Review
text WOJCIECH PACUŁA
translation Marek Dyba
photo “High Fidelity”
No 235
December 4, 2023
⌈ DIGITAL AUDIO SYSTEMS is an Austrian company founded in 2014 by ALEXEJ C. OGOREK. It offers audio file players, Model 2, Model 3, Model 4 and amplifier MPA. These are devices aimed at playing files from a built-in hard drive, characterized by a unique plastic design. We test its top-of-the-line Model 3 in its latest version. ⌋
E HAVE HEARD THE STORY HUNDREDS OF TIMES and we will hear a hundred more. DIGITAL AUDIO SYSTEMS was born out of a passion for music and the frustration of not being able to play it the way the designer expected. In this case, it was about playing audio files.
Alexej C. Ogorek, its founder, studied economics and mathematics at the London School of Economics and Political Science, as well as the University of Cambridge. His background is therefore not in electronics. Instead, he is associated with music. As he writes, he founded the company in 2014, and it was the result of a search for a small, high-end audio system. A search, we should add, that ended in failure at the time.
At the time, Alexej had a large collection of vinyl records, which were his passion and pride. As his turntable was slowly running out of service, he decided to digitized his vinyl collection, and store it in files. He couldn't, however, find a device that would guarantee the sound he dreamed of. After, as we read in the materials sent us, a long search, he finally found devices, but professional ones, that met his recording requirements. Still, the problem of files playback remained.
For example, one set of records he wanted to rip was Joseph Haydn's early symphonies with the Philharmonia Hungarica conducted by Antal Dorati, recorded by Decca in the early 1970s. Nothing special, he says, but characterized by delicate colors and a special atmosphere that he found difficult to reproduce faithfully from digital medium. So he decided to design and make his own file player, based on the experience he gained while searching for equipment to digitize his vinyl records.
His reference point was the sound of LPs and "master" tapes played from a good mastering tape recorder. He set two goals for himself, concerning the sound and the user interface:
- Sound: the file player should sound natural and warm, capturing the timbres and ambience of the best analog playback equipment.
- User interface: the device should bring some of the features familiar from interacting with real records, such as LP album covers, so that users can enjoy images and lyrics while listening to music. In other words, he says, "the goal was to convey the atmosphere and vivid realism of high-end analog equipment in the digital domain and combine this with the convenience of managing digital files." Thus Digital Audio Systems was born.
▌ HD-Player Model 3
The HD-PLAYER MODEL 3, which we are testing, is the most expensive, most technically advanced device from this company. In terms of usability, it differs somewhat from most devices available on the market, as its main task is to play files stored on the internal HDD. Which is understandable - after all, the designer was concerned with the best possible playback of digital copies of his LPs.
However, this narrows the functionality of the player. It turns out that we can't play files from NAS drives, but only from drives plugged into one of the two USB inputs. In the application written specifically for it, there is a tab that allows playback of files from streaming services, although without MQA decoding. The designer writes about this extensively in a relevant document available on his website. To put it mildly, he is not in favor of this solution. Which has just lost its raison d'être, since Tidal, the only service offering hi-res MQA files, is phasing it out, introducing hi-res FLAC files in its place.
The HD-Player Model 3 is thus a device that is both an audio player and server. These names appear in parallel in its description, and that's because the device can play music from both streaming services and its built-in memory. The device plays lossless files such as WAV, FLAC, AIFF and DSD files (dff and dsf). It also works with a range of lossy files, such as Ogg Vorbis, Opus, APE, WavPack, MP2, MP3, , MP4/AAC, ALAC, MOD, Musepack. The device supports PCM files up to 24 bits and 192 kHz, and DSD files up to DSD128, with all signal types converted to PCM 24/176.4 before the converter.
I started with abbreviations and numbers, but much more important, for me, turned out to be how the device was designed. For its appearance is phenomenal and it was because of it that I longed to listen to the device, even before I had read about it and appreciated the philosophy behind it. Let me say this: if Nagra made top-of-the-line file players for home use, they would probably look like the Model 3. Moreover, if Studer or ReVox made file players, they would look exactly the same. The Model 3 HD-Player is shamelessly "taken out" of a 1970s recording studio and welded into a high-end 21st century system.
