On review this time the Audiolab 8300CDQ, a cd-player with integrated DAC and pre-amp
functionality that does up to 384 kHz sampling, MQA decoding and rendering.
Confused?
You won't be after this episode of The Hans Beekhuyzen Channel.
The well-respected predecessor, the Audiolab 8200CDQ,
was designed by the esteemed electronics designer John Westlake that also designed the Pro-ject
Stream Box S2 and Pro Box S2 Digital.
See my reviews, links in the show notes.
When the 8300 series was introduced Westlake was not involved but the electronics design
was not far off from the 8200 series.
For the 8300CDQ he did design the high-res USB input board and MQA decoding, though.
I have noticed that too many it's not clear what the possibilities are of the devices
I review.
So from now on I will shortly describe the applications.
Since the 8300CDQ also is a cd-player, you can use it just like that.
Connect it over RCA cables to your amplifier, that in turn is connected to the loudspeakers.
Volume control should be done on the amplifier while the output of the Audiolab player is
set to 100%.
On this Audiolab you can also connect your computer as source.
Depending on the computer you can use either USB, SPDIF or Optical.
In general USB is preferred but sometimes - depending on the computer - one of the other
two will sound better.
Just try to find out.
In all cases it's best to keep the cable length below 1.5 meters or 5 feet.
A third option is to use a so-called network bridge.
Now there is no need to place the computer close to the stereo, you can place it anywhere
in your house as long as there is a network connection.
The computer is connected to the router and from the router a network cable runs to a
simple small box called a network bridge that is connected to the 8300CDQ using a USB cable.
This is potentially the best solution, although the quality of the network bridge plays an
important role here.
Finally, let me mention that the 8300CDQ can also be used as preamplifier.
When you own active speakers - speakers with built-in amplifiers - the output of the 8200CDQ
can be connected directly to the speakers.
If you have passive speakers - ones that need a power amplifier - you connect the 8300CDQ
to a stereo power amplifier or two mono power amplifiers and connect the output of that
to the loudspeakers.
Time to dive into the device under test.
The 8300CDQ is available in black and silver and weighs 6 kg.
It is 444 mm wide, 317 mm deep and 80 mm high.
On the left the front holds the slot loading cd-drive.
In the middle the display that indicates the input, sample rate, MQA status and - when
playing cd's - track and time.
The right half contains ten small buttons, the left six controlling the cd-drive and
selects the menu.
Further to the right the input select buttons and the volume up and down buttons.
A 6.3 mm headphone jack and a standby button can be found on the far right.
The rear holds an IEC mains connector with above
that the power button.
Then, further to the right, the unbalanced analog stereo outputs on RCA, the balanced
analog outputs on XLR*, three analog line inputs, digital outputs on RCA and Toslink,
two digital inputs on RCA, two digital inputs on TOSlink and a digital input on USB B socket.
That adds up to seven digital inputs and three analog inputs.
A trigger input and a pass-through facilitates automatic switching on of - for instance - power
amps.
It is rather crowded inside, as you can see.
The first thing I notice is the Toroidal transformer, meaning a linear power supply.
And not just a simple one.
At first glance, I already found 17 voltage regulators and countless capacitors.
Westlake loves separate voltage regulators per electronic circuits and it shows.
The DAC chip is the ESS 9018S.
Yes, I know there already is a 9029 and 9038 but please note this is not the mobile version
that you find in most DAC's.
It is the high spec S version.
And as I have said many times, it is the way that it's applied that brings the sound
quality.
Like for instance with a very clean clock signal and ditto voltage line.
That's what is used in this design so my expectations are high.
I had the player burn in for almost a week of 24/7 playback and since that happened this
time near my setup 1, I connected it instead of the Mytek Brooklyn using the SOtM sMS-200ultra
NEO as network bridge to feed the USB input on the Audiolab.
You can select inputs on the front or on the remote control.
In both cases you browse through the options until the wanted source is shown in the display.
I would have preferred discrete buttons for each input.
But the remote control is used for more products from the 8300 series: CD for this player,
A for the amplifier and N for the streamer, which is an advantage but it comes with compromises
too.
Like with the filter settings.
There are six filters of which three are uninteresting - at least to me.
The three Optimal Transient filters differ and it depended on the track played which
one I preferred.
It does mean that you have to step through all six filters to get back to the one you
were using.
For DSD playback you can select from four cut-off frequencies, depending on the sensitivity
of your amp to the HF noise the noise shaper used for DSD encoding.
Choices are between 47 to 70 kHz.
The maximum sampling rate over USB is 384 kHz for PCM and DSD256.
Over SPDIF and Toslink the maximum sampling rate is 192 kHz for PCM, DSD64 and 364 kHz
for MQA.
The first sounds impressed me.
The stereo image is wide and deep, equal to that of my Mytek Brooklyn with Syntaxx power
supply.
The same goes for the tonal balance, with the exception of the highs that are slightly
more present or less refined.
The real difference between the Brooklyn/Syntaxx combination and the Audiolab is in the transients.
Apparently, the reconstruction filters of the Brooklyn are clearly better in transient
response.
But the Brooklyn/Syntaxx combo costs over 3000 euros.
What if I would use the Brooklyn with its own power supply?
Now the Audiolab is clearly the winner, with the exception of the transients.
There the Brooklyn is king.
OK, now let's see what the difference is between the Audiolab as cd-player and as DAC,
driven from Roon over the SOtM.
My experience is that ICT technology is far superior in delivering bits than an optical
disc is when time is of the essence - as it is with digital audio.
I must say that the difference is rather small but it is there.
The Roon signal over the SOtM - ripped from the same cd - sounded somewhat more relaxed
and detailed than when playing the cd itself on the Audiolab.
But is far less than I have experienced in the past with other products.
The last thing to try out is to take the SOtM out of the equation.
In other words, what will happen if a less perfect signal is offered over USB?
So I connected my 8 years old MacBook Pro i7 with SSD drive, started up Roon and played
from that.
Although the sound quality was somewhat lower, especially the stereo image, it was not bad
at all.
I've heard a lot worse using the same laptop.
At 1500 euros you buy a fine sounding DAC, cd-player and pre-amp that also does MQA.
Lots of inputs and outputs make it easy to hook up the tv, the game console audio, network
bridge, computer and so on.
There even is a setting for the SPDIF and Optical inputs that make is less critical
for jittery sources.
The inputs used for high-quality sources - like a quality streamer - can be set to low bandwidth
to offer the highest quality.
Sources like game consoles and digital TV can be connected to inputs that have the bandwidth
set to high for better reliability and thus possible lower audio quality.
The Audiolab 8300CDQ is a quality product, offered at a good price.
If you are interested in other reviews like this, subscribe to my channel, or follow me
on social media, I will let you know when they're out.
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I am Hans Beekhuyzen, thank you for watching and see you in the next show or on theHBproject.com.
And whatever you do, enjoy the music.
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