The Island - Silver

FIVE STARS ***** (... can you turn that up to six? ){while listening to Strauss waltzes} I'm an old school audiophile, that is, heavy turntables with esoteric kinetic-art tonearms supporting delicate gems mounted on rigid rectangular micro-tubes that move magnets between really tiny coils, 10 & 1/2 inch reel-to-reel decks with DBX DRNR, 75 pound amplifiers that can warm a small room pushing big butyl rubber mounted cones matched to Heil Air Motion Transformers, or old timey looking electrostatic headphones that might be at home in an era of old european conflicts. Bought a copy of DSotM in 1972. Needed a new copy by 1975. Still have an 8-track copy put away in a cool spot. Found a half-speed-mastered virgin-vinyl copy in 1977. Was really unhappy with the CD copy from the 80s.Musical fidelity SERIOUSLY ran downhill for the next twenty years,or so, unless you like electronic music - which I do. But life goes on, and I downloaded YET ANOTHER copy of DSotM for my smart-phone ( more about escalating headsets later and elsewhere ). As of May 20, 2014, with an eclectic 64,895,239,442 bytes (64.92 GB on disk) for 6,407 items in my laptop music library I am really happy to tell you that I think that digital music has finally come into its own and now exceeds analog formats from the good old days!{now listening to The Roys - Those Memories of You} If there is any part of DSotM I have not been able to pick out and memorize, after literally more than a thousand times listening to it in and on a wide variety of settings, equipment, and circumstances... I will be VERY surprised! AND YET! In 2014 having purchased through Amazon a string of widgets and gizmos that connect me to my Late 2011 MBP - I am finding 'easter eggs' hidden in all my old favorite music! This starts when I begin to think that the software (DAW) I use to tweek and enhance music from the era of Django Reinhardt up through the 1970s actually sounds better than when I listen through the software that comes bundled with the operating system. This leads to better Sony headsets. I then find that, indeed the DAW sounds a lot better Not only that, but the new headphones show that the DAC built into my smartphone is better than the DAC that in built into the MBP! This leads to the first of a series of USB DACs and ALO's The Island. I am from Portland Oregon where The Island is made - by hand - in Portland. I don't get to visit home very often, but i visited their small facility last month. The upside of working away from home is that I can afford to indulge a foolishly expensive ride through the World of Audiophile Electronics. As I write, now, I am playing CNSY through the USB port using AUDIOQUEST - FOREST USB MINI 3.0M (10FT) into The Island and out through NAD Electronics VISO HP50 Noise-Isolating Over-Ear Headphones. Considering how much I have invested in the music stored digitally, $600.00 for an output chain into my ears is a bargain. WORTH EVERY PENNY!Saturday, October 8, 2016Having just spent some time – six hours – finishing with a recorded-live performance of a favorite, inspired, piece of acoustical art – some immediate thoughts come to mind regarding ALO’s National amp coupled with an Apple 6s 3.5mm output to Etymotic’s ER4 IEMs… After several years…How clever I was to buy these items years ago… because, I swear, these things sweeten with use.Who knows how long they will last. I’m sure the battery will need attention if I don’t fade away first.My daily commute IEMs are the more mundane HF5 IEMs and the EQ settings (shown below) are the same for both of them and result from relentless fussing as these items – taken as a group – have ‘burned-in’.The HF5 IEMs being metal shrouded isolate me from noises outside of my head (the train in a tunnel, the relentless PA warnings and station announcements) more completely than the ER4s, but I think they lose some delicacy/bite as a result, though they gain just a bit where punch comes into play.Barring some deep slide into greater income, or lapse in fiscal responsibility, I do not forsee an upgrade anytime soon.This saddens me due to having met the fellow who makes these ALO products in Portland Oregon and I would like to stoke his efforts to carry on.When I was there, I told him how much I thought of his work. Inquired about charging directly from an automobile 12vdc (14.3vdc) outlet and was advised that this might shorten the expected life of the battery as a result of more poorly regulated charging compared with the supplied proprietary wallwort that lives on my wall.I shared my enthusiasm for his The Island USB/DAC (sadly discontinued) where upon I learned that there were three left in back – and bought them on the spot. I have gifted one to a fellow audiophile. But I’m holding on to the rest.I suspect the same care goes into all of his product line.If I was still making stupid amounts of money…

一年ほど前にＡＭＡＺＯＮさんより購入して、卓上ＤＡＣとして主にバランス接続にてイヤホンやヘッドホンで聞いています。アイリス４極端子の仕様であり、今はやりのＡＫ系の２．５ｍｍ４極端子ではありませんのでご注意を（個人的には２．５ｍｍは壊れそうで、アイリス端子の方が安心です。）。デスクトップコンピューターでＡｕｄｉｏＧａｔｅやＪＲＩＶＥＲ　Ｍｅｄｉａ　Ｃｅｎｔｅｒを使って、４４．１ｋＨｚより１９２ｋＨｚにアップコンバートの後、ＵＳＢケーブルにＭｉｎｉ－ＵＳＢのアダプターをかませて聞いています。ＲＳＡやＡＬＯのバランス接続アンプでは充電が必要であり、さらに別途ＤＡＣも必要ですが、これはバスパワーのみで動きますので、簡単便利です。音質は、アメリカの製品なので低音も十分に出て、クラシック音楽にも使えます。音量はバスパワーの割にゼンハイザーのＨＤ６５０でも余裕で動かせます。おそらくアイリス４極仕様のアンプ、もしくはＤＡＣでは最も安価で音質も良いコストパフォーマンスに優れた物だと思います。音楽を聴くときはこのＴｈｅ　Ｉｓｌａｎｄを使用しており、時々上記のＲＳＡやＡＬＯのポータブルアンプを使っています。ただ、小さいため、太く音質の良さそうなＵＳＢケーブルでは、ケーブルに振り回されますので、上手く固定することが必要です。最近イヤホンやヘッドホンのバランス接続の効用を説く記事やブログが出ておりますが、その効果を十分に確認できる機能を有する小型ＤＡＣです。バランス接続の入門には最適です。また、出張でコンピューターを持ち出される方は、短いＵＳＢケーブルと上記アダプターを使って好きな音楽を良い音にてホテルの部屋で聴くことが出来ます。なにせ長いＵＳＢケーブルに振り回されるぐらいに小型ですから、容易に携帯できます。なお、一般的な３．５ｍｍ３極端子もありますので、普通のイヤホンやヘッドホンでも、問題なく使えます。３極端子と４極端子での音の違いの比較も面白いです。

ALO audio The Island is good and very small to carry out