Prism
Sound Orpheus FireWire Interface - £3165
In many ways it is over-specified for use as a music streamer, however it has an excellent clock circuit, extremely low jitter and fantastic sound quality at a real world price.
Auditioning the unit, right away you notice the immediacy of loud, sudden transients appearing from a silent background. Detail and imaging are first rate as you would expect from a low jitter design and music just sounds more natural without digital harshness.
As the Orpheus is capable of recording as well as playback, it is the ideal partner component for Pure Vinyl 3, enabling records to be ripped from vinyl to high resolution digital and then played from iTunes by Pure Vinyl 3's music server.*
The Orpheus is a highly flexible unit that can accept digital inputs via FireWire, S/PDIF and optical (Toslink) and can be configured to work as a standalone DAC or as part of a music server with either a Mac or PC running any music player software (e.g. Pure Vinyl 3, Amarra, Foobar, Media Monkey, etc.)
Hi Fi News's review said "Although never intended to be a domestic audio product, the Prism Sound Orpheus makes a better job than most professional FireWire audio interfaces of blending into a home audio system. If you demand multichannel capability from hard disk at up to 24/192, this is the way to get it - and the Orpheus delivers sound quality to justify its price premium. In audiophile terms it's great value for money."
We have a unit on demo and auditioning is highly recommended.
View the manufacturer's website (opens in new window) for full technical specs and documentation downloads.
* [Low output moving coils can be accommodated via the mic inputs and moving magnets via the analogue line inputs - consult us for advice on impedance matching.]
