Stratos, of course, is the genius behind Lab12. “This one,” Stratos Vichos told me at Munich last May. I’m hoping that the Lab12 DAC1 Reference convinces me to stay at the table and wait for the next course. It’s like when I’m eating a wonderful steak and I hit a vein of recalcitrant fat that hasn’t been rendered properly and that’s my last bite of the evening because the mood is ruined. I’ll tell you, the biggest culprit of listener fatigue while streaming is merely running up against a streak of files that sound bad for one reason or another. In fact, I rarely get tired of spinning LPs.

I do get tired of streaming, which happens more frequently than me getting tired while spinning vinyl. Things have certainly changed in the world of digital, with overall sound quality during hi-rez streaming reaching sonic heights we vinyl lovers never thought possible, except for one thing. There was once a time when all digital was slightly harsh and analytical and edgy, aka fatiguing, while all analog gently kissed you on the neck while you listened, even if it was a bootleg mono 45 of GG Allin singing in a old storage locker in San Pedro. Remember that? Listener fatigue? We audiophiles used to talk about that a lot, mostly when CDs reigned supreme in both our hobby and in the greater world at large. Sometimes it’s a real problem, especially when you’re an old codger looking for a reason to stick with digital streaming as a preferred source.

Despite the fact that I’ve been playing around with lots of digital over the last couple of years, I do get listener fatigue when streaming. Does that portend good things for this seemingly modest tube DAC from Greece? Considering Lab12’s propensity for making me deliriously happy with their great-sounding and affordable gear, probably.īut first of all, I have a confession. With the exception of my complete set of AudioQuest DragonFlies, I’ve now spent more time listening to the Lab12 DAC1 Reference than any other digital-to-analog converter.

Analog v lab