Q the Music: Q-DAC and M-PWR are here!
Audiolab is set to add two exciting new components to its compact LAB Series: the Q-DAC, a new D/A converter based squarely on the highly acclaimed M-DAC but set at a lower price point, and the M-PWR, a matching power amp that oozes quality despite its diminutive form.
Since its launch in the autumn of 2011, the £600 M-DAC has earned a plethora of awards for its exceptional performance, helping it to become Britain’s best-selling premium DAC. The new Q-DAC is developed from the same circuit design, removing some of its sibling’s less essential features whilst maintaining critical performance elements, thus enabling its retail price to be reduced by a third.
Like the M-DAC, the new Q-DAC serves not only as a superlative DAC but, if the user so desires, as a high-quality digital preamp and headphone amp, too. Given an SRP of just £399.95, the quality of its internal architecture is exceptional, with top-spec components including the ESS Saber32 D/A converter chip, a 32-bit processor that excels in handling the full bit depth and ultrasonic extension of high-resolution audio files with incredible precision and accuracy. This highly regarded high-end chip is usually only found in much more expensive DACs; indeed, the Q-DAC is the most affordable product on the market to use it.
The key ways in which Q-DAC differs from M-DAC are as follows:
- Simpler display (M-DAC has a larger OLED display)
- Analogue outputs – RCA only (M-DAC also has balanced XLR)
- Digital inputs – 1x optical; 1x coaxial; 1x USB (M-DAC has 2x optical; 2x coaxial; 1x USB)
- No remote control
- Slightly different ESS Sabre32 DAC chip (9016 instead of 9018)
Like the M-DAC, the USB input is asynchronous – data is regulated by the Q-DAC’s high-performance master clock, rather than by the computer at the source, thus helping to minimise jitter (digital distortion). Triple cascaded jitter attenuation stages further ensure that jitter is essentially eradicated whatever the source, while the high-current, high-linearity Class A output stage and headphone amp deliver the best possible signal quality to a power amp or pair of headphones.
The Q-DAC’s USB and coaxial inputs handle data up to and including 24-bit/192kHz (24-bit/96kHz via the optical input), and like the M-DAC it sports seven digital filter settings, enabling the listener to tailor the sound to suit his or her taste, or the nature of the recording. In terms of sound quality, the Q-DAC comes extremely close to the M-DAC, delivering around 98 per cent of the performance for only two-thirds of the cost.
Also new to Audiolab’s LAB Series is the M-PWR – a compact stereo power amp designed to be the perfect partner for either the Q-DAC, or the M-DAC. Both these DACs incorporate preamp functionality, enabling the user to switch between digital music sources and adjust volume levels; all you need to add in order to create a diminutive yet enormously capable digital music system is an M-PWR and a suitable pair of speakers.
The M-PWR incorporates both single-ended RCA and balanced XLR inputs, and supplies 40W per channel into eight ohms. Despite its conveniently compact footprint – 25cm wide and 23.6cm deep, in keeping with the other LAB Series components – Audiolab has engineered an uncompromised circuit design that delivers ultra-low distortion and a crisp, dynamic sound.
Of course, the M-PWR is not only suitable for use with the Q-DAC and M-DAC. It can be connected to anything with a volume control: for example, a preamplifier, a CD player with a variable output (Audiolab’s 8200CDQ, for instance) or even the headphone output of a computer.
Whether used individually or partnered together, Audiolab’s new Q-DAC and M-PWR are perfectly suited to modern digital music collections, be they stored on a computer, tablet or phone, or on ‘old fashioned’ optical discs. Delivering exemplary sound quality brimming with scale, detail and dynamic verve, they make music come alive like nothing else in their class.
Both components are available from June in a choice of silver (natural aluminium) or classic Audiolab black, with SRPs of £399.95 (Q-DAC) and £499.95 (M-PWR).