REVIEW
HI-FI WORLD
Finding one’s Voce
W
hen designing a digital
audio product like a
streamer, CD player
or DAC it’s com-
mon to use bought-
in components to
perform the critical function of
converting digital data into analogue.
Companies like Burr-Brown/TI,
Cirrus, ESS, Analog Devices and
Wolfson specialise in designing chips
for this task, pouring millions of dol-
lars into their development.
But some companies prefer to
design their own digital converters
in-house. In the UK, the best known
are Chord Electronics and dCS with
their Ring DAC (they also came up
with DoP), whilst Prism Audio take
a hybrid approach, hitching circuitry
to specific sections of a commercial
DAC chip.
And now, from Italy, we have
the mysterious Aqua (‘Acoustic
Quality’), who hail from Milan.
Their £3,395 La Voce DAC I am
reviewing here. In appearance it's
very much the archetypical audiophile
product – substantial build quality,
and an elegant aluminium frontage
sporting the bare minimum of
controls (power, input selection
and digital-phase inversion). La Voce
is the entry level model in a range
HI-FI WORLD AUGUST 2018 www.hi-fiworld.co.uk
Martin Pipe examines a very unusual
DAC from Italy.
that boasts a range of interesting
concepts – modular construction,
electromagnetic isolation of the
DAC circuitry with Optologic, the
rejection of op-amps in the signal
path, specially-developed timing
chains and much more...
La Voce, now into its ‘S3’
incarnation, represents the most
cost-effective way of buying into
this approach. Previous DAC boards
available for La Voce include DAC
chips like the Burr-Brown PCM1704,
Analog Devices AD1865 and even
the Philips TDA1541A. But now the
La Voce has its own incarnation of
an Aqua-developed multi-bit DAC
that is fashioned from discrete
components and underpins the firm’s
more exclusive La Scala (£5,990) and
Formula xHD (£11,990) converters.
It uses a technique, known as the
‘R-2R ladder’, that harks back to the
very early days of digital-to-analogue
conversion. At 16 or 24-bit resolution
it’s difficult to achieve required
precision, meaning non-linearity – in
other words, distortion. In stereo,
channels commonly differ for the
same reason.
Modern delta-sigma DACs have
addressed the problem, but practical
DACs built around discrete R-2R
ladders remain available – there are
at least three other firms (MSB, Holo
Audio and Denafrips) making them.
Claimed reproductive advantages
include a more immediate and open
character.
La Voce, like its siblings, has
that proprietary AQlink among its
four inputs. The other three are
‘modular’ (the review sample was
fitted with an XLR for AES/EBU,
although alternatives like optical can
be specified), S/PDIF (BNC, rather
than phono) and ‘bit-perfect’ USB for
Class 2 computer audio. Analogue
outputs are available in balanced XLR
and unbalanced phono form.
True to Aqua’s word, the
analogue audio circuitry relies on
transistors rather than op-amps for
its capacitor-free signal path. Separate
power supplies – each fed from a
dedicated toroidal mains transformer
– are provided for the analogue and
digital sections. There’s no means
(front-panel LEDs, etc.) of confirming
sample rate of the currently-selected
source. La Voce is compatible with
DSD64 and DSD128 (all inputs
support DoP), and PCM all the way
to 384kHz/24-bit. No MQA, though.
SOUND QUALITY
I used the Cambridge CXN V2
streamer I review elsewhere in this

At bottom-right is the R-2R DAC board - count those resistors!
Underneath it is a powerful DSD chip that does decoding and
conversion of serial data into the parallel form needed by the
DAC section.
issue (connected to La Voce via
coaxial digital) and a USB-interfaced
Windows 7 PC as sources. You have
to download the Windows drivers,
which also include a control panel
program, from the Aqua website.
Regrettably, there’s nothing in the
rather-inadequate manual to explain
how to set up playback software
like Foobar2000 (free) and JRiver
Media Center (commercial) for use
with the La Voce. I couldn’t find any
information on the firm’s website,
either.
