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REVIEW: California Audio Labs Alpha DAC Processors

75.25.148.121


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Model: Alpha
Category: DAC Processors
Suggested Retail Price: $1495
Description: digital-to-analog converter
Manufacturer URL: California Audio Labs

Review by Luminator on July 30, 2009 at 16:18:03
IP Address: 75.25.148.121
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Those of you who follow my blog know I cover a wide range of audio products. But once in a while, I am able to bring back something from the past. In this case, it's the California Audio Labs original (before the 24/96 upgrade) Alpha DAC.

You know, it's funny. When the Alpha was in production, audiophiles talked about the 1950 and 60s as the revered past. But as this decade is mercifully coming to a close, we look back at the mid-90s as the time when high-end audio exploded, and became more popular/mainstream. The Alpha had its hand in that. And today, there is still demand for it. Now that I have had the chance to re-visit the Alpha, I know why people still love it:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

Really, the CAL Alpha just sits there, waiting for decent teammates to come along. Geez, in 1994, I remember seeing the Alpha with the Kimber PowerKord (before they came out with all the different colors, gauges, and plugs); MIT Digital Reference or Illuminati D-60; and Kimber PBJ or KCAG. And if you still have these products, you'll positively flip, when you treat them on the Cable Cooker. For 15 years, this stuff was kept from its potential, all because we did not have a Cable Cooker.

Of course, not only do we have the Cable Cooker today, but we have even more far-out cables. The Pranawire Maha Samadhi powercord costs over twice the Alpha. Be that as it may, the Maha Samadhi brings out the Alpha's delicate rendering of timbre and small details. The Tara Labs ISM series digital cables prove that the Alpha is as high-rez as anything I have now. And yes, the Alpha provides enough detail, so that you can hear the differences between the Nordost Odin and Wireworld Platinum Eclipse interconnects.

In the mid-90s, I knew several Bay Area audiophiles who owned CAL front ends, including the Alpha. They could have spent more on audio. But with the CAL gear, they didn't have to. Instead, they were free to spend time on fashion, food, porn, travel, sports, and other hobbies. Now that I have an Alpha in tow, I'm kicking myself. If I had had it all these years, I could have (a) saved money, (b) gotten off on more music, and (c) enjoyed other aspects of life.

And of course, the icing on the cake is that you can roll 12AX7s and 5751s. If you like the Alpha's fundamental sound, you can always tilt it in your favor, by finding the right tube(s).

One of my audio buddies made this remark: "I hate to make blanket statements, but too many of today's DACs, with all their upsampling and processing power, sure can do the math. And sure, they sound modern and detailed. But they don't breathe the way the Alpha does."

Ever succinct, my friend Lina said, "It [The CAL Alpha] is so alive. The others are [dead]." Okay, she actually said, "like a limp dick," instead of my insertion of the word dead . But you get the picture.

My long-time friend Larry said, "Man, remember when the Alpha was cutting edge? Now it's vintage, old school."

Our friend Micky added, "But hey, it kicked ass then, it kicks ass now."

More and more music is getting harder to find on CD. Sometimes, your best bet is to find it as a download. Since the Alpha has multiple digital inputs, I was able to have mine receive signals from both a CD transport and my Mac Mini via USB-to-S/PDIF converter. I do have Junior's "Mama Used To Say" on CD. Thus, I was able to compare it to a sound file. The Alpha has the requisite resolution to tell me that the CD's sound quality stomps that of the sound file. Yet, the Alpha doesn't neuter the works. It still allows the killer rhythm to come through.

Same thing with Eddie Grant's "Romancing The Stone." The computer sound got our toes tapping. But the CD is positively electric.

Some of my readers were in elementary school, when the CAL Alpha was in production. I whipped out Lisette Melendez's early-90s "Together Forever." The way the music whipped to and fro was uplifting. It jolted my memory, and I was able to give my young readers a history lesson in popular music. "Together Forever" came out when Nirvana and grunge hit the scene. Yet, with her not-as-thin-as-others voice, Melendez made us freestyle fans proud. Of my digital playback gear, only the Simaudio Andromeda grabs us, and makes us sing along. And only the Wadia 781i makes us do our stiff, spastic, "broken robot" dance moves.

And when the Alpha played George Clinton's "Atomic Dog," the bow wow wow yippie yo yippie yay had one of my audio buddies turning his head, looking to see if a drooling dog were calling!

-Lummy The Seahorse


Product Weakness: discontinued long ago; 3.5V analog output is too high; transformer runs hot; stuck in the 44.1k times; takes 1 minute to turn on
Product Strengths: half-width size; full-featured; has stood the test of time


Associated Equipment for this Review:

Amplifier: Creek Destiny integrated; Jeff Rowland 312; McCormack MID; Meridian 555
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): Jeff Rowland Criterion
Sources (CDP/Turntable): CAL Delta; dCS Puccini; Mark Levinson Nos. 37, 360S, 390S; Simaudio Andromeda; Theta Data basic II and Jade; Wadia 781i
Speakers: Totem The One
Cables/Interconnects: Illuminati D-60; MIT T3 Digital and Reference Digital; Tara Labs 0.8 Onboard Digital 75 and RSC Digtial 110; Wireworld Gold Starlight 5; XLO Reference Type 4 and LE-4
Music Used (Genre/Selections): Rock, pop, metal, R&B, rap, computer
Time Period/Length of Audition: 15 years
Other (Power Conditioner etc.): Kimber KCAG; Nordost Odin; Pranawire Maha Samadhi; Wireworld Platinum Eclipse; XLO Signature
Type of Audition/Review: Product Owner




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Topic - REVIEW: California Audio Labs Alpha DAC Processors - Luminator 16:18:03 07/30/09 ( 9)