SW1X Audio Design DAC V Special

MJ02.06.2023

Digital sources

For many, audio fidelity means the fidelity to the recorded material. SW1X Audio Design makes a brave statement: Reproducing a recording of a musical performance the way it was recorded is simply not enough. A recording is just a starting point not the end of how a recording should play. Only when the soul that the musicians put into the music is resurrected, only then there is a potential to get connected to the music emotionally.

Function and form

90%

Ease of use

99%

Sound

99%

Appearance

The SW1X reads like a quite extravagant brand name. The hint “please read it ´As One X´” does not help too much either. So let’s accept the choice and let the designer speak. For Slawa Roschkow, the man behind the brand and the manufacture that is based in England, all is about synergies and choices. Like some other high-end makers, he was not an engineer – he was an audio enthusiast. It won´t come as a surprise that he was looking for the way how to communicate the soul of music with the help of properly designed electronics, rather than relying on well-known engineering methods. Yes, of course, the engineering is the base for SW1X too, yet they go one step further, into experimentation with different materials and their combinations, the result of which leads to the perfection they pursuit.

Most SW1X´s designs started as cost-no-object projects. Given the brand was unknown to me previously, it was quite surprising to see how complete their portfolio is. It includes all types of amplifiers and preamplifiers, cables, digital sources, and D/A converters, one of which is the subject of this review.

All SW1X DAC products are made to order, are available on 6 different Performance/Price Levels and specified according to a variety of versions. All DACs are digital-filterless designs, i.e., there is no over-sampling, no jitter reduction, no noise-shaping, and no re-clocking. Therefore, all filtering is done in the analogue domain for the best possible signal integrity, and the conversion is optimized for a single format, PCM. By perfectioning the PCM conversion and intentionally skipping other fancy features, the SW1X promises outstanding musicality and true-to-source lifelike reproduction.

DAC V Special is a part of their Level 5 (flagship) series, although the piece that I reviewed was not the THE flagship. Digital input supports up to 24Bit/96kHz, however AES/EBU and S/PDIF are the only available input protocols, so you may be in the position of re-assessing your system connectivity should the DAC V become a part of your system. The design features of the DAC V are rather complex and flexible on top, so for all the details I suggest the reader checks the SW1X´s website which is truly informative. Alternatively, Superhifi will answer all the questions. Leaving the technical stuff aside, the only thing that matters is how does it sound?

Bass management

Weight

Slam

Articulation

The SW1X, unlike many digital devices, exhibits quite dense sound. After careful auditioning, my best opinion is that this density owns to DAC’s attention to sustain and decay of a tone, which helps develop harmonic content in full. Where many DACs cut off harmonics too early and serve ‘cleanliness and clarity’, the SW1X trails the tones till the very end. The superb focus on the sustain comes at a price: there is less focus on attack. The transients are there, but they are less accentuated compared to other DACs. I could hear it easily when I swapped the DAC V with Auralic’s Vega. The latter was as if faster and more resolved, while at the second and the third listen it was not. The SW1X conveyed all the information bits that were heard with the Auralic, but its presentation – although with less of the initial show-off - was richer, denser, and warmer. Some reviewers often use comparisons with live music (me inclusive). Yet, this is a tricky proposition; some live acoustic instruments can be quite nasty if judged by delicate audiophile ears, like saxophone and drums. On the other hand, some instruments may lack the detail that we cherish when listening to recordings, like piano and double bass. However, this is not what represents the biggest gap between the live and the recorded music. No stream, neither CD, nor vinyl record exhibits quite the same degree of dynamics and colour. The SW1XX succeeds in offering a good approximation of it.

Clarity & delicacy

Detail

Air

Transparency

The raspy blues piece of John Campbell, Down in the Hole, is like a slowly rolling train that never stops. The SW1X DAC V provides a clear window into studio acoustics. I could clearly hear the bass guitar rig and the wailing slide guitar, and the drumwork was punchy and precise. Any good DAC will provide the same. What makes the SW1X stand out is the emotional part of the music, the DAC V was extremely good in recreating dirty smoky mood of the piece. It was also great in differentiating all the percussive elements that are described in the booklet as follows: coyote skull, bones, beads, bags, feathers, and rattles of snake. In direct comparison, the Auralic provides only a fraction of the SW1X’s vibe and sounds too controlled and too technical.

Tonal accuracy

Timbre

100

Dynamics

Temporal resolution

However, not every program material favours the SW1X’s dense musicality. For example, Malia and Celestial Echo is a metronomic synthetic piece with only voice being human. The SW1X does not have a lot to do here, for this music requires slightly different voicing. I needed to switch to Adagio for Strings (Dark Masterpieces, Tbilisi Symphony Orchestra) with its midrange-centred massed strings, to hear the vibrancy of the DAC V.

Speaking about the biting saxophone sound, it should be always accompanied by the palpability of the instrument’s bodyx, and by sensing the flow of air through its mouthpiece and the bell. It should be biting, but it should be very physical too. The SW1X can make the sound physical and three-dimensional. Listen to the legendary Time Out (Dave Brubeck) and be there. Not many DACs are good in recreating the live performance in the room.

Spatial resolution

Holography

Soundstage width

Soundstage depth

SW1X’s attitude to the component making is similar to German Audi. Both companies are relentless in experimenting with improvements and they implement them immediately in the production batches. Thus, with a bit of exaggeration, no two Audis are the same. Also SW1X builds each DAC as an individual entity, because everything is built to customer’s specifications and NOS tubes are used. For extra, one can also have hardwired tube output stage on a bakelite board, silver wiring, or silver foil capacitors. Even without the extra the DAC V is not inexpensive and in its top version the price exceeds 80k€. However, for those who can afford it, it can be an endgame.

Price as reviewed:1 069 000,- Kč

Recommended resellers

Audiostudio s.r.o. (Superhifi), Olomouc, +420 608 752 475

Manufacturer's website: https://sw1xad.co.uk/

Associated components

Sources: Auralic Vega, Auralic Aries 2.1
Amplifiers: BAT REX 500 power amplifier, BAT REX 3 preamplifier
Interconnects and speaker cables: Atlas Mavros, Furutech, Townshend Fractal
Loudspeakers: Manger Reference Passive p2
Power conditioning: Furutech Micro-Ag OFC

Gallery

77%

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