The New Perreaux Silhouette SXD2
USB compatible DAC for computer and hi-fi systems
While the iPod solves most of the worlds problems, it still requires a computer to load music on to it and more and more people have extensive music collections on their desk or laptop – Have you considered your computer as a serious hi-fi source?
Everyone enjoys great sound and wants a whole pile of music to listen to. And we also want value for money. Combining all three requests is quite an act but it can be done – and we will show you how.
Now you should know that I’m coming at this dilemma from two angles. First off I’m very hot on sound quality being a bit of an unreformed analogue record playing kinda guy who has been running a business for the sharp end of 20 years. Products like Meridian, Sonus faber and Perreaux are our bread and butter so we are working to what I hope you’ll think is a high standard. But I’m also on the end of an iMac for at least 6 hours of every day and love the elegance of the iPod and friendly nature of iTunes. But I have to admit the speakers on my iMac G5 sound truly pathetic and the direct analogue sound output is everything I deride in midfi. Therein lies the problem.
But like just about every computer out there, my iMac has USB output sockets. For those of you that try avoid knowing too much about the finer details of connection protocols I’ve keep it simple – USB is a broadly compatible, well proven format that uses a single cable to shift digital information between components like computers, printers and modems. And we can use it for audio too.
At the other end of the equation are our ears. These are, and always have been, completely analogue. All sound you hear is analogue and that cannot change. The art lies in converting music that is digitally stored and replayed from your computer to analogue you can listen to.
Perreaux have their roots firmly in analogue amplification. But like just about every modern hi-fi designing company they have had to embrace computers to design and build components. More and more products are extensively microprocessor controlled and obviously building CD players and home cinema related products requires a good amount of digital nous. Perreaux also benefit from taking on new young trainee designers who are more likely to listen to an iPod than an turntable. This all provides for a happy mix of history, experience and the willingness to take on new technology.
So you can see all the threads coming together
As part of the new Silhouette range of products, the SXD2 is a self contained Digital to Analogue converter featuring USB connection as well as the more conventional SPDIF input. It is aimed at a wide range of people and so is intentionally designed to be simple to connect and use, broadly compatible and most importantly to offer great sound for the money.
The real question is how well it actually succeeds at doing all this.
I’m a competent rather than cutting edge mac user but it took about 2 minutes to connect the new Perreaux and have it up and running. Simply plug the provided cable in any USB socket on the Mac, the other end in the Perreaux. This then connects to any amplifier via standard audio cables. Power up the SXD2, get iTunes up on the screen and press ‘play’ It’s that easy. No problems at all with the sound quality
OK – now we’ll work on getting the most out of the SXD2. The first thing is to ensure we are feeding it the best signal. Most people assume the iTunes plays just MP3s and that this limits quality. But Apple’s Lossless Encoding is a lot better than this (of course there are other lossless encoding systems out there for PCs) and the reality is that you have very nearly identical recordings to the original stored on disc, so the potential replay quality should be close to that of the original disc played on a good machine.
More about formats...
When you import a song into the iTunes library, the song is encoded and stored on your hard disk. The amount of space the file takes up depends on the song and the import settings that are chosen in iTunes preferences. The import settings also affect the audio quality of the imported song. Larger files take up more hard disk space, but generally sound better.
If you have a Macintosh computer with QuickTime 6.2 or later installed, or a Windows computer, the default encoding format is MPEG-4 AAC, a new, compressed format that rivals the sound quality of audio CDs. If you have an earlier version of QuickTime on your Mac, the default format is MP3 (or whatever you last chose in Importing preferences). You can play AAC files using iTunes and other applications that support QuickTime, and on your iPod. You can play MP3 files on your computer or most digital music players.
AAC-encoded files will sound as good as or better than MP3 files encoded at the same or even a higher bit rate. For example, a 128 kbps AAC file should sound as good as or better than a 160 kbps MP3 file. Because the bit rate is lower, the AAC file will also be smaller than the MP3 file. AAC files allow you to store the most music on your hard disk or iPod. The High Quality AAC setting creates files that are usually less than 1 MB for each minute of music. The High Quality MP3 setting creates files that are about 1 MB in size for each minute of music.
The AIFF and WAV encoders do not compress the songs. AIFF and WAV are very high quality files that are several times larger than AAC or MP3 files and take up a large amount of hard disk space (about 650 MB per CD or 10 MB per minute of music). Songs imported using the Apple Lossless encoder offer the same quality as AIFF or WAV, but they take up about half the size (about 5 MB per minute of music). Files encoded using the Lossless encoder can be played in iTunes, applications that support QuickTime, and iPods that come with a Dock connector.
