DAC Reviews: Audio Note and EMM Labs from Dagogo and SoundStageUltra

Couple o’ great reviews out there on the good parts of the Internet…

Constantine Soo at Dagogo posted a nice review of the Audio Note Fifth Element/Fifth Force DAC. At some point we will post some extra photos from that review as well.

Aron Garrecht at Sound Stage Ultra posed a nice review of the EMM Labs DV2 DAC-Preamplifier. Although our associated gear here is almost the polar opposite of Aron’s we have more or less the same opinion of the sonic signature of the DV2 [how cool is that?!].

[As I post here and elsewhere and read posts from everywhere – I am so often amazed at how people can write such large amounts of content – and similarly how people have the patience to read it. Rarely can I do either].

The DV2 has as it’s forte the ability to render music with subtleties and musicality that no other solid-state DAC approaches [weird, huh? most seem to focus on sonic fireworks and extensive feature-sets] but is a little less dynamic than some [careful vibration control helps].

The Fifth Element + Fifth Force doesn’t sound like a ‘DAC’ at all – can take on mid-price [$30K-50K, say] turntables and is comparable enough [but different! but in a OKAY way] that the only reason to play vinyl anymore is the ‘nostalgic experience’ of it – and makes one take a good hard look at the ‘slacker components’ in the rest of the system and wonder… .

In other words: It is the F*** You DAC.

Stay safe and stay healthy, everyone!