noted Serinus, but such limitations aside, he wrote that the Ideon Absolute Stream meta edition (2024), running its own software, delivered clearer, more involving sound than any other music server or streamer he’d heard in his reference system. (Vol.47 No.11 WWW)
Innuos Nazaré server/streamer: $61,000
The Portuguese company’s flagship server/streamer offers up to 16TB storage via M.2 SSDs (up to 8TB internal, up to 8TB via expansion slot, all seen as a single volume). It is compatible with Innuos Sense, Roon, UPnP Server, and HQPlayer (NAA endpoint only) and works with Qobuz and Qobuz Connect, Tidal and Tidal Connect, Deezer, HighResAudio, iDagio, and Spotify Connect. The Nazaré sits on four OEM IsoAcoustics Gaia footers and features a tuned “PreciseAudio” mainboard with 20 cores and 32GB of industrial-grade RAM and new “PreciseUSB” and “PreciseNET” boards with direct CPU connection. Its power supply includes high-precision “multifilar” toroidal transformers, custom Lundahl inductors, an upgraded NGaN+ regulator with high-performance filters, and premium internal cabling. The back panel features an RJ45 jack for connection to a network and a reclocked USB-A output, which Jason Victor Serinus used with Innuos Sense for his review. (While there is a second USB output, this is not reclocked.) The Nazaré can be used on its own or with two related products, the NazaréFLOW and NazaréNET, neither of which was available at the time of the review. When used as an all-in-one, the Nazaré’s internal PreciseNET serves as the RJ45 input and takes the place of the PhoenixNET and the improved NazaréNET; the Nazaré’s PreciseUSB boards take the place of the NazaréFLOW’s reclocker stage, I2S via HDMI output, reclocked USB output, and DAC-specific outputs. Compared with the Innuos Statement Next-Gen (no longer available), the Nazaré sounded cleaner, fuller, and better-defined on bottom. The Statement Next-Gen was a little thinner and less refined at the top of the range, and colors he had reveled in with the Nazaré seemed less saturated with the Next-Gen. Listening to Maya de Vitry and Lockeland Strings’ “Watching the Whole Sky Change,” Serinus commented that as beautiful as de Vitry’s voice sounded through the Statement Next-Gen, the pristine silence that surrounded it and her guitar through the Nazaré left him mesmerized: “For four minutes, I felt fulfilled.” Serinus concluded that if you want to hear everything that a gifted recording engineer can encode on a file, “you’ve got to audition the Nazaré. Even if it isn’t in your price range, an audition will give you a reference to guide future choices. And if it is in your price range, prepare for many new musical adventures.” (Vol.48 No.9 WWW) Innuos ZENith Next-Gen streamer/server: $24,100 as reviewed
The ZENith Next-Gen can be fitted with 2TB of internal storage but can also be used with external network audio data as well as streaming sources, courtesy of the Innuos Sense iOS and Android app. (Sense is also installed in the streamer and can be accessed with a Web browser.) Standard Outputs are three USB 3.2 Gen2 capable of PCM up to 32/768, DSD up to DSD256 by DoP, DSD512 native, and two Ethernet ports (one for LAN connection, the other for connection to a streaming DAC). A USB port can also be connected to an external CD drive to rip CDs with Sense. Roon can be used to manage the music library with music playback left to the Innuos Music Player, which is part of Sense. Music Player can also be replaced by HQ Player. Jim Austin wasn’t satisfied with how Innuos Sense handled classical metadata, so he primarily used the ZENith Next-Gen with Roon. He was impressed with the result. Compared with Innuos’s two-box Statement flagship player, he found the sound very similar, but their virtues were slightly shifted. “The Statement majors in liquidity and perhaps has a dash of extra soundstage depth. With the ZENith, I heard a bit more transient emphasis—a bit more leading edge to percussive notes.” (Vol.48 No.5 WWW) MBL Noble Line N31: $20,200; optional Roon module is $1610 ★
Designed to play “Red Book” CDs and, via its USB and other digital inputs, music files up to 24/192 and DSD64 (DoP), the Noble Line N31 is less a digital-audio Swiss Army knife than a luxuriantly attractive, 40 lb monument to the idea of perfecting the playback of audiophilia’s best-loved digital formats. Built around the ESS Sabre 9018 DAC, the N31 offers a full-color 5" TFT display—the MBL player recognizes CD text and displays title information—and features an SD Card slot for firmware updates, a choice of three playback filters, and a remote handset that lights up before the person reaching for it has even touched it. Listening to CDs and even a CD-R through the N13, John Atkinson was impressed by the “sheer tangibility” of the MBL’s sound, noting that, with its Min filter engaged, the N31 “gracefully reproduced” one “overcooked” track, and that the differences among its three filters were “greater in degree than with other DACs.” Through the MBL’s USB inputs, even iPhones and iPads, their own volume controls disarmed by the MBL’s USB input, offered “excellent” sound quality. Atkinson originally raised an eyebrow at the lack of a network port and the fact that the player’s filters can’t be selected via the remote handset, but both of these issues have been addressed in 2020 production with the optional Roon Ready Input Module. As with USB, the networked MBL rendered music with an excellent sense of overall drive and low-frequency impact, Atkinson found, with low-level recorded detail well-resolved. Atkinson concluded his original review by saying that digital sound “doesn’t get any better” than what he heard from the N31. He also noted that the MBL offered 21 bits of resolution—the current state of the art of digital audio. This prompted Atkinson the measurer to agree with Atkinson the listener: “Digital audio engineering doesn’t get any better.” (Vol.41 No.2, Vol.43 No.12 WWW)
