| BUYING GUIDE & REVIEWS - CD CONVERTORS |
| PRICES SHOWN ARE THOSE AT THE TIME OF REVIEW |
| CD Convertors |
£ |
Year |
Verdict |
| Alchemist TS-D-1 |
£300 |
Jan 99 |
Smooth, natural and relaxed on the ear, highly persuasive with acoustic material. A bit soft on Rock and Dance. |
| Arcam BB500 |
£750 |
Aug 97 |
Smooth and accurate treble and easy-going rhythm. Measured and engaing; good value too. |
| Audiolab 8000DAC |
£900 |
Aug 97 |
Treble roll-off serves to remove some of the musicís sparkle; lags behind the group leaders somewhat. |
Audio Note DAC-One &
Audio Note CDT-Zero |
£749
£549 |
Feb 02 |
A enjoyably musical package and beautifully presented too, but a touch too coloured to compete with the best of the rest. |
| Cambridge Dacmagic |
£150 |
Jun 95 |
Instant upgrade for a budget player but out of its depth within a properly designed hi-fi CD player. |
| Cambridge Isomagic |
£129 |
May 01 |
Extremely refined and sophisticated sound at a ridiculously low price make it another Cambridge cracker! |
| Chord DSC 900 DAC |
£1700 |
Dec 98 |
The Chord combines smooth composure with musicality and transparency. Fort Knox build and priced to match. |
| Creek OBH-14 |
£239 |
Jun 99 |
Combined DAC and passive pre-amp; at the money there is no competition. |
| DPA Digital SX64 |
£800 |
Aug 99 |
Combines lack of grain and tonal richness with typical DPA speed and lucidity. |
| DPA Enlighten DAC |
£795 |
Mar 95 |
Powerful, taut bassand remarkably solid higher frequencies. A nice touch with acoustic music especially. |
| DPA Enlightenment |
£825 |
Aug 97 |
An engrossing listen with good manners to boot. Never uninvolving or lacklustre, plays with realism |
| DPA Little Bit 3 |
£300 |
Nov 95 |
Don't be misled by the name - it's the budget convertor to have. Impossible to criticise for the money. |
| DPA SX512 DAC |
£8000 |
Jun 98 |
A real smoothie for high-end digital conversion. Given the right transport, an outstanding sound is on the cards. |
| GT Audio Star-Dac |
£350 |
Jan 00 |
This DAC's extremely natural, fluid character gels with any type of music. |
| LFD DAC3 |
£2999 |
Aug 01 |
Three grand is a lot to spend, but few other digital convertors come close. Brilliantly warm, musical and engaging sound makes the most of any music. |
| Link DAC 2 |
£300 |
Nov 99 |
Bargain price, priceless performance. A DAC to take very seriously indeed. |
| Marston Silhouette/PSU |
£895 |
Aug 97 |
If detail is high on your list of priorities, with a more forceful, hard-edged presentation, this looks like a very good bet. |
| Midiman Flying Calf |
£109 |
Feb 99 |
A great little DAC which simply canít be beaten at the price. A bargain in all areas. |
| Midiman Flying Cow |
£300 |
Jun 98 |
First-class as a DAC; doubles as an ADC for archiving to CDR - great value. |
| Monarchy Audio Delux 18 |
£595 |
Aug 97 |
Never offensive; its multi-bit convertor packs a mighty bass punch. Useful analogue volume control. |
| Monarchy Delux 18 |
£795 |
May 95 |
Delicate brightness does a lot to open out music and create a sense of space |
| Musical Fidelity X-24K |
£300 |
Jan 99 |
Crisp, detailed and dynamic, the MF is a genuine music maker, if a touch hard and bright at times. |
| Musical Fidelity X-DAC |
£300 |
Nov 97 |
Outstanding value for money. Excellent sound in the usual attractively styled package. |
| Musical Fidelity A3.24 |
£799 |
Mar 02 |
An interesting bit of audiophile kit that will put fine sparkle and depth into decent CD recordings and do its very best with bad ones. |
| Orelle DA188 |
£399 |
Jun 95 |
Nicely built with quality components, the DA-188 has a lively sound. Solid bass, tidy midrange and crisp treble. |
| Pink Triangle Da Capo |
£1400 |
Feb 95 |
Old hand at the game. One of the first HDCD-compatible convertors still a fine piece of gear. |
| Pros Audio |
£699 |
Nov 95 |
A fine musical performance makes this idiosyncratic CD convertor worth searching out. |
| RDP 980 |
£450 |
Jul 96 |
An affordable route into two-box players. Good, clean dynamic sound with a neutral and pure mid-range tone. |
| Sonic Frontiers DAC kit |
£240 |
Jan 95 |
Easy and fun to build, competitively priced and delivers fine sonic results. |
Sonic Frontiers
Processor 3 |
£7000 |
Sep 98 |
An awful lot of money - use it forever. Quality which can outlive any amount of cheaper purchases. |
| Sonic Frontiers Transdac |
£699 |
Jul 95 |
The Transdac has a smooth and focussed sound, but partnered with the Ultra Jitterbug looks expensive. |
Tag McLaren DPA32R
DAB Option |
£1695
£595 |
Oct 01 |
Expensive, but a supremely versatile machine thats not only an excellent digital radio but a pretty good preamp and DAC too. |
| Thorens TDA2000 |
£700 |
Jun 96 |
Partnered with the TCD 2000, produces a sound that is certainly focussed, deatiled and spacious. |
| XTC Dac |
£1200 |
Apr 96 |
A taste of the elegantly smooth, slightly laid-back sound - the epitome of American good taste. |
