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The better soundstage structuring and depth paid dividends with certain live cuts like Nik Bärtsch’s Ronin/Module 8_9 recorded in Zürich. With the North Star a subliminal fuzziness evaporated. With it a minor jitteriness of the sonic picture vanished to spatially lock into better focus. Individual sounds seemed more polished and better differentiated from their environs. That was a welcome gain particularly against distractions like minor audience coughs which were clearly separated against the background to feel more real; and with bright hard piano attacks whose decays rolled farther away from the listener before dying in the far reaches of the venue. It might read strange but was an actual audition sensation – as though previously there’d been a cotton wall halfway back on stage which prevented reverb from penetrating the farther recesses of the stage to thereby light it up completely.


You’ll appreciate by now how this went beyond basic soundstaging. The hifi terms blackground and high resolution factored as well to make subliminal coughs and the faintest of fades the stuff of excitement. This answered to the core question of just how quiet the signal could get before it was absorbed in the noise floor. Here the Essensio transcended its affordable price class to pull off a first-rate job.

I was surprised to observe how switching to an S/PDIF feed via my Squeezebox had these very qualities suffer minor obscuration. The stage no longer was as phenomenally well lit, performer focus was no longer as preternaturally keen and instruments seemed a tad less tacit than via USB. Granted, perhaps my Squeezebox was to blame and other streamers would edge it out. But in my setup I favored the laptop/USB stream.


Conclusion. It’s really surprising how far a contemporary computer/DAC solution can come. For still reasonable coin—in conjunction with a netbook and passable USB cable plus North Star’s newest converter one should remain below €2.000—one penetrates into realms I’d not associate with a comparably priced legacy CD player. While I would give the nod to my Luxman D-05 for being riper and more natural, that machine costs well more than double. Kudos to North Star’s Essensio Plus then.

Then there’s future proofiness. This deck digests 32/192 data to anticipate the chance that high-resolution downloads will make major inroads in the future (the present is still in its infancy). Connectivity is comprehensive save perhaps for the lack of XLR outputs. Then there’s integral though defeatable volume control to sidestep an analog linestage if desired. Laptop + USB DAC + active boxes… such systems might become more common in the future.

Psych profile…
  • Tonally textbook purist with superbly flat extension in the extremes. While some listeners might miss some warmth or a minor presence region lift, the Essensio won’t play those games.
  • Great strengths are bass definition into the abyss and the very resolved airy artifact-free treble.
  • General resolution for this price range is very high. Very subdued data—background noise on live cuts, decays— are clearly tracked against a very black background to avoid washing out. This Italian is a connoisseur of nuance. That makes for great stage depth as a special forté. Image focus is high too.
  • To introduce nits, individual sounds might want for a bit of plasticity. Here the deck is far from mediocre but more remains possible for 3D lock and body.
  • Dynamics can’t be criticized.

Facts:
  • Concept: Async USB DAC with volume control
  • Dimensions and weight: 30 x 17 x 7cm (W x D x H), 3.5kg
  • Trim: black chassis, fascia black, silver or silver wave
  • I/O ports: 1 x async USB, 5 x S/PDIF (2 x coax, 3 x TosLink), analog outs on RCA, 6.3mm headphone socket
  • Power consumption: 10 watts, 6.6 watts in stand-by
  • Other: Integral headphone amp
  • Warranty: 2 years
  • Website

redaktion @ fairaudio.de