T+A MP 3100 HV G3: $25,490
Jim Austin reviewed the original version of the T+A MP 3100 HV in Vol.43 No.6. The G3 looks unchanged but has been substantially upgraded. Like its predecessor it can serve as a disc transport, outputting two-channel digital data read from CDs and SACDs via S/PDIF. There are USB, S/PDIF, AES3, TOSLINK, and Ethernet digital inputs, as well as Bluetooth and AirPlay 2; there’s also an FM tuner. As well as front-panel buttons and a remote control, the MP 3100 can be controlled with T+A’s MusicNavigator G3 app. The MP 3100 HV G3 sports not one but two perfectionist D/A converters: one for PCM data using four 32-bit sigma-delta D/A converters per channel with four choices of reconstruction filter, the other for DSD using a true 1-bit DSD D/A converter. There are four selectable oversampling algorithms and several other options including the choice of analog filter and cutoff frequency. Playing familiar CDs, Herb Reichert wrote that the MP 3100 “presented recordings with an obvious physicality, a fine resolve, and great dimensionality. … this was CD playback at its highest imaginable level.” Playing SACDs, Reichert found that the sound was “sharply focused, high-contrast, overtly organized, but also smooth, supple, and easy-flowing, with delectable tone.” In John Atkinson’s test lab, the T+A MP 3100 HV G3 offered superb test bench performance, very similar to that of the 2020 version, though like the earlier processor, the balanced outputs shouldn’t be used with preamplifiers that have a very low input impedance. The Bezier IIR reconstruction filter offers the best balance between time-domain performance and frequency-domain performance with PCM data, he noted. (Vol.49 No.6 WWW) Totaldac d1-streamer-sublime music server: €9100
This French streamer/server offers a network input and digital outputs and functions as a Roon endpoint. It tops out at 24/192, and it passes DSD via DoP. Alex Halberstadt used the d1-streamer sublime to audition Totaldac’s d1-unity—see Digital Processors. When he replaced it with his usual combination of Sonore ultraRendu and Denafrips Iris digital-to-digital converter, the sound was possibly a hair more forceful but also audibly less refined and purposeful. “The meaning of the music was less obvious, and everything sounded just a bit more mechanical,” he wrote. (Vol.46 No.12 WWW) A: Advance Paris X-CD9 CD player: $1399
This French player uses a Sanyo CD mechanism and two new old stock, Raytheon-branded, 5744 subminiature signal tubes to buffer the output of a Wolfson WM8762 DAC. CD data are upsampled to 24/96 or 24/192—this is not defeatable—and there is also a USB input: the X-CD9 could play WAV and MP3 files sampled at 44.1kHz via USB but couldn’t play AIF or AAC files or files with higher sample rates. Listening to a 10-CD set of vintage Billie Holiday recordings, Ken Micallef noted that the X-CD9 captured Holiday’s nuanced phrasing, feeling for elastic tempi, and the richness of her sinewy voice: “With the X-CD9, I felt I was missing nothing. It captured every inflection, every swinging sigh. I felt the tow of her enigmatic genius.” With a classic Charlie Parker CD, Micallef wondered if he could have craved more rhythm, swagger, or a bigger, bolder soundstage? “Maybe—but the dead-silent background, precise imaging, and digital precision more than made up for any shortcomings—sins of omission, not commission.” He concluded that the X-CD9 “delivered all the high-level performance parameters you’d expect from a CD player in 2025, for a price affordable to all but the stingiest audiophile.” On the test bench, while the Advance Paris player’s error correction was one of the best John Atkinson had encountered, both the single-ended and balanced output impedances were awkwardly high, the measured resolution was low—and different with disc and USB data—and the noisefloor was modulated with high-level, high-frequency signals. (Vol.49 No.1 WWW)
Hegel Viking CD player: $5500
This slot-loading player uses the well-regarded AKM4493SEQ DAC chip and doesn’t have any digital inputs. It just plays CDs. It does, however, have a coaxial S/PDIF digital output, which John Atkinson found featured very low jitter. Herb Reichert played CDs and was impressed by what he heard. “CDs exhibited more crystallized forms than similar recordings played back from Tidal at CD resolution. The Viking projected images with more-distinct outlines than Tidal’s 16/44.1 tracks. Those more-distinct forms felt more relaxed and less edge-sharpened than similar recordings of the same program at higher sampling rates on Qobuz,” he wrote. Reichert concluded that the Viking “presented every CD with enough verve, transparency, and natural detail to make each disc sound distinctly different, which shows that the player’s sound was not swamping the disc’s sound. This ability to disappear and put the character and vital energies of recordings up front made the Viking exciting to use, and that is my highest compliment.” (Vol.46 No.12 WWW) Mytek Brooklyn Bridge II Roon Core 4TB: $4995
