Well… this started out as a “review”, but as people who know me would not be surprised; ended-up a story. More of a personal journey. I hope this resonates with those who have experienced the same.
It’s hard to believe it’s Summer’s end and RMAF is right around the corner once again. I thought an update on my listening experience with April Music’s DP1 DAC/Preamp/Headphone Amp would be timely; given that April Music will have a room there for the third year in a row. This is a compilation of previous posts and experiences I’ve had with the April Music DP1 DAC.
Simon Lee, the owner and engineer behind April Music is a most talented engineer, whose passion for the highest quality audio reproduction is quite obvious. I was introduced to April Music by my friend, Ki Choi about 5 years ago. He sent me the DA100 Signature DAC, CDT100 transport, and HP100 headphone amp to spend some time with. These are members of the “Stello” line. I ended-up buying those, and thus began my journey with April Music. Based on my excellent experience with the DA100 Signature, I jumped at the chance to hear how the DP1 (a member of the higher “Eximus” line) would integrate into my system. Simon’s graciousness has allowed me to listen to the DP1 for an extended period of time, over which it blossomed during the break-in process. My thanks also to Sam Lee (no relation to Simon) for getting the DP1 to me.
The first thing you’ll (externally) notice about Simon’s work (no matter what “line”) is his attention to detail; fit and finish are perfect. The controls are solid, and the enclosures themselves are built like, well,
elegant tanks. The DP1’s external design is literally, a work of art. This theme-based artwork, is the creation of Alex Rasmussen at A-Rex/Neal Feay Design. Simon pointed out that the synergistic design was based on the company name, April Music, in representation of the “freshness and new growth of Spring”. There are leaves etched into the top of the beautiful aluminum chassis. The power switch is inset into a leaf shape, and the volume knob follows this theme as well. It’s very much a show piece which I haven’t had one person who has listened to it, didn’t run their fingers over the leaves on the top. …and those were mostly female listeners (for some reason, I was getting jealous of a piece of audio equipment)
Not very often does a piece of audio equipment have tactile appeal! The front panel controls are very cleanly laid out and easy to understand and use.
There have been many very well written and well researched reviews of this DAC, including specs and measurements, which can be found from April Music’s website. For those of you who want to dive deep in that regard; take a look there. Also, I’m not going to go too far down the road of comparing specific DACs (
mano-a-mano, so to speak, or DAC shoot out) because that’s been professionally covered as well by those who have really spent a lot of time comparing them in a more “scientific way”. I want to approach the DP1 from a different manner.
I by no means consider myself a
reviewer, but someone whose passion is music; and that is the way I’ll approach my thoughts here. I grew up in Hollywood, and had (still have!) many friends, and family friends in the music world from a very young age. Music was all around me. The very first recording I remember vividly is by Antonio Carlos Jobim. “Desafinado: The Composer Plays”. I was 3 years old (1963). The Verve remaster remains a treasure to me. Playback equipment was a Harmon Kardon integrated mono amp, Gerard turntable, and James B Lansing speakers.
I spent hundreds of hours in recording studios as “gopher”, invited (sometimes un-invited, but was good at begging) attendee, and musician. I’ve spent even more time at live events. As a musician, I played just about every possibly style from big-band to hard rock, to theatrical shows, jingles, fusion, lots of polyrhythmic stuff from every source I could find, to classical ensembles. So, I grew up knowing what the actual performance sounded like; and how the resulting recordings matched-up, while learning about the processes to get them to the listener. Fun!
I listen to music from all over the world and in pretty much every genre. My prerequisites for a great listening session are usually based on, (a) talented, passionate, motivating musicians; (b) performances which bring out lasting emotion and finding myself having the songs playing in my head every day; (c) engineers (recording, mixing, mastering) who are so good at capturing the spirit, passion and truth of those performances, and; (d) reproduction equipment which, to my ears and synapses, bring it all together for that “
aaaaahhhhhhhh” moment.
