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Resolution. In all manner of ways, our society is obsessed with 'retina' displays. For our purposes resolution means detail which means pixel count. Zoom in fully. Soon all you'll see is a checker board of tightly clustered colored squares. The more squares per square inch you have, the finer these building blocks of digital displays can trace angled and curvy lines without betraying their stair-step illusion. That's key when display size shrinks. With hifi too resolution has become synonymous with such visual detail. It's Lloyd Walker's arthritic fly rubbing legs on the tone arm of his Walker Audio Black Diamond turntable and being able to hear it. But what about dynamic gradations such as a super-efficient horn loudspeaker might reveal? Or the refined textures superior valves can lay bare?

Tombo Trøn S/PDIF, Light Harmonic LightSpeed USB, Van denHul AES/EBU, Zu Event analog/power
Specific aspects of resolution would ideally rely on specific ancillaries as the keenest microscopes on that quality. If you direct-drove your DAC into 200kHz DC-coupled transistor amps into ceramic-driver speakers, we'd probably not expect the last word on texture and tone color magnification but likely feel well informed on transient rise times and rhythmic fidelity. If we used a high-THD valve amp into paper drivers, we might obscure fine ambient detail but enjoy good density. 81dB inefficient monitors at standard to low levels ought to leave microdynamic gradation and contrast under the table but with a powerful amp say more about bass quality than a highly efficient monitor of the same size. And so on. If resolution is the ability to distinguish tiny differences, it must apply to all possible differences. We're simply visual animals first. It's easiest to quantify sight-related differences. About the popular forest and trees, more pixels mean more trees, discrete leaves and perhaps an occasional vein pattern. In that sense the Platinum seemed to out-tree, out-leaf and out-vein the Metrum Hex and AURALiC Vega. Since my virtual forest of musicians didn't suddenly grow extra instruments nor those instruments extra keys or frets, quantifying resolution—it's obvious but still bears repeating—meant no actual detail count.

DSD64 upsampled to DSD256
How I call increased detail magnification came from a sense of 'hearing it all' kick in sooner on SPL. Play anything loud enough and it eventually attains proper fullness and heft. Move in the opposite direction and things begin to wash out. Contrast dims, differences shrink and soon small stuff begins to fade and fall away. If a familiar track inspected also over headphones to remove the room remains 'intact' into lower playback levels than before, I see that as higher resolution. Very neatly this also nets us the most relevant benefit. Your system no longer must shout to be heard. With clearer enunciation it's more intelligible. You can move farther away on volume and still feel fully connected. Voilà! I could end right there and the most useful most important thing would have been said already.


To be more specific, 'hearing it all' didn't relate to performer images or the secondary bits of their relative positions to each other. Even a basic DAC gets all or most of that right. The visual subtleties audiophiles obsess over—and the makers who cater to us—are on audible space. That's the virtual reality and related frisson of another acoustic being overlaid on our room's own. The more this ambient replacement occurs, the deeper the stereophonic soundstage tends to get. Another effect is that floating sonic images begin to interconnect and appear triangulated in their own recorded space. They're no longer shadow-play cutouts. The more this tracks into lower SPL without dimming or shutting down backstage lights, the more resolution we have (albeit still in a primarily visual sense). Obviously even the best DAC can't regenerate audible space from recordings that don't have any.


Equipment—in fact it's always complete systems and rooms we hear, not isolated gear—can emphasize physicality and hereness by diminishing or foreshortening virtual space. Gear brilliant at space and thereness often sacrifices meatiness. To see more requires more light. To feel more weight needs greater density. An example of the first is Burson Audio's Conductor. It's chewy and meaty but versus present competitors arguably is not sufficiently illuminated from within. An example of the greater space sort was my older Weiss DAC2. Improving upon either, the Vega maintains Burson's image density and color intensity but ups ambient recovery. The Hex sticks with the taut drier timing and focus of the Swiss but increases in-room presence. The Platinum plays it more Hex than Vega, i.e. tonally leaner and not as texturally rich. Then it plays its special strength. That's great airiness to fluff up and moisturize the Hex's drier read. If the Platinum DAC were a speaker, I'd call it a Gallo Acoustics Strada 2 or an Albedo Aptica, two extreme space meisters from my book of acquaintances. If it were an amp, it'd sit halfway between Goldmund's Job 225 and Crayon's CFA-1.2. This DAC can cast an exceptionally deep stage with very specific layering.
with Nagra Jazz, FirstWatt SIT1, soundkaos Wave 40 & Zu Submission
This aerated quality and immensity of fine spatial detail was equally evident over headphones when the Platinum drove Simon Lee's April Music Eximus DP1 versus the latter's own converter stage. Whilst the Korean packed more dynamic punch and deeper tone than Antelope Audio's own headphone port, isolating the Igor Levin digital confirmed even higher dimensional nuance. Unlike the Gold which on tonal balance struck me as lightly weak down low, the Platinum exhibited no minor reservations in the bass. Given its "adios preamps" premise, I was curious about using it so. Pulling out my €12'000 Nagra Jazz from the above system resulted in instantly more quicksilvery suchness. That's the most succinct way to describe the change. My sense of in-room presence perked up. It was more electrifying and felt closer to stage. The sound was a bit leaner and angular too but the trade for greater energetic jump factor and lucidity made me feel ahead. The toneful combination of FirstWatt's no NFB single-ended transistor amps and tone-wood speakers telegraphed no need for any harmonic injection. And the uptick in clarity at low volumes was a useful fringe benefit. The aspect of directness or immediacy had gone up.
Job direct
Knowing Goldmund's Job 225 to be leaner and stripped back for non-fat speed, would it dream of more 'curves' than the Platinum could throw at it? For my tastes more booty wouldn't have gone amiss. But, the sound refused to go arid. The oxygenating airiness kept it sufficiently energized and the Job's great S/N performance unearthed cubits of virtual space. In this match I'd have preferred my Nagra but that was a personal call. The direct connection with the DAC didn't turn desiccated or flat. Thinking of a number of warm thick class D amps based on ICEpower and Pascal, a Platinum as preamp should be the ideal quickening agent and behavioral complement. Without sounding like a broken record, this would be particularly sweet at 55-60dB average levels because it improves diction and live vibe. With its usefully broad IR acceptance range, the Zodiac's remote and click-free volume progression also functionally justified that the Platinum be used as a fine stand-alone preamp with very resolving onboard converter.

This gave us the overview and how visually based resolution measured up. How about other resolution aspects like dynamics, tone color and physical mass?