Outboard DACs

Compact yet highly capable, the DAC204 may look like a simple USB device, but within is a host of its Swiss manufacturer’s focused engineering and precision construction

Today’s digital audio world, having largely switched from the playback of physical media to files stored on computer drives or streamed from the Internet, seems populated by products of ever-greater complexity. They may still be DACs, but they have built-in network streaming interfaces and often volume and preamp functions so they can drive power amps, or active speakers, directly. Sometimes they do all that and more, thanks to Bluetooth, Chromecast and even integrated voice control.

The French/American composer Edgard Varèse, from whom this latest dCS digital product takes its name, described his music as ‘organised sound’, challenging reactionary critics who likened his compositions to ‘no more than noise’ by saying ‘what is music but organised noises?’.

Did Ifi Audio actually need to upgrade its Neo Idsd Dac/Headphone Amp? Well, change is seemingly inevitable in the fast-moving range of this Merseyside-based company, given the pace with which products - new and revised - seem to flow from its own factory in China. Indeed, there's an element of 'blink and you'll miss it' about iFi Audio's releases, which now encompass a wide range of hi-fi devices from pocket headphone amplifiers to products aimed at the pro audio market.

Okay, so let’s get the ‘death ray’ jokes out of the way right at the start: what we have here is a high-aiming DAC-equipped headphone amp from a Chinese-based company that’s new – to me at least – but has a growing range of digital products, all with slightly odd names. High-aiming? Well, the rather literally-branded Listening M1 might be tiny, but it sells for a punchy £2599 alongside the £399 Pegasus SG1 Bluetooth headphone amp and Prelude DTR1+ portable music player.

Search online and you’ll discover a groundswell of cheap DACs and streamers playing to every (hardware) whim, making it easy to overlook Eversolo’s efforts. But the company, which is the dedicated audio department of Shenzhen-based Zidoo, known for its EISA Award-winning Neo S media player, follows a different, more quality-focused strategy, as the affordable Z8 DAC and DMP-A6 have so far proved.

It's not only loudspeaker brands playing the trickle-down technology game. Lumin's D3, its new entry-level streaming DAC, borrows liberally from the Hong Kong manufacturer's costlier network hardware, utilising elements both inside and out to effect a comprehensive upgrade on the previous D2 [HFN Jul '20]. Its maker says the D3 'brings the audiophile potential of music streaming within everyone's reach', and while the £2195 price tag makes that somewhat debatable, it certainly has plenty of appeal.

Since Heinz Lichtenegger acquired Musical Fidelity in 2018, the company has appeared truly revitalised, particularly at the upper end of its range. Working with the UK design team, the Pro-Ject boss has resurrected the nuvistor tube-based Nu-Vista line with a slew of new models. And Lichtenegger is a big believer in separates – just in case the many pocket-sized boxes Pro-Ject produces hadn't made that clear – so while on the one hand the EISA Award-winning Nu-Vista 800.2 integrated amplifier [HFN Aug '23] provides a one-stop solution, there's also Musical Fidelity's Nu-Vista PRE/PAS pairing [HFN Mar '23], the Nu-Vista Vinyl 2 phono stage [HFN Feb '24], and now the Nu-Vista DAC.