A great USB DAC, and so much more!
ADL is a division of Furutech,the Japanese companyknown for high-grade connectors, cables and countless other accessories. The GT40 Alpha is four units in one. It's a terrific phono preamp, easily switchable between MM and MC sensitivity.
It's a USB DAC, ready to connect to your computer and give you resolution up to 24 bits and 192 kHz. And you know what? Unlike most other USB DACs, it's really good. But that's not all.
Notice the phone jack on the front? Yes, it's a headphone amplifier, and an unusually capable one. But that's still not all. The GT40 also contains an analog-to-digital converter, which means it can be used to digitize LPs, cassettes, or indeed any analog material. And it does that well too. Amazing!
And it's a preamplifier, if you need one, with two inputs, for a turntable and a digital source.
Click here to read our review of the original GT40 in PDF form. Our review of the Alpha version is coming soon (it's even better).
Get your own GT40 Alpha for just $749 But check out the accessory cables you'll want, at a special price if you order them at the same time as a GT40.
ORDER ADL GT40, $749
ADD BIS-USB3 BIS Audio's superb USB cable, normally $125, for just $85
ADD AELI-1, Atlas Element interconnects, 1 m, normally $99, for just $79
Moon's new version 2 DAC, and a great price on the original!
![](https://web.archive.org/web/20200201130232im_/http://www.uhfmag.com/Images/Moon-300D.jpg)
The new version 2 offers full resolution via asynchronous USB as well. At the moment we still have some stock of the older one, available at a clearance price. At any time the original 300D can be upgraded to version 2 for $800. The upgrade is available through us.
Note that, with either the new or the original 300D, you can bargain prices on needed cables. You can get one digital cable and/or one power cable for each 300D purchased.
ORDER original 300D, formerly $1799, now$1299
![Click to buy](https://web.archive.org/web/20200201130232im_/http://www.uhfmag.com/Images/Bouton-Buy.jpg)
ORDER 300D v.2, $2200
![Click to buy](https://web.archive.org/web/20200201130232im_/http://www.uhfmag.com/Images/Bouton-Buy.jpg)
With either one. get a special price on our best coaxial digital cable, the Atlas Mavros, usually $565, for $150 off, or with our Atlas Opus cable, usually $239, for $60 off
ORDER with a 300D, Mavros digital cable, $415
![Click to buy](https://web.archive.org/web/20200201130232im_/http://www.uhfmag.com/Images/Bouton-Buy.jpg)
ORDER with a 300D, Opus digital cable, $170
![Click to buy](https://web.archive.org/web/20200201130232im_/http://www.uhfmag.com/Images/Bouton-Buy.jpg)
ORDER UHF14F-1.5 UHF14/Furutech 14-gauge power cable, assembled, with 300D only (one per order) $124.95
![Click to buy](https://web.archive.org/web/20200201130232im_/http://www.uhfmag.com/Images/Bouton-Buy.jpg)
Moon's new, more affordable 100D DAC
![](https://web.archive.org/web/20200201130232im_/http://www.uhfmag.com/Images/Moon-100D.jpg)
We have now done the full-blown review of the 100D, and we were wowed. To read the full review, here it is in PDF format. This converter can earn its place in a high end music system. To sweeten the deal, you can trade your mint 100D for a 300D and get 100% of your money back in the first year, 75% in the second year.
But hold on, you'll need good interconnects, right? Get the 100D with a pair of Atlas Element Integra interconnects (a $99 value) for just $699. Or go all the way to the Hyper Symmetrical, with single-crystal copper (usually $449) for $999 total.
ORDER 100D, $649
![Click to buy](https://web.archive.org/web/20200201130232im_/http://www.uhfmag.com/Images/Bouton-Buy.jpg)
ORDER 100D plus Element Integra 1m cables, $699
![Click to buy](https://web.archive.org/web/20200201130232im_/http://www.uhfmag.com/Images/Bouton-Buy.jpg)
ORDER 100D plus Hyper OCC symmetrical 1m cables, $999.00
![Click to buy](https://web.archive.org/web/20200201130232im_/http://www.uhfmag.com/Images/Bouton-Buy.jpg)
USB interfaces
The DACs we have listened to so far have USB interfaces that are mediocre or worse, supplied as afterthoughts. Which is why we've been recommending the use of a TOSLINK optical cable if you have an alternative. It is possible to build a better USB interface, though. These two devices offer a quantum leap in performance. Plug one into the USB jack of your computer, and then use a quality digital cable to go to your DAC. The result? For the first time we have heard our Linn Unidisk player outperformed. By a lot!
