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Sneak Preview: AVA Omega III TOPP-DACThe $ensible Sound Manufacturer: Audio by Van
Alstine, 2665 Brittany Lane, Woodbury,
MN 55125; 651/330-9871 http://www.avahifi.com/
info@avahifi.com Long-time readers have probably gathered by now that I have been generally unimpressed by the endless parade of DACs that have come and gone on the audio market. My advice has consistently been to purchase a decent one-box CD player and be done with it. In general, that is still my advice. Furthermore, long-time readers will note that unlike some of the other staff, I have been less than impressed with HDCD, and consider it a minor but extremely costly detour or side trip off the audio highway. Those who think that view is overly skeptical are referred to an interesting article in the April Audio that examines the performance of HDCD and comes to much the same conclusion. I offer the above remarks as a preface that will help readers understand the negative bias that I brought with me to my first listening sessions with the AVA Omega III TOPP-DAC (I believe the acronym stands for "Technically Optimized Parallel Processing Digital-to-Analog Converter). Frankly, I did not expect the thing to make much of a difference — if any — in the performance of my system, and it was with a sense of reluctance that I finally inserted it between my Marantz CD-63 and AVA Transcendence Series Two preamplifier. However, I must report that my initial impressions of the TOPP-DAC are quite favorable. The TOPP-DAC seemed to remove a layer of glaze from the sound of the system, reproducing subtle details of percussion and vocals with enhanced clarity. This was not the softness or extra wetness given by HDCD, but a genuine improvement in sonic fidelity and musical enjoyment. What I find interesting about all this is that AVA does not claim to do anything original in terms of circuit design. There are no trick circuits or esoteric algorithms. Instead, the folks at AVA just set out to optimize the basic 16-bit, 4X oversampling circuit design that has been the standard since CD was introduced. They tried to set up their circuit so that there would be no asymmetrical clipping or any other digital nasties. They then tried to set up the analog stages to filter and buffer the signal without doing any damage to the music. The unit appears to be very well built, looking for all the world like a miniature version of an Omega III 440hc power amp, and the price seems reasonable at $599. I will write a more detailed report on this unit after I have had more time to spend with it; for now, just let me report that if you have a decent CD player with a digital output and have been wondering about adding a DAC to your system, the AVA Omega III TOPP-DAC offers a potential improvement that will not bust your budget. And believe me, I am writing as a dyed-in-the-wool skeptic. - KWN Excerpted with permission from Issue #59, July/August 1996, of The $ensible Sound. Subscriptions to The $ensible Sound are available for $29 per year (6 issues) by check to 403 Darwin Drive, Snyder, NY 14226 or through Visa/MC by phone (800-695-8439). You may also purchase a set of all available back issues (currently 50+ issues) for $89.00, shipping included.
Products: Omega III TOPP-DAC |
