Although neither manual nor website offers instruction in how to operate the Control app, it's extremely easy to use once someone's shown you how. (Bless you, Ralph Sorrentino.) Whenever I wanted to reconfigure the I1 to connect an external clock, switch between the I1's internal DAC and my Rossini DAC, or activate volume bypass to let the Rossini control volume, change inputs, etc., I grabbed the Android tablet and succeeded, without pain.
Thankfully, the manual does tell you exactly what the buttons on the remote do. While I mainly used the remote to control volume, it also lets you engage Mute and Standby, change inputs, invert phase, and switch between mono and stereo. Some of its buttons, however, respond differently to short and long presses. If your finger slips, or you accidentally sit on the thing . . .
Once you've gotten the hang of everything—or, in frustration, have hung yourself—you'll find the I1's large front-panel AMOLED display easy to read from across the room. Clearly displayed are: the sample rate, phono equalization curve or input type, mute, volume level, phase inversion, internal temperature, current clock source and lock to same, and, in very big letters, the input source name.
Listening, and Listening Again . . . and Again . . .
As soon as I began to play music, I discovered that the CH I1 could put out some mighty impressive sound. Using the I1, I reviewed at least five recordings for print and web publication: solo violinist Victoria Mullova, with Paavo Järvi conducting the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, performing the exquisite, time-suspending music of Arvo Pärt (24/48 WAV, Onyx 4201); The Sound of Silence, Jeffrey Zeigler and Golden Hornet's fascinating compilation of music for cello and electronics (various sampling rates, FLAC, National Sawdust Tracks NS-026); His First Performers, a collection of early recordings of music by Debussy (10 CDs, Warner Classics 566542); Into the Fire, a fabulous lieder recital by mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, accompanied the Brentano String Quartet (24/96 WAV, Erato 573802); and Prism 1, the Danish String Quartet's recording of Beethoven's endlessly inventive String Quartet 12 and Shostakovich's emotionally desolate String Quartet 15 (24/96 WAV, ECM New Series 2561). A lot of music.
All the varied colors, overtones, and undertones on those recordings, including the deep bass in some of Golden Hornet's most ungodly electronic excursions, present major tests of the best components—yet I never once questioned that what I was hearing through the I1 and feeling in response were truly representative of what the recording engineers hoped I would hear and feel. The sound wasn't as three-dimensional and vivid as when my reference dCS Rossini or Vivaldi DAC is connected to the external dCS Scarlatti clock and the D'Agostino Progression monoblocks—the CH I1's stereo amplifier outputs 100Wpc into 8 ohms or 175Wpc into 4 ohms, while the Progressions pump out 500 or 1000Wpc into 8 or 4 ohms—and adding an external clock to any DAC I've used has always resulted in notable increases in depth, air, color intensity, and overall realism—but the differences between the sound of the I1 and my even costlier reference gear comprised sins of omission rather than of commission.
I also felt that the I1 conveyed music's full emotional impact. When I wrote in my notes that Shostakovich's Quartet 15 "ends with a tragic epilogue in which each disruptive pluck and skirmish conveys unadulterated fright . . . [in] music that chills with its emotional honesty and despair," I did so in full confidence that I was hearing all the music had to offer.
Nonetheless, it was my trusted reference tracks—whose every note, dynamic shift, and emotional nuance is now inscribed in my DNA—that truly told the tale. While that long tale began to unfold, I soon confirmed that adding an outboard clock—in my case, the dCS Scarlatti—invested the sound with considerably more depth and life. Music became more involving because images were more realistically defined and three-dimensional, and set farther back on a more resonant and convincing soundstage. With additional air around individual instruments as well, the sound seemed to expand more organically in acoustic space. Bass was also more profound.
When I replaced the I1's internal DAC with the Rossini, I also tested which of the CH's analog inputs sounded better, balanced or single-ended. No question: balanced delivered the more natural, involving, full-range sound.
I'd hoped to use the Roon app on my older MacBook Pro to stream music directly from my computer to the I1 via Ethernet, but the computer's Roon app refused to connect to the Internet. Raphael Pasche and Ralph Sorrentino urged me to try to stream music from the computer using Simon Nash's free Minim Server app (though the I1's manual doesn't discuss this), which I dutifully tried. With thanks to Wireworld for the loan of two more of their Platinum Ethernet cables, it was a cinch to use the little router Pasche supplied to set up a closed network between the computer and the I1, change the I1's input to Streaming with the Control app, and play files via Ethernet. I'd love to report which method of streaming music, and which connection—Ethernet or USB—sounded better. But given the difference in playback software and connections—my Roon stream was NUC>Ethernet>MacBook Pro>USB>I1, while the Minim stream was MacBook Pro>Ethernet>little router>Ethernet>I1—no conclusions are possible. When I asked Pasche and Sorrentino if they felt Ethernet might deliver better sound than a USB connection, neither indicated that he did.
