Audio Alchemy DDP-1 DAC/preamp, PS-5 power supply, and DPA-1 power amplifier

Those of us with long audio memories might recall Audio Alchemy. Back in the mid nineties, Audio Alchemy was the main protagonist in providing no-nonsense, low-cost DACs in basic boxes. At a time when DACs were relatively rare – and many of those on the market back then cost five figures – Audio Alchemy set out its store as the Loyal Opposition, providing upgradable high-performance audio at low cost. Fast forward to the mid teens and Audio Alchemy is back, still providing upgradable, high-performance audio at low cost. OK, so in the intervening years, the build got a lot better and the price rose accordingly, but they are still giant killing products at prices that don’t leave your wallet gasping for air.

The range is small, but growing. It comprises a combination DAC, line preamplifier, and headphone amplifier (the DDP-1) with its optional power supply (the PS-5) and a stereo power amplifier (the DPA-1). There is also a mono version of the power amp – called, perhaps unsurprisingly, the DPA‑1M – and a new PPA-1 MM/MC phono stage, which can also be driven from one of two outputs on the PS-5. We tested the DDP-1, PS-5, and stereo DPA-1. Both preamp/DAC and phono stage come supplied with 9v in-line (wall-wart) power supplies, which should be removed when upgrading to the PS-5, and both products can be driven by the same PS-5. In short, you could get the full five box stack (phono stage, pre/DAC, power supply, and mono amps) and still have something small and light enough to carry. In the gravitationally-challenged world of high-end audio, that’s almost enough to seal the deal.

It’s odd that in every other walk of consumer electronics, things shrink over time. Granted TV screens are getting larger by the year, but the technology itself is now thinner and lighter (and cheaper) than ever. Cameras, phones, games consoles, tablets, laptops, and the rest have all shrunk in size and weight – and often price – while improving performance. The same can happen in audio electronics, too, were it not for the massive amount of inertia built into many aspects of the audio world. We still seem to measure the quality of an amplifier by its size, weight, and price – “if it doesn’t have an inch-thick front panel and a transformer the size of a crash helmet, it’s not high-end!” Audio Alchemy has long since ‘politely’ disagreed with this inverted sizism, and lets its products speak for themselves in sound quality terms. As someone who occasionally lives on a diet of painkillers and NSAIDs after trying to lift one too many power amplifiers that weigh as much as a car engine, the idea of high-end electronics you can carry under your arm without dislocating your shoulder in the process is deeply attractive.

The DDP-1 (short for Digital Decoding Preamp) combines a DSD-ready XMOS digital signal processing chipset (fed from a large selection of digital inputs, including I²S and AES/EBU), a small two RCA, one XLR line stage, RCA and XLR outputs for a power amp, and a good, solid 3.5mm headphone jack socket. It’s designed to be easy to operate, with a combination of front panel controls and display, coupled with a remote control. It’s also designed to be very ‘now’ without being so future proofed it forgot the past: there is presently no CD player in the Audio Alchemy line-up (that’s a clue for future products), but if you own one with a digital output of any description, you will get the two to talk to one another. There is no provision for streaming, however; computer audio is dealt with through USB. The XMOS chipset, the DSP, the FGPA, and the microcontroller, however, are all inherently upgradable and should a new format that runs along USB or other lines necessitate a firmware upgrade, it’s easy to do.

The DDP-1 is powered as standard with a plug-top 9V power supply. This can be swapped out for the PS-5 power supply, either at the point of purchase or as an upgrade. The PS-5 is an extremely simple device from the outside, with two separate 5-pin DIN sockets for driving two Audio Alchemy components (currently the DDP-1 and the new PPA-1 phono stage not tested here). It is also designed to fit snugly close to the DDP-1 or the PPA-1, which might be the only blemish in the functionality of the Audio Alchemy products: the PS-5 is ‘handed’ (again… presently) and designed to sit to the right of the DDP-1, but the power supply socket is on the other side of the preamp, necessitating a longer DIN-DIN cable. In use, when the PS-5 is installed and the 9V power supplies removed, the PS-5 is designed to run constantly, and you should only use the power button on the DDP-1 for putting the device to standby. There is also an auto-off triggering cable connecting the DDP-1 to the DPA-1, so when you power the DPA-1 up or down, the DDP-1 will follow suit.