Since we now live in both an analog and digital world, the holy grail of digital or analog reproduction (IMO) is still to bring a performance to the listener as closely as the artist(s) played it as possible. Equipment should disappear; making the performers appear in its place. Digital recording, conversion and playback got off to a bit of a rocky start, but the evolution has been quite amazing in both formats and equipment; as we have all experienced to varying extents.
My experience with digital; or more significantly: “outboard digital”, started with hearing about something called a “DAC-In-The-Box”. What the heck was that?? …and why would I want one? That quickly propelled me through all of the Audio Alchemy equipment (DDE 3.0, DTI PRO32 and DDS-PRO), then on to the Perpetual Technology next-gen versions. Then I started having those modded by Dan Wright (long before there was a ModWright) and Dusty Vawter (CIA and former AA tech; and now wonderful engineer in his own right). I played with other outboard DACs coming on the scene as well. So, this is just to give you a “where I started with all this stuff” point. My
already dangerous addiction was inlaid at that point; and I began borrowing every piece of outboard gear I could get my hands on; from DACs, Amps, Preamps, to Digital X-Overs.
Then, there was a turning point for me, regarding the concept of bit interpolation and up/oversampling. Through the urging of my friend Rich Hollis (Hollis Audio Labs), he suggested playback at native rates (not saying he's he's the first person to discover that; but the first person to nudge me into the concept). He sent me a DIY board with a USB interface to prove what he was talking about. I was pretty stunned. Of course, music was now being remastered at up to 24 bit/192kHz. But with better and better DACs, even redbook stuff was sounding better at 16 bit/44.1kHz. I have discovered with the DP1 though; that different tracks
sounded better, playing with experimenting with different settings (sample rates). This is something which Simon suggested to me; and proved to be very accurate.
Enter the USB DACs. After attending every RMAF so far, I was interested in the idea of music servers which could store and easily retrieve one’s entire collection of music in lossless, digital format, and then feeding it to a high quality DAC via USB, Optical, AES/EBU, Coax or I2S (my personal preference). The first few offerings came upon the scene, but didn’t really “do it” for me. Expensive, limited in connectivity and performance, etc… But those were the necessary growing pains.
Over about the last 3 years (to me) things have been really accelerating nicely. Now we’re looking at even newer formats like DSD. Still the grail remains the same: best reproduction possible. Of course the word “best” is a dangerous one; so I’ll use it carefully
So, if you haven’t stopped reading, due to the
all about me history, I’ll continue with my specific thoughts and experience with the April Music DP1. I thought it was good to give those reading this, where I’d “come from- and where I
think I’m going”, in order to present the DP1 in a way which reflects why I like it so much and why you may as well.
First, a description of the system it’s in, and the listening room.
The room is approximately 20’(w) x 27’(d). Ceiling is vaulted.
Room Treatments (front, back, sides and ceiling):
GIK Acoustics: 242, Soffit Bass Traps, Scopus Bass Traps, Q7d Diffusors
P.I. Audio Group QRD Diffusors
Current Equipment is:
Bryston 7B-ST Mono blocs (with upgrades by Bryston). Next up will be a pair of MW KWA150 Signatures.
Dodd Audio Battery Tube Buffer Preamp (full mods). DC powered by that big PowerSonic battery in the pic.
Hollis AudioLabs (HAL) MS-1 Music Server (running Win 7, Foobar, with eSATA drive).
April Music DP1 DAC/Preamp/Headphone amp.
April Music CDT100 CD Transport (I2S).
AudioLab 8000T tuner.
Studer A810 1/2 Track Mastering Reel to Reel.
GR Research LS-9 speakers designed by Danny Richie. Crossovers by Sean Ries / Skiing Ninja. Full load of No-Rez. Assembled by Sean. Gorgeous Piano Black enclosures (and even getting my hands on these) provided by Hugh Nguyen / Angel City Audio.
Cables: Analysis Plus Black Oval 9 speaker, JPS Labs, Electra, and Virtue Audio interconnects, Revelation Audio I2S.
