I am new to AC but have been a long time lurker. One of the forums that I have been keeping up with is the Red Wine Audio forum. This is mostly because I own AKG K1000 headphones and really was interested in how good they would be with the Signature 30.2. I feel in love with this combo. Recently (the past year or so) I have been getting into home audio and now have a great completed set up. I am reporting to you as one proud owner of the Isabella with Isabellina DAC and headphone output, combined with a Signature 30.2 power amp. I first had a Sig 30.2 with integrated volume control but after some thought and recommendations from vinnie, I changed it to a power amp version when I decided to go for the Isabella.
I really want to express how much I have been enjoying the RWA combo so I thought a little mini review would be a perfect way to do it. I am new posting such a “review,” so just bare with me.
Gear: Red Wine Audio Signature 30.2
Red Wine Audio Isabella with built in Isabellina and headphone output stage
Rega P3-24 turntable, Rega Exact MM cartridge, Rega Fono Stage,
Upgraded Rega PSU, and upgraded platter/ subplatter from Groove Tracer
Magnepan MMGs
AKG K1000 headphones
MacBook Pro as the digital source using lossless files
Some test music:
Iron & Wine – “Lovesong of The Buzzard”
Why? - "The Vowels, Pt. 2"
Feist – “So Sorry” and “I Feel It All”
The Decemberists – “The Crane Wife 3”
Thom Yorke – “ Skip Divided”
Air - “Universal Traveler”
Modest Mouse – “Fire it Up”
Cat power – “Colors And The Kids”
Fleet Foxes - “White Winter Hymnal”
As you can see from my music taste I am mostly an Indie Rock fan. Most of the music I picked was not because of sound quality, though most of that music is fairly well recorded, it was because I have all of those songs on both LP and digital. Digital, so this gives Vinnie’s bold claim of an “analog sounding” DAC a little challenge. I think with all of my vinyl rig put together it comes pretty close to the cost of the up coming stand alone DAC, the Isabellina.
Right out of the box the Isabella with the Signature 30.2 power amp sounds much improved over my 30.2 integrated.
Now I must state there isn’t that much time on both of these units, less than 100 hours.
Here are some pictures of my modest set up (looking for new speakers to really show off what the RWA gear can do):
First off, the Isabellina dac in the Isabella is amazing! I have heard a few different dacs, though all fairly low end, I can say that I really enjoy this dac on a whole new level. I would describe the Isabellina dac as having a very natural, very lifelike sound. It conveys all the energy and life of the music, without sounding artificial in any way. The sound is very rich in tone (like my analog rig) and dimensional.
My love for the Isabellina dac board might very well have to do with the fact that the Isabella tube preamp section is so good. Everything is so full and fleshed out, the mid-range especially. Compared to the 30.2 integrated, the better mid-range of the Isabella + 30.2 power amp is my favorite part along with the increase of dimensionally. Like Vinnie says, it is very seductive and pulls you more into the music.
Though I am not that great at explaining equipment sound just based off of it’s general sound, I am pretty sure I will do better at comparing the sound of my vinyl rig to the sound of the built-in Isabellina DAC so let me say this now. I enjoy this Isabella with dac more then my vinyl rig. I know I do not have a ultra expensive turntable or phono stage, but I have been a really big vinyl fan for a while and the few dacs that I have heard never even came close to sounding on par with my turntable. The Isabella with dac changes that!
The first thing I notice when I compared my turntable to the dac was actually some extra warmth from the dac. Crazy but true. I was listening to “So Sorry” by Feist and the great thing about that song is there is not a lot going on other than her vocals and you can really hear the differences. With the dac, there is more detail, better placement and third better tone and a more natural feeling to the whole song.
My favorite song is one of the things that can make a decision alone on things in terms of equipment, sad but true. “The Vowels, Pt. 2” by a band named Why? I know this song by heart. I know every little thing that happens in it. Well, at least I thought I did. The Isabella itself helped resolve some of the things I never heard but when using the dac in the equation, more and more little tiny details about this song are clearer and found. Another thing about his song is that it can sound very bland with out the right set up. My turntable gives it what it needs, but the dac gives it even more.
I could go through all of my songs a keep explaining more and more of what I hear, but the conclusion is the same. The Isabellina dac board does in fact have a very analog sound, and without a doubt will compete with an analog rig around the same price. So this means you can have a digital player with a natural, analog sound and have even more of everything else such as detail, imaging and the convenience digital with a laptop or any other digital transport.
I almost forgot to mention another great thing. I have the headphone output option too. Though after I got into home audio my headphone listening has gone down A LOT, I still really wanted to know what this sounded like. The headphone output is another blessing in itself. Honestly, I hate praising things too much, but I have listened to more headphone gear than home audio gear and I enjoy this headphone output more than any other headphone amp I’ve heard. I have a few different headphones including Senn. HD650s, Grado SR 225s, and AKG K701s. I have never heard them all sound so good, especially when using the dac as my input. My favorite pair with the headphone option are the grado SR225s. Even though grados aren’t my favorite thing, they really shine with this headphone output! If anyone out there still thinks Grados don’t have a good soundstage, you should hear those babies reach with the Isabella. I could write a full review on just the headphone option, but this “mini review” is getting long.
Well I almost want to go into tube rolling, but I will wait for more people to start to post and wait for a new thread in time. I think my favorite out of the few that I have are the Telsa PCC88, but the stock 6922s that come with the Isabella sound so fine as is.
I hope to hear what a lot of other people think about the Isabella and I really can’t wait to hear what the upcoming 6moons has to say about it too. I hope you enjoyed my write up.
