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Electrocompaniet ECD-1 24/192 DAC Review

Well I finally took delivery on a backordered ECD-1, Electrocompaniet's new 24/192 Upsampling DAC based on the same architecture of their top-notch EMC CD player. I have had it in my system now for nearly a week. I've lost hours of sleep not being able to move my butt off the couch late at night because of the addictive qualities of this unit. Bottom line: I cannot believe that so much resolution can be pulled off of a red book disc!

I've had about 15 different DACs in my sytem over the years including MSB, Meridian, Perpetual, EAD, Sonic Frontiers and the Musical Fidelity 3.24, and I have not heard resolution like this before. Words that come to mind are succinct pacing, clarity, tonal balance and dimension. It's got a fast pace with tight, fast bass response. It's presents a natural quality of tone that I have never heard before. I'm using a Sony DVP 9000ES SACD player as a transport, and when I A/B a dual layer disc comparing the Sony's SACD output to the ECD's upsampled output, I can hardly hear a difference. The SACD sound still has a touch more resolution from my perspective, but the thought that the ECD is upsampling to nearly this level with red book standards is just damn exciting. Fyi, I'm sorry to report that the MF A3.24 upsampler comes nowhere close to the performance of the ECD-1, but of course it's almost half the price.

Granted, I've been living a mid-fi life, so getting a Porche is exciting to anyone who's been driving Volkswagens, but geez, I never expected it to be this great! Although I have spent way more than my concience will forgive on this box, I have to say that I now feel like I'm getting a taste of what all of the high-end owners of digital gear write about. This unit is THEE best upgrade I've done to my system in the past 2 years. I finally understand what people mean by "pace" and "non-fatigue".

If you have a chance to demo this unit, I strongly encourage that you spend the time. I think you will be impressed. See my "about" link for a refernce on the rest of my gear.

Enjoy!

Bob



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Topic - Electrocompaniet ECD-1 24/192 DAC Review - GrayBeard 17:04:30 09/27/02 (5)


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