The X3 proved it could be nimble and nuanced when the music called for it, and it could also sound big and bold on music with lots of dynamic content. Jamoriqaui's 2010 high-energy album, Rock Dust Light Star, has deep, funky bass lines, heavy beats, and great hooks. The X3-DAC provided flawless low end muscle and overall excitement to these excellent songs. In a word, there was tons of groove factor.

As I varied the program material, I learned the X3 was capable of so much more. For instance, switching over to more intimate music showed how nuanced and delicate the X3-DAC could be. The band Arborea, consisting of a husband and wife duo, make gorgeous, mind-bending folk and gothic influenced soundscapes with just voice, guitar, and various exotic instruments. The X3-DAC allowed the intimacy of the pair’s albums to shine through, and yet allowed the music to sound spacious when the mix became denser.

I used the X3-DAC’s USB input with my Windows 7 laptop running Jriver 18. After a quick driver install, it sounded excellent, was plug and play, and handled all sample rates up to 192 Khz. I should mention the TosLink input had no problem with all sample rates, as I made sure to stream albums at 44.1, 88.2, 96 and 192 Khz. As side note, I feel that DAC models over $1000 that don’t do 192 Khz on all inputs are not really being competitive in the marketplace, and Rein has that covered.

I tested all five digital filters available on the X3-DAC. It was very close, but I found myself using filter 2 most of the time. None of the filters sounded bad, mind you, and selecting a filter, which are very subtle in their differences, will be a matter of taste. While not essential, filters are a bonus if you are a born tweaker.

Conclusion

The audiophile DAC market is super crowded and super competitive. With so many models to choose from with varying connectivity, feature sets, resolution capabilities, and looks, standing out is a tough task. Just like the PS Audio NuWave DAC, I believe the Rein Audio X3-DAC does stand out from the crowd due to its superb sonics and impressive feature set. I am big fan of optional upsampling and 192 Khz resolution across all inputs. Also, for this user, sample rate display is a must. Rein has those boxes checked. As far as selectable digital filters, I can live without them, but they are a nice plus.

Comments

Add New | Search

Write comment
Name:
Email:
Website:
Title:
	Please input the anti-spam code that you can read in the image.

3.26 Copyright (C) 2008 Compojoom.com / Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

---

Like this article? Bookmark and share with any of the sites below.