Output was fed to an Arcam
A49 integrated amplifier, driving
a pair of Quadral Aurum Wotan
VIII floorstanders – I also used
headphones.
Test results for La Voce are
not inspiring, but in my view it’s
worth moving to a DAC that
measures relatively-poorly if there’s a
perceptible sonic advantage.
And La Voce definitely delivers
that! One thing this converter has
above all else is energy, as tracks like
David Bowie’s ‘Tis a Pity She Was a
Whore (24-bit) amply demonstrate.
Excitement abounds; in comparison,
the admittedly much-cheaper
Cambridge player (attached to
another of the Arcam’s numerous line
inputs) sounds rather restrained and
polite. The more reflective track that
follows it on Blackstar, Lazarus, also
engages the senses while acting as a
showcase for La Voce’s other talents.
Its presentation here is very detailed,
and it’s easy to follow the sax line
while the percussion thrashes away in
the background.
The individual atmospheres
and lush synthetic tones of Boards
of Canada’s Reach for the Dead
(Tomorrow’s Harvest, CD rip), Pye
Corner Audio’s The Mirror Ball
REVIEW
Orchestra/Evgeni Svetlanov, CD rip)
HI-FI WORLD
a satisfying degree of musical scale
and space. It tended towards the
bright; I suspect that’s more down
to a recording over half a century
in vintage, than a vintage DAC
philosophy successfully brought up to
date.
CONCLUSION
Congratulations to Aqua for daring
to be different – and succeeding.
Although this unusual DAC design
doesn’t measure particularly well,
it’s an engaging listen from the
outset – the claimed advantage of
'old-fashioned' ladder DACs. I was
impressed and feel it is well worth
auditioning.
Also, modular design ensures
Cracked (Sleep Games, CD rip) that La Voce should be able to
and Mogwai’s Remurdered (Rave accommodate DAC fashions and
Tapes, 24-bit) were all resolved technological changes in music-
distinctively; the latter track’s drums delivery technology, for as long as
and cymbal-crashes sounded clean, Aqua decides to support it.
with no sound of
overload. Orchestral
work also fares
well, La Voce
managing to tease
out of an archive
(1967) Soviet-era
performance of La Voce has four inputs, the AQLink being for their own trans-
Tchaikovsky's port. An optical connector would find more favour! In our review
Fourth Symphony sample, the modular input is AES/EBU – you also get S/PDIF and
(USSR Symphony asynchronous USB.
MEASURED PERFORMANCE
Via its BNC socket S/PDIF digital input outputs (-60dB, 24bit) – around 10x
the La Voce produced 0.28% / 0.15% more than common and unbalanced
distortion from Left / Right channel between channels, via both XLR and
Phono socket outputs. Input via AES/EBU
FREQUENCY RESPONSE offered no improvement.
Dynamic range (EIAJ) was as a
result low, measuring at 104dB (Left) AQUA LA VOCE S3
and 107dB (Right), little better than CD £3,395
(103dB) and well below the 115dB or so
common nowadays for hi-res, let alone
EXCELLENT - extremely
117dB-123dB of top DACs.
capable
Frequency response measured flat
to 51kHz (192kHz sample rate); there is
VERDICT
no optical input so frequency response Good sound, different from
wasn’t an issue. the norm.
DISTORTION Output measured 5.5V from the XLR
FOR
(balanced) socket outputs and 2.6V from
- energetic and musical sound
the phono socket (unbalanced) outputs.
- a beautifully-made modular
The Aqua measured poorly by design
current standards, exhibiting high
distortion and low dynamic range. NK AGAINST
- no visual confirmation of
Frequency response (-1dB) input signal type
- no filter options
8Hz-51kHz
- documentation needs
Distortion (-60dB, 24bit) 0.28% improvement
Separation (1kHz) 95dB
Noise (IEC A) -104dB Elite Audio
Dynamic range (EIAJ) 106dB +44 (0)1334 570 66
Output (XLR/Phono) 5.5V / 2.6V www.eliteaudiouk.com
www.hi-fiworld.co.uk AUGUST 2018 HI-FI WORLD