CAD’s 1543 DAC is pretty special. This much I established when it first arrived for review, so I did my best to hang onto the review sample as long as possible. Then at the 11th hour, just as the deadline approached, Scott Berry the man behind Computer Audio Design went and threw my findings into dissaray by sending a sample of his prototype USB cable. This handmade connector transformed the 1543 from being extremely good to blowing everything else out of the water. The change from the best USB cable I have found to date was nothing short of staggering.
How come? Scott won’t say what he’s done save that it’s not about the materials and that he has applied for a patent to protect his discovery. So it must be something unusual. I’ve heard quite a few well regarded USB cables and there are always tangible differences but nothing has come close to transforming the result like this.
The level of resolution it brings to the picture is extraordinary, I am hearing things that no other system has suggested were there. Most obviously in terms of note decay and acoustic space – the air of the recording environment – but fundamentally across the board. Digital treble has never sounded this real for instance. The reverb on the bass guitar on Billy Cobham’s Stratus (as sampled for Massive Attack’s Blue Lines) has always been lost in the record’s dense mix, now it is blatantly obvious. This leap in transparency is equally apparent in live and electric even electronic music, in fact Bugge Wesseltoft’s Duo which is an example of the latter, shocked me with the extra information it offered up.
You obviously need a good DAC to appreciate the cable’s qualities but I suspect that any USB DAC will reveal some of its potential and its advantages over most if not all other contenders in this hotly contested arena. The fact that I lost an afternoon listening is a testament to its powers, that’s a luxury that is rarely afforded a cable let alone one that isn’t even in production yet.
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