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REVIEW: Birdland Audio Odeon Lite DAC Processors Review by Matthew G. at Audio Asylum

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I tried this product (well, bought it with a 30 day refund period, which I suspect is rarely needed with Birdland DAC's) on the strenght of a recommendation from Max at Silver Audio, whose cables I greatly respect. At the time I was using an MSB Link DAC, with my Cambridge Audio CD player as a transport. I was finding the MSB DAC to be excessively forward in its presentation. There were also some other problems with the sound, which I will not go into here, since I'm not reviewing the MSB DAC. The Link may be great for the money, but it wasn't great for my ears, so I decided to splurge on a more expensive, hopefully permanent DAC. Keep in mind that I was at the time metamorphing into a full-blown analogue man.

The Birdland DAC has restored the balance in my listening--I am now as happy listening to CD's as to records (though this may change again when I upgrade my analog set-up). The sound of the Birdland DAC is very natural, balanced, and extremely musical. I have seen the bass on the Odeon Lite referred to as light, but tuneful. The bass is indeed exceptionally quick and dynamic. Light, I'm not sure about. The sound is certainly not bass heavy, but there is no weakness in the low end. Put another way, the bass from this DAC sounds like a person playing a bass, not a bunch of rumbly low frequency noises.

The top end is equally impressive. Played through revealing equipment, the detail is astonishing--not only do cymbals sound like cymbals, but you can subtleties in the use of brushes, sticks or hands on the brushes. Last night, for instance, I had a lot of fun listening to Tony William's cymbal work on the RVG edition of Herbie Hancock's "Empyrean Isles." This is one of the few times I can say that a hi fi system actually helped me better appreciate a piece of music.

Another thing I like about this DAC is that the presentation is not at all forward. The musicians "appear" just in front of the speakers--and this is with a solid state amp and speakers which are known to be rather forward. Imaging is precise, but the music also maintains its coherence. Depth is good and could possibly be fantastic with a better transport and digital cable (though the Birdland Audio website claims their anti-jitter mechanism makes the cable irrelevant).

When I was first breaking in this product, I felt that its sound was perhaps "too smooth." As it turns out, I think my ears were just adjusting from the unnatural peaks I am used to hearing on lesser digital sources. The Odeon Lite does produce a distinctive sweetness in the midrange, but I do not find that it interferes with the mood of the music in any way. This DAC, as has been said about the Bel Canto, can rescue almost any CD fromthe realm of unlistenable sound. There is never a trace of harshness, even on some dreaded mid-80's discs. The Birdland site claims that the DAC has "virtual upsampling" to 24 bits. I don't claim to understand the whole bits thing. I do know that this machine can draw music out of almost any disc.

Incidentally, the Odeon Lite has 3 inputs with a selector switch in front. Input 1 is for Toslink or balanced, Input 2 is for RCA or BNC, Input 3 is RCA only. I guess this would be of great benefit to folks with separate CD and whatever-those-other-things-are-called-transports.

Obviously, I like this DAC. You could probably hear something more impressive sounding, but I doubt you'd find any digital source more natural sounding. At least, I don't feel like I'm missing anything. For somebody who feels that CD's are basically an evil, senseless invention, I'm pretty happy listening to them these days.


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Topic - REVIEW: Birdland Audio Odeon Lite DAC Processors Review by Matthew G. at Audio Asylum - Matthew G. 15:02:18 08/25/00 ( 4)