Raymond Li of ADL beckoned me over theADL table. I’m pretty sure he waggled his eyebrows when he said that the GT40 had just been updated (now called “GT40 Alpha”) — the ADC/DAC USB paths were now fully 24bit/192kHz. “See?” He seemed to say. “ADL is on top of it.”And they are. I don’t really need an analog-to-digital recorder, myself, but I can see where that would be tempting. I actually do have a giant Blue microphone — you know, for those late-night crooning sessions that somehow, even after all those expensive lessons, still sound like throttling penguins — so I can see where this is kind of a big deal. Oh, and all you I-must-archive-my-LP folks — here’s a way to finally capture the full(er) glory of those LP majesties. For the rest of us, however, $550 seems pretty reasonable for a USB DAC. The fact that it has a “phono stage” (both MM and MC, courtesy of the ADC input), is remarkable.Shown here with the ADL H128 ($470), the pair makes for a rather compelling sub-$1k system that is not only simple to use, but rather comfortable — and yes, it sounds great.
Affordable, portable audio? Yes, yes it is. I’m going to have to look harder at this brand and soon.
