General Asylum: REVIEW: Counterpoint/Alta Vista Audio DA-10A w/ Rapture 24/96 DAC Card DAC Processors by Jim Treanor General audio topics that don't fit into specific categories.

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While I’ve made the jump to digital hyperspace and embraced SACD, I have a collection of approximately 900 Red Book CD’s, as well as a few Classic 24/96 DAD’s, and expect to continue purchasing Red Books for specific performances and works not available in the newer format. I also wanted to give myself the ability to explore other hi-resolution digital formats that might become available.

To meet these needs, I selected the no-longer-made Counterpoint DA-10A as my digital processor for the following reasons: (1) It provides multiple digital inputs, facilitating connection of my Sony SCD-777ES and Dan-Wright-modified Pioneer DV-525 transports; (2) the DA-10A was designed as an upgradable motherboard-based, slot-card DAC; (3) a never-used, new-in-box DA-10A became available dirt cheap; (4) Counterpoint designer Michael Elliott (now doing business as Alta Vista Audio) offers both an upgrade to the motherboard power supply and a “Rapture” 24/96 DAC card based on the Crystal Semiconductors CS4396 chip; and (5) Elliott’s previous upgrades to my SA-100 amp and SA-2000 line stage have proven more than cost-effective in enhancing my enjoyment of reproduced music (the majority of my listening is to classical, with substantial amounts of time devoted to jazz, movie soundtracks, and vocal standards).

The Rapture 24/96 DAC card does not provide upsampling, but may be upgraded in the future to 24/192 capability. It is user-installable and may be wired directly to the DA-10A’s analog output. I opted to have Elliott do the installation, since I desired the motherboard power supply upgrade as well. Total upgrade cost was approximately $1450.

The stock DA-10A (with Analog Devices chip and HDCD decoding) bettered my venerable Anodyne ATAS (6922-based analog output stage) DAC in the areas of bass authority and image focus, equaled it in soundstage presentation and timbral rightness, and gave up only a little in liquidity.

I commenced critical listening to the modified DA-10A after approximately 400 hours of burn-in. My immediate overall reaction was that Red Book CD suddenly sounded a lot more musical. The “shaving off” of glare and other digital artifacts, the retrieval of previously-masked low-level information, and the seemingly effortless recreation of acoustic space rendered tone and timbre considerably more natural, imaging and sense of instrumental “body”(reediness, bow rosin, etc.) more palpable and focused, and attack and decay more discernible. Bass grabbed with its authority and definition. Treble was airy and delicate, not hard-edged. The midrange created the illusion of a corporeal presence even more liquid than that obtained with the Anodyne. This was true with large orchestral, operatic, and/or choral ensembles as well as with chamber or jazz groups or individual vocalists.

Note that these observations apply to good recordings, a few of which are HDCD’s. Although the upgrade does not incorporate HDCD decoding, recent Reference Recording releases sounded considerably more alive than with either the non-HDCD Anodyne or the HDCD-equipped stock DA-10A.

I have some early ‘80’s CD’s (largely, though not exclusively, movie soundtracks that aren’t otherwise available) that range anywhere from marginal to downright bad (e.g., the Winds of War TV score, the Star Trek III movie), what I consider poster boys of early digital. With the modified DA-10A, they, too, sounded better, but not sanitized--not sow’s ears that had transformed magically into silk purses. Their warts still showed, and that’s as it should be with an accurate DAC.

The Classics 24/96 DAD of Ravel’s orchestral works played on the Wright-modified DV-525 and through the Elliott-modified DA-10A proved an absolute delight in its airiness and musicality.

In comparing the modified DA-10A with the 777’s internal 24-bit variable-coefficient DAC, I concluded that the latter, while an exceptional value in an SACD-capable player with a street price of $1500 to $1600, placed a subtle veil over the sonic presentation all the way from bottom to top, including dynamics. There just wasn’t quite the “there” there that I found with the modified DA-10A. And that was true at any of the Sony’s filter settings.

While I’m not able to determine how much of the upgraded DA-10A’s performance is attributable to the motherboard power supply upgrade and how much to the Rapture 24/96 DAC, it’s clear that the combination has enhanced my Red Book CD listening by several orders of magnitude.

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