My final thoughts on AURALiC’s Vega have just gone up on 6Moons. Make no mistake - this is one fine-, fine-sounding DAC.  It gives the listener far more aural satisfaction than DACs swimming in the budget end of the market (say, <$1000).  For a similar cash drop, the Metrum Hex is capable of pulling up alongside.  Both DACs have well thought

As an appetizer to this stand off, I suggest you first devour two slices of dedicated Wyred4Sound mINT review commentary from 6Moons (where it summarily dismisses the Bel Canto C5i) and TONEAudio (where TWO writers dig and find gold). Also check out Sam Tellig’s words on the Peachtree Nova125 at Stereophile.  My coverage isn’t a straight up review of Wyred4Sound’s minT.  Instead,

The AURALiC Vega (US$3499) is a ‘digital audio processor’ that handles up to 24/192 PCM on AES/EBU, optical and coaxial (x2) inputs. The USB input is super-sized: it deals PCM up to 32/384 as well as DSD64 and DSD128 [via DoP V1.1]. More on this in a moment. I’ve already written about my DSD listening experiences with this DAC (here)

The trouble with websites peddling free electronic music is you have to wade through a lot of chaff to get to the wheat. I have an aversion to anything that brushes up against new-age (you can keep your crystals and dolphins) and 145 bpm psy-trance (oonce-oonce-oonce) dumbness.  Best to stick to the likes of paid site lies Bleep and Boomkat.  Even

“Today, a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration, that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves. Here’s Tom with the weather.” Those are the words of Bill Hicks – stand-up

My first slice of Emotiva DAC coverage appeared nearly two years ago. In 2011, I found the XDA-1 to be a bit of a bargain – US$399 for a (then) better-than-average sound atop a killer feature set: remote controllable digital pre-amp with balance outputs. Back then, very few DACs in the shallow end of the budget market could compete with

Ikea’s Vika Amon desks aren’t the sturdiest or most solid desktops ever made but they’re cheap (AU$87). And I’m cheap so I bought one. Any loudspeaker placed on this desk will probably affect significant bass rumble. A loudspeaker that didn’t go overboard with heft and bass punch would be required. That ruled out the Usher S-520 – my usual go

Turn, turn, turn.  Never the trust the numbers on the spec sheet.  Out in the wild, there’s the never-ending talk of the need for big watts to get you out of the Magnepan woods.  Not always so, sir.  REDGUM’s nominally rated RGi60 integrated is the finest sounding amplifier of the three that I tested with the MMGs.  That’ll be down

1998. London Stansted Airport should be not named as such. It’s not even IN London. It’s forty miles north! I’d arrived there late one night inbound from Prague one night. The journey back to Brighton, fifty miles south of London, wouldn’t be easy. I eventually stumbled onto a night bus to Victoria Station at 4am, exhausted. In the discman that

I wanted to call this article: What’s wrong with USB? The problem? 1. Resolution. Yes, sample rate compatibility has nearly always lagged behind the steadfast 24/192 of most S/PDIF inputs. Even two years ago many a DAC’s USB input would only decode up to 48kHz sample rates. This is slowly improving.  Some examples?  Sure!  The now ubiquitous XMOS chipset has

Ask any Magnepan loudspeaker owner about amplifier choices and they’ll tell you that you need three things: power, power and more power. This is the premise upon which I hooked my search for budget integrateds to partner withe MMG. Class D is a fast-track to more watts per channel but what about Class A/B? Surely there must be a manufacturer

No two David Byrne shows are ever alike: in 2008 he could be found re-treading Brian Eno collaborations new and old at Sydney Opera House. A couple of years prior to that, an intimate songwriter-with-band show at the Enmore Theatre. We have to reach back ten years for Byrne’s last State Theatre performance, then promoting the largely successful Look Into