CD-player Densen B-410XS
Looking at the CD-player B-410XS, would not say that it is representative of the updated entry-level range. Body with sharp straight edges as if carved from a single piece of aluminum. The illusion is enhanced due to the monolith of low height, it is not typical for the Hi-Fi-technology - only 6.5 cm. Display is not quite normal - red, matrix, and the characters in it are composed of pixels, rather than segments. Exactly the same way, used in amplifiers Densen B-110, B-150 and B-250.
Sillesen Thomas, chief specialist of the company's digital technology, writes in a press release that the goal was to create a remake of the players, all indicators exceed issued previously, but without significant cost increases.
Not an easy task, since the B-410XS fine differs from its predecessor B-410. To control the transport uses a completely new processor ATAPI, which serves the CD-drive, display, remote control system and a proprietary bus DenLink Drive. The program was written for him by experts Densen. They also supplemented the standard drive controller clock frequency, which allowed to use the common precision oscillator to synchronize transport, converters, and digital input and output streams. Thus was implemented one of the most effective ways to reduce jitter in digital playback devices.
What DACs are set to B-410XS, the company did not disclose, we only know that they are 24-bit and are enclosed in a sealed screen to protect against interference from the control and display circuits.
Analog stages are built on the company's scheme operating in Class A with a power output amplifier 6 watts. Furthermore, there is no feedback path - either local or general.
As in the previous version of the B-410, the power supply is built on a custom-made toroidal transformer with four separate windings. Each of them is working on its own rectifier with smoothing capacitor 10,000uF and stabilizer. Thus, the total capacity of the filter is obtained 40 thousand. UF as a decent power amp. But in the B-410XS implemented an uncompromising solution to improve the sound quality - the ability to connect an external power source DNRG or 2NRG, which on the back has an additional connector.
Another improvement of the functionality - thanks to the digital input (as a professional BNC) player can be used as a DAC to convert the signal from external digital sources, including servers Sonus, Olive and Squeezebox.
For all this, the engineers had to change Densen PCB player, so to upgrade an earlier version to version XS impossible.
Sillesen proudly points out that to keep the price at the same level with such a serious modernization managed through the use of more effective methods for the design and optimization of production processes.
As before, the player does not come with a remote control, it is optional. And rightly so, corporate controller Gizmo - a thing not cheap.
Really do not like the term "analog sound" in relation to CD-player, but in this case can not escape it. Such intelligent interpretation, which offers B-410XS regardless of genre, no longer remember. This is the rare case when the sound is not easy to assess, but a purely musical nuances party individual instruments, coherence and emotional performance, rhythmic patterns and things like that. By the way, the company does not disclose the generally accepted technical specifications of the player, as if hinting: why do you need the numbers, listen and understand everything yourself.
Indeed, the objective criteria to look for in the least, but because they determine the overall experience, try to analyze them. The crucial range for CD-player - upper. For the sake of its purity invented multiple oversampling, digital and analog filters which cut noise conversion. In this sense, the B-410XS simply immaculate - even near the border of the sound is absolutely transparent, detailed and informative. There has been severely affected the nature of acoustics than the source, and achieve the ideal of harmony can be the selection of interconnect cables, which affect not only the audio resolution, but also to build a scene. But even without such a fine tuning of the device class is felt immediately. The space is drawn accurately and subtly, without breaking scale with the correct fixing of image sources. This is manifested in the chamber, and the symphonic genre - sound fabric perceived whole, but if you want the smallest details can be heard even in the background.
To macrodynamics too difficult to find fault - fast attack, confident, bass will not ship, although he is not deprived of any energy or depth.
In general, the sound of our system with player B-410XS acquired a quiet confidence, even nobility, if you want. If it took him out of some tension, the music was perceived easier and more comfortable, and does not even matter the discs have become fed with some grace.
B-410XS implemented an uncompromising solution to improve the sound quality - the ability to connect an external power source.
