Gadgetory

today we have a review of the Alfa design labs ESP RIT I believe it's pronounced Esprit or East Britt Apple Design labs also known as ADL has a pretty awesome DAC here it's an all-in-one kind of unit it's in the fact that it has a headphone amplifier built in with the DAC so you can plug it right into your computer via USB if you so desire and listen to headphones or you can insert it into your home rig as a regular DAC where you put a digital input and have just the analog outputs going out to your pre amplifier or integrated to your speaker's you can also just use it as an external DAC into a headphone amplifier so it's one of those kind of multi-use boxes that can do a lot of different things this DAC also has unlike a lot of other decks an analog to digital converter as well so you can put analog input into here and put it out into the USB or optical cable so there's an added functionality there I didn't really look at that too much review I did online and this one here is centered around what an audiophile would typically use the deck itself is not powered through the USB it does require a separate wall wart adapter to plug into the back for full operation it has a wide array of inputs in the back including optical coaxial and of course USB in addition to that it also has a couple of analog outputs so you can use this as a preamp because the output to the analog outs is a variable that is controlled by this knob here this controls both the head foot output level and the level on the back so you can connect this directly to an amplifier and adjust the volume there in your stereo very cool I really enjoyed the build and the finish of this particular unit you can see here it has this oversized plate that's kind of common between a lot of high-end components screwed out here it's quite thick this direction but the knobs on this are really really something special there they're solid they feel good machine the turn is good I know knobs aren't the reason we always buy audio components sound is the most important thing but it's nice to see and a manufacturer pay attention to detail especially considering this unit cost a thousand dollars roughly so it's the one on the upper end of things as far as your standard consumer pricing is concerned and it does kind of elude that with its building and in the amount of inputs and outputs and I think that it does so that's kind of a nice touch as far as the sound is concerned I really enjoyed this DAC all the detail was there from other jacks that I've heard in the price range for $1000 it is above average very much above average what you would get for a $250 DAC let's say or if you found one four five or six the resolution is all there the resolution competes with the DAC mini that I also tested it against from centrist which is roughly in that same area it's a little bit less expensive but it does not have all the inputs in the analog to digital converter like the C entrance has where this one really stands out and its uniqueness is the presentation of the resolution it's very sometimes DAC resolution can get a little bit edgy compared to a lot of other DAX I come I reference this too it was a little bit smoother the presentation was a little bit smoother and a little bit more organic and it at a very pleasing easy to listen into sound to it which is really great and that makes it kind of a standout thing it makes it a little bit more unique because there's a lot of decks it sounds quite similar really detailed really punchy in-your-face or is this one was just a little more relaxed a little more easy to listen to and and I think you would cut down on a long-term on on and listening fatigue so that's a really great kind of bonus I think this one that makes it stand out overall I really enjoyed this DAC I think it's something special in kind of the landscape it has its place I think that if you enjoy kind of that laid-back organic sound it is definitely something for you to check out let me know if you guys have any questions regarding it leave comments in the comment section on YouTube and I'll get to them when I can thank you so much have a great weekend