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April Music Stello DA220
April Music Stello DA220
MSRP: $

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Rating
Reviewed by:

Thimmy118

(Audio Enthusiast)

Review Date
March 26, 2006

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Visitors rate this review
4.50 of 5, 6.00 votes

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Review 1 of 1

Price Paid:  $1300.00 from Melbourne Australia

Summary:
I thought I'll start by saying that in my opinion, this DAC outgun my previous Arcam FMJ CD23 in more ways than one and brigs out the best in avry types of music you play through it This is a serious DAC for not much money. I have had my Arcam running as the transport and when cpompared to the Arcam running as a cd player, this DAC sounded more detailed, sharper, more holographic, smoother and cleaner sounding than the Arcam. This is not a criticism of Arcam but i think Stello is on to somethng here. This is one of those products where the holy grail of "value for money" has indeed been found. After eight months of running in, I'm glad to say that did not spend my money on a more expensive equipment. I'd recommend that you use the balance input and output for best result. I got rid of my Arcam and bought the Stello CDT200 transport and the two is a match made in auidiophile wonderland. My' wife is also happy now that I have stop my desire to upgrade my hifi.

My associated products are:

Stello CDT200 Transport
Jungson JA1 and JA99 pre/power class A amp
Dynaudio Contour 1.3SE speakers
Qunex P75 Signature digital cable
Analysis Plus Oval 6 speaker cables
Nordos Quattro Fuil balance interconnect (Transport to Pre)
DIY Copper and teflon shielded balance interconnect (Pre/power)
Soundstyle ST122 speker stands
Sound Organisation rack

Strengths:
Non splashy top end, extremely clear midrange, good micro amd macro dynamics, strong and tuneful bass and smooth sounding across all frequency range. Can pick up subtle differences in interconnect and digital cables

Weaknesses:
None at all

Similar Products Used:
Rega Planet CD2000, Arcam CD75, Arcam CD95 and Arcam FMJ CD23


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