Introduction

I received the Audiophilleo last wednesday with much hope that it would better my delightful Hiface Evo. I did not see a reason to upgrade the Evo but some of you may understand the obsessive compulsive nature of this hobby. After all, each successive change in computer interface so far was an incremental investment compared to the $5k transport they replaced. Truly, there was more improvement changing from Konnekt24 to Hiface and nally Evo than there was upgrading CD transports. For under $500 each, I was ready to do a shootout between 2 async USB to S/PDIF devices that did up to 24/192k sample rate. All others on the market were either too costly to buy over the Net or did not do 24/192. Indeed, buying mail order is risky as one can never tell ...Buying the original Hiface was a no brainer @$100+ but Audiophilleos money back guarantee was tempting. So here is my tale: Choice of S/PDIF converters Why the M2Tech Evo: The Evo must be the most exible converter on the market. I had no hesitation to buy it after being very happy with the old Hiface. The ST-optical, power options and tweak friendly choices would mean that at worst, I would have countless hours tweaking. Hopefully I would also reach musical Nirvana along the way! It had no money back guarantee, but the previous gamble on the old Hiface paid off, so why not? Why the Audiophilleo: Now this was the tougher choice. New company, but as internet sales go, it had the most informative and website. Moreover it made high claims with a money back guarantee. Why not the Legato, Halide Bridge or Wavelength: 1) Wavelength cost $900 or so..too costly for an internet purchase so I'll wait for my local dealer trial. 2) Legato. I bought their U-byte cable on the net, but then I have been buying mainly 24/96 since I stopped buying CDs. The Legato doesn't do 24/96. 3) Halide Bridge. This could have been a good choice and probably a better match for a shootout. But what if I wanted to do 24/192 in the future? So far, the website did not publish jitter specs but the Audiophilleo did. So I went for the Audiophilleo with a bit more peace of mind The arsenal: DACs: Orpheus Heritage ( http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/orpheus/ heritage.html ), Wadia Series 9 (on loan), Cambridge Dacmagic. U-byte BNC digital cable from Analog Research, Pass Labs Rushmore active loudspeakers, PowerMac G5- 6GB RAM. Paul Hynes 12v power supply with Black Gate capacitors. Wireworld Ultraviolet USB cable (2m) and 8 inch generic USB cable. Jazz, Classical, Rock music. My own live, simple miked recordings made at 24/96 off a Nagra. Listening arrangement: Room: 20ft ceiling rhomboid shaped room, marble oor, acoustically lively room. Since i had the chance to try the Wadia, i have become addicted to running on the digital volume control without a preamplier. The Heritage does not have a digital volume control, but using the Mac/Amarra to control volume didnt work out. It sounded too harsh, but more of that later... Enter the Evo

In order to get the best from my Evo, I had to use the shortest USB cables and take out my trusty old Paul Hynes diy power supply. which i had previously used to run my Altmann attraction. Power supplies made a difference, but the best sound I got was using ST optical into the Wadia. It sounded so good that I thought I had reached the end of the road as far as USB converters were concerned. After all, few other dacs and few usb interfaces have ST optical. Everything sounded so organic and natural and I was beginning to think, this was it! I have my own vocal recordings of set up put the singer right back in my music room. Enter the Audiophilleo. It was on a whim cos of the money back guarantee. Perhaps i wanted to be sure the Evo couldnt get any better. The rst thing that struck me was how entirely tweak free it was. It was pure plug and play out of the box. No driver to install. I got it running literally within 30 seconds. In a quick AB with stock vs Wireworld Ultraviolet USB cables I could not detect a difference. I usually do in the rst song. Comparison to follow in Part 2!