Audio Note CDT-5 transport and Fifth Element DAC

[Sorry about the poor quality of the photos. My rechargeable flash batteries are dying one by one. Need to get a bevy of new ones before CES, that is for sure. I’ll use the tripod next, which obviates the need for flash].

The Audio Note U.K. CDT-Five transport, Fifth Element DAC and its Fifth Force power supply. We do not have a price, but expect it to be in the $175K – $180K range for the entire stack. These are going to be shown at CES (T.H.E. Show at the Flamingo).

Brand new. Cold, pressing play less than 60 seconds after turning it on. Running through the little preamp in the Emm Labs DCC2 (which we have been using quite a lot lately as the upstairs preamp – the big Audio Note M9 Phono preamp being down on the Audio Note system downstairs).

First impressions? [Mark Knopfler – Sailing to Philadelphia]

“Wow, that is really DIFFERENT.”

“Oh, the VOICES…!” [Hard to describe… We talk about being able to hear the emotion in voices – and how difficult most systems have with this. How important this is if the music is not an instrumental – how we have millions of years of training, wired into our brain’s DNA, on how to listen for and communicate using emotion in voices.

Well, this does that, all right. But it is not like two strange men [Mark Knopfler and James Taylor] telling you a story with some modicum of emotion, it is like your Dad sitting next to you, late at night, talking to you about something important when you were a young-in. [that is what I flashed on at the time. Now I will TRY to explain why this was so different. A little waving of the hands here] There is a presence, a solidity, an intimacy, to hearing the voice come not just from the mouth, but from the chest; that there is some amount of authority that comes from a large adult talking to a small child. That real people, real professional singers anyway, have a vocal authority that does not come across the reproduction barrier in our systems.

“Wow, there is a LOT more bass”

We remembered how the DAC 5 Signature [the DAC right below the Fifth Element] was very close to analog – as dynamic as [and even better harmonics than] LP.

Dynamic bass is something that analog has always done well. As far as I can tell, this stack does bass much better even than that – very, very articulate and there is more of it, but it is IN PROPORTION TO WHAT IS IN THE MUSIC [otherwise we can just turn down the gain on bass towers of the Coltrane Supreme speakers].

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On further listening, the entire frequency spectrum is more dynamic, which we expected – but remember we are still running this when it is new [not as cold anymore] and thru a modest but very nice little, say $3-5K, preamp. In some ways I just wanted to see if this particular digital stack could shine in a non-perfect setup *. Obviously it can.

[* much more later about the cases where we are running into where there is a component, usually a speaker, that can almost totally obscure various different types of changes made to the upstream system]

The PRaT [the pressure for one to tap their toes, or start dancing, or just start moving around in a spastic fashion to the music (which is a fairly accurate description of what I tend to do)] is very good and I think we need to add descriptions for ‘inner PRaT’ or perhaps micro-, midi- and macro-PRaT. There are inner melodies that I was feeling drawn to in this way, as well as primary melodies. It’s ALL good – there is so much to listen to and enjoy in each song.

There is more – but I think our next step is to run the Fifth Element DAC to the Lamm L2, and then straight to the M9 Photo preamplifier [the perfect pre for this stack] upstairs, or the Ongaku integrated downstairs [which is the show system, with the AN/E SEC Signature speakers, and this should be very intense].

The top of the CDT-Five with the mounting screws still attached

The front of the CDT-Five CD Transport, with the plastic protectors still on.

The rear of the CDT-Five CD Transport

The back of the Fifth Element DAC with the CDT-5 in the background, and Audio Note Ongaku integrated way, way in the background.

The Audio Note CDT-5 Transport with the drawer open

The Audio Note Fifth Element DAC

The Audio Note Fifth Force power supply for the Fifth Element DAC