Home Digital Drive

Upsamplers, DACs, jitter, shakes and analogue withdrawals, this is it.

[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] Thread: [ Display  All  Email ] [ Digital Drive ]
[ Alert Moderator ]

COMPARISON

The California Audio Lab Alpha I have is the original, not the 24/96 version that came out later. There are some that prefer the original, others don't.
It listed at $1,495.00 when it first came out in the 90's. The Alpha had some great reviews at that time, but I would not call it SOTA. It's definitely not entry level though.
This Nuwave I have I bought used. It is listed at $1000 but I believe you can trade in your old dac for a $300 credit, so basically it's $700. I would say the Nuwave can be considered entry level above the Schiit Bifrost price wise.
So what we have is a mid level dac from 2 decades ago v.s. a present day entry level dac.
Of course the comparison is limited to redbook cd playback, its relevance is for you to decide. I have to say though that the Nuwave has a usb input, which opens up its utility of which I have yet to explore.

So, I have been burning in the nw non stop for almost 4 days now, and this is my INITIAL impression per cd:(Please note that when I say one is more than the other, it does not mean the other is NOT. I'm speaking in relative terms between the two.)
Gary Burton Quarted Live "Falling Grace"
Gary opens up with a vibraphone solo and the nuwave immediately shows its resolving superiority over the Alpha in the high frequencies. The nw seems to reach higher up the frequency extremes but the Alpha answers back with a more organic and rounded rendering of the vibraphone. The vibes has that almost bell like ring and the decay seems longer.
Shortly after Gary's brief solo comes an electric bass solo. Here, the nw scores a knock down of the Alpha. The bass solo on the Alpha sounded distant and almost muffeled. On the nw, it still sounded distant but the bass is more defined and I can follow the bass lines easily.

Original motion picture soundtrack to the movie Glory- "Preparation for Battle"
This is one of my favorite soundtrack because of how the music connects and lifts the emotional engagement for that specif part of the movie.
The nw presents a slightly more wider and deeper soundstage. At around 2:47 of the cut, a trumpet sadly beckons from the distant right corner of the soundstage, the nw portrays a slightly deeper/distant trumpet but more amazingly is how the trumpet echoes or reverberates from that corner into the rest of the soundstage. I did not hear that trumpet reverb creep into the soundstage from the Alpha.
At the climax, there are bells rung in the background, the nw does a better job of delienating the bells from the rest and avoids getting lost in the grand finale.
The Alpha answers back with a more lush presentation of the orchestra.The strings are so sweet and moving, putting into contrast the nw almost steely portrayal of the strings.
The alpha also gave a more convincnig spatial cues of the chorals performance. With the alpha I can tell that the choral must have performed in a church or such,but not so much with the nw.
Finally, the alpha was just more dynamic,it portrayed more power and majesty of the orchestra, thereby making it a more moving dac for this particular musical piece.
Coming up in the next installment:
Pat Metheny
Frank Zappa
Patriot Games soundtrack
Joe Jackson
James Newton Howard

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
  Western Glow Tube Service  

Follow Ups Full Thread
Follow Ups
FAQ

Post a Message!

 Forgot Password?
Moniker (Username):
Password (Optional):
  Remember my Moniker & Password  (What's this?)    Eat Me
E-Mail (Optional):
Subject:
Message:   (Posts are subject to Content Rules)
Optional Link URL:
Optional Link Title:
Optional Image URL:
Upload Image:
E-mail Replies:  Automagically notify you when someone responds.

[ Top Top of Page ] [ Contact Us ] [ Support/Wish List ] [ Copyright © 2024, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]
[ General ] [ Speakers ] [ Tubes ] [ Vinyl ] [ Digital ] [ Hi-Rez ] [ Video Asylum ] [ Cables ] [ Tweaks/DIY ] [ Music ] [ Films ]