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As quasi sound effect various staccato guitar delays whip around the listener's ears right off and here and there during the course of it. Those routinely arose from deep within the third dimension not only in free space but also on the desktop. There's a lot going on but our combo showed more, say the decidedly raw mix of the vocals teetering on distortion. Here I'd immediately recommend the M040 for mixing duties.

But consumer fun wasn't short-changed and the squirrely chaotic atmosphere of Costello's album steam rolled into my digs with proper verve. Time to descend into more sinister realms with Modest Mouse's “The cold part” from The Moon & Anta, quite the gloomy chunk of music with low bass, deep reverb-laden guitar pickings, lagging but sharp drums and a brooding overall atmosphere. Again the combo unlocked deep and broad space. The forward-mixed bass was fully present and quick without obscuring the filigreed trickily phrased drum set with its various cymbals and other treble makers.


These impressions painted a quite coherent picture. The loaners made strong points on soundstaging, crystal-pure tonality down into the mid bass and a plethora of detail. Dynamically things were on the money too. Only the low bass had its limits but that went with the territory. Unless the DAC was partially responsible? Time for some cross examination.

One obvious thought was to tap the Audiolab 8200CDQ's own preamp stage. This made dynamics a tick tamer and the upper mids and highs were no longer as cleanly illuminated. Just as I remembered the Audiolab, the low and upper bass did have a bit more amplitude and guts but 'twas paid for with an audible if not dramatic loss of speed. Another trusted worker on hand was Benchmark's DAC1. This sounded astonishingly similar: a bit more warmth and output down low, a slight loss of attack fidelity.

To cross speakers too was another thought but my resident Neat Acoustics Momentum 4i and Abacus Ampollo equivalents to the €1.200/pr active Finns would clock in at a near €7G. That wouldn't really do. Just to give the PureDAC a chance to show off in pricier context, I went on this detour without any big surprises. The PureDAC played it dynamically very strong. Tonally I noticed little in the positive sense except for bass where this grown-up floorstander with isobaric down-firing woofers obviously had more reserves. But this was interesting. At first glance the B.M.C.'s bass again felt less voluminous or paunchy than the 8200CDQ or DAC1.

But—and this was quite a capital but—extension all the way down remained exceptionally dry and pitch intelligible. Whilst not hitting as hard into the stomach, it showed tons of information. Peeling out songs for deliberate bass chops, there was Bohren und der Club of Gores' Sunset Mission. The lower things dive, the tougher gear has it to retain full visibility on the small bass things. Here the PureDAC excelled! On tonal balance I stuck to my first read over the Genelec: clean linearity all the way up into the ether. In short, analytical but still fun, the latter served by good speed, dynamics and wonderfully brilliant super involving soundstaging.

All checked off? Not. I left a cherry for last – the headphone amp. Without flourish I simply admit to being floored and smitten, this all the more against my character since I view headphones as a compromised solution for on-the-go consumption or hot ears late at night without waking neighbors. What this genre could really do was brought home with the PureDAC powering Audeze LCD-2. This big can likes power to take off but then coddles you with nearly obscenely saturated though still realistic bass, legendarily good resolution and, as far as headphones go, good soundstaging.

To keep it brief, this pairing was indulgence pure. Transparency, tone colors, stunning micro and macro dynamics – the full team was in top form. I particularly enjoyed finally being able to listen to Mahler's 5th Symphony as a 24/96 FLAC file beginning to end without futzing with the volume control. Since cans on the head obscure typical living din like creaky heating pipes or resentfully squawking wooden flooring, even the finest pianissimo passages could be enjoyed at true pianissimo which meant that full-force tuttis didn't tear off my pink bits. I found this most easeful.