Better Digital
Is great CD
player the best solution for digital music playback? Before you leave for the store, check out some of these
accessories.
CLICK THE CART TO REVIEW SHOPPING CART 
Our own reference DAC
Issue
No. 89 includes our review of the Moon 300D digital-to-analog
converter. We loved it, as you can see from our reprint, which you
can read here in PDF
form. After the review session we decided to purchase it, to replace
our Counterpoint DA-10A. And we also asked Simaudio whether they would
let us add it to our Audiophile Store. And here it is. It offers up to
24 bit 192 kHz on optical or coaxial sources, plus 24/48 on USB.
You can order it by itself, and you can also get it bundled with a
heavily discounted digital cable (to go between your CD transport or
player and one of the 300D's two coaxial inputs). Add our UHF14F power
cable, with Furutech connectors, for $50 off the usual price.
ORDER 300D, $1799 
Get it bundled with our best coaxial digital cable, the Atlas Mavros,
usually $565, for $150 off, or with our Atlas Opus cable, usually $239,
for
$60 off
ORDER 300D plus Mavros digital cable, $2214
ORDER 300D plus Opus digital cable, $1978
ORDER UHF14F-1.5 UHF14/Furutech 14-gauge power cable, assembled,
with 300D only (one per order) $124.95
Moon's new, more affordable 100D DAC
We
loved the 300D converter, and we actually bought one for our reference
systems. We wondered how good the less expensive 100D could be. As you
know, we won't list anything we wouldn't recommend to our best friends.
We have now done the full-blown review of the 100D, and we were wowed.
To read the full review, here
it is
in PDF format. This converter can earn its place in a high end music
system. To sweeten the deal, you can trade your mint 100D for a 300D
and get 100% of your money back in the first year, 75% in the second
year.
But hold on, you'll need good interconnects, right? Get the
100D with a pair of Atlas Element interconnects (a $77 value) for just
$649. Or go all the way to the Hyper Symmetrical, with single-crystal
copper (usually $449) for $999 total.
ORDER 100D, $599
ORDER 100D plus Element 1m cables, $639
ORDER 100D plus Hyper OCC symmetrical 1m cables,
$999.00
USB interfaces
The DACs we have listened to so far have USB interfaces that are
mediocre or worse, supplied as afterthoughts. Which is why we've been
recommending the use of a TOSLINK optical cable if you have an
alternative. It is possible to build a better USB interface, though.
These two devices offer a quantum leap in performance. Plug one into
the USB jack of your computer, and then use a quality digital cable to
go to your DAC. The result? For the first time we have heard our Linn
Unidisk player outperformed. By a lot!
The Stello U3
This
beautiful little box is powered by your computer, or by a powered
USB extender. It takes a USB cable, and outputs flawless digital
through either a coaxial or an AES/EBU balanced cable. A driver for
Windows is supplied, no driver is needed for Mac. You get full access
to a range of resolutions, up to and including 24/192. Not compatible
with Channel D's Pure Music or Sonic Studio's Amarra, but it sounds
glorious with iTunes.
Finally, computer audio is the state of the art! Add a n Opus or Mavros
digital cable (highly recommended), for an extra discount.
ORDER: U3, Stello USB interface, $495
ADD AOD-1.5 (1.5 meter) Opus digital cable, usually $239, $200 with a Stello
OR ELSE ADD AMD-1.5 (1.5 meter) Mavros cable, usually $565, $499 with a Stello
The M2Tech HiFace
Simpler and a lot less expensive than the Stello is the HiFace from
Italy. Plug it in, connect a coaxial digital cable to your DAC,
download the driver from the M2Tech site, and prepare for glorious
sound. Note: the HiFace does not meet common USB standards. and the
resolution indicator on your DAC will be stuck on 48 kHz (!) no matter
what resolution you choose. However you'll get the resolution you
choose in your computer's audio preference. We have a limited number of
the HiFace available.
ORDER: HF-USB, $150
Need a USB cable? We have it. ORDER: USBC, $9.95
We've listened long and hard to a lot of dross, digital cables that mess up rhythm, make chaos out of well-structured music, and generally waste the money you've spent on your gear. Not the Opus. This is a single-crystal cable. By the way, the 1.5m version sounds noticeably better than the 1m, and that's what we recommend. The new Opus has a different connector from the original, and that means we've been able to drop the price considerably from the $399 we were charging. But this new lower-priced version is available in limited quantity.
ORDER AOD-1.5 (1.5 meter) $239
Atlas Mavros: reference-quality digital
As we have improved our computer-based digital system to the best yet, we also adopted this new digital cable as a reference. It's a perfect link from the digital output of any CD or DVD player to a standalone digital-to-analog converter. It can also link a computer to a DAC, with the help of a USB interface...you'll see them over in our digital section.
Oh, and you can get a special price on either the Opus or the Mavros if you buy either a Moon DAC or one of our two USB interface boxes. Audio from digital doesn't get any better than this!
ORDER AMD-1.5 (1.5 meter) $565
By the way, the same cables works for video too.
UHF's own optical TOSLINK cable
Our
recent comparison tests turned up this nicely-made TOSLINK optical
cable, which delivered better quality to our converter than the other
ones we could get our hands on. Now we've added them to our store. The
connectors fit pretty much all standard transports and converters. If
you want to connect to a component with a mini-TOSLINK, such as an
Airport Express, or a current Mac, just add the TMT adapter.
ORDER TD-1.8 TOSLINK cable, 1.8 m $22.95
ORDER TD-0.3 TOSLINK cable,
0.3 m $18.95
ORDER TMT mini-TOSLINK adapter, $3.95
BIS Audio USB cable
A few issues back we compared a standard off-the-shelf USB cable with
an ostansibly better one from BIS Audio. Conclusion: in a high end
context it was worth its cost. Now that we ourselves are using a Stello
U3 interface between our computer and our Moon U3 DAC, we've adopted
the BIS, and we asked BIS Audio to let us add it to our store.
We're offering it in two lengths, 0.92m (3
feet) and 3m (10 ft). You can also add it to a bundle with the Stello
U3 like ours.
ORDER: BIS-USB3, 0.92m USB cable
ORDER: BIS-USB10 3m USB cable
Finyl CD treatment
Not
all fluids for treating CD's are effective, but a very few are, and
Finyl is one of them. This is a one-time treatment, not a cleaner. It
is supposed to improve contrast so that thee CD player can "see"
better. We don't know whether it can do that, but we know it does make
discs sound clearer and less bright. It comes with an applicator and
instructions. The Finyl F-1 kit (which no longer looks quite like this
picture) can treat at least 200 discs, and costs $40.
Already got a kit? The F-1R refill is just $35
The return of the Deema Zoom CD support
Actually
it can support nearly anything you want: CDs, DVDs, cassettes, or a mix
of them. It's not particular, because there are no slots. That also
means you can insert a CD (or whatever) freely without having to move
everything else down one. The slider keeps everything neat. The Zoom is
28 cm (11 inches) deep, the depth of a typical bookshelf. Width is 15
cm.
We use a number of this
beautifully-crafted Italian product ourselves, and we used to sell them
years ago at The Audiophile Store. We thought they were gone forever,
but here they are again, at least while supplies last.
Four of them fit nicely into a box, which
is why we have a special price on a set of four. HINT: to buy
eight of them, click to order a set of four, and in the shopping cart
set the quantity to two.
ORDER Deema Zoom, (ONY ONE LEFT) $13.95
ALL PRICES SHOWN IN CANADIAN DOLLARS. FOR ORDERING INFORMATION, IN CANADA OR ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD, GO BACK TO THE MAIN AUDIOPHILE STORE PAGE. QUERY BY E-MAIL.
Do the concepts of high end hi-fi give you a headache? Take 20 minutes for the UHF Hi-Fi Course.
Trying to reach UHF? Our contact page tells you how to find us.
