Check This Out!

Greetings to everyone.

I have heard this DAC in two setups (including my own - I purchased it). To those for whom the price is "silly" let me say that I have heard DAC's four times the cost of the Cinnamon Galle (dCS Vivaldi) and much more (top-of-the-line MBL). I have an audio system (photo available on this forum) that includes Alsyvox speakers and New Audio Frontiers Stradivari 211 monos. No matter the cost, I haven't heard digital conversion match the Lp front end I am lucky to own - until I heard the Galle. All those who have heard it have had the same reaction. Of course, there are those for whom the price is simply out of the question - that's a different issue - but in the era of six-figure DAC/Clock systems, this is simply an outstanding product. Oh - and no, I have zero link to the Portuguese company that produces it nor any financial interest in the audio store in Nashville that is the dealer. I just enjoy wonderful (mostly classical) music. Of course, my hearing, and that of my audiophile friends, is just our opinions. If you have the chance, however, I do strongly recommend listening for yourself. Thanks for your patience with this long posting.

Just a second post to echo what Grannyring is reporting. There is something of a "house sound" that I believe connects Collin’s judgments to those of Jeff at High Water Sound, Dr. Vinyl here in Maryland, and a few others. Those of you who have heard the High Water setups at various audio shows will know what I mean: the sound is just immediately engaging, relaxing, and emotionally moving - not because it is colored or euphonic, but because you find yourself in a musical, not electronic experience. Until hearing (and then purchasing) the Galle, I had not heard this from digital sources. The closest I got was from my Audio Note CD player, with its excellent digital chip (the texture of the music was there, but extraneous information also). I have heard very expensive digital setups ($70,000+) with vanishingly low noise floors and massive detail, but in the end, there was still something "two-dimensional" and/or unreal about the voice or the instrument. No stereo system will put you 100% into Carnegie Hall, but for me, the Galle has meant that each evening I face a genuine and happy choice between digital and analog front-ends.