Andre-I thought this was a pretty good review. I think it would have helped if you would have given a few more examples of music cuts that you are familiar with on your reference system and how they differed on the review speakers. Also, I'm not sure I agree that the fact that the D/A converter down samples any resolution above 48 kHz is no big deal. In my mind, that makes these speakers obsolete. My obsolete Creative Labs D/A converter that cost $200 will play 24/192 files over USB and it sounds damn good. The fact that these speakers are limited to 48 kHz sampling rate would be a non-starter for me.
Hey mep:
First, thanks very much for the kind words, and for reading.
Remember, these speakers, with a digital or analog source component, is not competition for even a mid tier reference system. Even
the designers mentioned this them selves. The Vanatoo with a computer or streamer is just super cost effective way to get very, very good
sound in bedrooms, offices, or even a den. It will not compete with my ARC/Thiel/Bryston/Transparent rig, so I did not think a comparison was warranted.
I can tell you when I was listening to the set ups detailed in the review I enjoyed myself to no end and there were no audiophile voices in my head
to spoil the party.
Don't fall into the trap if worrying about specs and design theory. It is about implementation. Nothing is a non starter if you have not heard it.
96 Khz and above will make absolutely no difference on a system as enjoyable and cheap as this. A laptop (or a sonos, or an iPod) a hard drive, cables, and these speakers will cost you $1200 max.
The 48 Khz/24 bit sampling algorithm is used for the DSP, which as detailed in the review, maximizes the performance of the drivers and the built in amp. This is the shortest possible signal chain and is way way more important than numbers associated with sampling rates.
