When they first came out CDs left me cold. Like all audio enthusiasts, I was unimpressed. That is not to say that I did not like some of the early digital artists. Pick up a copy of Fleetwood Mac's Tusk or some of the early Ry Cooder. Okay, the 16 bit conversion voodoo makes it sound a little compressed and cymbals sound like tambourines. But the music was just as progressive as the technology. Probably Lindsey Buckinghams finest work is on the Tusk digital master.

CD players under $800 leave me feeling like I just listened to one of these early works. I listen to them if I must, and I must listen if I want to hear some of my favorite artists without spending $2000 on a CD player. I am stuck in a world of compromises from NAD, Rotel, Music Hall and Cambridge (what I call, the gang of four). Its not that these are bad CD players, they try to do the unthinkable- provide a glimpse into excellent CD sound without costing an arm and a leg.

So we have two DACs here: the Lite DAC-AH, and the Lite DAC AH-M1 from Pacific Valve. From what I am reading about these non over sampling black bricks is that they offer less fatigue along with more detail than one can ever extract from a CD rotating over one of the gang of four's lasers. The DACs keep their promise is by feeding the digital signal from one low price DAC chip to the next and avoid the over sampling hocus pocus. Errors produced as a by product of the conversion process are fed from one converter to the next and so on, until the signal passes through 8 converters and hence 8X oversampling. This is less costly, Lite tells us, than providing the top notch BB PCM-1704UK chip in the DAC 60 along with all the necessary circuitry to produce an accurate analogue signal.

The DAC AH series has a push button switch on the front along with a faint blue light implying that it is to be left on all the time. On the back there is a power plug, analogue out (gold plated), Coax in, TOSLINK in, and a switch to switch between Coax and TOSLINK inputs. That's it!! Quite simple.

The stock DAC AH immediately improves the sound from the gang of four. Comparing the stock DAC AH to the NAD C532BEE one immediately notices some light into the midrange and immediacy in the music.

The stock DAC AH has an excellent midrange presentation sans the harshness. What we also get is some grain on the high end that makes its way into the listening room as the quality of the recording twindles. So good is the DAC AH at doing this that one must re-think their entire music collection while listening to one of these.

What both the DAC AH and the DAC AH-M1 also do is provide a sense of continuity from low end to top end that is missing in the gang of four. CD players on the mid-fi range tend to "bloat" or over-emphasize the midrange and high end and leave the low end, not anemic, but lacking in authority. Not so with the DAC AH(s) whose real job is to bring the detail and tonal balance of $2000 DACs into the hands of audiophiles stuck on price performance.

Enter the modified DAC AH- M1. Pacific Valve, with the help of Lite Audio, desired a price performance modification to the DAC AH with a price under $300.00. The solution was simple, swipe out the stock OP amp for the OPA27M from Burr Brown and wah-lah, price performance.

The only thing that the DAC AH and the DAC AH M1 have in common is the blue light on the front and that's it. Where the DAC AH sounds bright, the M1 sounds smooth, Where the AH sounds harsh and compressed, the M1 sounds open. Cat Steven’s the first cut is the deepest is an example of a recording that cannot be listened to on the DAC AH. Not so on the M1 who tends to be more forgiving in the top end by opening it up and let it bloom into the room. It’s still a so-so recording, but unlike the DAC AH, I am not reminded of it at every crescendo.

The DAC AH M1 is capable of some startling detail at the $250.00 price point. In Harry Connick's When Harry Met Sally Lets call the whole thing off, for example, the plucking of the bass is clearly heard as the bassist makes his way across the strings. In the stock DAC AH, while this is a smooth rendition, it sounds kind of squeezed together and not as clear. And, it is that point, where you can some up the difference between the two. Where stock DAC AH sounds compressed, the DAC AH M1 pours music into room with politeness and detail.

If was on a budget, I just wanted to upgrade my CD player from 1993, then the stock DAC AH will provide an improvement. If I wanted a taste of high end without spending above $500, then the DAC AH M1 fits my bill. If I really wanted an excellent DAC for the money, then the Pacific Valve modified DAC 60 is the one to beat. I differ from other staffers here at Pacific Valve who just love the DAC 68 with its "British" sound. The modified DAC 60 is the one with dynamic punch and low end, and so far, the DAC to beat.


Vic Trola