The small Brooklyn Bridge II streaming D/A preamplifier offers digital and analog inputs, including an MC/MM phono input, balanced and single-ended analog and headphone outputs, and incorporates a Roon core. All its owner needs to add to create a complete system are some file storage, a power amplifier, and a pair of loudspeakers. Tom Fine found the touchscreen too small for easy use, instead controlling the BBII functions with the Roon app. (Roon identified the Brooklyn Bridge II as a full MQA decoder and renderer.) He found that the single-ended outputs picked up some hash from his Mesh Wi-Fi network, though Jim Austin and John Atkinson didn’t encounter any Wi-Fi–related problems in their own systems. In the test lab, Atkinson noted that the Mytek runs very hot. The DAC circuit offers between 18 and 19 bits’ worth of resolution, he found, and commented that the analog output stage coped well with punishing loads. He was less impressed with the phono input, finding that even in MM mode, the noisefloor suffered from supply-related spuriae, these presumably radiated from the power transformer packed into the small chassis. The levels of these spuriae were unacceptably high in MC mode, decided Atkinson—who only heard broadband noise in MM mode. Fine was also bothered by the Mytek’s phono input, finding that even in MM mode, “there was enough hiss and hum to be audible at the listening position, through all outputs: balanced, unbalanced, headphone.” Hum aside, however, he wrote that LPs “sounded vivid, the tonal balance was right, there was plenty of headroom.” Playing back files from his NAS drive, Fine wrote that “the BBII sounds damn good. … Its character was uncolored and revealing. … The BBII is a fine DAC, in the top tier of its price range.” (Vol.46 No.9 WWW) Métronome DSAS: $8900
This French server/streamer runs Audirvāna Studio software (a 3-year software license is included in the price). The Audirvāna database and user preferences are stored on a 2TB SSD drive (a slot accommodates a second 2TB drive), and external drives can be connected via two USB 3.0 inputs, one USB-A, one USB-C. Network audio data are input via an Ethernet port or Wi-Fi (2.4 and 5GHz bands). Tidal, Qobuz, HIGHRESAUDIO, and Presto Music are supported. Streamed, internal, and NAS audio data are output to a D/A processor from a galvanically isolated and reclocked USB port. Miguel Barrio wrote that if he had to describe the sound of the DSAS in a few words, the words would be “free,” “relaxed,” and “dimensional.” Compared to Audirvāna on a Mac mini, he found that the app’s sound with the DSAS was more dimensional and relaxed. “The result of a successful collaboration between two French firms, Métronome Technologie and Audirvāna, the DSAS shows that there’s virtue in a single-purpose machine compared to using a computer as a music source,” he concluded. “The quality of the playback and the convenience of the setup make it a compelling solution for those seeking an appliance-like server that is easy to use and sounds great.” (Vol.49 No.9 WWW)
Shanling ET3 CD transport: $899.88 $$$
The top-loading ET3 uses a Philips SAA7824 CD drive and a Sanyo HD850 laser pickup. As well as TOSLINK, AES3, and S/PDIF (RCA) digital outputs, the ET3 supports Wi-Fi streaming, AirPlay, Bluetooth, and MQA, and it can input and output audio via a pair of USB-A interfaces: one for connecting an external SSD, acting as a server for FAT32-formatted NAS drives up to 2TB to play DSD files up to DSD512 and PCM files up to 768kHz; and one that’s a wide-band, asynchronous digital music output. Playback can be controlled with an app for Android and Apple iOS, called “Eddict Player,” and a CT7302CL upsampling chip can convert the outputs to DSD or high-rez PCM. With its upsampling bypassed, the Shanling played “just-right crisp,” wrote Herb Reichert. “Detail was beguiling. Vocal and instrumental riffs I’d never noticed before now preened for attention.” Upsampling to 24/192, the sound became bigger, bassier, and more punchy-plucky. More glossy and edgy. But it seemed fake and unevenly lit, decided Reichert. While he found that oversampling to DSD was enjoyable enough, it was “nothing special compared to the vivid precision of the ET3’s NOS output.” (Vol.48 No.10 WWW) TEAC VRDS-701T CD transport: $3299.99
TEAC’s transport uses a CD mechanism that floats free from the chassis. The benefit offered by this mechanism, which clamps the optical disc on a turntable of the same diameter, is said to be that the surface blurring caused by rotational vibration and warping is suppressed and that the relative optical axis accuracy between the optical pickup and the disc’s pits and lands is increased. The TEAC has two S/PDIF outputs, optical and coaxial, and a word clock input. Using the transport with Linear Tube Audio’s Aero R-2R DAC—see Digital Processors—Herb Reichert noted that the sound was dense and precise in a way he’d never previously heard from digital. “By ‘dense,’” he wrote, he meant “a tangible corporality effected by seemingly infinite quantities of small, tightly packed molecules of musical information.” Reichert concluded that the VRDS-701T transport was a revelation. “It made digital more compelling than I thought it could be. I never anticipated this much drive, density, inner detail, or tone truthfulness from a digital source.” (Vol.47 No.9 WWW) Technics SL-G700M2: $3999.99
The Roon Ready SL-G700M2 spins CDs and stereo SACDs, is a network streamer that operates with Spotify, Amazon Music, Tidal, Qobuz Connect, and Deezer, has optical, coaxial, and USB digital inputs, and can be controlled both with a remote control and an iOS app. As well as balanced and single-ended analog outputs, there is a headphone output and coaxial and optical digital outputs. A unique “Pure Disc Playback” mode shuts off all network interface circuits to significantly reduce noise and improve sound quality when playing CDs and SACDs. Playing CDs, Herb Reichert noted that while the Technics did not soften or emulsify recordings compared with his reference D/A processors, the sound “was conspicuously sturdy and well-organized. Images had a more tangible density.” Playing SACDs, he wrote that it had clarity and presence enough to impress anyone. Reichert was also impressed by the headphone output: “No grain, zero fog, perfect tone, and a dynamic vigor that I can only describe as full-on intoxicating.” Reichert concluded that the SL-G700M2 made every PCM recording sound fit and mesomorphic. “Surprisingly, it makes native DSD sound almost ectomorphic—delicate, finely wrought, and super color-saturated.” On the test bench, the Technics SL-G700M2’s measured performance left little to criticize, especially at the price. It offered high resolution, low distortion and noise, and coped extremely well with disc errors. (Vol.49 No.8 WWW)
