General Asylum: REVIEW: Audio by Van Alstine, Inc. Omega IV DAC Processors by Tom Bourg

I was planning to test my new AVA DAC by a/b-ing it with a cd player without the DAC. I had two players set up with duplicate cds and I sat down to listen. Then, I heard the music coming out of the AVA DAC. That was last night and I still haven't compared the two. I was expecting to hear a rather subtle difference with the new DAC; what I heard was so much better than anything I had expected that I can only compare it to a speaker upgrade!

The sound is truly three dimensional and incredibly transparent. My Jaguar 2 speakers had a good sound stage, but now it is great. The timbre of the instruments is absolutely wonderful.

In one cd where I thought only one violin was playing, the DAC resolves them into two distict instruments--I was not prepared for that.

Voice is wonderful, too. I listened to my favorite version (I certainly haven't heard all of them) of Handel's Messiah, that is, Sir Thomas Beecham's 1959 recording with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus. It was really breathtaking.

I listened to Mark Knofler's "Golden Heart" cd and I could hear much, much more detail in his guitar work.

Frank Van Alstine claims that his Omega IV DAC is "perhaps the best design anyone has done." Modestly, he give Aado, his chief engineer, credit for the design. I'm not qualified to pass judgement as to whether or not Frank is correct (I'm sure every designer believes they design the best equipment) but my system sounds incredibly better with the DAC than without it. And, that's what I was trying to achieve.

The Van Alstine DAC has far surpassed my expectations.

REVIEW: Audio by Van Alstine, Inc. Omega IV DAC Processors Review by Tom Bourg at Audio Asylum