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Item Audio DAT1 UNCOMPROMiSED DIGITAL AUDIO TRANSPORT • Linear audiophile power supplies Following extensive auditioning of parts and peripherals, we can now offer a range of computers for optimal audio playback: 'digital transports' for the computer audiophile. Although primarily intended (and entirely optimised) for no-compromise audio use, we saw no reason to exclude Spotify, iTunes, BBC iPlayer, and online library management from the specification. So one box does it all: 16-bit, 24-bit; 44.1–192kHz audio, internet radio, CD-ripping, album artwork grabbing, etc. This computer has been developed with specific intent for high-end audio use – deploying linear power supplies, vibration damping, EM shielding and bespoke DC cabling. Inside, you'll find carefully chosen computer components: precisely no more powerful or energy consumptive than they have to be: streamlined for minimal galvanic noise and maximum efficiency. Just like a good amplifier, we pay special attention to shielding and layout: As if we weren't mad enough spending weeks auditioning motherboards, we go the extra mile and completely deep cryo-treat the entire transport: it now runs cooler and sounds better. This isn't just a Dell in fancy dress. You've heard claims about 'whisper-quiet' computers, but the DAT1 is entirely silent during playback: no fans, no whirring drives, no gaudy LEDs, no hum. Just music. The operating system and your favourite tracks and stored on a state-of-the-art, ultra-fast solid state drive; optical and hard drives are powered down when not in use, saving energy and reducing interference: another example of audiophile minimalism applied to computing. Where else would you find Stillpoints fabric installed inside a cryo-treated number-cruncher? The base machine is intended for use on a network, but it is quite possible to go 'standalone' by specifying 2Tb onboard hard drive storage, or an external local RAID. The entry level Windows DAT1 features a dual-core Intel Atom 330 processor, 2GB RAM and a 32GB Solid State Drive: compared to a laptop or conventional desktop, this low-energy, cool running specification can potentially save you the purchase cost during its lifetime in electricity savings alone! A range of monitor, storage and output clocking upgrade options are available. Very large libraries can be accommodated on internal SATA or external network drives. We can even, if pressed, restored the wireless functionality . . . . The DAT1 Silverstone Edition fills the gap between 'lifestyle' mass-produced streamers, and proprietary (overpriced) high end digital transports. Leveraging open-source and off-the-shelf components in a novel configuration, combined with its direct-to-market distribution model, enables the DAT1 to bring uncompromised computer audio performance to a price point below £2K. So how do they sound? In a word, transparent: the way a transport should: just pure, highly resolved music with a big, natural soundstage: no sonic signature of its own, no inflated mid-bass or raspy treble induced by switching supplies or imprecise low-level detail masked by jitter. Extracts from HiFi World (December 2011) Review: “All my listening was done via my reference dCS Debussy DAC. With CD quality files I was able to do direct comparisons with the latest Cyrus Servo Evolution transport. “Kicking off with a 16/44.1 file of 808 State's 'Pacific State’, which on middling digital equipment is seriously mushy and indistinct, I was impressed with the DAT1's combination of warmth and precision. There was a searchingly detailed quality to it, yet it didn't in any way shout out. I was also impressed by the innate stability and solidity the music had: the mix was fizzing with detail, yet the saxophone soared from behind it with smoothness and finesse whereas it so often comes out to sear at your ears. At the same time, the DAT1 captured the song's sumptuous analogue synth glides with real depth and warmth. “By comparison the Cyrus transport seemed just a little less precise, with just a fraction less depth to the soundstage . . . a track that can sound quite forward and edgy via CD seemed to have fallen back slightly, losing a little of its sharpness and bite, yet there was masses of detail . . . I found it very easy to lsiten in to different strands of the mix, the music have an easy ability to it that reminded me of a mastertape – not something you always get with digital, surprisingly.” “The Spice Girls '2 Become 1' - hopelessly compressed and appalingly recorded, normally has me reaching for the mute button, but strangely the DAT1 and dCS Debussy seemed remarkably together and musical, reaching right into places other transports cannot reach. “Time to up the sampling frequency with a 24/96 FLAC of Astrud Gilberto's 'The Girl from Ipanema'. This was like night and day, the soundstage filling out to a vast widescreen, and falling back further, too . . . we've all heard mediocre versions of this [24/96[, not so here, as the sax soared ten or so feet about the speakers . . . sumptuous, sweet and satisfying, I could listen to digital like this all day – not somehting I normally find myself writing. “A 24/96 FLAC of 'Nights in White Satin' was interesting . . . all tinselly and bright, it told me far too much about the poor mastering . . . the point is of course that the DAT1 proved a revealing digital source, whereas as so many computer transports reduce everything to a fairly familiar sound, the Item computer showed masses of differences betwen not just the bit depth and sample rates of the files, but the recordings themselves. This is just what a good moving coil cartridge does . . . on a fine recording, whatever the resolution, the Item Audio DAT1 lets the light shine in and you can take in eveything in its full glory “The DAT1 isn't a lifestyley minimalist contraption . . . it is single minded in striving to give you an extremely high quality (ie, low noise) digital datastream . . . it is exceptional versatile and upgradeable . . . when new technologies come, or you need extra functionality, you can pick up the phone and get it relatively inexpensively from Item Audio. As such it's super value for money. There's a certain type of customer for whom this is precisely what is needed; for them, I'd unhesitatingly recommend it.” - 5/5 Globes. |
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Firewire Version: £1,699
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