HiVi, one of most powerful HiFi magazines in Japan, has announced its Winter 2015 Best Buy Awards. The exaSound e22 Mark II DAC won 1st prize in the DA converter category.
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Toronto ON — exaSound Audio Design, manufacturer of innovative, exceptional fidelity audio products, announced today the second generation of their model e22 and e28 digital–to–analog converters (DACs). The e22 and e28 Mark II include both firmware and hardware improvements.
"...In so many respects it is absolutely first class." Hi-Fi Choice Recommended
"...As soon as I got home after picking up the e22 I connected the digital output from my Meridian 508 CD player to the e22's digital in. I put on a CD by The Bad Plus and flipped back and forth between CD and e22 (after making sure the output levels were the same). I've always been happy with the Meridian 508, but right away I heard some interesting differences. Where the e22 was clean and crisp, the 508 had some "bloom" that I hadn't noticed before - especially in the lower frequencies. I also noticed that the e22 excels at 3D spatial placement, with a lot of front/back information...."
"...I invited some friends over the other night. They thought I'd have a new library of hi-def music for them to hear. And I have purchased quite a few DSD and 24-bit PCM downloads in the last month, but in the end I just played stuff I liked. Some of it was hi-def, and the jaws of my friends dropped to suitable positions, but for most of the night we listened to tracks ripped from my CD collection. I'm not trying to say the red-book material sounded as good as the hi-def downloads. We could all hear and appreciate the difference. My point is that thanks to the e22 we had a great time listening to music. And shouldn't that be the goal of any "high end" audio component?..."
"... Just thought I'd drop you line to tell you that I am loving the e22! I will certainly not be sending it back to you, as it seems to be getting better each day... Many thanks for a great product!"
"The sound was quite the best I’ve experienced from DSD"