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Audio Note 4.1x Balanced Signature - First Impressions

Posted by GliderGuider (A) on December 10, 2003 at 06:03:31

One of the things I’ve realized as I built up my system over the last six months is just how hard it is to review components objectively when you’re on a constant upward path. Every time I make a major upgrade, the new component seems like the greatest thing since sliced bread. It’s surprisingly difficult to find faults in a component that’s significantly better than you’re used to. No matter that you know intellectually that nothing made by man is perfect, it’s surprisingly hard to bring your critical faculties to bear when you’re being “blown away”.

This being the case, I decided not to formally review my new Audio Note 4.1x. Rather than try and disguise my enthusiastic ravings under a transparent skin of “objectivity” I think the best thing I can do is post some very preliminary impressions. Please take them for what they are - simply the effusions of a delighted audiophile rather than any kind of canonical pronouncements.

I’ve been using an Audio Note 3.1x Balanced DAC for the last four months. It has been a steadfast musical friend, always living up to my expectations. In that time the rest of the system grew up around it, so I decided to cap my recent audiophile growth with the purchase of a 4.1x Balanced Signature. The new DAC was duly ordered, and in addition to the usual Signature upgrades, Peter Q graced the unit with a design change – replacing the output stage tubes (5687’s) with NOS Telefunken 6463’s. Now I’m no tube maven, so when PQ says these tubes sound much better I figure it’s best to take him at his word. Thanks, Peter.

I picked the DAC up last night, and was able to spend about an hour listening to it. As you can see, these are extremely preliminary impressions, covering only those aspects of the sound that were immediately apparent. I figure the DAC has had a max of 10 hours play between the factory and my dealer's home. Given all the BG caps in it there's a ton of burn-in yet to happen. As time goes by the DAC will settle in and I’ll become more intimately familiar with the sound. For now, I’ll paint the picture with a wide brush and broad strokes.

Right from the get-go, even through cold amps, it outclassed my 3.1x Balanced by a wide margin. My dealer was right in his comment to me yesterday - the Audio Note house sound is there. It shares with its little brother an organic naturalness, a sense of openness and ease. Where they part company is in how fully those traits are expressed. There's a tremendous sense of presence, confidence and eloquence (thanks for the word, Bob) to the sound of the 4.1x.

This seems to be the consequence of a number of characteristics working together. The first one is the utter blackness of the background, from which images stand out as if carved from marble. The second one is the resolution, which gives those images a level of detail I've never experienced before. The third is the complexity of the dynamic shading - macro and micro - that lets the music breathe, and gives an utterly convincing picture of how the musicians are thinking and feeling about their performance. The last one is a remarkable degree of bottom-end extension that gives a very necessary foundation to the music.

All this adds up to a breathtaking sense of realism. I thought my 3.1x was good, and it is. But I'm left with the feeling that while it's a really (really!) good DAC, the 4.1x is more of a musical concierge who whistles up a taxi and sends the musicians home with you :-)

The only characteristic I can hear that I know is going to be ameliorated by burn-in is a wee tinge of hardness in the upper mids. I know that's not the only thing that's going to change over the coming months as the DAC settles in, but for the life of me I can't imagine how it can get much better than this!

Finally, here’s an amusing anecdote. To start the burn-in I had put the transport on repeat last night, and before I headed for work this morning I went in to check on it. I heard the faint sound of music from the system, even though the amps were stone cold. It was coming from the DAC! According to an earlier post by Peter Q on the Asylum, this is an artefact of the transformers resonating. I’d never heard it on my 3.1, but there it was – low volume, high fidelity. I was reminded of Chris Redmond’s flight of fancy back then - tiny musicians living in the box, running frantically to their miniscule microphones as the track index from the CD flashes up on a tiny computer screen.

Living with this piece of gear is going to be one grand musical adventure!

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

Schiit Audio

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