NAIM SUPERUNITI - THE FIRST CLASSIC STREAMER ik L f it ns ISSN 14bS-S950 y 22> lll DIGITAL AUDIO SPECIAL! REQUEST AUDIO’S THE BEAST TAMES THE SAVAGE DOWNLOAD! REPRODUCING THE RECORDED ARTS APRIL 2015 «122 9 | | aii ALACRITY for Nira ale) LOUDSPEAKERS a e)ra ia Ere) WHY THE NEW HD DAC IS NAGRA’S BEST HI-FI EVER AURENDER FLOW am = ° AVM EVOLUTION SD5.2 om Ds 3 LINN AKURATE AKUDORIK EXAKT i —— MOON NEO 430HAEQUIPMENT REVIEW ReQuest Audio The Beast Music Server ......... “Music has charms to soothe a savage breast” — Witiam Concreve he Beast. An extraordinary name! It rolls off the tongue with a plosiveness: it summons images cf Beowuil and other epic poems, and conjures up an image of substantial might. Shakespeare refers to a beast with two backs. But does the bite ve up to the bark? ‘The Beast was conceived when Gerhardt Schneider, the ‘Swiss manufacturer of Acustic Lab speakers, approached US. ‘company ReQuest (which bulds Linux-based music servers) with the idea to build the ultimate high-end server. Fofowing the financial input of a private investor, ReQuest Switzerland ‘AG was founded, which then bought its US partner. MSB joined the party and the Beast was bom. It was designed in Belach, near Ber, with the express purpose of producing a best-of-breed animal, where money is no object. ‘The Beast is beautihily constructed. The case &s hewn ‘rom sold aluminium bilet. There is a high-quality seven-inch touch-screen window that displays images of the ripped CD ‘covers in minature, and allows a uselul amount ofthe server's functionality to be accessed without using an iPad or PC as ‘an interface. Its really convenient to have a touchscreen as ‘usable option even in our iPadded world, but this is not ‘always the case with servers | have known. There is a slot at the front for easy CD ripping. Ripping takes around four minutes, and utiises the Gracenote database via a wired network connection at the back. While Gracenote is not entirely comprehensive for album artwork, its other metadata parameters seem to be nearly always correct. To activate the player from an iPad requires the server to be connected to a network. The iPad uses a web browser to access the player and not, as with most servers, an App. So after typing in an IP address, which can be found through the touchscreen settings, you simply make an icon on the iPad of the web address to access the Beast remotely. The iPad interface ‘ives the user most of the important functionality required to Use the player for everyday use. You can search by using the usual suspects, including ‘recently added’ and in fact the data has been organised to ante 20 moot the hardest of asks, that is classicat: search by arts, conductor, or orchestra. A greater sice of functionality comes by using a PC to log on to the same IP address, whereupon you have the ably todo things lke change artwork, and load fies stored on a non-NAS dive. This isin effect transfering files over your network, and is a great deal siower than Uploading via USB. It tok a couple of overight sessions to upload some of my own high-resolution material to the payer The Beast uses soid-state hard drives: it comes with 178 or 2TB of on-board storage and can cope with adcitional INAS drives. However, there is claimed sonic advantage to using the internal dives, and ReQuest recommends these dives be used for high qualty les, with the NAS addons forthe lower qualty material. The machine is vituay sient in ‘operation as there are no moving parts contained within, save 2 small but sient fan, The Linux operating system has been ten in-house: it works with a rapid boot-up, and never ‘once crashed on my wach. The rear panel, 2s expected, has digital outputs in the form of RCA, AES/EBU, BNC, Pro FS, (a standard used by SB), balanced and single-ended analogue outputs, and — pethaps suprisingly - analogue inputs, which may be useful to connect a turntable and a CD player. Equaly surprisingly, the server doesn't have any cial inputs. on the grounds of ‘sound degradation rather than oversight. This makes life abit more compicated i you don't possess a high qualty DAC, but you wish to pay a cigtal source. ‘There is scope forthe addition of a high-quality clock although as there are different versions of the Beast, the need for aftermarket reciocking becomes a touch academic. ‘The ‘entry-level Beast eschews even a DAC, while the ful package includes an MSB DAC and Galaxy Clock, which has noise performance witha guaranteed ter measurement {at the worse case) of less than 77 femtoseconds (0.077 picoseconds). Anyone who has played around with clocks and CD players wil know about the dramatic ditlerence & good clock can make to the bass performance, soundstage, and overall ting ofthe sound, and this is no exception. ReQuest has gone to enormous lengths to sort out the Beast’s power supplies. Power is re-generated and is Complete reconstructed. For the digital board, there are also tempersture-stabiised supplies.Lise eR a Neon aii Be 21REQUEST AUDIO THE BEAST MUSIC SERVER ity to sn - 3 h . 