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Ambassadors gone missionaries. By their very work, reviewers are ambassadors for the hobby. At times such writers cross paths with gear they feel particularly ambassadorial about. It could be a fairly priced all-in-one Peachtree integrated with full DAC functionality. It could be a genre-busting speaker like Anthony Gallo's original Reference 3. It could be an über amp with a very serious case of unter pricing. Here I'm thinking US-designed Swiss-built Job 225 aka the Goldmund clone though really Job licenses their circuit to Goldmund, not the other way around. What occasionally turns our sort into missionaries—guys on a mission—is when a surprising number of readers ask the same thing. In my case they wanted a source that formed the perfect sonic circle with the Job and was an equivalent hot buy. Easier said than done.

But the sDP-1000 squares that circle. At $2.900 it's not exactly the sizzler the $1.495 direct-only 225 is. But once you split the SOtM bill in twain—1.500 quid for the DAC, 1.500 quod for the analog preamp—the math gets spot on. With the obligatory analog volume control 90dB speakers will run you around minus 40dB on the dial at standard levels so the sDP-1000 is perfect to drive the Job's high 0.75 input sensitivity coupled to its high 35dB voltage gain. The AURALiC Vega meanwhile is a poor match when the volume goes low. With the Job you can get into attenuation well below where digital volume remains non-lossy. Not only does SOtM take this crown on spec mesh, sonics are ideal too. This could surprise you. DAC-direct has a rep for washed-out sonics and often deservedly so. Then Job Systems' direct-coupled 0.9MHz circuit promises speed and control but also more sinew than booty. This could suggest a built-in need for active preamplification. Yet this combo plays it ultra dynamic, direct and compellingly colorful and dense. If you've got a Job 225 or think of getting one, assume the position, missionary or otherwise, and go SOtM and sDP-1000. And yes I too hate their model nomenclatures. At least we've got one thing to bitch about. Actually, two. The remote's angle of acceptance is sadly narrow. Any off-angle attempts from my seat were more miss than hit.

For $6.895 you could buy Resolution Audio's Cantata Music Center but aside from adding an initially noisy CD-ROM drive, I'd not think you come out ahead on this count. For €2.995 you could get an Antelope Audio Zodiac Gold but unless you added the Voltikus linear power supply (€3.495 combined) you'd not be in the same sonic ballpark. If you did, I still think that for direct drive SOtM has the advantage. You don't get the headfi feature but the battery drive comes with an attractive sonic side effect. Like Vinnie Rossi's Red Wine Audio signature sonics, there's a particular robustness or substance. It's quite the opposite of what one worries about when driving a wide-bandwidth fast amplifier direct from a converter. For the Job 225 it's thus mission accomplished. The ambassador can retire with a shout-out: "This one's for you, Job seekers!"

For a nearly free upgrade with this duo I'd run Audirvana 1.5.1 in Integer Mode I + 176.4kHz upsampling. Over PureMusic 1.89g which in NOS upsampling mode is my favored player for Metrum's Hex, Audirvana grafted atop the SOtM a whiff of the DSD textures AURALiC's Vega exhibits even with standard RedBook PCM files. This was an easily audible and very attractive tweak. Folks with multiple converters and/or broadly changing moods should keep multiple players on their computers to enjoy ultra-convenient voicing options.

Going batty. Some folks feel jittery about batteries. Like tubes they eventually need replacing. All I can say on that count relative to SOtM is that I'd bought their dX-USB HD & mBPS-d2s USB bridge after my January review of it. Its power-cycling twin-cell scheme is the same as what's in the sDP-1000. In my small kit it's worked near spotlessly for five months. I've only encountered one incident. The control logic governing the recharge cycle snafued once. It 'forgot' to recharge sufficiently to go on active duty the next morning. The unit had drained to empty overnight. After a reboot and wait for sufficient recharge I was back in the saddle and haven't gotten thrown since. The system seems to go to bat reliably. And yes, you eventually will have to swap out those two batteries. Also true is that unlike Red Wine Audio there's no AC mode option to bridge the gap should the control logic hang up and not recharge the second cell whilst the first one runs its course. No charge no sound. If that prospect has you jittery then plainly the sDP-1000 isn't for you.