The Stello U3
This beautiful little box is powered by your computer, or by a powered USB extender. It takes a USB cable, and outputs flawless digital through either a coaxial or an AES/EBU balanced cable. A driver for Windows is supplied, no driver is needed for Mac. You get full access to a range of resolutions, up to and including 24/192. Not compatible with Channel D's Pure Music or Sonic Studio's Amarra, but it sounds glorious with iTunes. Finally, computer audio is the state of the art!
See our review of both the Stello U3 and the HiFace in PDF format, from UHF No. 92, and see why we're using the product ourselves.
Add an Opus or Mavros digital cable (highly recommended), for an extra discount.
ORDER: U3, Stello USB interface, $495 DISCONTINUED: soon to be replaced
BIS Bullet: a high-performance digital cable
We've listened long and hard to a lot of dross, digital cables that mess up rhythm, make chaos out of well-structured music, and generally waste the money you've spent on your gear. BIS has come up with an affordable one that gets pretty much everything right.
ORDER BIS-BD-1.5 (1.5 meter) $190
Atlas Mavros: reference-quality digital
As we have improved our computer-based digital system to the best yet, we also adopted this new digital cable as a reference. It's a perfect link from the digital output of any CD or DVD player to a standalone digital-to-analog converter. It can also link a computer to a DAC, with the help of a USB interface...you'll see them over in our digital section.
Oh, and you can get a special price on either the Opus or the Mavros if you buy either a Moon DAC or one of our two USB interface boxes. Audio from digital doesn't get any better than this!
ORDER AMD-1.5 (1.5 meter) $565
By the way, the same cables works for video too.
UHF's own optical TOSLINK cable
Our recent comparison tests turned up this nicely-made TOSLINK optical cable, which delivered better quality to our converter than the other ones we could get our hands on. Now we've added them to our store. The connectors fit pretty much all standard transports and converters. If you want to connect to a component with a mini-TOSLINK, such as an Airport Express, or a current Mac, just add the TMT adapter.
ORDER TD-1.8 TOSLINK cable, 1.8 m $22.95
ORDER TD-3 TOSLINK cable, 3 m $29.95
ORDER TMT mini-TOSLINK adapter, $3.95
The ultimate TOSLINK cable: it's made of glass!
A TOSLINK cable is a light pipe. Nearly all are made of plastic. At one time, though, you could buy an optical cable made of glass. And we have one!
The Atlas Mavros glass optical cable is the best we've heard by far. It's a great link between your CD player, computer, Airport Express or Apple TV, and an older DAC. Digital-to-analog converters pretty much all have high-grade optical inputs, but not all have great USB circuits. You can read our evaluation of the cable right here. . The Mavros glass TOSLINK cable sounds surprisingly close toUSB, and that makes it cost-effective.
ORDER MGO-1.5, a 1.5m glass optical cable, $319,95 Click to order
ORDER MGO-3.0, a 3m glass optical cable, $369,95 Click to order
BIS Audio USB cable
In UHF No. 88, we compared a standard off-the-shelf USB cable with an ostansibly better one from BIS Audio. Conclusion: in a high end context it was worth its cost (you can read the review in PDF here). Now that we ourselves are using a Stello U3 interface between our computer and our Moon U3 DAC, we've adopted the BIS, and we asked BIS Audio to let us add it to our store.
We're offering it in two lengths, 0.92m (3 feet) and 3m (10 ft). You can also add it to a bundle with the Stello U3 like ours.
ORDER: BIS-USB3, 0.92m USB cable, $120
ORDER: BIS-USB10 3m USB cable, $180