Its front panel contains a great-looking display, on which we can find the album cover, track listing, title, time and file data, but also a smaller one, divided into two fields, showing analog VU-meters, i.e. indicators telling us about the output voltage. They have a "red" area, above 0 dB, but in digital devices the signal should never be so strong that the VU-meter arrow is there; if this happens, it means that the signal is digitally overdriven. In the tested player, however, the output voltage is measured, and we can select the range in which the measurement is made.
The device is controlled from a special app, designed on behalf of DAS, available (unfortunately) only for Apple devices. It looks great. The tablet connects to the player (that's what I'll call it) via a direct Wi-Fi connection. But we can also control the Model 3 via buttons on the front panel, just like a CD player or - this is probably a better comparison - a cassette or reel-to-reel tape recorder. It really works, and I did most of my listening using this option. It's a shame, then, that there is no remote control.
The device is controlled from a special app, designed on behalf of DAS, available (unfortunately) only for Apple devices. It looks great. The tablet connects to the player (that's what I'll call it) via a direct Wi-Fi connection. But we can also control the Model 3 via buttons on the front panel, just like a CD player or - this is probably a better comparison - a cassette or reel-to-reel tape recorder. It really works, and I did most of my listening using this option. It's a shame, then, that there is no remote control.
⸜ TECHNIQUE - The mechanics in the tested player are stunning. Bolted to the aluminum chassis, supporting it, are steel plates and more plates, but aluminum ones. Running horizontally through the center is an aluminum plate dividing the two sections: analog (on top) and digital (underneath); this is how the so-called "clean" and "dirty" sections are separated from each other; the role of the former is played here by analog circuits, and the latter by digital circuits, generating tons of high-frequency interference (noise).
The player has a modular design and is based on a computer motherboard and Linux-based OS. Although we can play on it all PCM files up to 24 bits and 384 kHz, and DSD files up to DSD128, they will all be converted to PCM 24/176.4 anyway, because the basic idea was to reach for a discrete D/A converter of R-2R type, i.e. based on separate switched transistors. Such a circuit does not require oversampling circuits, by giving a pure pulse, without "ringing" before and after it. And this is the main reason for the "cold" and "technical" sound of some digital devices.
The internal SSD has a capacity of 4TB, but this can be expanded up to 12TB if desired. The unit has a dual-mono, balanced design. The signal is output via two types of jacks: balanced XLR or unbalanced RCA. The former offer 4 V and the latter 2 V of maximum voltage. All the sockets on this player, including USB and Ethernet, are from Swiss Neutrik and are professional versions - very good indeed.
The HD-Player Model 3 is a beautiful device with a well-thought-out design. But let's remember that its main purpose is to play files stored locally, and only then from streaming. And also that it only connects to the Internet via an Ethernet cable - the Wi-Fi antenna is used only for control from Apple's tablet.
▌ SOUND
⸜ HOW WE LISTENED • The HD-Player Model 3 audio player stood on the top carbon shelf of the Finite Elemente Pagode Edition Mk II rack on its feet. The manufacturer says they are made of three layers of damping materials. Its sound was compared to the AYON AUDIO CD-35 HF EDITION SACD player and the LUMIN T3 file player.
With the router, the player was connected via my system, consisting of a SILENT ANGEL N16 LPS dual LAN switch, with its two modules in series, powered by a TIGLON TPL-2000A cable and via a TIGLON TPL-2000L LAN cable; more on this → HERE (PL); the router was powered by a JCAT Optimo 3 Duo power supply.
» RECORDINGS USED IN THE TEST ⸜ selection
THIS TEST HAS BEEN DESIGNED ACCORDING TO THE GUIDELINES adopted by the Association of International Audiophile Publications, an international audio press association concerned with ethical and professional standards in our industry, of which HIGH FIDELITY is a founding member. More about the association and its constituent titles → HERE.
→ www.AIAP-online.org
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