Decco Integrated Amp $800
The Decco is a fantastic new, integrated amp designed
to give cutting edge, audiophile performance from music housed on your computer, OR your CD player. Its on board Scott Nixon DAC handshakes to your
computer via USB input port. It also has Coax & Toslink digital inputs to handshake to
your CD player. It runs $900 in cherry or rosewood. Nuts & Bolts It has a 6922 tube in the preamp. It has remote
control. The power amp section has 50 w/ch of gutsy, solid
state performance. The Decco weighs 24 pounds. The Decco has 2 analog inputs. The Decco has nice binding posts to connect to your
speakers. The Decco has preamp output jacks so you can run it
into a big power amp if you prefer. The Decco has a magnificent headphone amp within. The Decco has an EQ switch which allows you to bump up
your speakers +6dB at 50Hz. It does precisely what you want it to do- ramps up the bottom
end without disturbing the rest of the music. Of course the Decco sounds best with CDs you’ve
saved in uncompressed WAV files. But you’ll be amazed how good even 128-kbps files
sound! The Decco was designed to be THE PRODUCT for those of
us that spend a lot of time in our offices. Since it gives you great performance from your
computer music or modest CD player with digital out, it fills the bill nicely. When our Deccos arrived the first thing I wanted to
check out was how the DAC in the Decco compared to low end to moderate CD players. The NAD
CD player for $350, which is noted for being very smooth and palateable, has a Burr Brown
DAC, widely considered to be the best of mid-fi land. The comparison with the Decco can be
done quickly and decisively with a mere flip of a switch. The Decco’s DAC provided
clearer sound and significantly better attack. The dynamic contrast was clearly better
too. Playing Ingrid Fliter’s CD of Chopin’s Sonata #3, the Decco provided the
breath of fresh air that you’re accustomed to from a higher end system. Light. Quick,
Controlled & Airy. The NAD is thicker in the lower middle and has a bit of a bite on
top in comparison. It’s nice to hear the Decco can improve upon what has become the
standard bearer of affordable CD players for $350! Most of our customers are now storing some portion of
their music on their computers. That’s very convenient. But the sound quality of the
DAC in your computer or little Squeeze Box type product, isn’t very impressive. Decco takes all that work you’ve done and turns
it into great sound! Just connect it up to some
nice speakers and away you go.
Another part of Signal Path is the ERA line of
loudspeakers.
Two of the ERAs are little guys with absolutely huge sound! When you visit us to check out the Decco, you can check the ERAs as well! The ERA Design 4 runs $700pr. 9 5/8h, 5 3/4w, 6 3/4d The Design 3 has ¾” MDF cabinet. The Design 4
uses 1” MDF cabinet. Both use cast woofers and silk domed tweeters. The
Design 4 is significantly better, but the D3 is a nice surround or small office option. They’re available in black, cherry or rosewood.
ERAs are designed to play deep with no “bump” in the EQ to thump them up at
about 120 Hz. Consequently they’re cleaner in the low end than traditional speakers,
and less efficient. The Design 4 in particular is pretty enticing due to its uncolored
lower end. ERA avoids parallel cabinet walls in its design to further avoid bass sludge. |