I’m still playing (like most of us) with placement of things; speakers and treatments.
THE DP1
I’m up to about 400 hrs. of listening joy with the DP1. It has truly become my favorite DAC I’ve ever had the pleasure listening to (or not listening to, if you know what I mean). Through the years, and my friend’s graciousness, I’ve been able to audition many other DACs (amps, pre’s, cables…the gamut). These DACs have ranged in price from $200 to about $4000. Each has their own “personality” and “style of delivery" in converting ones and zeros to something wonderful (
or not).
There are terms that are bantered about in reviews, are all too easy to use, or misuse I think. So when I use them here; I’ll just say that I’m trying to give my best explanation and proper meaning to them to my best understanding, and what separates the DP1 from other DACs I’ve had in my system. Hopefully, enduring the previous paragraphs will help in your patience with my attempt in this respect.
So, what is it that I love most about how the DP1 DAC gives me that
aaaaaaahhhhhhh experience?
It’s the most musical DAC I’ve ever experienced. Everything just sounds right to me. So silky smooth. Natural. Relaxed (not “rushed”) where the music goes
here, and seamless pace-change when the music goes
there. Dead quiet noise floor no matter which input I used. Soundstage and imaging: close your eyes; and every instrument is perfectly placed and balanced. Liquid-smooth bass, but still tight like a well-miked kick drum in the studio (and no; it’s not all those bass traps- it’s a tough room!). There is no inherent “coloration”; which preserves the original tone and recording veracity, again just bringing the music to the listener in the most accurate way possible. Just for the record; I haven’t been the only “listener” by a long shot; so don’t want this to reflect only my experience. I asked my guests what it was that they heard based on experience with outboard DACs and other such system components, or just musical enjoyment and emotion.
I play music at levels from pianissimo to triple forte, and, this is a big one for me, the DP1 handles really tough musical dynamics with absolute ease; never losing the musical presentation by getting grainy or distorted. Detail remains clean and clear. I think this may have been one of my bigger surprises; I’ve sampled DACs which just really couldn’t handle dynamics well, while retaining imaging. Distortion and muddiness was the result, which leads very quickly to fatigue.
I believe it’s widely held that the most challenging instruments to reproduce are:
- Piano
- Female Vocals
- Cymbals
- Horns
- Strings
- Many kinds of electronically sampled, [what heck is that sound (?)] poorly employed and mixed on top of it. Over-produced material.
The DP1 reproduces these instruments beautifully. Very detailed, but not artificially so; retaining their tonality, resonance, and character. Slam where it should be; subtlety where it should be.
No matter what the volume level or frequency, I never experienced listening fatigue due to the DP1.
Speaking of dynamic range, the DP1 is also a preamp, with analog inputs.
Perfect! I connected my Studer A810 into the fully analog stage with no conversion anywhere to be found. For those of you who have listened to or owned some higher-end tape machines, you know that dynamic range will become something that; if you didn’t know what that was before- you’ll sure know now!! You can blow-up speakers real fast if you’re not careful! So I was greatly curious about how the analog section of the DP1 would perform. A quick disclaimer here: my preferred system (over the years) has been SS mono blocs and tube preamps. The Dodd Audio Battery Buffer is a beautiful relayer of music. I have an Audible Illusions L-1 I still love, and Art Ferris is building me the latest of his linestage creations. The Dodd BB is wonderfully musical and smooth, and Gary’s craftsmanship is meticulous (
again, IMO); but I’ve found I need gain in the preamp for some recordings that are just recorded where the VU meter barely moved, it seems. If I didn’t have an A.I. linestage already in the works, I’d probably have Gary cook me up a DC powered preamp with gain.
The DP1’s analog preamp is, not surprisingly, very nice!! The Studer A810 integrated very well It’s SS, but exhibited no graininess to it at all and a high degree of neutrality. It was “just the tape to the speakers”. Absolutely satisfying. For anyone with just one analog input need, The DP1 could very well cover all your needs.