If you plan to burn high-quality audio CDs with the songs you’re importing, you should use the Apple Lossless or AIFF encoder for the best results. (The Apple Lossless encoder uses the least room on your hard disk, but AIFF files can be played in more applications.) The WAV encoder is primarily for use with Windows computers that are not using iTunes, or computers that do not have MP3 software. You can fit the same number of songs on an audio CD whether you use Apple’s Lossless, AIFF, or WAV when you import the songs into iTunes, but the songs will take up less space on your hard disk if you use the Apple Lossless encoder
Perreaux do supply a standard 2m USB cable but it is worthwhile to consider a step up in this regard, especially if a different length will suit you better. It will make a difference.
One of the reasons the SXD2 sounds as it does is the attention paid to the power supply. Rather than some cheap outboard wall wart. A specially developed toroidal transformer with 3 separate secondary windings is at the heart of the design. Then five regulated power supplies are employed with digital and analogue sections carefully separated to avoid an interference or noise.
The digital signal is automatically up-sampled by the SXD2 – 4x to be precise up to a maximum of 192 kHz. This is a good thing but requires both correct implementation and a good overall design. But if you want a complete explanation of upsampling take this link.
Now we should also point out that the Perreaux is not just for USB – there is also a switched coaxial SPDIF input which accepts PCM digital streams up to 192 kHz and 24 bit allowing the SXD2 to be employed as an upgrade for existing CD players, DVD and multiformat high resolution formats such as DVD-A. This is of particular interest to anyone that has reservations about the sound of their DVD player not being that great when playing music CDs. Or feels that their home cinema system is compromising their enjoyment of music.
The SXD2 has a single pair of RCA output sockets which you will connect to your amplifier – or a pair of powered active speakers. You can really make a big difference to performance here by selecting good quality interconnects. We have a strong preference for Slinkylinks and Eichmann but feel free ask us about alternatives, if length is an issue.
You may wish to control the volume on your system via your computer (iTunes does this) in which case powered speakers or a separate power amp and speaker combination will be fine. Connection to an integrated amplifier will off er more flexibility. Of course Perreaux have their elegant little SA25i which is precisely the same diminutive size as the SXD2 and as you can imagine this is a very happy little combination offering simplicity, style and sound quality.
One of the reasons my iMac sounds so woeful (all computers do – let’s not kid ourselves) are the ratty little speakers. Please, please consider getting speakers that have a fighting chance of realising the potential of the Perreaux. Do do otherwise is really just punishing yourself needlessly. Even the smallest office should have room for a pair of the Image 401 Monitors which would be an ideal starting point.
There are really two groups of people that are going to appreciate what the Perreaux can do. If you work from home or have an office then it does a whole lot for your state of mind to have good quality music and sound so SXD2 will be at the heart of a small system – quite probably with either a SX25i or pair of powered speakers attached for your own personal enjoyment. Then there are recreational computer users who will often be downloading and burning CDs and will find the Perreaux provides the ideal way of connecting to a larger system – maybe even for distribution to a number of rooms.
It’s also worth remembering that for those who have a disc player (CD or DVD) that they are happy with but want to improve upon by capitalising on better conversion technology and up-sampling – the Perreaux has a conventional SPDIF RCA input. We often get requests for DACs for just this purpose, so the Perreaux should be high on the list – an don’t forget that the SXD2 deals with higher bit rate formats which trade in units are unlikely to be compatible with.
In every case it is all about better sound...
The SXD2 is affordable and good value – the outward build quality is flawless. And although we don’t encourage it, if you lift the lid you’ll find a well packed board with numerous high quality components which shows just how much work has gone into this design and provides an indication of its sonic capabilities. We’ve connected the SXD2 to a number of different systems and have yet to find a problem – it does exactly what it is supposed to do without fuss or bother. The sound is much better than a direct connection from the computers audio outputs and on par with any of our good value CD and DVD players for similar price or even more. It’s a cool little component that will change the way you listen to music.
By now you’ll have a good idea as to if the Perreaux is a worthwhile addition to your system so it’s time to get your hands on one. Unlike many other components the Perreaux is both compact and bullet proof so we can happily send you one quickly and at no added cost no matter where you are*. We also understand that you will want to make sure that it actually does what we say it does so we are able to offer a simple 30 day right of return. Why not call or drop us an e mail and we can go over any remaining questions you may have.