OK, I'm spoiled and I know it. I've got an Oracle CD transport and DAC1000 with a JPS Aluminata digital IC running between them and, well, it just sounds awesome (thank you, Shane!).
But I find myself using my Squeezebox Touch far more than spinning CDs, much less vinyl. The Touch sounds quite good and the convenience puts it way over the top. To my ears, the Touch is definitely better than the Duet or SB3, but still not close to the Oracle gear. No surprise there. But, I never tried a really good digital IC on the Touch. The Aluminata on the Oracle is a 110ohm XLR. So on the Touch and Duet before that I've been using either a Grover digital IC or a Granite Audio 420 digital IC.
Which brings me to the Black Cat Veloce digital IC. Black Cat is a business setup by Chris Sommovigo who has been instrumental in designing digital ICs with Illuminati, Kimber, and most recently Stereovox/Stereolab. He started Black Cat as an alternate way to sell product and promote music. The Veloce is the first Black Cat product released only last month. This article on the site caught my eye and interest:
http://www.blackcatcable.com/page/75-ohms-and-youSo after exchanging email with Chris, I picked up a Veloce with the hope of seeing what it could do for the Touch. Four days ago I plugged it in and initially, compared to the Granite Audio, it was all the things we dislike about digital - hard, edgy, splashy, etc... but that was to be expected and even in the packing material, Chris advocates for an extended break-in time.
Well, here I sit about 100 hours later and all I can say is WOW! I'm not one to jump on the fanboy wagon often but this time, I gotta say... It is doing all the right things. I sat down to listen to Lizz Wright - The Orchard. Beautiful and very well recorded music that I'm quite familiar with. 1 minute into the first song, Coming Home, I just had to get up and switch the Touch back to the Granite Audio digital IC and 30 seconds after that, I switched it back. The first song starts with a well recorded and closely mic'd acoustic guitar left of center and Lizz up front and center. It sounds very good with the Granite Audio (& a good bit worse with the Grover digital IC). But with the Veloce, the improvements are clear and obvious. The acoustic guitar strings sounded perfect top to bottom and as if the guitar had just been restrung (if you play a guitar you know exactly what I mean). Lizz's voice was singing center stage up front as if she was standing a foot forward of the guitar. All in a wonderful sense of recording venue.
When I switched back to the Granite Audio, the guitar moved much closer to the left speaker and the strings lost that 'new' sound. The top-end sizzle and transient were gone. Lizz also took a step back in the sound stage. Needless to say, the Veloce went back in immediately and it all came back. Simple as that.
All I can say is that this little experience proved to my ears just how important a well designed digital IC can be. Check it out... he offers a 60 day eval and the price is right. Made a believer outa me.
