AV Designs again have hosted a launch event for TAD (Technical Audio Devices) Lab Inc latest Evolution Series disc player and DAC, appropriately named as the TAD-D1000 and TAD-DA1000. The event was held at their showroom in Rohas Perkasa on Thursday, 21st Jan 2014.
The event was a semi-formal affair with the attendance of the usual Malaysian faces of audiophille, journalists and bloggers. The event was graced by the attendance of Mr. Takahashi of Pioneer/TAD Malaysia. He emphasized that TAD is very proud with this latest product as it was built for accuracy in music reproduction which came from an engineered approach. It is to deliver a natural and realistic musical experience.
A brief info sharing of TAD history was given by Ryan Lee, their sales and marketing executive. TAD was established in 1975 to develop professional level speakers or monitors. As it grows to develop other products for domestic market, TAD still is well known across the world for its accuracy in reproducing sound in over 200 professional sites. Capitol Records, Pixar, Walt Disney are some of the famous places that employs TAD products for their studios. George Michael, RHCP, Coldplay and Michael Buble are some of the big name artists that uses TAD in their album recording works.
And of course, their products have been highly reviewed by What HiFi, Stereophile and Techradar magazines to name a few.
Some of the key main features:
1. A newly developed unltra high carrier to noise ratio master clock UPCG
2. DAC circuit equipped with Burr Brown PCM1794A
3. A-synch USB transmission engine that faitfully reproduces high res sound sources up to 32 bit, 384 kHz.
4. Aluminium chassis and structure with low COG to minimise effect of external vibrations
5. A proprietary large sized toriodal PSU enables effortless playback of sounds with fast attack
6. Unique CD mechanism for outstanding precision loading and quietness
7. Simple and high sound quality system configuration made possible through a line output volume function in the DA1000
8. The DAC also comes as a headphone ampilfier with dedicated volume function.
The 2 products were then jointly launched by Mr. Takahashi (Pioneer), Mr. James Tan and Mr. Tony Low (AV Designs).
After that, it was all musical pleasure. James Tan demonstrated the capabilities of these 2 items. 4 tracks were played, first straight from the CD player into the full TAD system. Then it was followed by feeding the CD player to the DAC. Most of the audience were in consensus that the sound via the DAC was more luscious. Eventhough its the same DAC chip in both the CD player and DAC, the latter still sounded more appealing.
Overall, it is true what Mr. Takahashi said that its all about naturalness and realistic. Strumming of guitar sounded sharp and detail was given on every chord, the hollowness of the bass drum on one of the tracks can actually be heard and vocals were extremely mesmerizing with sweetness and lusciousness. There was also a complex piece arangement on one of the tracks but the CD player and DAC had no issues in detailing the multiple instrument piece.
I have seen and heard a few hifi equipments that has a price tag that can make a person goes 'You got to be kidding me'.... and even if I do have the dough, I will not purchase it. But this is one product that I believe is priced appropriately. You get a lot from it.... the built, the estatic design, the sound quality....just pure musical pleasure.... I love it.... But I still can't afford it :)
The D1000 disc player is priced at RM 66,999 and the DA1000 DAC is priced at RM56,999 and can be auditioned and purchased only from the sole distributor of TAD in Malaysia... at AV Designs in Bangunan Rohas Perkasa, Kuala Lumpur.
If you are into high end equipments and sound but dont want to hit that RM 6 digits territorry, have a listen to these 2 items. You will be surprised....but just be carefull that you might extremely mesmerized and you will just swipe that credit card to purchase one :)
Other information on the specifications are as below:
