Digital Drive: REVIEW: Audio Note DAC Kit 2.1 Signature DAC Processors by Paul Folbrecht

Model:	DAC Kit 2.1 Signature
Category:	DAC Processors
Suggested Retail Price:	$1799
Description:	Tube output DAC 1X oversampling
Manufacturer URL:	Audio Note
Model Picture:	View

Review by Paul Folbrecht on February 06, 2009 at 11:34:18
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for the DAC Kit 2.1 Signature

After being wowed by the Audio Note room at several shows (whether it was the entry-level or expensive gear being demoed) I decided to build their Kit 3 AN/Es. That's another review; for now, I'll note that I found my lifetime speakers.

Having also read many good things about their DACs, and already being a strong believer in the no oversampling/no filtering school, I jumped at a used Kit DAC 1.1 that came up on audiogon. Well, it soundly trounced my beloved MHDT Labs Constantine, the digital source I'd settled on for its extreme musicality, retaining that musicality but bettering it in many specific ways, which I shall elaborate on below. (Note: The Constantine, and all the other MHDT DACs, are amazingly good and one of the best values in audio I know of.)

The experience with the DAC 1.1 made me want to build my own, and I wanted to go "all the way" up to the 2.1C Signature, the top of the line DAC Kit (and yet itself a very small fraction of the cost of the top-model factory A-N DAC!).

The build was spread out over a somewhat long period due to some personal issues. It is not a difficult build, but I would not recommend it for a completely novice builder, as the manual is not really complete step-by-step. However, support is generally excellent, with Brian from A-N Kits answering emails very quickly and available for phone support if needed as well.

Even brand-new, with the smell of the transformer adhesive burning in in the first few hours, it sounded amazing. It gave me the qualities of the 1.1 version, but more so. What are those qualities, you ask?

In a nutshell, like all of the Audio Note gear seems to, the DAC is both amazingly detailed, nuanced, and extended, yet also *supremely* musical, meaning it has an extremely natural, organic sound, and instrument tonalities are spot-on, definitely the best I have ever heard from a digital source.

The MHDT DAC, as I said, is a wonderfully musical device, and listening to it, one never really gets the feel something is missing, or not fleshed-out, though it is definitely on the dark side. The A-N DAC, however, retains that organic ease, while adding far, far better macrodynamics and much more microdynamic nuance and finesse, including instrument separation. In comparison, you realize the lesser-priced DAC has committed some sins of omission; the Audio Note unit adds them back to the mix, producing a whole even more pleasing than before.

Reading this review, I realize that I sound like a shill for Audio Note, and I know that several of their outspoken fans have been accused of that here. For those of you with such thoughts - have you listened to the gear? If you have and you disagree on the take, horses for courses! I would find that surprising indeed, but so be it.

I am sure there is really nothing 'magical' in the Audio Note gear - but they are really doing something right. I find it especially surprising that the qualities their gear exhibits carries over between devices so entirely dissimilar in parts, construction, and purpose, as digital-analog converters and loudspeakers.

In closing, one day Audio Note will conquer the world, and at that time you will have to buy their equipment, under pain of death, but before then, it's really still a pretty good idea.

Product Weakness:	None
Product Strengths:	See above

Associated Equipment for this Review:

Amplifier: Tube Audio Labs Custom-Made WE91 300B Monos
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): Modified Eastern Electric MiniMax
Sources (CDP/Turntable): Audio Note Kit DAC 2.1C Sig/Acoustic Solid Classic Wood, RB300, Blackbird
Speakers: Audio Note Kit 3 AN/E
Cables/Interconnects: Various
Music Used (Genre/Selections): Acoustic jazz, rock
Room Size (LxWxH): 30 x 30 x 15
Room Comments/Treatments: Untreated; open-concept house
Time Period/Length of Audition: 3 weeks
Other (Power Conditioner etc.): Running Springs
Type of Audition/Review: Product Owner

Amplifier:	Tube Audio Labs Custom-Made WE91 300B Monos
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	Modified Eastern Electric MiniMax
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	Audio Note Kit DAC 2.1C Sig/Acoustic Solid Classic Wood, RB300, Blackbird
Speakers:	Audio Note Kit 3 AN/E
Cables/Interconnects:	Various
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	Acoustic jazz, rock
Room Size (LxWxH):	30 x 30 x 15
Room Comments/Treatments:	Untreated; open-concept house
Time Period/Length of Audition:	3 weeks
Other (Power Conditioner etc.):	Running Springs
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner