The 1980s were arguably the dawn of a Golden Age for analog. Vinyl playback advancements were in full bloom. Yet many audiophiles and audio manufacturers rushed headlong to embrace the next big thing - the Compact Disc. Déja vu. Yogi Berra said it best. "It's déja vu all over again." Today, advances in CD playback finally reveal the potential for a CD playback Golden Age. So what are we doing? Chasing after the next big thing - so-called "Hi-Rez" digital formats. Upsampling. Over-sampling. 1 bit. SACD. DVD-A. Confusion reigns. "Old technology" breakthrough? Recently, I'd seen a coupe of rave reviews for a Japanese digital-to-analog converter - the Zanden Audio Model 5000 DAC. It had no up-sampling, no over-sampling, not even a digital filter! It didn't play the "Hi-Rez" formats. Worse, it had no filter selections, and it used tubes! So I didn't take it seriously. After all, I had a fire-wired, up-sampled, CD/SACD top-rated digital system with transport, upsampler, and DAC. But then, almost by coincidence, I ended up having the new version of the "old technology" Zanden DAC in my system for a few weeks. And that's when my tidy digital world became undone. A new Golden Age! I didn't think it was possible. Not only were my favorite CDs (previously upsampled to DSD) suddenly far more involving, even SACDs didn't touch their equivalent CD versions! My "reference" digital system now sounded mechanical and compressed. Would you make the same mistake twice? Not only was the Zanden's sound more lively, it was more direct. Intensely involving. Only top-flight analog had been so seductive in my experience. Returning to several highly reviewed digital systems I had on hand, I was shocked to hear the music's flow suddenly dry up. Detail was still good. Tonal qualities were still good. But the excitement was gone. Plain and boring! Why? Part of it is Zanden's rejection of gee-whiz filters. Less phase errors. Less complexity. It's more detailed, more alive, and more tonally correct. Much more musically communicative. I promise, you'll discover new treasures in your existing CD collection. And it's probably no coincidence that the analog Zanden 1200 Phono Stage is a Stereophile Class 'A' component. It does for analog exactly what the Model 5000 now does for digital. Where? There are only a select few dealers. For the one nearest to you, contact Eric Pheilps at eric@zanden-usa.com |