An Abundance of Riches

Good, good, good, good migrations

I have some great gear in the house!

I feel like a kid at Christmas who received way more than s/he ever expected. The new arrivals represent the work of a talented group of engineers and designers that span the globe: The U.S, Japan, South Korea, Great Britain, and Canada. Topping the list are two arrivals sent to me at the specific request of their distributors. The British Musical Fidelity M6 Encore 225 integrated amplifier ($5995/US with built-in CD player/music server/DAC modules, review forthcoming), the first of my review cue chain migrants, comes courtesy of John Bevier and the good folks at Audio Plus Services (APS). John felt that the lovely Focal Sopra No. 1 compact speakers that I recently raved about, and still have (and which APS distributes), would pair felicitously with the Encore. Boy, was he ever right!

The Encore (heavily biased into class "A" operation, the unit runs hot) adds a dash of warmth and bloom to the sound of the 1 that I find addictive. Delivering a commanding 225 w/p/c (8 Ohms), the Encore sounds more relaxed, liquid, and full-bodied than my reference Parasound JC 2 line stage/Bryston 4B³ stereo power amplifier combo, transforming the 1 from a slightly lean compact into one that sings with a much more colorful and tonally expressive voice. The superb Von Schweikert UniField 2 Mk. III compacts also sound more complete, resolving, and of-a-piece sonically when driven by the Encore. OTOH, my reference Maggie 1.7i panels clearly prefer the power, precision and control that the reference combo delivers, the 1.7is sounding a bit malnourished dynamically when powered by the Encore.

Proper matching of electronics to speakers is paramount, friend.

From the Musical Fidelity Website

The other chain migrant, Ron Sutherland's stellar 20/20 phono preamp (full review also forthcoming), will be familiar to many of you. Introduced to the listening public "way" back in 2011, the 20/20 follows on the heels of its smaller, less-expensive sibling, the KC VIBE phono preamp that I reviewed (and raved about) in Issue 94. Like the Encore, the 20/20 was identified by its distributor (and designer) as the next product in the Sutherland Engineering stable that I should listen to following my review of the VIBE.

Every ounce of praise I lavished on that unit applies in equal measure to the 20/20, but amped up several notches. Superbly natural in overall presentation, the bigger Sutherland just sounds right. Quick, detailed, open, and transparent, the 20/20 makes almost every LP I play sound musically engaging and impactful. It remains one of the great bargains in high end audio, and, at the ripe old age of 7, shows no signs whatsoever of slowing down.

From the Sutherland Engineering Website

Rounding things out on the analog front, Zu Audio's excellent ZU/DL-103 MK. II MC cartridge, an arrival that owes to a series of analog mishaps that I will detail in my upcoming Zu/DL-103 and 20/20 reviews, has me scratching my head every time I play records. One can't help but to marvel at the sheer amount of music this fifty-year-old warhorse delivers, especially when modified by the creative minds at Zu Audio. Boasting a big, meaty sound full of impact, energy, and swagger, the ZU/DL-103 MK. II gives truth to the lie in high-end audio that newer necessarily means better.

From the Zu Audio Website

New Digital Frontiers

With so much activity brewing on the analog front, it would be all too easy for me to overlook the digital side of the music ledger. Fortunately, a very special DAC from Bakoon International, a collaborative venture between a Japanese research team and a South Korean design and production unit, has injected more than a dose of excitement and realism into my digital listening sessions.

Bakoon's demure DAC-21, a 6.5-pound, battery-powered, minimalist affair (USB and BNC inputs and RCA single-ended outputs only), priced at a fair but hardly cheap $3,495, hi-lights just how far digital playback hardware has advanced in the past 10 years. The DAC-21 utilizes an innovation Bakoon calls the "SATRI circuit", a zero-negative feedback implementation employing 48 discreet micro-sized transistors that, along with the battery power supply, accounts for the unit’s superb, richly-textured sound.

If you have never experienced the wonders of battery-fed power supplies in audio components, I urge you to do so. They sound like nothing else on the planet. The Bakoon leverages this technology to maximum effect, delivering vibrantly energetic sonics, laser-quick transient articulation, and noise-free operation. As you might expect from a battery-powered unit, the DAC-21 casts a stunningly wide, cavernously deep, precisely layered soundstage. In point of fact, I quickly discovered that the tiny Bakoon casts the widest, deepest, most delicately detailed soundstage of any component I have ever heard, analog or digital. In the DAC-21's presence, other components sonically disappear from the playback chain.

From the Bakoon International Website

The Focal Sopra No. 1 and the VSA compacts, for example, literally vanished as discernible sound sources when I introduced the DAC-21 into the equation. As icing on the cake, the Bakoon projects this sense of effortlessly airy holography without sacrificing tonal density, timbral tactility, or micro-dynamic suppleness! One really does get to have one's cake and eat it too! More to come.

Having lavished such effusive praise on the Bakoon (and bear in mind that I have only had the DAC in my system for about two weeks as of writing), I think it only fair to sing the praises of Audio Sensibility's superb Signature Silver S/PDIF (BNC/BNC) Digital Cable as well. My reference digital source, the Lumin D1 server, boasts but a single S/PDIF (BNC) digital output connector (no USB option). This meant I had to get my hands on a S/PDIF (BNC/BNC) cable to hear whether the DAC-21 could deliver the sonic goods. Steve Huang, the head honcho at Audio Sensibility, speedily responded to my request by sending me a review sample of his very affordable Signature Silver S/PDIF Digital Cable ($579/CAD for a 1-meter run as of this writing).

Despite costing one fourth the price of the Lumin, and one seventh the price of the DAC, the Signature Silver cable sings like nobody's business, allowing the server/DAC combo to shine brilliantly. Steve emailed me soon after I finished this piece with some Signature Silver pricing updates sure to please our Canadian readers. He wrote, [t]he good news is that I have a special promotion price on this cable for its official introduction at the Montreal Audio Show in March:

13% off and free shipping.
0.7m RCA to RCA $CDN434/$US$351, BNC to BNC $CDN460/$US372
1.0m RCA to RCA $CDN477/$US$386, BNC to BNC $CDN503/$US408.

Steve and I are discussing the possibility of my reviewing a complete loom of Audio Sensibility cables sometime soon.

Courtesy of Maurice Jeffries

These are heady days for music lovers and gear-heads. For listeners with small spaces, the choice of electronics, source components, speakers, and cables at all prices would have been unimaginable a decade ago. Today, we take such choices for granted. Downsizing doesn't have to hurt, and may, in fact deliver to discerning listeners a whole lot more than they ever could have imagined.

Stay tuned for further developments.

Musical Fidelity M6 Encore 225 Integrated Amplifier

Retail: $5995

Audio Plus Services

156 Lawrence Paquette Ind. Dr.

Champlain, NY 12919

United States

www.audioplusservices.com

800.663.9352

Sutherland Engineering 20/20 phono stage

Retail: $2200

Sutherland Engineering, Inc.