Review of the SW1X DAC 3 STD

I often ask myself why we love going to Concerts when, as the Hi Fi gets better and better, there is less to gain.

The answer is emotion. Just hearing the artist on the sound systems at concert venues is not always enough and we supplement this by seeing facial expressions etc. to achieve the full benefit of talent and performance, whether it be happy, sad, stirring or dance inducing.

Back at home we loose 50% of the performance. Gone is the visual side of it and we become reliant on the Hi Fi system to convey emotion. Its not that difficult to find a system that gives bass, treble, imaging, dynamics, separation of instruments etc., etc. These are all the things that we aspire to as we climb the ladder of improvements. But, to find components that convey emotion are rare indeed and the irony is that when we find it the other measures fade into the background.

As a youth I loved the Beatles, all those emotive tunes, surfing on a mix of adrenalin and hormones. In middle age I started to add Beatles albums to my collection and arrived at 13 CDs. They are good, and remind me of former times, but I was never moved emotionally as I had been in my youth. It was somewhat disappointing and I satisfied myself with the conclusion that its an inevitable effect of old age, after all adrenalin takes a bit to get going and hormones are consigned to memory.

Many will know I am a strong advocate of the kit that Slawa sells at SW1X, in particular his DACs. And as finances allow I have slowly upgraded through the various levels arriving now at the DAC 3 STD.

There’s not much to say apart from the fact it conveys emotion in a way I have never heard. In the last few evenings Beatle’s albums have been played and enjoyed, in close order, like never before

I have at present an early prototype and Slawa assures me the latest incarnation is better still. I have heard it at his place and he is right.