AUDIOLAB 6000N
£EXCELLENT - extremely
capableVALUE - keenly pricedVERDICT
A lot of streamer for the
money but sound quality is
not as clean as possible. A
good budget solution all the
same.FOR- big, well built box for the
money - access to free Spotify
- lossless services
- decent control software
and feature set
AGAINST- not the most refined sound
- no DSD support
- slow when switching
between sources
Audiolab
+44 (0) 1480 447700
http://www.audiolab.co.ukhttp://www.hi-fiworld.co.uk SEPTEMBER 201 9 HI-FI WORLD 13
REVIEW
I’m told will be a lot more compre-
hensive. It might include the fact that
for full volume output at switch on
you press the right two buttons
for the desired amount of time,
and that for best results – data
rates above that of 16bit/48kHz –
you must select ‘Critical Listening’
mode.
You may want to control
volume from the app, this approach
compromising sound quality
compared to the volume control
of an amplifier, but it’s very easy. I
can’t see much benefit in limiting
bit/sample rates however. The six
front panel buttons act as presets
for net radio stations.
The Play-Fi app isn’t very good
at using album art, avoiding it all
together until you drill down a few
pages or are in Play mode. Slicker
apps tend to go large on this free
source of great graphics, giving a
stronger sense of flicking through
a collection. But the alphabetical
breakdown means finding artists or
albums is pretty quick; there is no
search function for local libraries.
SOUND QUALITY
The sound of the 6000N is more
pumped up and forward than usual
for a streamer, it’s appealingly three
dimensional however and seems
quite smooth on initial listening. I
found Lou Reed's Walk on the Wild
Side to be good and spacious if a
little lacking in fine detail, but the
vocal had an almost exaggerated
presence, as if the streamer was
amping it up for effect. With a relaxed
analogue original like this classic it
wasn’t a problem and the timing
side of things, while not particularly
strong, was good enough to make it
enjoyable.
Esperanza Spalding’s Ebonyand Ivory was also very strongly
projected and a little more fulsome
than usual. It’s the sort of sound
that would suit a budget system a
bit better than a revealing one such
as the one I use for reviewing, but
ultimately could be a bit cleaner
around the edges.
Radiohead’s Deks Dark served
to illustrate that this Audiolab is not
the most revealing but that it can
present relatively complex material
in a coherent manner without the
digital glare associated with budget
CD players.CONCLUSION
The Audiolab 6000N is not the most
refined sounding of streamers but
it is well equipped on the features
front and well built physically. In the
right system, essentially an entry level
one, it provides access to the many
appealing aspects of streaming in a
competitively priced package.Frequency response of Audiolab 6000N
reached 16kHz (-1dB) at all sample
rates up to 192kHz from a wired DLNA
(Windows 10) server, as our analysis
shows. This gives it a bandwidth slightly
lower than that of CD (21kHz) in standard
mode.
Distortion at peak output (0dB FS)
measured 0.003% and at -60dB with 24bit
a mediocre 0.15%, better than CD (0.22%)
but not in contention with the 0.02%
figure possible. The presence of noise and
distortion resulted in a disappointing 97dB
EIAJ Dynamic Range value with hi-res.
Although the 6000N can read hi-res
files from a wired ethernet DNLA server,
it gives mediocre performance figures.
External music servers will give a similar
result at best. NKFrequency response (24/192)
4Hz-16kHz
Distortion (-60dB) 0.15%
Separation 94dB
Dynamic range 97dB
Noise -96B
Output 2.1VMEASURED PERFORMANCE
FREQUENCY RESPONSEDISTORTIONA lot of empty space behind the facade shows the 6000N has
been built to match the 6000A amplifier. It has a linear power
supply with toroidal mains transformer (black).Analogue and digital outputs on the right, USB for the control bus
and ethernet for wired set up. The set up button and ethernet activ-
ity light are also here as an aid to install.£