The secret to the DPA-1 (Digital Power Amplifier) is a clever hybrid combination of Class A input stage (complete with its own transformer-coupled power supply) coupled with a Class D output stage. This allows the DPA-1 to deliver a healthy 125 watts into eight ohms (and 200 watts into four ohms), with the sonorous qualities of Class A and the cool-running of Class D. Those who think the ‘D’ in Class D stands for ‘demonisation’ (and there are a lot of them) will probably start sharpening their pitchforks at this point, but the chances are you won’t notice the Class D status until you are told of it. The review samples arrived fully run in, so there’s no way of determining whether they need a period of burning in, but the trio of devices seem remarkably unfussy.

I could rattle off a list of speakers this system shone with, but the easy way of summing this process up is to say simply “almost all of ‘em”. OK, I’m fairly certain there is someone out there with a loudspeaker that looks at a power amplifier as some kind of low impedance target practice who might beg to differ. However, the great joy of the Audio Alchemy concept is finding an amplifier that never acts as impediment to great sound no matter how far up the loudspeaker ladder you climb. In reality, no-one is going to partner an amplifier that costs this little with a loudspeaker that costs north of £100,000, but that probably says more about people’s ideas of system matching than any limitations on the Audio Alchemy’s part. I’ve heard Audio Alchemy driving loudspeakers that cost almost 20x as much as the electronics and sounding sublime in the process. My Wilson Duette S2’s are not a particularly punishing load for an amplifier, and the speaker’s demands are more about quality than quantity, but even so the Audio Alchemy system proved a natural and perfect partner. I mean a “why look further?” perfect partner. Plus, if you need more firepower, there’s always the monoblocks.

I don’t want to overstress the hi-fi attributes of this system, in case people get the wrong idea and start ascribing audiophile sensibilities to a system that is considerably more flexible than that. Yes, the Audio Alchemy system does all that midband transparency, top-end fluidity, bottom-end heft, all the micro-dynamic, and timbral shading that draw audiophiles moth-like to equipment, but the reality is so much more than that.

The first point to note is the DDP-1 is the star of the show. With (preferably) or without the PS-5, this processor-meets-line-stage-meets-headphone-amp is the real deal. It has uncanny detail resolution at the price, it plays music with an infectious sense of rhythm, and it manages to tick all the right audiophile ‘limpid pools of pellucidity’ boxes while sounding like a device you might just want to live with when you aren’t playing well-recorded nose-flute albums. It has all the insight and soundstaging properties needed to dig deep into albums like Gregory Porter’s Liquid Spirit [Blue Note] both from a sound and musical quality perspective, but it also never loses sight of the fact music is supposed to be entertaining. Adding the PS-5 gives the sound more separation (both space around the instruments and ‘around the notes’) and gives a sense of greater cohesiveness in both the playing and the sounds of the recording itself. It’s well worth owning… in fact, it’s well worth owning after you buy the DDP-1. Here’s why, you get the enjoyment of the ‘wow!’ factor twice over, once when you buy the DDP-1 and once later when you upgrade it. Although if you are a headphone user, the PS-5 is almost a mandatory upgrade, as it gives the built-in headphone amp a significant boost from ‘good’ to ‘outstanding.’

The DPA-1 is not along for the ride; it’s an exciting, detailed, and exceptionally powerful amplifier in its own right. It has great bottom end drive, a clean and open midrange and an extended treble without exaggeration. It’s also the perfect partner for the DDP-1. It gives nothing away to rivals, too. I imagine most will sell as part of a complete Audio Alchemy package, but it deserves to be taken seriously in its own right as an excellent standalone stereo amp.

In absolute terms, the Audio Alchemy package is not quite as micro-dynamically adept or as detailed as some of the best. Nor is it capable of the kind of absolute fidelity to the sound of some of the products listed earlier in this issue. But this comparison only occurs because the Audio Alchemy is so good it invites comparison with products that might cost many times more. That a preamp that costs under £2,000 is not quite as good as one costing more than seven times as much is expected; the fact the DDP-1 gets as close as it does, and brings a DAC and a fine headphone amplifier to the party too is amazing.

