8 Australian Hi-Fi ˹˹˹ƖŘˁʊǒǔǞƖƋɁȧ
D’AGOSTINO | AUDIOLAB
D’AGOSTINO
MOMENTUM HD
PREAMPLIFIER
D’Agostino has released its Momentum HD preamplifier. ‘This new
Momentum HD is a major upgrade to the Momentum preamplifier,’ said
designer Dan D’Agostino. ‘It adds HD status for the high dynamic
and high definition improvements and incorporates substantial advances
in the power supply, audio circuitry, and control sections.’ According to
D’Agostino,theMomentumHDPreamplifier’smainpowertransform-
eris onethirdlargerthantheoneintheoriginalMomentumpream-
plifierandusesa windingtechnologyfirstemployedintheMomen-
tumM400amplifiertodeliverhigherpoweroutputfromthesame
footprint.‘Takingadvantageof thisincreasedpowersupplycapability,the
outputstagesarenowoperatingata 36percenthigherrail
voltage,’ D’AgostinotoldAustralianHi-FiMagazine.‘This
increasedrailvoltageenablesgreaterspeedinbothmacroand
microdynamiccontrasts.’
TheMomentumHDhasa newdiscretedifferential
FETinputstagewhichhasaninputimpedanceofmore
than1MΩinordertoisolatetheinputstageandthusthe
entireaudiosignalpathfromexternalvariables.‘Thenew
inputstagewasanengineeringexperimentthatexceededour
expectationswiththelevelof fine-graindetailanddelicate
musicalshadingsweachieved,’ saidD’Agostino.‘Thesubtle-
tiesof voicesarerenderedwitha lushnessandrichnessthat
wassimplyunattainablepreviously.’ NewontheMomen-
tumHDis a remotecontrolthatusesBluetoothrather
thaninfra-redtechnology.‘Theuseof Bluetoothextendsthe
range of the remote by a factor of five and eliminates line of sight limita-
tions inherent in infrared remotes,’ says Tony Ingrisano of Advance
Audio, which distributes D’Agostino in Australia.
The tone controls and volume control have been re-designed on
the HD to increase their range and precision, plus the industrial design
has also been updated with D’Agostino’s signature copper elements to
better match the industrial design of the Momentum M400 and S
amplifiers. Available in silver or black, the D’Agostino Momentum HD
Preamplifier sells for $69,995. Existing Momentum preamplifier own-
ers, while they have to maintain the same chassis, are able to upgrade
their internal circuitry to be the same as the new Momentum HD
preamplifier.For upgrade pricing or any other information about D’Agostino,
contact Advance Audio Australia on (02) 9561 0799 or visit
http://www.advanceaudio.com.auAUDIOLAB 8300CDQ
CD PLAYER/DAC
Audiolab’s new 8300CDQ CD player doesn’t just plays CDs... it also
has a preamplifier built in, plus an MQA-capable USB DAC. But there’s
more... ‘As well as performing as a traditional CD player, the Audiolab
8300CDQ can function as an external DAC/preamp, thanks to three pairs
of line-level RCA analogue inputs and five digital inputs,’ said Raffi
Keverian of Audio Visual Revolution, which distributes Audiolab in
Australia. ‘There’s an asynchronous MQA-capable USB input and four
S/PDIF digital inputs, two of which are coaxial and two of which are optical,
but the 8300CDQ also has a dedicated direct-coupled headphone amp with
current-feedback circuitry whose gain bandwidth and high slew rate ensure
dynamic, detailed and engaging performance with all headphones.’
The 8300CDQ’s MQA decoding solution was developed by John
Westlake, one of Britain’s foremost digital audio experts and it works
by unpacking MQA data received via the USB input to the original file’s
full resolution. ‘There are are various ways to enable MQA playback on
audio devices, and not all are equal sonically,’ said Keverian. ‘Westlake’s so-
lution maximises the format’s potential, just as the 8300CDQ’s design draws
the best sound quality from other audio codecs and, of course, from CDs.’
The Audiolab 8300CDQ’s 32-bit ESS Sabre DAC decodes
digital audio up to 32-bit/384kHz PCM and DSD256,
and its USB HID compatibility enables driverless
control of a connected PC, Mac or media player.
‘No company knows more about making the most
of 32-bit delta-sigma DACs than Audiolab,’’ says
Keverian. ‘The 8200CD and 8200CDQ were among
the first audio components to use it and Audiolab
has been honing its implementation ever since.
The conversion process involves 512 DAC elements (256 per channel) each
operating at 84.672MHz, and all digital audio sources, whatever their
sample rate, are oversampled to this frequency, plus Audiolab includes
extensive measures to reduce jitter to vanishingly low levels.’
Audiolab says that the r.f. breakthrough and PSU coupling effects
that can occur when a DAC is connected to a computer can adversely
affect the DAC’s performance, so it resolves this issue in the 8300CDQ
through the use of a cascaded asynchronous time domain attenuator
circuit. ‘The ATDA circuit isolates the DAC substrate from sonically delete-
rious artefacts that affect non-synchronous digital input data,’ said Kever-
ian. ‘To achieve the best possible performance, three identical cascaded
stages are used, with each individual stage providing increased isolation,
thereby maximising timing performance, even at higher radio frequencies.’
The Audiolab 8300CDQ has seven user-selectable filters for PCM
audio data (including CD) and four ultrasonic filters for DSD data.
These allow the user to tune the 8300CDQ’s performance according to
system configuration, digital file quality and personal taste.
Available now in either a silver finish or Audiolab’s classic black fin-
ish,theAudiolab8300CDQretailsinAustraliafor$2,699(RRP).For more information, contact Audio Visual Revolution (AVR) on
(02) 9521 4844 or at http://www.avrevolution.com.au