Listening
Contents
The young Kelly Lee Owens from Wales has just released her second album “Inner Song” which contains a lot of electronic gems. The beats come accross in a controlled way but are also nicely prolonged. It’s not as dry and tight as the Morpheus for example. The Ultradac has excellent timing and seamlessly follows the rhythm of each track. Electronic music gets just a little more glow so we enjoy this genre even more than usual.
“So tonight you might see” by Mazzy Star is an album that often makes the playlist here. It’s a timeless album with Hope Sandoval’s supernatural voice as the icing on the cake. The song ‘Into Dust’ takes us on a journey to the inevitable and although this song does sound great on almost every system, the Ultradac knows how to convey the atmosphere of the song incomparably. Instruments sound fresh and clear but without becoming loud and sharp. It’s noticeable that strings keep reverberating for a long time and that ‘decay’ is perhaps the greatest quality of this dac.
“Twee Lindebomen” by Karen Willems is an experimental album full of small details that are effortlessly audible. Of course the Atc’s already provide a pretty open and clear window on the music but the conversion must be top notch as well. These menacing, almost haunting songs sound amazing just because of that high level of detail. Nowhere does it become sterile or analytical because the balance between detail and feeling is almost perfect with the Ultradac.
The album “Tamotaït” by Tamikrest brings us top class world music. Voices sound natural and sibilance is not emphasized. A very important plus as for as we’re concerned. The placement of the instruments (imaging) is excellent and the stereo image is spacious. Not only in width but also in depth. More complex pieces are no problem at all and it is noticeable that the Ultradac, despite its transparency, comes across as very listenable. Never intrusive or tiring.
“Unifony 2”, a project by Minco Eggersman and Theodoor Borger, brings a mixture of jazz and classical and it works like a charm. This almost cinematic music comes through beautifully and makes us forget time and space. The Ultradac once again manages to walk the fine line between transparency and musicality. This album sounds sublime and we suddenly realize how good the Ultradac matches with our Benchmark AHB2. When you connect the Ultradac directly to a power amplifier you get the most out of it!