Unison Research Unico CDE

I have purchased this beautiful machine one year ago in France and use it both as a CD player and more frequently as a DAC converter from the optical output of a Denon Ethernet tuner, plugged in analog into a Luxman LV107u amp, sourcing a pair of JBL Project Array 1000 dream speakers. The ensemble It is just beautiful according to my standard: round, smooth, warm, slightly colored and emphatic but that's the sound I love for anything music from the 50s to the 90s (nothing after that...). The tubes from both the Unico and the Lux marry very well together. The Unico CDE itself is a very smart-looking piece of equipment, very elegantly designed in Italy and is a real pleasure to use all day long. I have recently purchased the optional DAC converter which I greatly, greatly recommend. It brings an additional touch of class to the sound, more dynamics, rich and profound bass and a sensation of undisputed upgrade which definitely deserves the 200 or so dollars/euro. Please note that the Unico requires a few days of continuous playing before its sound reveals to its full potential. And finally the Italian service desk was a pleasure to deal with. All thumbs up for my experience with this wonderful Unico, I'm in love with that machine and would definitely buy it again.

I couldn't agree more with this review. The CDE definitely needs half an hour's warm up to come on song, but when it does it's sublime.