Jeff Rowland has now launched into the digital realm with the introduction of the Aeris DAC at CES. Jeff has long been known for producing exceptional amps and preamps. I had the opportunity to audition one of the two existing prototypes of this DAC last Saturday with a group of dedicated audiophiles- some of whom are into computer audio. Stunning was the word that came to mind by the end of the first song.
By way of background a group of us has gotten together to explore the state of the art in computer audio. We have concentrated mostly on the computer and software side, but have periodically had the latest DACs to explore as well. We have had several Weiss DACs, two Antelope DACs, three Apogee DACs along with some of the usual suspects like the Ayre and Tranquility DACs to name just a few. Other than the DCS DACs, we have had most of the other good DACs on the market in one or more of our systems. While these other DACs were fair to very good, none of them had the Oh My God factor that let everyone say that is a great DAC. The Aeris has that OMG factor.
After some initial set up issues (this was a prototype after all), we got the DAC working. The first song out was "Lady Be Good" from Jazz At The Pawnshop. All during the first two minutes of the song, I kept saying I haven't heard that in the crowd noise before or have you every heard that sax so soulful. Everyone was stunned at the sound. Several of the other DACs we have put in the system were detailed and transparent, but were also cold and analytic- amusical is the best term to describe them. The Aeris was just as resolving and detailed, but also kept the tapestry of the music. In fact it was more musical than my current DAC (Cullen mod DLIII) while not having all of its faults. This may sound like damning with faint praise but after all the DACs I have had in this system, I have never been tempted to replace it. I now am not only tempted, I want to put the Aeris in as the new reference. Every thing that we played just got better with this DAC. It kept the organic quality of the music while also showing problems with some of the recordings.
What was amazing to me is the way it presented the music with none of the typical digital artifacts you normally hear- no sizzle or hash. The harmonic structure was what one would expect from a live performance, not thin nor overblown. Not only was the bloom not overblown, the instruments and resulting bloom kept in their own holographic space. Speaking of holography, even on complex passages, all of the instruments were in the proper three dimensional space. The soundstage stayed stable in all dimensions. The dynamic shading was stellar as was the presentation of bass. This is the first time I have ever heard bass deep and tight in my system (my room has a bass reinforcement problem at about 60-80hz). No boom with this DAC, just really tight bass (or as tight as my room will allow). Great bass grip.
Comments from the listeners included: "This DAC transforms your system"; "This is the same as very good analogue"; " This is better than vinyl- no noise floor or pops and tick while still presenting all of the music"; " This thing is so good it shows the recording flaws (about Live In Paris "A Case of You"). There were many other comments, all of which were positive. All I can say it that I agree with the comments comparing this to vinyl. I chose Jazz At The Pawnshop specifically because I have heard this piece many times in my system using the original vinyl pressing. 24/48 and Jeff's DAC out performed my VPI/Clearaudio combination rather handily.
I spoke with Jeff about our findings and he said there is more still to come on the production version. We listened to mostly 24/48 through Toslink, but did try USB to SPDIF as well (for some reason we couldn't get USB to hook directly to the DAC, probably operator error since Jeff is using a Mini outputting USB for his listening tests). According to Jeff, the prototype does not have any of his jitter reduction circuitry on Toslink or SPDIF, only 16/44.1 USB. He said that I should wait to hear the production unit to see what it will really do. I find it hard to fathom a better performance than I heard, but Jeff is not one boast about his components, rather he tends to understate how good they are.
I have not heard the DCS Puccini which was Jeff's target, but he said he thinks the Aeris is even better. All of this performance does comes at a price. However, when you think about how it just bested a $15K vinyl rig by a substantial margin, its something of a bargain.
There is now something out there (or soon will be) that finally eliminates the debate about digital vs analogue. This product obliterates that false dichotomy. Its now about good music well recorded.