Some choice cuts used during the review included Ilya Itin's absolutely gorgeous native DSD recording of Debussy's Preludes [Wave Kinetics DSD128 DSF download]. Not only is this quite possibly the finest sounding piano recording I have heard, the interpretation and playing is right up there in the Paul Jacobs, Walter Gieseking class in my opinion. I couldn't help but think while listening to this via the Nimitra, "How much better can this get?" High-resolution PCM was equally enthralling. Händel's Concerti grossi op. 6 via Jan Willem de Vriend and Combattimento Consort Amsterdam on Challenge Classics was completely captivating on this DXD recording [Challenge Classics DXD 24-bit/352.8 FLAC] as was Mason Bates' genre-bending recording of various orchestral works with the The San Francisco Symphony under Michael Tilson-Thomas [SFS 24-bit/192kHz FLAC]. It's a lovely kaleidoscope of fascinating colours and rhythms that blends classical with contemporary forms such as electronica. I would love to experience this music in a concert hall.
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However, not everything was rosy in the land of high-resolution audio. Shit-sounding recordings continue to emerge from the gutters regardless of the latest technological advances. Example? The Rolling Stones recently released Blue & Lonesome [24-bit/88.2kHz FLAC] of terrific live-off-the-floor Blues covers. It's rendered unlistenable due to excessive dynamic compression (DR rating on most tracks is 7 or less!). There's no dynamic range or nuance. It all comes at you loud and hard. The vast dynamic range of 24-bit/88.2kHz is completely wasted. Not even the Nimitra and its optimized software could rescue this dog. Then again I didn't expect it to. Once you kill the human touch in music, there isn't anything that will revive it. Dead is dead. Clearly the Nimitra was true to the corpse. For assessing good ol' 16-bit/44.1, I streamed a fair deal from Tidal and my NAS. Nick Cave's powerful and poignant Skeleton Tree [Tidal FLAC] was even more harrowing and visceral than over my laptop. Other desert island contenders such as Kenny Burrell's Midnight Blue [Blue Note CDP 7-46399-2 CD rip], Marriner's reading of Mozart's sublime Serenade in B flat major, K361 'Gran Partita' [Tidal FLAC], Rafael Kubelik's Parsifal [Arts Archives 43027-2 CD rip] and the Hip's In Violet Light [Rounder 1006 CD rip] were also rendered truthfully and engagingly.
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The only improvement here I can think of is perhaps a better power supply for the Nimitra. While some hobbyists have noted huge enhancements with audiophile linear power supplies, my experience has been more modest. Yes they make a difference and not just on a server or computer but also on peripheral components such as routers, switches and NAS devices. However, I wouldn't go crazy and drop several grand. Suffice to say, offering a reasonably priced superior supply would be a decent upgrade option. As it turns out, Keetakawee has such a product in the works. It'll be called Nikola and may be available by the time you read this. Plug'n'play the Nimitra certainly was. I had music playing within minutes. Connect to USB DAC, attach external USB drive loaded with tunes, boot up Nimitra, open up Bubble UPnP on my Samsung phone, select JPlay Streamer as renderer, Asset as server or Tidal for streaming, select album and hit play. Can't get easier than that unless you use a legacy CD player. As Nimitra is preloaded with pretty much every USB device driver available, you shouldn't need to manually install or configure any drivers. At time of purchase, specify your USB device(s) and Keetawakee will ensure your Nimitra will have the required software preloaded. For me the asking price and feature set of the Nimitra are extraordinarily attractive. Sure, you probably could build your own custom server for less but keep in mind that the Nimitra ships with several hundred dollars' worth of software. Windows 10 Pro, Asset UPnP, Fidelizer and JPlay will cost you over $400 already. The Nimitra ticked off all my check boxes with respect to my ideal of a reasonably priced music server. It's small, completely silent, supremely flexible, easy to use and plays back music with greater authority and naturalness than a general purpose computer. Buy with confidence as did I.
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