[Afterimage]

Sorry to be a pest, but after you are up and running and an order is placed will we be looking at lead times of a few weeks?  The reason I ask is the the preamp I am using with the 70.2s needs some new tubes.  If the Isabella shipping is a few weeks away from when the order is place I will go ahead and order new tubes for my current preamp.  If not, I will just wait it out. Thanks

[Vinnie R.]

Sorry to be a pest, but after you are up and running and an order is placed will we be looking at lead times of a few weeks?  The reason I ask is the the preamp I am using with the 70.2s needs some new tubes.  If the Isabella shipping is a few weeks away from when the order is place I will go ahead and order new tubes for my current preamp.  If not, I will just wait it out. Thanks

Hi Afterimage,

Yes, once an order is placed there might be a lead time of a couple of weeks... depending on if you order from the initial batch we are making, or a later batch (when the first batch sells out). 

We are actually already in production and building Isbella units without the dac.  We hope to have the dac option ready in just a couple of weeks and will install them in the units we are building now (when we get an order for an Isabella with built-in dac).
 
The Isabella webpage is almost finished and should be up soon (hopefully by the end of this week).   We're getting really close now!  aa

Vinnie

[tunedin]

Hi Vinnie,

Is it too soon to ask what the output impedance and voltage are?

Thanks

[Flashman]

Srajan has posted the preview of his Isabella review on 6 Moons.  First time I have heard the DAC-only option called the "Isabellina."  Nice, Vinnie!  The Red Wine Audio product diaspora continues!

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/redwine10/isabella.html

Flashman

[Vinnie R.]

Srajan has posted the preview of his Isabella review on 6 Moons.  First time I have heard the DAC-only option called the "Isabellina."  Nice, Vinnie!  The Red Wine Audio product disapora continues!

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/redwine10/isabella.html

Flashman

Hi Flashman,

Thanks for the link!

Yes, the Isabellina [pronounced Isabeleena] will be the stand-alone dac that we'll be coming out with this summer (Target date of August 1st).  More details of this product will be posted in a new thread soon! 

The dac module (with the USB, coax, and optical inputs) in the Isabella preamp will be referred to as the "Isabellina dac module." 

"The Isabellina" will refer to the stand-alone dac unit that will use exactly the same board.

As quoted in the 6moons preview:
http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/redwine10/isabella.html

Buying this Isabellina DAC unit and an Isabella preamp without DAC option and connecting them together will be basically the same. But it would require a set of interconnects and cost about $1000 more than buying the Isabella with the built-in converter option. However, some people might only be looking for the DAC and not a preamp (we actually have been asked about this quite a bit), so it fills a spot in our product line.

Hi Vinnie,

Is it too soon to ask what the output impedance and voltage are?

Thanks

Hi tunedin,

Welcome to audiocircle and the RWA forum!

The output imepedance of the Isabella will be less than 1k and the gain will be 0dB or 12dB (user selectable). 

The Isabella webpage is almost ready and will have more technical specifications and other details.

-Vinnie

[Srajan Ebaen]

Vinnie just forwarded a photo of the Isabella's main tube board (DAC option board is separate). Here is a link to the big version:

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/redwine10/5_big.jpg

[Afterimage]

Another question about the Isabella/DAC.  I have a lot of rock/pop cds from the 80s, mostly post punk stuff.  I like the music, but unfortunately many are bright sounding.  Would the Isabella/DAC be able to warm things up or should I say lesson the blow?

[Vinnie R.]

Vinnie just forwarded a photo of the Isabella's main tube board (DAC option board is separate). Here is a link to the big version:

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/redwine10/5_big.jpg

Thanks for posting the pics, Srajan!

Here is a quick shot from the 6moons preview:

Another question about the Isabella/DAC.  I have a lot of rock/pop cds from the 80s, mostly post punk stuff.  I like the music, but unfortunately many are bright sounding.  Would the Isabella/DAC be able to warm things up or should I say lesson the blow?

Hi Afterimage,

Yes, exactly!  However, detail is not sacrificed because it is all there - but with the Isabellina dac module, it is not like listening to such recordings with a microscope.  The sound is not sterile or analytical... it is more like listening to the LP of the recordings.  It will sound a lot less processed and a lot more natural. 

Here is how we describe it on our upcoming Isabella webpage (expect to see this up this coming week!):

The built-in “Isabellina” dac module recreates music from digital media as close as possible to that of a high-end analog setup. Our recipe is a purist approach:

-- New-old-stock 16-bit, non-oversampling/non-upsampling D/A chip that implements R-2R conversion

-- No digital filtering

-- Discrete Class A transistor output stage (no opamps) that feeds the Isabella tubed linestage

-- SLA battery powered with dedicated linear voltage regulators for the analog and digital sections

We carefully voiced the Isabellina to seduce the listener with a non-fatiguing sound conveying the indisputable qualities of analog playback, such as richness of tone, excellent pace/timing, spaciousness, and natural upper frequency resolution.

 

Once the feedback from our customers (and the reviews) are out, we'll see how close we reached our goal. 
Again, this has taken a lot longer than we anticipated, but I am very confident that our customers will believe it was well worth the wait.  I am much happier knowing that nothing was rushed and everything was designed and tested to sound as good as we could make it. 

Best regards,

Vinnie

[Afterimage]

Once again, great to hear.  I didn't want to have only play my some of my stuff on a boombox or on a car stereo because my home system is to "high end" for that kind of music or mastering jobs to sound listenable.  When so  many other components are reviewed or talked about, it is mentioned the user needs to feed it good recordings otherwise it will sound like a trainwreck.  The old garbage in/garbage out tagline.  Yes production and recording quality will obviously have an impact, and I expect well produced or mastered stuff to sound very good, but that doesn't mean the average to poor recordings have to sound terrible.   It should not be all or nothing. 

[Vinnie R.]

More good news... 

I will be receiving the final REV of the Isabellina (dac module) tomorrow and will confirm everything is perfect and then we'll order the big batch and get them in about 1 - 2 weeks.

We already have been in production of the Isabella (w/o dac) for a few weeks now and for those who wish to purchase it with the built-in Isabellina dac (smart move!  ), we'll install it in when we get them and you'll be good to go!

Expect to see the Isabella webpage up (the real page, not the brochure that is currently on our site) by Friday of THIS week 

Srajan of 6moons will be back from vacation in 2 weeks... right around then we should be shipping him the review sample Isabella with built-in Isabellina dac opton.  Everything is fallen very nicely into place...

Thanks again for all your patience and continued support!

Vinnie

[Vinnie R.]

will be receiving the final REV of the Isabellina (dac module) tomorrow and will confirm everything is perfect and then we'll order the big batch and get them in about 1 - 2 weeks.

The Isabellina board is here and it's fantastic!     

This is it!  The new Isabella webpage will up tomorrow (I'll probably start a new thread when it is up).

Thank you! 

Vinnie