Back in July, Gordon dropped a hint that he was developing a new DAC called the Crimson. He told me that a number of his customers were interested in a USB DAC that could go beyond the Cosecant in performance. He spent about 9-10 months developing this product, and modifying it until the desired performance was obtained.
Listening was done with a PC using the WMP 11 with the Burwen Bobcat, Foobar, and J. River Media 12 Beta. I also played the Crimson with a new MacBook Pro using iTunes.
I have enjoyed using the Cosecant since purchasing one from Don Better Audio (an excellent guy to do business with) back in June. The Cosecant’s strongest virtue was its balance or sense of neutrality. It basically got the timbre of the instruments correct. It was extremely musical in its presentation with a wide soundstage. The Cosecant was not state-of-the-art in focus or definition, but was very enjoyable to listen to.
The Crimson has proved to be a totally different experience from that of the Cosecant.
The most obvious virtue of the Crimson is an engaging pure midrange that grabs your attention. It has a greater sense of ease and bloom, being more forward in its presentation than the Cosecant midrange. It is if a veil has been lifted relative to the Cosecant. I have never heard such a grain-free midrange from any digital product I have owned. And folks, I have owned many big buck items. Not only is it grain-free, but it is highly detailed. CD after CD played from my hard drive resulted in a totally new listening experience.
The second virtue is that the Crimson excels in is the reproduction of the soundstage. Like the Cosecant, it has a wide expansive stage, but unlike the Cosecant, it is able to resolve front-to-back depth. An example: the 1st cut of the CD Zorro has a trumpet that plays in the background. On the Cosecant it sounds slightly hard. On the Crimson, it is well defined and placed in the rear of the acoustic environment with no hardness to the sound. Many CDs that I thought were poor recordings were really due to limitations in the playback equipment. Another interesting side note: I found that I did not have to use an enhancement program like the Burwen Bobcat with the Crimson. While the Bobcat seemed to enhance my listening experience with the Cosecant, with the Crimson, it robbed the music of subtle detail and spatial cues, as well as blunted the micro-dynamics of voices and instruments.
The bass on the Crimson is tighter and better defined than the Cosecant. It does not have the ultimate slam of my Esoteric UX-1, but actually sounds more real. The highs are detailed, but not hard. They also seem faster than those of the Cosecant with better transient detail.
Gordon has told me that the Crimson has lower noise measurements than the Cosecant; a greater sense of “black” background is perceived.
The final area the Crimson excels in is the reproduction of dynamics, both macro and micro. The Crimson displays subtle dynamic changes in voice and instrument that the Cosecant is unable to do.
Gordon Rankin has done a great job in advancing computer audio playback with his new DAC. Obviously, it is not for everyone, but hopefully it will grab the attention of audiophiles that feel computer audio is inferior to that of traditional CD players.
We all know better.
Steve