2 - 6 7 pet . ing thin fine 22REQUEST AUDIO THE BEAST MUSIC SERVER Put simply dificities, ReQuest offers an ontine supp ly etched, and then chang. T & e = 2 ie of th ing. Tonally the sound a S 7 oeth 3 doing thin > oe 22EQUIPMENT [eV LEW REQUEST AUDIO THE BEAST MUSIC SERVER > orchestra and singers is impeccable, and there is a soring to every phrase. The player helps with ts abity to do micro Phrasing, to suck the Istener into the heart of the ara. A tavourte recording of mine is Mozart's 18th Piano Concerto, as payed ive by Daniel Bareriborm and the Berin Philharmonic [Teldec, CD]. Mozart Piano Concerti are very aiticult to record, as you have a sob infront, who often ‘Spars with woodwind players sitting a tair distance behind. The Beast turned into something of a pussycat for this, of the best audio kind. Mozart's long and beaut phrases ae constructed so that they need the tiniest of inflections to make the narrative work. The human ear can pick up the smallest of volume changes, which then creates the erphasis and hence the meaning of a phrase. | have heard numerous pieces of digital equipment that can do the broad brushstrokes wel, but miss out on the subtleties of the musical ine, and fall to engage me. The Beast has superb micro Control ofthe phrasing and dyramics, while presenting the orchestra in a gently persuasive way, which in this concerto is highly. seductive. The presentation isthe and wily, just as | think (Mozart intended it. Due to the tightness of the Beast's bass conto, there was good attack at the begining of bass notes. Chords started as convincingly at the top as the bottom, and as a rest, the harmony spoke with one impute, not a ‘smudged version of many impulses. This is what people call “timing well’, and the Beast really Goes this superbly. When it's not quite right, the music sounds as iit lacks conviction, and coherence. The Beast's presentation is highly coherent, and for these reasons | woud cl t ‘musica. Favels “Tombeau de Couperin’ isa re-scorng of some Piano pieces dedicated to a couple of the composer's friends that Ged during the Fst World War. On the Deoca’Soti recording, the Rigaudon is beautifully crisp, and the orchestral ‘Space massive with plenty of air between instruments. The double basses grunt with complete conta, the woodwind colours are crystaline, and there is tremendous dynamic energy tothe playng. had the feeling thatthe Beast was ‘alowin! this sophisticated ensemble playing to happen effortless. There s9emed to beno obstaciesin the way. nd this was arnong the best renctons Ihave heard ofthis work, CD or not | have waited a long time to find a way of removing the huge quantities of smashed CD jowel cases fom my shelves, with a server that could punch like a good CD player, but to date my search has been fittess. ReQuest's The Beast changes that: it challenges and can even better my Esoteric K-05 CD player, and that comes from a self-confessed CD stick-n-the-mud. The Beast certainly justifies its sobriquet for its gravitas and the sheer awe it inspires. It has an ater ane 26 TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS ‘ype: Solid state music server with built-in storage ‘optional DAC and Cock Siorage-0.9678 or 1.9218 $s. ‘Anologue Inbu's Balanced XLR Input (poss through cer controllable) over the optional analogue Diamond Volume control. Digital! inputs: None DAC Resolution/Supnorted Digital Formats: SD oll 4 citferent formats, WAVE/FLAC 44.1/88.2/96/ 174.4/ 192/384 ond l6bit/ 2401/32 bit ‘Analogue Outputs: One stereo balanced (vio XR connector), one stereo unbalanced (via RCA jacks) Digitol Quipuis: coaxial S/PDIF [via RCA Jock). TOSLink, PRO i2S. BNC Frequency Response: Not speciied. Distortion (THO + Noise: Not specified. User Interface: 7nch dsplay (on main unt). ‘Apple iPad, iPhone, Android, PC or Mac ther Features: UPRP server Dimensions (Pax): Wemxademeaécm ‘Weight: Not specified (weight depends upon configuration) Price: from £29,900 Monufacturer ReQuest Audio Switzerond AG URL: www sequestoudio.com Disiibutor: Absolute Sounds ‘Joi #44 (0) 208971 3909 URL www obsolutesounds.com 290: the, quick footed, and an intetigence, which is always present. tis eye-wateringl, but reassuringly, expensive, but The Beast is the frst vision of a post-CD world that offers hope to even the most demanding of music iovers! + “No beast so fierce but knows some touch of pity. But I know none, and therefore am no beast.” WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, Ricuarp III, Act I, Scene 2