Leema USB DAC to be demonstrated at Bristol show
Leema "Essentials USB DAC to be demonstrated at Bristol show"
Anyone at the fair with more info? Size, prize?
How many DACs exist on the market? 200? 'All that glisters is not gold', 'Brave new world'
The fifth elements: The German tests focus a lot on the hw, compared to British sound focused reviews. Therefore, I have a little hard to get a grip on the sounds character. They are compared to the "Mini Cooper S" compact car, however that can be translated into some kind of sound.
2*56W (8 ohm)
2*75W (4 ohm)
The Elements will be reviewed in HiFi-Choice July, will be interesting to see if it is a hit or miss.
The Elements Phono is already established as a class amplifier.
My Elements DAC arrived last week and I am very happy with it. It's connected via USB to my iMac. It has revealed detail in my favourite music that I hadn't noticed before and it has added depth and height to the soundstage.
Hi Doc,
are all the CD's enjoyable via the DAC or is it monitor style?
Br
I've tried a variety of different genres of music from classical to dance and they've all been great. I should point out that the music is all ripped to Apple Lossless.
Saw Leema today in Munich - they say the Elements DAC is flying. Rightly so, from the listen I had!
They also previewed an Elements Power Amplifier, plus confirmed they're bringing back the Xen speaker, due to popular demand.
Company is thriving in UK and abroad - great news for a British brand 
Leema seems to be strong in the German / Dutch market. Probably wise to find a market in Europe. I understand that Audiolab MDAC is using class A amps to heighten the sound, but have yet not grasped why the Leema DAC technically should be better than the run of the mill DAC.
And by the way, don't miss the 2012 Ice Hockey World Championship in Finland / Sweden!
Mallory from Leema gave me a brilliant technical explanation why their DAC is special; short story: very complex design. I will encourage him to blog something on their site, if it isn't already!
They used a number of DAC's in their CD players and even the cheaper ones I think use 2 pairs or something like that with one pair in dual differential configuration I believe.
More complex is not always better. I can't comment on sound on any of the above but when one of Leema's players was measured it was below what is possible with todays technology. As it happens, in the subjective listening test it fared very well. It leads me to believe there was some deliberate engineering to make it sound the way it did, rightly or wrongly but it was not as accurate as others. Oddly enough, the same result in one of the mags for the Audiolab CD player. Seems that complexity does not equal good measurement which in turn does not equal bad sound but it seems removed of what is possible technically with these chips.
Leema's unique selling point for their digital sources/DAC's just happens to be the use of multiple DAC's. I really dont know if that technically adds anything that can't be achieved with a far simpler solution, especially as modern DAC boards have been quoted as being very good the way they come.
Other manufacturers use different topologies. They all have their own take but I like the look of Leemas more expensive products if that counts.
regards
Erm, more DACS/less DACS, complicated/simple. No idea, have no knowledge of electronics but the question in my mind is "what does it sound like?" Is it worth buying over other makes?
... the question in my mind is "what does it sound like?" ...
Don't be silly, does that matter?
regards
Err, sorry, silly me. It was rather late last night when I wrote that and I was just chilled out a bit too much listening to music when I should have been in bed trying to go to sleep by counting DACs jumping over electronic gates.
Picture of the Leema USB DAC:
http://www.theaudiobeat.com/sound_vision2012/leema.htm
Anyone who can recommend a pair of active speakers?