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The Aqua La Scala dac significantly increases our listening pleasure. Not only because we hear more details, but mainly because we are even more immersed in the music. This seems simple but it is not. Engagement is essential in this hobby. So we see the Aqua La Scala as the beginning of true high-end playback.
This d/a converter is special. Particularly good at conveying the little nuances hidden in music. This dac does not do that by smearing a layer of syrup over the music. On the contrary.
The lack of a filter combined with a low noise floor gives us the feeling that nothing gets in the way of the music. It’s as if, cliché alert, the window had just been cleaned. The window is not quite gone yet, Formula may be for that, but the whole experience is a step higher than with the Morpheus. We are clearly more at Pasithea level here because in addition to refinement and resolution, something to be expected at this level, the tonality of instruments and voices is also rendered extremely correctly.
The resolving power of this dac is particularly high. The entire stereo image pulls open further, making there seem to be more air between the notes. Black becomes inky black. Sharp becomes razor sharp. Fast becomes ultra-fast and 3D becomes 4D. Ok, now we are exaggerating but you get what we are getting at. After a while, we relax completely, are touched by the music more often and regularly discover new elements in familiar music.Â
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New Zealand’s Reb Fountaine may not be well known in Belgium and Holland but her album “Iris” is rock solid and continues to captivate. On “Psyche,” we immediately hear what this dac is so good at. You can hear much more clearly the “surface noise” at the beginning of the song. The Aqua La Scala allows micro details to come through more easily. As if someone put a spotlight on the music.
Louise van den Heuvel debuted a few months ago with the amazing “Sonic Hug,” an album full of personal songs. The music itself is a wonderful blend of jazz and folk with the icing on the cake being van den Heuvel’s surprisingly steady and clear voice. Because she is surrounded by top musicians, each track reaches a ridiculously high level. With the Aqua La Scala in the set you imagine yourself at the recordings. You feel as it were the interaction between the band and the atmosphere they want to evoke.
The acoustic guitar on “The Eternal Rocks Beneath” by Britain’s Katherine Priddy also thrills us. “The Isle of Eigg” transports us back to a past where life may have been harder but also simpler. Again a female voice?, we hear you think? Yup. These resound wonderfully through the Aqua La Scala. Every nuance, breath and sigh is audible and palpable.
Bert Dockx is a musical jack-of-all-trades and releases music under various alter egos such as Dans Dans and Flying Horseman. But he also released a wonderful album under the Bert Dockx Band in 2023. “Ghost” is a dreamy record you can sink into wonderfully. Closing track “Blankets” is a good example of that. It is a song that never bores and the Aqua La Scala brings all its glory to the music. The attack, the spread, the voices, the intimacy, the bird sounds, it all comes through flawlessly. Musing, Dockx looks back on a lost love. I remember you, let me hold you. Beautiful.Â
Hello,
I appreciate your review. I have the Morpheous and considering the Pasithea and La Scala. Are you able to give a comparison sonic wise between the two units?