Outstanding digital components

[Thermionic]

Just stepping in with something for the historians:

The tiny Sony DAT Walkman seemed pretty amazing when it came out in about 1990. I Still have mine and it still works, though the Nextel paint is falling off. The modern equavalent D50 is also pretty impressive, and I use it when I want to make a ‘serious’ recording rather than run up the analog Nagra.

But the digital audio equipment that was the first to make my jaw hit the desk was the Decca digital mastering system that they developed in the mid 1970’s. At the time I thought they were just mad - why design and build a digital recorder that used an expensive (£4K in 1974) professional one inch VTR and a whole load of complex electronics to record just one hour of stereo, when an analogue Studer would do the same for a fraction of the cost, but what did I know?

By chance years later, I found myself in the right place at the right time (and in a collecting mode) to acquire one of their digital field recording setups, and I have been the custodian of this equipment for some 12 years now. It is basically just one component from a state-of-the-art (an over used phrase but quite true in this case) record production system, and all of Decca’s classical output on LP and CD would have been made on such systems from (I think) the new year’s day concert in Vienna in 1980 to about 1990. Sorry for the image quality.



(Above) Top to bottom: 20bit A to D, 20bit D to A and the Codec.



Inside the 20 bit A to D, which was based on DBX technology.



The modified IVC 871 Video Tape Recorder



Inside the Ultra Analog based D to A convertor

This equipment is still in working condition, though rarely used these days.

[Marco]

Hi Gino,

That kit is bloody awesome and right up my street!

When you get a chance, could you do me a favour and post a separate article (with pictures) about it in the Past Masters section, detailing if you can, the history of the units concerned and their original application by Decca?

If it's good (which I'm sure it will be) it'll most likely later go into our Library as a reference feature

Marco.

[Thermionic]

Pleased to have struck a chord Marco. I have an old web page about the system, give me a day or two to polish it up.

[michaelhigh]

Pleased to have struck a chord Marco. I have an old web page about the system, give me a day or two to polish it up.

Read this polish-up, very interesting and eye-opening.

[Rare Bird]

HRT Music Streamers; any model, depending on your budget.
I've tried out 7 sub £500 Dacs and can't find anything i prefer.

Hi John
I also nominate the HRT 'Streamer II'..Quite frankly the best USB streaming module i've ever heard, awesome clarity & body to the music.

[audio39]

The best digital?

Well, I own a McIntosh MCD-500 and when I purchased it I thought it was the best one box player made, but....

If you're in this hobby for the music (some folks just like the gear), then you owe it to yourself to have a listen to the Luxman D-06 and the Luxman D-08.

I don't care what you presently own, you'll be lusting after one of these 2 following just a few songs...I am!

Rick.

[Welder]

Hi Andre

I think the HRT 11+ is the pick of the bunch.
It seems such a shame that they tend to get dismissed as some sort of gimmicky kit more in keeping with mp3 and a pair of ear buds.
I took my 11+ around to a friend of a friends once and it took my almost an hour to persuade him to at least give it a listen.
Audiophiles eh, we are indeed a strange bunch.
It’s a shame you don’t live closer Andre because I would love to drop the HRT Pro round for you to listen to. I reckon you would love it.

[WAD62]

OK here's one at the opposite end of the price scale...

For SqueezeBox users, it's worth having an android phone for this software alone, it is much better than using the 'Controller' (functionality, response time etc.), and at £2.50 or so for the application it is somewhat cheaper.

I run it on a Desire, my missus runs hers on a Hero, we can happily control 3 players in parallel, with large playlists, without the performance issues that the controller introduces at these 'stress' levels.

SqueezeCommander for android;

http://www.squeezecommander.com/

N.B. I have no vested interest in this product, other than as a user

[jantheman]

I'm going to nominate the Simaudio Moon 300D Dac. The best I've heard.
http://www.simaudio.com/moon300D.htm

[gramofone]

I'm going to nominate the Simaudio Moon 300D Dac. The best I've heard.
http://www.simaudio.com/moon300D.htm

As you say: If Only it Was That Simple.

There are whole new Worlds to explore in terms of long term/ long duration listening satisfaction and naturalness once you move away from Delta-Sigma conversion towards Multibit and from oversampling towards non-oversampling.

Of course, these are general rules of thumb and, as with anything else, there are good and bad implementations in each genre.