Both a USB input and integral DSD compatibility were omitted by design, which speaks volumes about the ethos of Berkeley founders Michael Ritter and Michael “Pflash” Pflaumer. Some potential purchasers will look at the Reference’s lack of a USB input or its omission of DSD decoding, and consider the unit a non-starter. The answer has arrived in the new $16,000 Alpha DAC Reference Series, a vastly more ambitious effort than the venerable Alpha. Given Berkeley’s track record, I’d always wondered what this company could do if it aimed higher than the $5000 price point. Similarly, the Alpha USB was light years ahead of any other USB-to-SPDIF converter I’d heard. I lived for several years with an Alpha DAC in front of some stellar electronics and loudspeakers, yet never felt it was the weak link in the chain despite its modest price relative to the rest of the system. The hugely successful Alpha DAC established a new level of performance for digital products at anywhere near its price. In its six years of existence Berkeley had produced just two products: the $4995 Alpha DAC and the $1895 Alpha USB, a USB-to-SPDIF converter. To understand Berkeley Audio Design’s ambitious new Alpha DAC Reference, you need to know something about the company behind it.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |