To conclude my listening impressions, I admit to real surprise at the impact the N1 had on the classic Eagles album Hell Freezes Over. This was the second live effort of the Californian group, the eighth album in their discography, which contains four new studio tracks—"Get Over It", "Love Will Keep us Alive", "The Girl from Yesterday" and "Learn to be Still"—as well as 11 songs from a special MTV network concert. For those who don't know the origin of the title of this 1994 album, it refers to a quote by drummer Don Henley after the group's stormy dissolution in 1980. When asked when the group would play together again, he replied "when hell freezes over". After a long break of 14 years, the group did reform to either make Don Henley a liar; or the underworld turn Arctic.

Having never been attracted to the studio tracks of this album, I nevertheless listened to them in their entirety and almost religiously with the N1 in my system. We must pay tribute to the technical production team of this album whose sound quality is remarkable. We must also have a digital playback system—or a phono equivalent when this album is also on vinyl—which allows us to appreciate its full potential. The N1 was obviously a good route to take and arrive. "Get Over It" sounded like a real Rock hymn which grabbed me by the shorthairs while distilling warm and careful tones. The N1 reconciled hyper definition often tiring in the long run with music's organic embodied side. Even the overplayed acoustic live version of "Hotel California" as the centrepiece of this album managed to get more captivating, with more natural timbres, an even more realistic holographic bubble and ambient cues not slightly artificial which might have been added to make it more real but which in fact fully submerge in the musical message.

Like the XACT S1 Evo player I reviewed in February, the N1 is a catalyst for listening pleasure. With this switch, each recording renewed my interest, became more beautiful and alive. This seems to be the DNA of Marcin Ostapowicz's brand. The N1 is the very best switch I have been able to try in my system to date. The XACT and DELA cable combination couple pushed my digital readings to their limits until they very closely resembled what fully analogue media would give but with increased resolution. As such and without any reservation, the N1 deserves my highest recommendation, with a special mention to the DELA SFP C1-D20 cable. A superb achievement, once again. Well done, Mr. Marcin!