Review: California Audio Labs Alpha DA converter

Category: Digital

Classical, Jazz, Rock, R&B, some rap and hip hop if it has a good groove. I love acoustic music though and I like to hear people that can really play and/or sing.

The most important aspects of sound are sound staging and imaging, clarity and detail, warmth and weight. I like to be able to close my eyes and visualize the musicians on the stage doing their thing. I don't think the job of hifi gear is to make everything sound like a live recording (I have been to too many live concerts that sounded bad for that.) I think the job of equipment is to give you a you are there rush, convey what the musicians are trying to communicate to you and Capture what the producers, mastering folks etc were trying to convey with the end product. In shour to hear what they intended you to hear.

The worst things a system could do would be to sound hard and etched thin and weightless.

I;ve had this piece 2 years. It was one of the last units they produced and sold.

It replaced the DA converted inside the CALAudio Icon.

Primarily it added warmth to the sound. The ICON sounds great by itself though but I like combining tube pieces with solic state gear to achieve warmth with detail and weight.

Stregths include very good detail, added tube warmth and bloom, More of a you are there presence.

I really can't think of any weaknesses. Perhaps the fact that it doesn't up sample. But everything I have put up against it either sounds worse or no better.

The only other piece I considered against it that I really liked was the Audio Research CD 2 and if money were no object I might have chosen that piece instead but to be honest I thought the Icon Alpha combo was better built and sounded as good so I stuck with it. I have heard the Wadia stuff and I have seen all of the raving about it but I didn't care for the sound. It sounded too digital to me.

Associated gear
Krell KAV 300 Integrated; Musical Fidelty CR A3 Preamp; PS Audio Classic 250 amp; Tara Labs Decade digital interconnect; Cal Audio Icon Transport; PSB stratus Golds speakers

Similar products
Rega Jupiter and Planet; Wadia 850; Krell KAV series cd players; Audio Research CD2;