Something new from Elac

An interesting streamer/Roon endpoint and DAC/preamp -

Looks like a nineties era Rega tuner.

What’s old is new.

Hmmh … I’ve been waiting for something like this. I’ll have to see price first though . . .

AudioAdvisor has it in their catalog and on their website for $2500.

Supposedly, available the end of January.

$2500 is a bit pricey for me. However, I’ll still be watching this. I do want to get a pre-amp that includes a Roon endpoint at some point.

I definitely prefer the aesthetics on the current Alchemy to the older models . . .

Agreed on the aesthetics.

I plan to audition one, depends on what the DAC chip is and on the device’s galvanic isolation, power supply, etc., etc.

As to the price, look at it this way people, spend $600-$1000 on over-priced streamers. For this money you get a streamer with Roon built in and an up-sampling DAC and pre-amp.

I think we will see more at this price point. Witness the excellent iFi Pro iDSD.

Definitely a lot of variables out there to look at. If the unit is good - $2500 is something I could afford.

Due to the lack of places to review stereo equipment near me, I would probably first wait for a few reviews to roll in before going on a stereo safari to track down a unit to listen to . . .

1 Like

Hmmmm.

I shall diggeth a little

1 Like

Stereo safari.

Love it, may I borrow the phrase?!

Borrow away.

I really like Dark Audio BTW!

Its sister site Darko Audio is quite good too :blush:

Thank you - the credit must go to John, I’m hanging onto his coat tails at the moment!

I’ve emailed him about it, we shall see…that’s one powerful matching power amp by the way - 325w into 8 Ohms, and it’s the same size as the DAC /pre/streamer.

Well, it is definitely hard to be clever when your spelling lets you down!

I’m definitely interested in the Alchemy products and will watch Dark-O Audio for a review or two.

Thanks

Can’t promise but fingers crossed

Howdy Slim. To replace Pro iDSD? That should be the last DAC you ever need! :grin:

Btw: have you emailed iFi to request Pro iDSD be Roon Ready certified? Lots of people have asked them. Won’t hurt to have more people continuously asking. They haven’t flat out rejected it, which tells me it may be technically possible. On the other hand, they have flat out rejected Chromecast endpoint (probably needs Chromecast specific hardware inside and it’s probably too late for that now)

1 Like

Yeah, I’m in talks with iFI. I’ll throw that request into the mix.

Can’t have too many shiny objects.:slightly_smiling_face:

1 Like

Problems?

Yup, some friendly pressure from more people can never hurt.

The unit has a few quirks and warts that are mainly just an aggravation. Probably fixed by firmware.

While I’m making requests, I’ll request they make the unit a Roon endpoint. The Teac 505 is not an endpoint now, but that’s promised in a firmware update, so it can be done by updating firmware. Maybe Pro iDSD is the same.

I think I mentioned previously but if you run the latest stable release, v1.60, it’s pretty free of any issues.

The beta v2.0 firmware (with MQA) has issues (beyond MQA) but that’s why it’s a beta.

Double check what version you have. You can’t download v1.6 from the website - you need to request it from iFi Support at the moment.

v1.6 firmware has been rock solid for me.

And don’t assume your unit came with v1.6. There’s been a few firmware jumps between v1.5 and v1.60. Best to check and if you don’t have 1.6 ask iFi for it. Very easy to update the firmware.

Yeah, support told me the same thing. I installed the release they pointed me too (not MQA), but it didn’t change anything.

I’ve got some errands to run, but I want to pick your brains later with a PM.

1 Like