Musica Pristina A Cappella III - My Impressions and Review

I recently purchased the Musica Pristina A Cappella III music streamer to use with my PS Audio Directstream DAC. I wanted to leave my impressions after a month or so of use. I had searched for some time for a streamer and Roon endpoint that supported i2s which the A Cappella does. Another benefit with the A Cappella is the modular nature of the hardware and the upgradeability of its operating system. I communicated with Kevin Welsh, the developer, before and after the A Cappella arrived. Kevin is a super nice guy who patiently spent time walking me through setup and answering my questions. I could tell he really believes in his product, and genuinely cares that his customers are fully satisfied. You’re not going to get this level of access and help from other companies.

I have the silver model with galvanically isolated usb and i2s options. The A Cappella case really looks great and is solidly and well built. The streamer works perfectly in Roon, and you have the option to make some configuration changes by connecting to Cambio via Roon.

The first thing I noticed when listening with the A Cappella in the system was the drop in noise floor, the opening up of the soundstage and more accurate imaging. The presentation of the A Cappella is very musical and effortless, and vocals and instruments just sounded right. I’ve been astonished at the refinement and improvements that the A Cappella brought to my system. It’s an extremely capable and high quality streamer, and I’m totally satisfied with my purchase. I highly recommend the A Cappella III.

One last note. I upgraded the Directstream DAC’s firmware to Sunlight version a few days ago. The combination of the A Cappella and the new firmware has been outstanding. The music is exquisite, with a more expansive soundstage and pin point imaging. The Directstream DAC has never sounded better. I’ve been flabbergasted and gobsmacked at the level of improvement the new firmware and A Cappella have made.

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Hello James, that sounds promising.
I am on the hunt for a streamer or maybe a combined solution as well.
Till now I have been using a PF Streamer 3.4 with the PS Audio DSD as well as the Network Bridge II directly from the Nucleus+.
However, I have purchased a Holo May DAC KTE and want to step up the Streamer a little.
I am even considering solutions like Antipodes. May I ask if you are still convinced of the A Cappella and what else you can tell me about it?

Looking forward to your opinion,

Dirk

Hi Dirk,

i’ve been very happy with the A Cappella streamer. I actually have the KTE Holo May dac as well. I’ve used the A Cappella with both the PS Audio DS and May dacs with great results. The A Cappella is very quiet, and creates a sense of ease and musicality that blends well with both dacs.

The A Cappella has different settings for the DS and May dacs. You can configure and update the A Cappella through a website which you can access from Roon. Kevin, the owner and designer, is very responsive and helpful with setup questions. Kevin does periodically update the A Cappella firmware through the web. The usb output is galvanically isolated which is nice.

The A Cappella is on the expensive side, but it does offer a lot of output options. I bought it specifically for the i2s option as there are not many streamers yet that offer the i2s option. I was able to get a discount from Kevin as i already had Roon and only wanted the usb/i2s options. I think at the time i purchased it for around $3,750.

I also bought a Euphony Summus endpoint (not server). It was about $1000 cheaper and works well with Roon and the May dac using i2s. You can also run the Summus using the Euphony software if you dont want to use Roon.

On a side note, PS Audio are designing a streamer called the Airlens which will have i2s and usb. From forum discussions, it looks like the Airlens will cost about $2000. However, it’s unclear when it will be released. Probably a few more months of waiting.

If you dont plan to use i2s, then i recommend the opticalrendu. The opticalrendu is very easy to set up and to use. Sonore also sells a signature version but its much more expensive.

I think Antipodes is way too expensive for selling streamers and servers. I had considered Antipodes initially but i couldnt see spending all that money on a streamer.

Another thing to consider is to use the Roon DSP options to upsample your music. If you have a sufficiently powerful server (i7 or i9) you could upsample both the May and PS DS dacs. You will get better results through the Holo May. For the May, i only use the NOS setting and upsample through Roon. I dont use HQplayer.

I hope this helps.

Regards,
James