Wattson Emerson Digital: $1750
This minimalist, Swiss, Roon Ready network bridge features a single RJ45 Ethernet and two digital outputs—one true 75 ohm S/PDIF over RCA and one true 110 ohm AES3. It transforms any digital processor into a streaming DAC. Robert Schryer installed the Wattson Remote streaming app on his Android smartphone and connected the Emerson to his iFi Diablo DAC. “With data flowing from the Emerson Digital, the music seemed relaxed, on time, dynamically spry,” he wrote, adding that something else the Emerson did well was detail, “that most double-edged of sonic attributes.” Replacing the iFi with a Benchmark DAC3 B, the gap between the streaming and CD formats widened. “The Benchmark removed a layer of grit I had not known was there. The result was a sound that was more polished and palpable, with better separation and smoother tone. Ambience seemed enhanced—due presumably to more complete (longer) decay of notes,” Schryer decided. His conclusion? “As executed by Wattson, it is a streamer’s most minimalist expression, executed at the highest level. Its unadorned simplicity and streamlined design are devoted to a singular mission: delivering an exceptionally high-quality network signal to your DAC.” (Vol.49 No.4 WWW) Deletions
Antipodes Oladra server/streamer, Sparkler Audio S515t “ballade II” CD transport, discontinued. CH Precision D1.5 SACD/CD player/transport, not auditioned in a long time.
The three-chassis, Roon Ready N50 takes music data streamed from a streaming service or stored in its internal SSDs or USB-connected media and outputs it as a clean digital signal to an external D/A processor. As well as a galvanically isolated USB Audio output, the outputs include electrical S/PDIF, optical S/PDIF (TOSLINK), AES3, and dual-wire AES3 (for use with dCS and Esoteric DACs). A custom module bay can accommodate an I2S-over-HDMI output module (standard), an MSB ProISL output module (optional, for use with MSB DACs), or a CH Link HD output module (optional, for use with CH Precision DACs). The N50 can play back DSD data as DSD-over-PCM (DoP), natively (but only via its USB and I2S outputs), and transcoding to PCM (for DACs that support neither DoP nor native DSD). MQA-encoded data can be unfolded in the N50 by purchasing a license or can be sent to be decoded by an MQA-capable DAC. Aurender’s Conductor app is available for iOS and Android and is well-designed, mature, and well-supported, wrote Miguel Barrio; as well as playing files from local storage, Tidal and Qobuz are natively supported. The app offers filtering by recently added, format, sample rate, bit depth, and favorite tracks and also supports gapless playback. Playing “Contrabajísimo” from Astor Piazzolla’s album Tango: Zero Hour, Barrio found that this track, played back on the N50 through its dual-wire AES3 connection to a dCS D/A processor, sounded spacious and effortless, with sharply delineated tonal colors. “It simply sounded right: mesmerizing and memorable, not mechanical or sterile.” Playback from the single-ended S/PDIF output was, to Barrio’s ears, indistinguishable from the dual-wire AES3 connection, though he found that files played with Roon rather than the Conductor app consistently sounded less sweet, with less color. He concluded that the Aurender N50 was a superbly executed piece of gear. “The ease, tonality, and expansiveness of the music it serves up to my dCS Rossini APEX DAC are above and beyond what I had heard before. … Highly recommended.” (Vol.49 No.5 WWW) dCS Rossini SACD Transport: $29,900 ★
Unlike the earlier Rossini Player, which only played CDs, the Rossini Transport uses a new mechanism from Denon that plays both SACDs and CDs. The Transport outputs audio data on twin AES3 links, to allow it to send native DSD data and CD data upsampled to DXD, DSD, or double DSD (these both encrypted) to a dCS DAC. John Atkinson used the Transport with a Rossini DAC and was mightily impressed by what he heard. He consistently preferred the sound of SACDs played on the Transport compared with the same data sent to the Rossini DAC over his network, feeling that the low frequencies sounded more robust. “Once these words have been laid out on the pages of this issue,” Atkinson concluded, “I’ll have to return [the Rossini Transport] to dCS. It breaks my heart.” (Vol.42 No.5 WWW) dCS Varèse Transport: $39,950
The front-loading Varèse Transport uses a Denon/Marantz mechanism to play both CDs and SACDs. Its rear panel contains a single dCS proprietary ACTUS output port, for connection to the dCS Varèse Core processor. As well as offering dCS’s standard clock circuitry, the Varèse Transport can be locked to the master clock signal sourced from the Varèse processor’s Clock module. When Jason Victor Serinus auditioned the Varèse Transport, he was amazed to hear what he heard and astonished to feel what he felt. “CD and SACD playback often sounded as direct-to-the-source as anything I’d ever heard,” he wrote. Playing male ensemble Cantus’s album While You Are Alive, Serinus noted that he didn’t expect to hear so much color, vibrancy, shading, and pristine silence from a 16/44.1 CD. He concluded that the dCS Varèse Transport, as part of a complete Varèse Music System, “sets a new standard in silver disc reproduction.” (Vol.49 No.5 WWW)
