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Sound
As mentioned, you have to get used to a file player. After a month with the DSS 30, I must add my voice to those who declare this the probable future of audio. For those owning big disc collections, this might be a difficult but probably inevitable decision to make. Anyone serious about the best possible music playback must face the fact that the optical disc drive is undoubtedly the audio chain's weakest link. I made a small experiment. With EAC, I copied some discs to USB stick and coded them in FLAC or WAV. I then played the same discs with the Cyrus CD Xt SE drive using the DSS 30 as converter to compare two streams, one from disc, the other from the laptop's hard drive. I first thought I'd made a mistake somewhere or suffered a faulty connection. Each time the sound from the USB stick was warmer and more saturated than over the traditional spinner. The latter improved slightly with its external PSX-R power supply but not in gestalt. It remained the same sound, only slightly better. The USB stick had a different sonic signature altogether, one far closer to vinyl. This was clearly audible when I compared Händel's Messiah between vinyl and stick. In a positive way, their sound was slightly softer and more saturated than coming from CD.

That was one thing. Another related to hi-rez files. Let me say from the beginning that resolution is merely one part to success. Another is whether the device in question can show off the differences. Until now, this was not always the case. The DSS 30 however does show with ease and grace the superiority of a digital master tape above what we get from CD. Vividness changes. It's incredible how absolutely 'analog' digital recordings can sound. I heard this before in a recording studio where we recorded material in 24/96 but never witnessed it at home even with the best of DVD-Audio players. To a big extent, SACD emulated that sound mostly with its smooth treble which is related to high out-of-band noise, the birth defect of DSD. Now we have splendid resolution not in the form of hyper detail (this is not in your face) but naturalness. Speed and insight into the recording are phenomenal though sometimes this may not be fancied as we now clearly see how the recording was accomplished, how the microphones were positioned etc. Closely positioned mikes will result in a close-up sound. Except for the best players, CD masks and tames this somewhat. Here we have nothing between us and the microphone. That's why recordings now become the weakest link in the chain.

The DSS 30 is also a very competent DAC competitive with 10000zl DACs. Its sound is very open, with a finely developed treble and strong midrange. A slight touch of tube is audible in a positive way as a broad, fluid and smooth harmonic envelope. Voices are placed rather closer than over my Ancient Audio Lektor Prime. The soundstage is deep and nicely delineated. The only problem is the not fully controlled lower bass. With classical music we hear this as a slight delay of the contrabass behind the other instruments. On Rock, bass guitar and bass drum are not fully coherent and rhythmical. This is not a big issue but with the splendid midrange and treble, audible enough to enforce a go/no-go decision. The bass actually extends sufficiently low to be desirable. The upper bass is simply slightly elevated to result in the double bass sounding bigger on the Oscar Peterson disc We Get Request. This means that the sound is slightly enlarged over the reference players and more wooden. This does not impact vocal clarity which retains its tonal balance. Voices are bigger but not problematically chesty as is usual with such voicing. Here we do have a warming up of the lower midrange and an expansion of the virtual sources in that range. One disc that profited was Radiohead's Amnesiac which shed its extreme leanness. A big role for the rest of the system is that it should be transparent and not too heavy in the bass. The resolution of the DSS 30 is very good and the assets of hi-rez recordings are clearly apparent. This is not a minor improvement but rather like a switch from hifi to hi-end.

Conclusion
The DSS 30 is a technologically advanced device which combines a hi-rez capable digital streamer, a DAC and a transport. On one hand it is very easy to operate and no stretch to play any disc. But the user interface is not very ergonomic, with small buttons and a small display which impair file access. The sound is very good although the light mid-bass emphasis can influence a system's overall tonal balance. Midrange and treble are supremely refined for the money and have good definition and resolution. On 24/96 files, we obtain an incredibly vivid and transparent sound against which 20000zl + CD players will have a hard time to compete. The best CD players still sound better with RedBook than the DSS 30 with hi-rez files but not in all aspects. The release and freedom of sounds coded in high resolution are phenomenal and not to be disputed. This is not yet at the level of Linn's Klimax DS as far as memory serves (I downloaded the same files now that were played in Munich then) but really good. Some things still await explanation like the sonic differences between hard drives (Seagates were better) and USB sticks (really!) and the influence of the chosen ripper software. Those are variables not yet fully under control. A personal issue also is the lack of (legal) means to rip DVD-Audio or Blu-Ray discs since those are desirable high resolution files. This complicates the situation. But in my opinion -- and I am convinced of it -- this is the future of audio.