North Star Essensio Plus (£1250)

摘要

North Star Design's new 'Plus' version of its Essensio DAC employs the same architecture as the model we tested last July. It also has the same suite of inputs, the price premium of £280 buying a headphone amplifier built-in and a digital volume control. You can drive a power amp or active speakers directly - assuming a digital-source-only system, as there are no analogue inputs provided. Its IR handset provides remote control input switching, volume control, standby on/off and mute. USB Audio Class 2.0 drivers are included on a CD-ROM to allow 32-bit/192kHz data transfer via USB.