And party is an operative word here. You can’t help but smile when listening to this system, because it makes music fun again. Let’s focus on one aspect of the performance. Hell, let’s focus on the whole six-pack, because this is the kind of amplifier that goes well with beer, BBQ, and playing music loud. It can do subtle and refined very well, but when something’s this much fun, you can’t help reaching for John Grant’s ‘Pale Green Ghosts’ from the album of the same name [Bella Union] and playing it loud, then doing the same with something really rocky instead of electronica. Pretty soon, either AC/DC or ZZ Top are involved, beer is spilled, and someone winds up handcuffed to a gurney. Again.

The sign of a good design team is consistency. There are great single-minded designers who come up with the world’s best preamp (for example) but everything else from their pen fails to achieve the same greatness. Here, you could take almost any individual component (except the power supply, of course) and put it up against the competition and it will at the very least match the performance of its peers. In many cases, it will improve upon the sound of those rivals, occasionally by no small measure. The whole is not intrinsically better than the sum of the parts, but it all works well together and the individual components are so good, why bother seeking out alternatives?

There are two ways of looking at the term ‘high-end audio’. One is intrinsically locked to the price – if it ain’t ‘spendy’, it ain’t high-end! The other is more about the performance. Products are high-end by intent rather than by sticker, and it’s here where Audio Alchemy’s DDP-1, PS-5, and DPA-1 score so highly. We’ve all used clichés like “punches above its weight” or “giant killer” a lot in audio, but these terms are richly deserved here. This range is so exciting, so intrinsically ‘right’ sounding, and so much damn fun you can’t help but like it a lot. And something this right helps legitimise Class D in the minds of sceptical audiophiles who have been told if it isn’t hot and heavy, it isn’t any good. In short, the Audio Alchemy components are all true high-end equipment that just forgot to be heavy and expensive. Very highly recommended!

Technical Specifications

• DDP-1 DAC/preamp/headphone amp
• Analog Inputs: stereo XLR, 2 stereo RCA
• Digital inputs: USB, AES/EBU, 2 RCA coaxial, 2 Toslink optical, I²S, auxiliary USB for firmware updates
• Outputs: Stereo XLR and RCA, 3.5mm headphone jack, 12-volt DC trigger
• Frequency response: ±0.1 dB, 10 Hz to 80 kHz
• Nominal THD+N (1 volt): < 0.001%
• Signal-to-noise ratio (1 kHz): 103 dB unweighted
• Headphone amp output: 1 watt at 32 Ω
• Maximum digital input sampling rate/bit depth: 32-bit/216kHz on PCM, 2.82 Mbps (DSD64) on DSD
• Digital filter profiles: Linear phase, fast roll-off, Linear phase, slow roll-off, Minimum phase, fast roll-off, Minimum phase, slow roll-off (apodizing)
• Dimensions (W×H×D): 26.7×7.6×29.5cm
• Weight: 3.6 kg
• Price: £1,695
• PS5 power supply
• Voltage output: ±20 VDC analogue, +12 VDC for digital
• Total supply capacitance: 40,000 microfarads
• Output: 2× multipin connector
• Dimensions (W×H×D): 14×9×29.5cm
• Weight: 4.1 kg
• Price: £495
• DPA-1 stereo power amplifier
• Inputs: stereo XLR, stereo RCA, IEC power, 3.5mm trigger
• Outputs: Five-way binding posts
• Power output/channel (0.1% THD+N, 1 kHz): 125 watts into 8Ω, 200 watts into 4Ω
• Frequency response: +/-0.25 dB, 20 Hz to 20 kHz
• Nominal THD+N (1 watt into 8Ω): 0.05%
• Signal-to-noise ratio (1 kHz): 100 dB unweighted
• Dimensions (W×H×D): 26.7×7.6×29.5cm
• Weight: 7.3 kg
• Price: £1,695

Manufactured by: Audio Alchemy

URL: www.audioalchemy.com

Distributed by: Symmetry

URL: www.symmetry-systems.co.uk

Tel: +44(0)1727 865488

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