As lossless digital music formats flourish on the Internet, digital music is no longer an object of disdain for old school enthusiasts, but has become a huge and rich music treasure house for top enthusiasts. Imagine that you can get an almost unlimited amount of digital music through a high-speed network, and all of them are in high-precision and high-sampling rate lossless formats, greatly surpassing the specifications of traditional CDs and even SACD formats in the past, right? Is it like dreaming?
The top of the top
Because of this, the equipment that provides "back-end services" for these lossless high-profile digital music has gradually developed. It is the digital-to-analog converter that completes the intermediate core link of transmission, decoding, clock correction, and output of lossless high-standard digital music. Therefore, some brands with excellent Hi-End potential in this regard have naturally taken the lead, and have launched top related products in response to the needs of enthusiasts. The N-01XD streaming player from the Japanese Esoteric brand is one of the shining ones. Stars have almost omnipotent processing capabilities.
Just like Lexus is a high-end brand under Toyota and Infiniti is a high-end brand under Nissan, Esoteric is also a high-end brand under Japanese classic TEAC. TEAC is the acronym for "Tokyo Electro Acoustic Company". It was established in 1953 and has a history of 68 years. As the name suggests, this is an audio company. It was first known for producing professional recording decks. Now it has expanded into a large audio group, producing everything from professional audio equipment to home audio equipment, from optical products to electromagnetic products, etc. For various types of products, we also provide OEM services for other brands. After many mergers and acquisitions, the TEAC brand now has two major factories in Japan, namely EMC Center and TMS Ome, with its headquarters in Tokyo. TMS is the abbreviation of "TEAC Manufacturing Solutions Corporation",TEAC owns 73.2% of its shares.
Esoteric brand was founded in 1987, and all models of products are produced by TMS Ome. The brand applied the VRDS (Vibration-free Rigid Disc-clamping System) turntable design to its important products in the early days of its business. The following year is still the core competitiveness of the Esoteric brand, and it is still the highest standard of the entire audio industry. In addition, in the key digital-to-analog conversion link, the Esoteric brand adopts the exclusively developed Master Sound Discrete DAC (Master Sound Independent Digital-to-Analog Converter), which builds the main circuit by completely separate components, rather than a general integrated type Digital-to-analog converter chip to ensure full restoration of music dynamics and energy.
A key core upgrade compared to the previous generation product
Since we talked about the MasterSound Discrete DAC, we have to talk about the N-01XD streaming player in this trial. The model number of this model starts with "N". It is naturally one of the "Network" series that support network streaming media playback. The manufacturer calls it "Network DAC" (Network Digital-Analog Converter).
N-01XD streaming player is an upgraded version of the previous generation N-01. The reason for adding the suffix "XD" means that it uses the exclusively developed Master Sound Discrete DAC. The sound channel is completely independent and consists of 32 discrete components, which can be tuned to a single component according to the needs of the manufacturer to achieve satisfactory sound quality, while the N-01 uses the commercially available AKM AK4497 premium 32-bit digital -Analog conversion chip,This is obviously a major upgrade and improvement of the core components from the basic level, and the importance is evident.
In addition to this one of the most significant upgrades, compared to N-01, N-01XD has many obvious improvements:
1. It adopts the latest flagship number in the same factory- For the GrandiosoCustom VCXO II clock used in the analog converter, N-01 uses the first-generation clock;
2. The clock input frequency is 10MHz, and a set of clock input frequencies (44.1kHz/48kHz) is increased compared to N-01 );
3. Compared with N-01, it adds the latest fifth-generation ES-Link digital interface patented by the manufacturer, which can be used with the same factory turntable to directly decode the SACD digital signal;
4. Use more functions The powerful new streaming media processing module can decode and output digital signals up to PCM 32Bit/384kHz and DSD22.5MHz specifications. The N-01 can only process up to PCM 24Bit/192kHz/176.4kHz and DSD 5.6MHz digital signals.
5. Increase the number of RCA coaxial digital terminals to two;
6. All digital input terminals support MQA format digital signal decoding;
7. The power supply link is more powerful.
Manufacturers are full of ambitions and expectations for this
enthusiasts with a little experience can find from the above description,The N-01XD streaming player is not just as simple as adding a streaming media player to a digital-to-analog converter, but a very pure fever design is implemented from the bottom of the design, especially in the design of the clock, it is even more luxurious. The clock signal that can be output shows the full confidence of the manufacturer. I believe it is rare to see such a streaming player on the market that is so particular about the clock.
Another aspect that is rare in the market is the workmanship and materials of the N-01XD streaming player. Needless to say, the chassis made of pure aluminum alloy has a softer look and feel. At the same time, one thing is very interesting: the upper cover of the new generation of Esoteric brand products has been changed to a screwless semi-floating design (Screwless Semi-Floating), which means that the upper cover is not locked, and it has a slight floating feeling. This is the manufacturer. After repeated experiments, the engineers found that the anti-resonance ability is stronger and the sound performance is better.
In internal design, the N-01XD streaming player also adopts the upper and lower double-layer design used in the top model of the same factory. The signal processing circuit board is installed on the upper layer, the power supply part is installed on the lower layer, and the middle is used. The aluminum plates are completely separated, effectively improving the shielding effect, and preventing the noise of the power supply from affecting the sensitive signal processing parts. More luxuriously, N-01XD uses up to 4 toroidal transformers to supply power to different circuits. Such an operation is too "luxury" for streaming players. Obviously the manufacturer is full of N-01XD. Ambition and expectations, and strive to make streaming media playback can also reach the top Hi-End standards.
fully restores the accuracy and musicality of streaming media
As a streaming player built by the manufacturer, the functions and specifications provided by the N-01XD are almost impeccable, not only It takes all kinds of high-standard lossless digital music formats, and it fully supports multiple streaming music providers such as Spotify , Tidal, Qobuz, MQA, Roon, etc.
This time I’m still playing the familiar AllanTayler’s FLAC "OldFriends-NewRoads" album. The baritone shown by the N-01XD streaming player is calm and sophisticated. There is also an elegant and open-minded temperament. At the same time, the true restoration of the vocal texture is particularly moving, and the delicate singing performance also has the vivid chest resonance , which has a very strong sense of reality. Very simple instrumental accompaniment such as guitar or piano also reflects the closeness that fits perfectly with the human voice. The high-density string sound is restored to be full of cohesion and liveness, bringing a comfortable, moving, easy and relaxed atmosphere.
And when playing the FLAC format Puccini " my dear dad" sung by Russian soprano Annaetrebko, the N-01XD streaming player again reflects the dynamic and explosive Excellent control of ability. The treble part of this female singer is bright and cheerful, but it is also expressed gorgeously and elegantly. At the same time, the vocal has a beautiful vibrato and aftertaste, and it easily shows a rich and colorful picture in front of the listener. In addition, when the vocals and accompaniment sound at the same time, the dense and long layers are filled with uninterrupted power. The strong rhythm is moving, and the affection contained in the music is also fully expressed.
This is undoubtedly the best performance to restore the accuracy and musicality of streaming media!
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