The MU1 is based on an Intel twin-core i3 processor running a Linux-based operating system. It incorporates a Roon Core and is fully integrated with the Roon Server app. It can be controlled by rotating and pressing a top-mounted, bronze-colored disc; a high-precision digital volume control and other functions can be selected with this control. While its Ethernet and USB ports can be used to send audio data from the Intel board to a DAC, the MU1 upsamples PCM data and downsamples DSD data sourced from its AES3 outputs using what Grimm calls a “Pure Nyquist” decimation filter hosted in a Xilinx FPGA. (Measurement revealed that this is an ultrafast-rolloff filter, reaching full stop-band attenuation at half the original PCM data’s sample rate.) John Atkinson very much preferred the sound from the AES3 outputs, finding that the upsampling of CD-resolution data reduced congestion, added depth to the soundstage, and increased the separation among acoustic objects. Atkinson recommended the MU1 highly as a streamer, writing that it can also operate as a network bridge with legacy D/A processors that don’t have USB or Ethernet ports. It can also be used as the sole source component with active speakers that have digital inputs, including Grimm’s own LS1c, reviewed in our April 2025 issue. A 1TB SSD adds $225; 2TB SSD adds $430; 4TB SSD adds $805. (Vol.44 No.3, Vol.48 No.4 WWW) Grimm Audio MU2: $20,000 without internal storage
This Dutch streaming player features digital and analog inputs and can operate as a Roon Server with internal and external storage. (An internal 2TB SSD adds just $235; 8TB SSD adds $630.) It can also act as an End Point for other Roon servers on the same network. There are balanced and single-ended analog outputs as well as a 6.3mm headphone jack. A wheel on the top panel allows access to the settings menu and volume and input selection. The MU2 can also be controlled with the Grimm UI (GRUI) web interface; once the Grimm’s Ethernet port is connected to the user’s network, this page can be found by scanning the QR code shown on the front panel’s menu display. Playing a 24/96 remaster of Ligeti’s Six Bagatelles for Wind Quintet from a 2TB drive plugged into the MU2’s USB port, Kalman Rubinson noted a definite illusion of the presence of the instruments in his room. “Each was clearly delineated, and the overall balance was neutral, favoring nothing but revealing the full, inherent color and body of the instruments,” he wrote. Rubinson’s conclusion: “The Grimm MU2 is a bang-up success. It combines cutting-edge digital processing and digital-to-analog conversion with a Roon Core and a remarkably transparent volume control and input/output selector. … It offers completely satisfying sound and flawless ergonomics. It is worthy of the very best amplifiers, speakers, and critical listeners.” John Atkinson noted that the MU2 offered superb measured performance with both digital and analog sources. One of the first tracks Alex Halberstadt listened to through the Grimm was a Qobuz stream of Paul Desmond playing “My Funny Valentine.” The MU2 presented this track with superb timing and separation, he wrote, adding that the sound was full and rich, with admirable color saturation and not a hint of the hollow, etched sound one hears from unconvincing digital. He concluded that the Grimm offered some of the best—and least musically destructive—sound from streaming he’d experienced. (Vol.47 No.8. Vol.49 No.8 WWW) Ideon Audio Absolute Stream meta edition (2024) server/streamer: $28,500
The Absolute Stream meta edition can render music files stored on its internal 4TB SSD (an 8TB SSD is also available) or on USB- or network-connected external storage. It can natively stream internet radio, Spotify, and Qobuz, and adds an embedded Roon core. Features include a CPU that’s “highly prioritized for audio playback only, ensuring highly optimized sound quality” and a reclocking circuit that includes “no-compromise femto clock architecture embedded as standard” on an upgradable platform that is said to eliminate jitter. Ideon considers a USB source of data less prone to noise than a network connection; the optional Alpha Wave LAN optimizer ($6900) takes in an Ethernet signal, converts it to USB, reclocks it, and outputs the music data over USB 3.0. Jason Victor Serinus found that Ideon’s web-based app had metadata problems with WAV files; it did much better with FLAC. “Never before have I reviewed a standalone streamer/server so accomplished in the hardware department, yet so behind the best in software implementation,” noted Serinus, but such limitations aside, he wrote that the Ideon Absolute Stream meta edition (2024), running its own software, delivered clearer, more involving sound than any other music server or streamer he’d heard in his reference system. (Vol.47 No.11 WWW)
The Portuguese company’s flagship server/streamer offers up to 16TB storage via M.2 SSDs (up to 8TB internal, up to 8TB via expansion slot, all seen as a single volume). It is compatible with Innuos Sense, Roon, UPnP Server, and HQPlayer (NAA endpoint only) and works with Qobuz and Qobuz Connect, Tidal and Tidal Connect, Deezer, HighResAudio, iDagio, and Spotify Connect. The Nazaré sits on four OEM IsoAcoustics Gaia footers and features a tuned “PreciseAudio” mainboard with 20 cores and 32GB of industrial-grade RAM and new “PreciseUSB” and “PreciseNET” boards with direct CPU connection. Its power supply includes high-precision “multifilar” toroidal transformers, custom Lundahl inductors, an upgraded NGaN+ regulator with high-performance filters, and premium internal cabling. The back panel features an RJ45 jack for connection to a network and a reclocked USB-A output, which Jason Victor Serinus used with Innuos Sense for his review. (While there is a second USB output, this is not reclocked.) The Nazaré can be used on its own or with two related products, the NazaréFLOW and NazaréNET, neither of which was available at the time of the review. When used as an all-in-one, the Nazaré’s internal PreciseNET serves as the RJ45 input and takes the place of the PhoenixNET and the improved