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The great thing is that all of that detail resolution then takes over and fills in the gaps, which makes a panoramic listening experience full of stuff going on. It has a seriously spacious, large-scale sound. Scritti Politti’s Perfect Way via the CD transport shows how this machine can carry ‘hard pans’ from one side of the soundstage to the other very well indeed. The aforementioned Chord Hugo 2 will do better, but the Audiolab can certainly go wide left-to-right. Admittedly it’s a superb recording and everyone’s favourite hi-fi demo track, but the way the 8300CDQ handles it demonstrates that it’s a lot of DAC for the money. Given a really good source file there’s a serious amount of insight Alex De Grassi’s The Water Garden on DSD is spectacularly open and revealing. It’s really good at eking out subtle elements of the mix a hi-res PCM file of The Age Of Plastic by The Buggles via the USB input shows a really intricate portrayal of all the studio effects, and the ability to hear different strands of the music play along separately from one another is an expected pleasure for a machine at the price. Working as a DAC, it gets closer than you’d think to the more costly Chord Electronics Hugo 2 ( HFC 428) in some respects. Indeed, its detail retrieval is something that repeatedly impresses. Move to some retro electro like Nu Era’s Oscar Styles, and it seems to work better the Audiolab extracting vast amounts of detail from the mix with seemingly brilliant forensic ability – its slightly analytical nature being turned to the advantage of the music, not to its detriment. Steely Dan’s CD remaster of Aja sounds lighter and crisper than it could be – there’s a lot of atmosphere and detail, but instruments lack a little body and vocals a touch of warmth. Some people call it dry, others will say it is accurate and uncoloured.
#AUDIRVANA PLUS 3 REVIEW PRO#
Listening is done via the CD drive, the USB input for all hi-res files – using a MacBook Pro running the latest Audirvana Plus 3, which has MQA playback and Tidal Masters streaming – and via the coaxial and optical digital inputs from a Blu-ray player. Using the Audiolab is simplicity itself, aided by the supplied remote control should you so wish. Round the back there’s a choice of RCA or balanced XLR analogue outputs, two Toslink optical and two coaxial digital inputs plus one USB-B, a optical and coaxial digital output and three pairs of analogue RCA inputs. To this four extra DSD filters are now present, progressively attenuating the out-of-audio band noise floor. As before there’s a choice of digital filters to fine-tune the sound, including Optimal Spectrum, Optimal Transient, Optimal Transient XD, Optimal Transient DD, Sharp Roll Off, Slow Roll Off and Minimum Phase. The 8300CDQ sports the latest versions, along with circuitry tailored to reduce distortion as much as possible. One of the most impressive things about the old 8200CDQ was its use of the then cutting-edge 32-bit ESS Sabre DAC chip. It gives quick track access, claims to read poor disc surfaces better than others and there’s a digital buffer to make playback more seamless. Although not silent, the player is surprisingly quiet and smooth as it loads discs. Moving to more prosaic matters, it also spins compact discs and has the latest slot-loading mechanism.
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The 8300CDQ offers 32-bit/384kHz PCM and DSD256 playback.
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Arguably of greater interest is the inclusion of DSD playback, which In hi-fi circles MQA has become a bit of a Marmite codec, but whatever your viewpoint it helps to futureproof the player. Although just £100 more than its predecessor, the 8300CDQ is slicker and more sophisticated in terms of functionality, build and finish, and supports MQA. This turned out to be the shape of things to come, as many rivals followed suit.
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I was quite taken by the technology inside, but most of all the fact it wasn’t just a CD player but a DAC and preamp too. It’s just short of a decade ago that I heard a working prototype of the original John Westlake-designed Audiolab 8200CDQ.