Hifi kungfu. Having tracked Denafrips progress from original Terminator to processor-board upgrade to Terminator Plus with I²S and clock sync—I've not heard the 12th anniversary editions—I'd describe their core voicing as more organic than ultra res. The circuit upgrades did bolt on some extra resolution but not to the extent of a premium dCS, Chord or Mola Mola as readers love to remind me. However, the organic orientation allowed me to voice this 2nd or 'evening' system for low SPL with an extra pinch of presence-region spice. That's primarily compliments of those Mark Audio Alpair 4" widebanders backed by invisible mates inside the aluminium chassis for a non-textbook isobaric array. A little AMT serves as 'super' tweeter. A Dynaudio force-cancelling 9½" active sub handles 80Hz and below via 4th-order Linkwitz-Riley active hi/lo pass. That mirrored division of labor also destresses the tiny monitors. They sound more open and quick. The sub's forward placement compensates its 2.5ms digital latency. At the background levels I mainly run here, this hardware mix maintains good clarity closer to the ambient noise. It accommodates what I call midnight whisper sessions.

Use mouse-over loupe function; or open in new tab for full size. Shanling M3 Ultra battery-powered microSD USB transport ⇒ super-cap power USB bridge ⇒ DAC ⇒ active xover ⇒ Crayon CFA-1.2 amp ⇒ MonAcoustics SuperMon Mini.

Dropped into this context, the Deluxe increased in-room presence and whisper avidity. This I took for higher contrast ratio. It's when something/nothing aka sound/silence sit farther apart. They rub harder against each other and images pop stronger as a result. At stout levels higher than normal, the DSD deck avoided the Terminator's onset of faint glassiness or splash on inherently troublesome recordings. Think spitty vocals with excess reverb, massed strings with overabundant metallic glitter, whitish cymbal crashes, shrill soprano sax and other incidents of spot microphones placed far closer than any human ear would ever go. This was interesting. Whilst the Cen.Grand paraded higher magnification powers, it simultaneously managed a more organic read that was less critical of faux-pas mastering. This I put down to its inherent treble sweetness. Was that the counter to recorded sharpness; Elisabeth Taylor in The Taming of the Shrill? A related difference was a slightly more humid or reverb-aware milieu to contrast the Terminator Plus' drier more damped and crisp ways. None of this overegged the custard or lost a saltshaker's lid to render a dish unrecognizable or inedible. Some of these were just sideways moves. What I thought clear upward gain was contrast ratio, low-level intelligibility, in-room materialism and that higher SPL didn't trigger the speakers' minor onset of brightness being fronted by a deliberately lucid quick current-feedback amp. An extra bonus was losing the Terminator's need for an extra preamp.

With native DSD files inbound from the US, I had to pause my narrative for a chance to hear them first. I was particularly curious whether raw DSD—well, upsampled x 2 since even in non-rising mode, the Deluxe enforces DSD128 to remove DSD64 from the equation—would telegraph similar to resampling PCM to max 16 x. It was mere curiosity of only academic concern when it all rests in the user's hands. You decide what works best for you. Still, curiosity hadn't yet killed this cat. He'd chase meaningless answers as is his habit. Meow. Had I detected any contra indication for this machine's handling of PCM? Potentially just one. Lovers of extreme super tweeters, Raal-Requisite's SR1a and Raidho's famous quasi ribbon could feel just a few whiskers shy on ultimate air, glistening shimmer and gleaming gloss even at DSD1'024.

Use mouse-over loupe function; or open in new tab for full size.

As for insufficient leading-edge enunciation to portray a cimbalom's inebriated clatter or blister-fingered Jazz Manouche arpeggios on guitar and violin, secret concerns were misplaced. I played this strutting, swinging then breakneck track from Gipsy Unity with zero complaints. Wait for 3'20".

Likewise for the intersecting transients of "Apacheta Heaps". Any worries over insufficient energy, blurred percussiveness or shortened comet trails on HF events found nothing to latch onto.

What this DSD-über-alles adventure taught me is that while preconceptions from prior experiences held, this machine's far lighter touch on the sugar and gelatin triggered none of my previous small reservations. Those had run along the lines of smooth Jazz when the s-word isn't meant as a compliment. With those shadows banished, I enjoyed the sunny sides instead. Once again implementation trumped generic format notions, exceptions all unbreakable rules. The DSDAC 1.0 Deluxe played with far more gumption than smooth jazz. Mr. JianHui Deng had followed up my Silver Fox encounter with similarly inspired seconds. "Please sir, I want some more." Unlike the Charles Dickens character, I'd gotten more. As all good moms teach us, the only proper thing to say now is, "thank you, sir". It confirms my earlier suggestion that Cen.Grand might become the kind of discovery Denafrips was six years ago when the original Terminator made the rounds. Much will depend on marketing. Willow Tree Audio assure us that Cen.Grand's small 9i-90SA Pro nicknamed the Lark—a half-sized Sabre DAC/pre/headamp like a COS H1 or iFi iDSD Signature—is just as impressive coming in well below the Standard DSD DAC. So entry in this catalogue is no matter of having €6K to spend; or even €2.5K. That's as much marketing as we'll allow ourselves here.