Confirmation of analogue over digital dominance came in my review of Nagra's Classic DAC II. I first ran it as I run our typical Cen.Grand DSDAC 1.0 Deluxe: down a 6m interconnect into a Lifesaver Audio Gradient Box II analog active crossover with precision on-chip master volume. At 100Hz/4th-order that smart filter splits the signal into a speaker high-pass to drive Kinki EX-B7 monos, and a subwoofer low-pass to feed a Kinki Studio EX-M7 stereo amp where each channel drives its own 15-inch woofer. In that hookup the DAC II had sounded slightly sedate. It suggested that ideally it'd see its companion active tube preamp not a simple programmable gain chip.  As soon as that insight fired, so did the next. I had the perfect stand-in for Nagra's Classic Preamp in Mario's loaner. Feeding the Ultra Plus analog to circumvent its digital section converted the Nagra from slightly sedate to seriously seductive. I call this effect of a first-rate active preamp analog signal conditioning. In short, the Ultra could split off its ESS engine and I'd be every bit as enthusiastic over its sound. Its preamplitude is properly stupendous.

I suspect that one reason for the magnitude of Mario's effect is his 24dB of gain. That mirrors Aussie Mike Maloney's Supratek approach of high-gain preamps. Whilst in normal use we obviously must attenuate them more than a passive autoformer preamp to seem counterproductive on paper—why generate gain only to choke it off again—they needn't sound counterproductive but can seem rather essential by adding muscle tone and dynamic pressurization. That reminds me of an Esoteric preamp I once owned. It had 3-stage gain of 0/12/24dB. Changing that parameter shifted the sound from lean, lit up and transparent to fat, dense and chunky. The obvious challenge here is to bolt on the desired body and mass without compromising resolution and speed. It's on that exact score where the CanEver shines. It's charitably Christian by only giving not taking. How far is Venice from Rome? To me that generous single-mindedness points at Mario's deliberately minimalist signal path. He doesn't generate his high voltage gain across many cascaded stages; nor couples them with capacitors. It's how we get the benefits of high gain and the more electrified immediacy of an autoformer-type passive. In today's climate of gender fluidity, that puts the ZeroUno Ultra Plus in the rainbow coalition. It's neither/nor and either/or. Call us we. Or as Mario puts it on his site, "the priorities are timing, rhythmic integrity, tonal accuracy and dynamics, all facets that together make a master musician superior to a merely average performer". What in lesser hands would be empty marketing speak here is perfectly factual. Like he said!

By November 5th I published this. It sums up my sentiments. Mario's response: "It helps in this crazy market where a product's or small brand's value is unclear. Mine is a product that needs listening to. I'm no luxury or even well-recognized brand. I offer 90% product, 10% brand. Sometimes I'm tempted to change my name from CanEver to NoBrand. I want my products to be generators of emotions. That's my goal." Interestingly, downstairs produced similar results to our everything-DSD1'024 DAC. It felt like the same combatant, just perfectly peaked after a lengthy training camp rather than a few days of rest later to have less oxygen in his blood, less menace on his mind. The Venetian's extra gumption, presence and saturation felt peaked over the Chinese. It was a further exhibit for the analogue-rules defence. After all, nobody can hear digital. It's only post conversion that we hear anything. Despite this, the majority wow factor always gloms onto converter specs. We pay lip service to output stage and power supply—of course they matter we allow—but invariably bit/sample rates, filters, clocks and jitter specs seem far more fascinating. They're 'harder' facts more easily debated. According to them, a little €199 Chinese DAC with sterling measurements is all we need. Lucky you if that fits the bill. Since this was my gig, the CanEver moved back upstairs. Returning to my classic box monitors would be more representative than partial dipoles and maximize the attack aspect.

 I absolutely loved the big volume display and wish Cen.Grand did the same for theirs. Here you see how much smaller their -65.0dB readout is.

But could it resurrect my D-class amps? Early this year I'd committed to a trade of two. As reviewed three years earlier, they'd been Powersoft GaNFet implementations with class A input buffers. I really enjoyed these affordable little bricks to want a pair when the op arose. Yet what I received six months later were different versions. Due to Covid parts shortages, the originals had discontinued, the revisions adopted generic Pascal modules. As I learnt, these leave me cold. Whilst very visual in a highly sorted imaging fashion fine at low SPL where transparency and separation matter most, they lack elasticity, decays, harmonics and treble trails. These misses compound at higher playback SPL. Hence I reverted to my long discontinued yet diehard Crayon CFA-1.2. It's a terrific current-feedback class AB design. Now the CanEver did manage to improve upon the OEM Pascal monos. It couldn't repair their high-feedback overdamped demeanour. It still felt like the stiff-lipped cadence of moviedom's archetypal aristocratic Brit; perfectly enunciated yet clipped and dry. Neither could it repair the desiccated treble. What did improve were colours, harmonics and dynamics. Whilst not a full miracle save, the Ultra Plus certainly made these amps more attractive. That differed from the Pass XP-22 which had made the class D monos brighter and still crisper. Since the Ultra Plus wasn't mine; and since the Crayon is superior regardless; the minis returned to the utility closet. At least materially they'll stay toasty next to the boiler. I'd originally thought that I might adapt to them over time like slow-growing affection. I'd even written a review. As it turns out, I'm an old pooch short a few new tricks. So I deleted the review again. I can't in good conscience recommend these beyond subwoofer duty. Still, it was instructive what the Ultra Plus could overwrite on them; and where this particular class D gestalt wouldn't budge to bleed through unchanged.