“The formulation of the problem is often more essential than its solution, which may be merely a matter of mathematical or experimental skill.” – Albert Einstein Designed to standardize connection with computer peripherals, USB interface enables both communication with peripherals and supply of electric power. Communication with external sound cards (DAC) via USB interface is not really […]
Audial model A – Back to the Music

Reviews of high end equipment are never objective. Actually, the gurus of today’s high end audio scene reject aggressively all projects that contain even a slightest dose of objectivity. I am not going to argue with them, but I am also not going to tell you that Audial model A is an excellent amplifier because […]
audialDSD – Jewels concealed behind the scarlet book

Why would anyone be interested in a Direct Stream Digital (DSD) music format? Trying to explain the advantages of a high resolution 1-bit stream in a world of outspread Mp3 audio on one side and smugly high end audio on the other side, could become a Sisyphean task. Is it not just another digital format […]
Matrix X-Sabre review

X-Sabre Rattling It is a Western cliché to consider Chinese products as cheaply made and of poor quality. It is also a high end audio stereotype to see Chinese audio components as low quality and having inferior sound. Meanwhile, an average Shanghai student at the age of 15 outperforms his European or North American counterpart […]
Classification of USB D/A Converters

Rational and clear information regarding audio equipment is not available today from mainstream audio literature. We only see unnecessary long treatises on high end audio, concentrating on technical descriptions and pointless analyzing of sound nuances, without any clear statements about the sounds fidelity. Just like external sound cards, USB D/A converters are an integral part […]
Lost in conversion?

Why do we compare the quality of one digital source to another? If one sounds better then the other is that important? Is high fidelity about liking or disliking a piece of equipment? I think most of us have forgotten what the goal of high fidelity is. We really need to compare our digital source […]
DAC conversion, Live musicNatsukashii
Establishing the quality of audio gear is not an easy task. The mesurements could give you some information, but only the listening test gives the real insight into the degree of fidelity at which the tested device reproduces recorded music. It is self understood that the audio equipment reviewers should have abundant experience and constant […]