NazaréNET; the Nazaré’s PreciseUSB boards take the place of the NazaréFLOW’s reclocker stage, I2S via HDMI output, reclocked USB output, and DAC-specific outputs. Compared with the Innuos Statement Next-Gen (no longer available), the Nazaré sounded cleaner, fuller, and better-defined on bottom. The Statement Next-Gen was a little thinner and less refined at the top of the range, and colors he had reveled in with the Nazaré seemed less saturated with the Next-Gen. Listening to Maya de Vitry and Lockeland Strings’ “Watching the Whole Sky Change,” Serinus commented that as beautiful as de Vitry’s voice sounded through the Statement Next-Gen, the pristine silence that surrounded it and her guitar through the Nazaré left him mesmerized: “For four minutes, I felt fulfilled.” Serinus concluded that if you want to hear everything that a gifted recording engineer can encode on a file, “you’ve got to audition the Nazaré. Even if it isn’t in your price range, an audition will give you a reference to guide future choices. And if it is in your price range, prepare for many new musical adventures.” (Vol.48 No.9 WWW) Innuos ZENith Next-Gen streamer/server: $24,100 as reviewed
The ZENith Next-Gen can be fitted with 2TB of internal storage but can also be used with external network audio data as well as streaming sources, courtesy of the Innuos Sense iOS and Android app. (Sense is also installed in the streamer and can be accessed with a Web browser.) Standard Outputs are three USB 3.2 Gen2 capable of PCM up to 32/768, DSD up to DSD256 by DoP, DSD512 native, and two Ethernet ports (one for LAN connection, the other for connection to a streaming DAC). A USB port can also be connected to an external CD drive to rip CDs with Sense. Roon can be used to manage the music library with music playback left to the Innuos Music Player, which is part of Sense. Music Player can also be replaced by HQ Player. Jim Austin wasn’t satisfied with how Innuos Sense handled classical metadata, so he primarily used the ZENith Next-Gen with Roon. He was impressed with the result. Compared with Innuos’s two-box Statement flagship player, he found the sound very similar, but their virtues were slightly shifted. “The Statement majors in liquidity and perhaps has a dash of extra soundstage depth. With the ZENith, I heard a bit more transient emphasis—a bit more leading edge to percussive notes.” (Vol.48 No.5 WWW) MBL Noble Line N31: $20,200; optional Roon module is $1610 ★
Designed to play “Red Book” CDs and, via its USB and other digital inputs, music files up to 24/192 and DSD64 (DoP), the Noble Line N31 is less a digital-audio Swiss Army knife than a luxuriantly attractive, 40 lb monument to the idea of perfecting the playback of audiophilia’s best-loved digital formats. Built around the ESS Sabre 9018 DAC, the N31 offers a full-color 5" TFT display—the MBL player recognizes CD text and displays title information—and features an SD Card slot for firmware updates, a choice of three playback filters, and a remote handset that lights up before the person reaching for it has even touched it. Listening to CDs and even a CD-R through the N13, John Atkinson was impressed by the “sheer tangibility” of the MBL’s sound, noting that, with its Min filter engaged, the N31 “gracefully reproduced” one “overcooked” track, and that the differences among its three filters were “greater in degree than with other DACs.” Through the MBL’s USB inputs, even iPhones and iPads, their own volume controls disarmed by the MBL’s USB input, offered “excellent” sound quality. Atkinson originally raised an eyebrow at the lack of a network port and the fact that the player’s filters can’t be selected via the remote handset, but both of these issues have been addressed in 2020 production with the optional Roon Ready Input Module. As with USB, the networked MBL rendered music with an excellent sense of overall drive and low-frequency impact, Atkinson found, with low-level recorded detail well-resolved. Atkinson concluded his original review by saying that digital sound “doesn’t get any better” than what he heard from the N31. He also noted that the MBL offered 21 bits of resolution—the current state of the art of digital audio. This prompted Atkinson the measurer to agree with Atkinson the listener: “Digital audio engineering doesn’t get any better.” (Vol.41 No.2, Vol.43 No.12 WWW)
Jim Austin reviewed the original version of the T+A MP 3100 HV in Vol.43 No.6. The G3 looks unchanged but has been substantially upgraded. Like its predecessor it can serve as a disc transport, outputting two-channel digital data read from CDs and SACDs via S/PDIF. There are USB, S/PDIF, AES3, TOSLINK, and Ethernet digital inputs, as well as Bluetooth and AirPlay 2; there’s also an FM tuner. As well as front-panel buttons and a remote control, the MP 3100 can be controlled with T+A’s MusicNavigator G3 app. The MP 3100 HV G3 sports not one but two perfectionist D/A converters: one for PCM data using four 32-bit sigma-delta D/A converters per channel with four choices of reconstruction filter, the other for DSD using a true 1-bit DSD D/A converter. There are four selectable oversampling algorithms and several other options including the choice of analog filter and cutoff frequency. Playing familiar CDs, Herb Reichert wrote that the MP 3100 “presented recordings with an obvious physicality, a fine resolve, and great dimensionality. … this was CD playback at its highest imaginable level.” Playing SACDs, Reichert found that the sound was “sharply focused, high-contrast, overtly organized, but also smooth, supple, and easy-flowing, with delectable tone.” In John Atkinson’s test lab, the T+A MP 3100 HV G3 offered superb test bench performance, very similar to that of the 2020 version, though like the earlier processor, the balanced outputs shouldn’t be used with preamplifiers that have a very low input impedance. The Bezier IIR reconstruction filter offers the best balance between time-domain performance and frequency-domain performance with PCM data, he noted. (Vol.49 No.6 WWW) Totaldac d1-streamer-sublime music server: €9100
