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Sample Track 1:
"Chamber Music" from Chamber Music
Sample Track 2:
"Halinkata Djoubé" from Chamber Music
Buy Recording:
Chamber Music
Layer 2



This album is really a complex framework of atonal and chromatic passages. It is generally difficult to raise the volume to realistic levels due to the overall confusion and sonic compression. The ability of the Reference 5 DAC to separate out each instrument and operate against such great silent simply didn’t miss a beat.
Album Review
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6Moons, Album Review >>

This was no real miracle. The first generation of USB-connected audio devices generally offered disappointing performance and Audio-GD’s DSP-1 is not a 100% effective remedy for jitter. To improve its USB performance, the Reference 5 DAC in my opinion needs a supporting interface of Trends UD-10.1 or Halide Design Bridge caliber. The cost of such an association would be quite comparable to the recently reviewed Wyred4Sound asynchronous DAC2.

Listening to electric instruments, the Reference 5 DAC delivered a quiet but solid result. There was no particular harshness which often occurs with very compressed recordings. The Reference 5 seemed to keep control of the musical message under even adverse circumstances. On the Chick Corea Elektric Band’s  Inside Out, even Franck Gambale’s guitar refused to descend into chaos and remained perfectly intelligible. The great solo in "The tale of Daring part III" was particularly impressive with a density and cleanliness that felt close to the original sound of an electric guitar free from additional distortion. 


In the same manner Karen Young’s first album for the Ursh record company had its colorful electric climate reproduced fairly with energy and great control. With acoustic instruments and voices, the Audio-GD succeeded at reproducing sufficient detail to trigger palpable emotions. On Ballaké Sissoko & Vincent Segal Chamber Music album, the sound of the African Kora was quite realistic. I spent some time in Africa’s Republic of Guinea more than twenty years ago and learned to play the Kora with very skilled Guinean players. Hence my intimacy with the sound and timbre of this instrument. In Guinea you hear the Kora every day. It's an essential component of everyday life. Turning to the Audio-GD component, I found the right tonal balance which for the kora isn’t as bright and crystalline as a harp but requires sufficient harmonic depth.
 11/10/10 >> go there
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