It's a true multi-bit converter unlike modern specimens which mostly work in Delta-Sigma mode. It launched in 1991 (!) to have long since discontinued. That of Cobra is nearly more exciting than its glowing bits. Again, I'm usually disinclined to tolerate a DAC chip inside a valve amp. Let's start then with those parts which Audio Note don't make here: the converter silicon and glassware. Their website dedicates an entire section to just parts! Virtually all parts needed to make an amplifier they manufacture in-house. One reason for that could be their outrageous vertical integration. How many dealers want that in their High Street crib? Just so, Audio Note enjoy a rep for premium valve kit at the top of that particular food chain. But actually touched and listened to? Now numbers dwindle drastically. If you've been around the hifi block, you have heard of them. Others would fall all over themselves showing off such direct-heated triode exotica in gleaming chrome. My personal Audio Note dream amp, the Meishu Tonmeister, actually hides its luxo 300B inside the casing. And this Cobra does display its fangs – er, tubes. The angled 'control panel' recalls the legendary €136K Ongaku integrated. What's not there are historical design quotes or baroque flourishes. There's a matt black bent-steel body, two simple rotaries, some indicator lights. Where most valve gear rocks a retro vibe of chrome, wood, appliance-type controls or yesteryear's meters, Cobra plays it plain but modern. What I like about Audio Note is how they don't kowtow to the mainstream. That was serious enough to shout "here!" when our publisher asked who wanted to wrangle this Cobra. I don't cotton to something as timeless as a tube amp being combined with something as rapidly changing and prosaic as a DAC. Power delivery: Audioplan FineFilter S, PowerStar S, PowerPlant S, PowerCordĪsk me to review a valve amp with built-in DAC. Headamps: spl Crimson 3 audio interface, RME ADI-2 DAC FSĬables: In-akustik Referenz LS-404 Micro Air, Cardas Clear Light, Boaacoustic Silver Digital Xeno Headphones: Campfire Equinox, Grado PS500, Pioneer SE Monitor5, Austrian Audio Hi-X65 Preamps: spl Elektor, Lehmann Audio Black Cube SE II phonostage stst Vertex arm and Zyx Yatra stylusĭigital sources: ME ADI-2 DAC FS with AKMchip, Antipodes S40 music server, Keces P8 power supply By request of the manufacturer and permission of the author, it is hereby syndicated from the German original to reach a broader English audience. This review first appeared in July 2022 on.
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