Listening: Phono
Listening to digital tracks proceeded until a friend, the physician and percussionist Gary Forbes, brought over his turntable to test the I1's phono stage. (Given that it had begun to rain heavily, this was Gary's only free day, and he was having some cable issues at home, we nixed trying to lug the I1 to his house.) After setting up Gary's Immedia RPM-1 turntable with SME 309 tonearm and Lyra Delos cartridge, we plugged the RPM-1's stock RCA phono cable into the I1 and adjusted for cartridge gain. We spun some of Gary's favorite tracks. With "You Must Unload," from Ry Cooder's The Prodigal Son (LP, Fantasy FAN00236), he thought the imaging and drums were a bit flat, but that Cooder's voice sounded very good. When, later in that session, I replaced the outboard dCS Scarlatti clock with the I1's internal clock, Gary declared, "It warmed it up, and everything became coherent." Next came Mel Tormé and pianist George Shearing performing "Stardust," from their album Top Drawer (LP, Concord Jazz CJ-219). Gary was extremely impressed with the propulsive and articulate bass, the glow of voice and piano, the realistic image sizes, and how the music filled the entire music room. Although he greatly preferred the sound with the dCS clock—the effect was of a slightly wilted flower returning to full bloom—he liked the I1's analog-to-digital sound better than what he's accustomed to at home.
Nightmare in Port Townsend!!!
When I invited Gary to join me in comparing the CH I1's DAC section with the dCS Rossini DAC, the sky fell in. To switch between the I1's DAC and the Rossini DAC, I had to move an Ethernet link from the MacBook Pro to the Rossini DAC, then switch inputs on the I1 from USB to Analog In XLR, ensure that the I1's volume control was set to Bypass, and select the appropriate audio zone in Roon. I did this so many times that I got the entire procedure down to under 90 seconds.
As soon as I began to play music, I discovered that the CH I1 could put out some mighty impressive sound. Using the I1, I reviewed at least five recordings for print and web publication: solo violinist Victoria Mullova, with Paavo Järvi conducting the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, performing the exquisite, time-suspending music of Arvo Pärt (24/48 WAV, Onyx 4201); The Sound of Silence, Jeffrey Zeigler and Golden Hornet's fascinating compilation of music for cello and electronics (various sampling rates, FLAC, National Sawdust Tracks NS-026); His First Performers, a collection of early recordings of music by Debussy (10 CDs, Warner Classics 566542); Into the Fire, a fabulous lieder recital by mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, accompanied the Brentano String Quartet (24/96 WAV, Erato 573802); and Prism 1, the Danish String Quartet's recording of Beethoven's endlessly inventive String Quartet 12 and Shostakovich's emotionally desolate String Quartet 15 (24/96 WAV, ECM New Series 2561). A lot of music.
All the varied colors, overtones, and undertones on those recordings, including the deep bass in some of Golden Hornet's most ungodly electronic excursions, present major tests of the best components—yet I never once questioned that what I was hearing through the I1 and feeling in response were truly representative of what the recording engineers hoped I would hear and feel. The sound wasn't as three-dimensional and vivid as when my reference dCS Rossini or Vivaldi DAC is connected to the external dCS Scarlatti clock and the D'Agostino Progression monoblocks—the CH I1's stereo amplifier outputs 100Wpc into 8 ohms or 175Wpc into 4 ohms, while the Progressions pump out 500 or 1000Wpc into 8 or 4 ohms—and adding an external clock to any DAC I've used has always resulted in notable increases in depth, air, color intensity, and overall realism—but the differences between the sound of the I1 and my even costlier reference gear comprised sins of omission rather than of commission.
I also felt that the I1 conveyed music's full emotional impact. When I wrote in my notes that Shostakovich's Quartet 15 "ends with a tragic epilogue in which each disruptive pluck and skirmish conveys unadulterated fright . . . [in] music that chills with its emotional honesty and despair," I did so in full confidence that I was hearing all the music had to offer.
Listening to digital tracks proceeded until a friend, the physician and percussionist Gary Forbes, brought over his turntable to test the I1's phono stage. (Given that it had begun to rain heavily, this was Gary's only free day, and he was having some cable issues at home, we nixed trying to lug the I1 to his house.) After setting up Gary's Immedia RPM-1 turntable with SME 309 tonearm and Lyra Delos cartridge, we plugged the RPM-1's stock RCA phono cable into the I1 and adjusted for cartridge gain. We spun some of Gary's favorite tracks. With "You Must Unload," from Ry Cooder's The Prodigal Son (LP, Fantasy FAN00236), he thought the imaging and drums were a bit flat, but that Cooder's voice sounded very good. When, later in that session, I replaced the outboard dCS Scarlatti clock with the I1's internal clock, Gary declared, "It warmed it up, and everything became coherent." Next came Mel Tormé and pianist George Shearing performing "Stardust," from their album Top Drawer (LP, Concord Jazz CJ-219). Gary was extremely impressed with the propulsive and articulate bass, the glow of voice and piano, the realistic image sizes, and how the music filled the entire music room. Although he greatly preferred the sound with the dCS clock—the effect was of a slightly wilted flower returning to full bloom—he liked the I1's analog-to-digital sound better than what he's accustomed to at home.
When I invited Gary to join me in comparing the CH I1's DAC section with the dCS Rossini DAC, the sky fell in. To switch between the I1's DAC and the Rossini DAC, I had to move an Ethernet link from the MacBook Pro to the Rossini DAC, then switch inputs on the I1 from USB to Analog In XLR, ensure that the I1's volume control was set to Bypass, and select the appropriate audio zone in Roon. I did this so many times that I got the entire procedure down to under 90 seconds.