Which brings me to the Headphone amp. I’ve had the pleasure of listening to many inboard and outboard headphone amps, in varying price ranges, and with many different types of headphones. With the DP1, I used Sennheiser HD600, HD650 and HD800, plus a couple of Grado’s and AKG’s, borrowed from friends.
Being careful once again in using the word,
“best”, this HP stage is
sweet! This could be the last HP amp I ever used, and be happy. The DP1 showed no “preference” to any one brand or model headphone. It was very predictable, leaving the “personality” to music and the headphones themselves. I preferred setting the headphone filter to [off] for all listening.
So for the triad of DAC / PRE / HP Amp, the DP1 has most certainly become a component (really the wrong word for such a wonderfully synergistic system within itself) which I am very happy with to say the least. It integrated perfectly with my system with no, “oh, there’s a place where it kind of falls down, or exhibited a mis-match”. Just really seamless. Other DACs I’ve tried throughout the years have behaved much more differently based on settings, even between tracks on one disc. I think I could use the term “steadfast” in its consistent performance. From my HAL MS-1 music server, I use the USB input. For CD’s I use the I2S output of the April Music CDT100 transport using a Revelation Audio cable. Output to the Bryston mono’s is single-ended. When using as a pure DAC, the volume level is set to max (full clockwise).
A few misc comments:
It will not do DSD. That’s OK with me, since my entire collection (2TB) is based on PCM. I’m sure Simon has a follow-on project for DSD.
There is no “remote control”. Well, that works for me as well since I use it primarily as a DAC. It can be easily setup within reach of your listening position if you really need to adjust the volume manually.
Upsampling / Oversampling. As the manual (and Simon) states; give it a try, cycling through the different rates. Again, I have found on a few tunes or discs that a different rate setting does or can make a pleasant difference.
I did not use the secondary analog input (for things like iPODs, etc), since I’d rather listen to silence than something compressed. My collection is about 70% .wav and 30% Flac. Mostly ripped with EAC, from SACD, or are HDtracks.
All said; this DAC/PRE/HP amp is of very worthy consideration in its price range, IMHO. I think I’ve played most of my collection through the DP1, and
thoroughly enjoyed every single moment. So many times I’ve heard people say, “I’ve played this song ‘1000 times’, and never heard it like this before”. Yeah; OK. Well, here I am now saying the same thing. The DP1 has revealed nuances in a way that is just more like I stepped out of the recording space into the control room and heard the playback on a 2” Ampex 24 track machine at 30ips. and I’m hearing what I just recorded to the “T”. There. That’ll date me!
Does it fit into the $3000 range, even now, considering it won’t do DSD?
I think that really depends on what you listen to. If DSD really takes off, and you’re planning on going in that direction, you may want to wait to see what April Music comes up with along that line. There may be more info on that at RMAF from Simon himself. Also of course, just because a component will play a certain format doesn’t guarantee it’s overall performance and fulfillment to the listener will be anywhere near as good or better.
Also, this is a combination of a fine DAC, Preamp, and Headphone amp. If the DP1’s input, output + wide capabilities fit your needs; it’s certainly worth a listen. I’ll certainly say this (as absurd as it is); if “someone kicked-in my door and said, ‘you can only keep one input device’ for all your audio input”. I would grab the DP1 and never let go.
For me, who I would say am pretty discerning and passionate about quality of musical reproduction, which just melts me into the sweet spot, The DP1 is most definitely a keeper. “Desafinado” in the digital realm (not being able to compare it against the analog realm of TT or Tape, I can’t say, but…) never sounded so good to me.
Check out
www.aprilmusic.com for more info.
Thanks for hangin’ in with me!
Chris
BTW, I work very long weeks and travel a lot; so I may not be able to respond to questions from my post right away; and I’m trying to get some work projects done before wheels-up to Denver. Please excuse time delays in that regard. Hope to catch up with many of you once again at RMAF!