This French streamer/server offers a network input and digital outputs and functions as a Roon endpoint. It tops out at 24/192, and it passes DSD via DoP. Alex Halberstadt used the d1-streamer sublime to audition Totaldac’s d1-unity—see Digital Processors. When he replaced it with his usual combination of Sonore ultraRendu and Denafrips Iris digital-to-digital converter, the sound was possibly a hair more forceful but also audibly less refined and purposeful. “The meaning of the music was less obvious, and everything sounded just a bit more mechanical,” he wrote. (Vol.46 No.12 WWW) A: Advance Paris X-CD9 CD player: $1399
This French player uses a Sanyo CD mechanism and two new old stock, Raytheon-branded, 5744 subminiature signal tubes to buffer the output of a Wolfson WM8762 DAC. CD data are upsampled to 24/96 or 24/192—this is not defeatable—and there is also a USB input: the X-CD9 could play WAV and MP3 files sampled at 44.1kHz via USB but couldn’t play AIF or AAC files or files with higher sample rates. Listening to a 10-CD set of vintage Billie Holiday recordings, Ken Micallef noted that the X-CD9 captured Holiday’s nuanced phrasing, feeling for elastic tempi, and the richness of her sinewy voice: “With the X-CD9, I felt I was missing nothing. It captured every inflection, every swinging sigh. I felt the tow of her enigmatic genius.” With a classic Charlie Parker CD, Micallef wondered if he could have craved more rhythm, swagger, or a bigger, bolder soundstage? “Maybe—but the dead-silent background, precise imaging, and digital precision more than made up for any shortcomings—sins of omission, not commission.” He concluded that the X-CD9 “delivered all the high-level performance parameters you’d expect from a CD player in 2025, for a price affordable to all but the stingiest audiophile.” On the test bench, while the Advance Paris player’s error correction was one of the best John Atkinson had encountered, both the single-ended and balanced output impedances were awkwardly high, the measured resolution was low—and different with disc and USB data—and the noisefloor was modulated with high-level, high-frequency signals. (Vol.49 No.1 WWW)
This slot-loading player uses the well-regarded AKM4493SEQ DAC chip and doesn’t have any digital inputs. It just plays CDs. It does, however, have a coaxial S/PDIF digital output, which John Atkinson found featured very low jitter. Herb Reichert played CDs and was impressed by what he heard. “CDs exhibited more crystallized forms than similar recordings played back from Tidal at CD resolution. The Viking projected images with more-distinct outlines than Tidal’s 16/44.1 tracks. Those more-distinct forms felt more relaxed and less edge-sharpened than similar recordings of the same program at higher sampling rates on Qobuz,” he wrote. Reichert concluded that the Viking “presented every CD with enough verve, transparency, and natural detail to make each disc sound distinctly different, which shows that the player’s sound was not swamping the disc’s sound. This ability to disappear and put the character and vital energies of recordings up front made the Viking exciting to use, and that is my highest compliment.” (Vol.46 No.12 WWW) Mytek Brooklyn Bridge II Roon Core 4TB: $4995
The small Brooklyn Bridge II streaming D/A preamplifier offers digital and analog inputs, including an MC/MM phono input, balanced and single-ended analog and headphone outputs, and incorporates a Roon core. All its owner needs to add to create a complete system are some file storage, a power amplifier, and a pair of loudspeakers. Tom Fine found the touchscreen too small for easy use, instead controlling the BBII functions with the Roon app. (Roon identified the Brooklyn Bridge II as a full MQA decoder and renderer.) He found that the single-ended outputs picked up some hash from his Mesh Wi-Fi network, though Jim Austin and John Atkinson didn’t encounter any Wi-Fi–related problems in their own systems. In the test lab, Atkinson noted that the Mytek runs very hot. The DAC circuit offers between 18 and 19 bits’ worth of resolution, he found, and commented that the analog output stage coped well with punishing loads. He was less impressed with the phono input, finding that even in MM mode, the noisefloor suffered from supply-related spuriae, these presumably radiated from the power transformer packed into the small chassis. The levels of these spuriae were unacceptably high in MC mode, decided Atkinson—who only heard broadband noise in MM mode. Fine was also bothered by the Mytek’s phono input, finding that even in MM mode, “there was enough hiss and hum to be audible at the listening position, through all outputs: balanced, unbalanced, headphone.” Hum aside, however, he wrote that LPs “sounded vivid, the tonal balance was right, there was plenty of headroom.” Playing back files from his NAS drive, Fine wrote that “the BBII sounds damn good. … Its character was uncolored and revealing. … The BBII is a fine DAC, in the top tier of its price range.” (Vol.46 No.9 WWW) Métronome DSAS: $8900
This French server/streamer runs Audirvāna Studio software (a 3-year software license is included in the price). The Audirvāna database and user preferences are stored on a 2TB SSD drive (a slot accommodates a second 2TB drive), and external drives can be connected via two USB 3.0 inputs, one USB-A, one USB-C. Network audio data are input via an Ethernet port or Wi-Fi (2.4 and 5GHz bands). Tidal, Qobuz, HIGHRESAUDIO, and Presto Music are supported. Streamed, internal, and NAS audio data are output to a D/A processor from a galvanically isolated and reclocked USB port. Miguel Barrio wrote that if he had to describe the sound of the DSAS in a few words, the words would be “free,” “relaxed,” and “dimensional.” Compared to Audirvāna on a Mac mini, he found that the app’s sound with the DSAS was more dimensional and relaxed. “The result of a successful collaboration between two French firms, Métronome Technologie and Audirvāna, the DSAS shows that there’s virtue in a single-purpose machine compared to using a computer as a music source,” he concluded. “The quality of the playback and the convenience of the setup make it a compelling solution for those seeking an appliance-like server that is easy to use and sounds great.” (Vol.49 No.9 WWW)
The top-loading ET3 uses a Philips SAA7824 CD drive and a Sanyo HD850 laser pickup. As well as TOSLINK, AES3, and S/PDIF (RCA) digital outputs, the ET3 supports Wi-Fi streaming, AirPlay, Bluetooth, and MQA, and it can input and output audio via a pair of USB-A interfaces: one for connecting an external SSD, acting as a server for FAT32-formatted NAS drives up to 2TB to play DSD files up to DSD512 and PCM files up to 768kHz; and one that’s a wide-band, asynchronous digital music output. Playback can be controlled with an app for Android and Apple iOS, called “Eddict Player,” and a CT7302CL upsampling chip can convert the outputs to DSD or high-rez PCM. With its upsampling bypassed, the Shanling played “just-right crisp,” wrote Herb Reichert. “Detail was beguiling. Vocal and instrumental riffs I’d never noticed before now preened for attention.” Upsampling to 24/192, the sound became bigger, bassier, and more punchy-plucky. More glossy and edgy. But it seemed fake and unevenly lit, decided Reichert. While he found that oversampling to DSD was enjoyable enough, it was “nothing special compared to the vivid precision of the ET3’s NOS output.” (Vol.48 No.10 WWW) TEAC VRDS-701T CD transport: $3299.99
TEAC’s transport uses a CD mechanism that floats free from the chassis. The benefit offered by this mechanism, which clamps the optical disc on a turntable of the same diameter, is said to be that the surface blurring caused by rotational vibration and warping is suppressed and that the relative optical axis accuracy between the optical pickup and the disc’s pits and lands is increased. The TEAC has two S/PDIF outputs, optical and coaxial, and a word clock input. Using the transport with Linear Tube Audio’s Aero R-2R DAC—see Digital Processors—Herb Reichert noted that the sound was dense and precise in a way he’d never previously heard from digital. “By ‘dense,’” he wrote, he meant “a tangible corporality effected by seemingly infinite quantities of small, tightly packed molecules of musical information.” Reichert concluded that the VRDS-701T transport was a revelation. “It made digital more compelling than I thought it could be. I never anticipated this much drive, density, inner detail, or tone truthfulness from a digital source.” (Vol.47 No.9 WWW) Technics SL-G700M2: $3999.99
The Roon Ready SL-G700M2 spins CDs and stereo SACDs, is a network streamer that operates with Spotify, Amazon Music, Tidal, Qobuz Connect, and Deezer, has optical, coaxial, and USB digital inputs, and can be controlled both with a remote control and an iOS app. As well as balanced and single-ended analog outputs, there is a headphone output and coaxial and optical digital outputs. A unique “Pure Disc Playback” mode shuts off all network interface circuits to significantly reduce noise and improve sound quality when playing CDs and SACDs. Playing CDs, Herb Reichert noted that while the Technics did not soften or emulsify recordings compared with his reference D/A processors, the sound “was conspicuously sturdy and well-organized. Images had a more tangible density.” Playing SACDs, he wrote that it had clarity and presence enough to impress anyone. Reichert was also impressed by the headphone output: “No grain, zero fog, perfect tone, and a dynamic vigor that I can only describe as full-on intoxicating.” Reichert concluded that the SL-G700M2 made every PCM recording sound fit and mesomorphic. “Surprisingly, it makes native DSD sound almost ectomorphic—delicate, finely wrought, and super color-saturated.” On the test bench, the Technics SL-G700M2’s measured performance left little to criticize, especially at the price. It offered high resolution, low distortion and noise, and coped extremely well with disc errors. (Vol.49 No.8 WWW)
This minimalist, Swiss, Roon Ready network bridge features a single RJ45 Ethernet and two digital outputs—one true 75 ohm S/PDIF over RCA and one true 110 ohm AES3. It transforms any digital processor into a streaming DAC. Robert Schryer installed the Wattson Remote streaming app on his Android smartphone and connected the Emerson to his iFi Diablo DAC. “With data flowing from the Emerson Digital, the music seemed relaxed, on time, dynamically spry,” he wrote, adding that something else the Emerson did well was detail, “that most double-edged of sonic attributes.” Replacing the iFi with a Benchmark DAC3 B, the gap between the streaming and CD formats widened. “The Benchmark removed a layer of grit I had not known was there. The result was a sound that was more polished and palpable, with better separation and smoother tone. Ambience seemed enhanced—due presumably to more complete (longer) decay of notes,” Schryer decided. His conclusion? “As executed by Wattson, it is a streamer’s most minimalist expression, executed at the highest level. Its unadorned simplicity and streamlined design are devoted to a singular mission: delivering an exceptionally high-quality network signal to your DAC.” (Vol.49 No.4 WWW) Deletions
Antipodes Oladra server/streamer, Sparkler Audio S515t “ballade II” CD transport, discontinued. CH Precision D1.5 SACD/CD player/transport, not auditioned in a long time.
