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Antelope Zodiac Plus DAC BOOK A FREE 7-DAY HOME TRIAL . . . > First: functionality – it's a 24/192 DAC with S/PDIF, asynchronous USB and AES/EBU inputs, plus a headphone amplifier, and a proper analog preamp(RCA and XLR inputs) thanks to its anaog-domain volume control. It's capable of sitting at the heart of a complete modern two-channel system without additional lossy attenuators. Second: it's made by Antelope Audio. That means it really can lay plausible claim to jitter immunity, or something close to it. Antelope knows jitter: their clocking products are state-of-the-art in the domain of pro audio. In practice, it's the cheapest D-A converter we've heard that genuinely renders irrelevant minor jitter-inducing software changes in a computer transport. Third: the sonic performance is therefore unusual. After listening to a Zodiac, you will hear the detrimental effects of jitter in almost everything else you audition. The Zodiac Plus has an unccommonly natural rendition of space and place. It's airy and very, very detailed – with a quicksilver sense of pace and timing. Although a question mark remains over its ultimate low end gravitas, in a system (or room) that errs on the side of bass overkill, this DAC will be among the finest money can buy. It can also be upgraded with the new 'Voltikus' power supply for more convincing low frequency heft. RECOMMENDED BUNDLE OFFERS: > Zodiac Plus DAC + 1m Locus Polestar USB Mini B cable: £2150 TURNKEY SYSTEM: £4295 REVIEWS: “I have to admit. These days after seeing so much cool gear day in and day out I’ve become a bit jaded. I think that’s a good thing though because that means when something really exceptional comes through I can sit up and say, “Yeah! This is really great!” I think the Zodiac line from Antelope is one these types of products. I sat down to listen to the Zodiac+ and ended up listening to several tracks and I was amazed. One of the tracks I listened to was a song that I’ve listened to hundreds of times over the years and I thought I knew it well, but when I played it through the Zodiac D/A Converter I started to hear new guitar parts and background vocal parts that I had never heard before. I was absolutely amazed because I’ve listened to this song through Apogee, Benchmark, Avid and other high-end converters, but I somehow missed these parts with all those converters. The bottom line or the takeaway here is that if you’re looking for a supreme D/A experience on the go or in your studio you’ll want to get a Zodiac box. It looks very sleek and has a great feel and design and most importantly, it sounds absolutely phenomenal.” – Ryan Sloan “First impression sonically, I will just say it is quite amazing. I can't find any faults, it really shows me what my LCD-2s can do, and dare I say it . . . it may be the end all dac for me. Speaker based listening is also just as fantastic right now. Everything is just so balanced, throw any favorable audiophile term you want at it . . . you will get it in spades. this is truly an elite piece of gear.” – Audiocircle forum member review “I like it enough that I am going to start offering it for sale” – Lee, Locus Design “Calling the Zodiac+ a high-resolution device seems foregone conclusion and cheating. We all knew going in of its BurrBrown/TI 1792-A chip whose astonishing 132dB S/N ratio makes it that family of parts' highest performing silicon. To my ears, this machine's true forté is spaciousness built upon profound airiness. This combination of qualities strengthens the connective tissue between the notes, what we call recorded reflections, decays and harmonic halos. Rather than mass and impact, the Zodiac+ seems dialled for speed, articulation and nuance. If you're amongst those for whom soul spells expansive soundstaging, the Zodiac+ should prove special. The soloist's fluid harmonic shifts of varying bow pressure and angles became very visible, the unison harmonized pizzicatos of massed strings behind him nicely articulated and wispy. Atmospheric, expansive, filigreed and finely nuanced, this type of music seemed ideally positioned to cross off a number of particular strengths of the review component. Very high resolving power coupled to smoothness and finesse rather than brightness and rawness topped that list. Excellent tracking of tone modulations and harmonic envelope distribution scored highly too. The DAC's handling of timing on the Loussier Trio's Mozart was particularly impressive. This trickily shifts between straightahead swing interludes and others where the string orchestra syncopates metronomically correct while the old lion on the piano sneaks in freer jazzier counterpoints simultaneously. This timing friction is very fragile or it hangs up. The Zodiac+ walked that knife edge beautifully. Igor Levin understands digital audio at a very high level indeed. Compared to the Weiss Minerva/DAC2 which due to its widespread reviews has become a benchmark many readers can relate to without having heard one, the Plus already beats it on features, soundstaging, harmonic finesse and price. Where it still takes second place is on body and bass heft.” – Srajan Ebaen, www.6moons.com [Please note that the 6Moons review was conducted with a 200 hour-old sample. A significant number of owners have stated that the low frequency performance takes much longer to settle into its final state: from 300-800 hours!]
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