I'm very happy with the sound of the Concept DAC. It sounds very smooth and analog like a good turntable. The soundstage is huge with air around the instruments and I can hear details that I did not hear before. The Concept also portrays dynamics very nicely and has very good PRAT factor. It is truly a winner, in fact I'm ordering another one for my other system.

Thanks
T. Tran (USA)

The Concept DAC arrived safely thanks - sounds good too. A noticeable improvement over my Squeezebox’s internal DAC. Impressive to be able to make this differsence for not a lot of money. Interestingly the sound quality using the coaxial digital in is slightly but definitely better (more full and smooth) than using the optical in. This could be due to the cables but I was using a fairly high quality glass toslink interconnect and a relatively cheap coaxial cable. Not a problem just interesting like I say.

Thanks again,

Regards,

Thanks very much for asking.

I'm very happy with the dice DAC indeed. I've set up a home network and have connected it to a laptop via USB in order to play our music collection off a central network hard disk (all saved as lossless Windows Media files). Works perfectly and sounds great with my newly acquired Naim amp and Audiovector speakers. It's the by far the best sounding stereo I've ever had.

Improvements (that would suit my taste):
less strong light from the LEDs
A button on the front to switch between the three inputs (or even better: automatic switching between the inputs, if that's possible at all).

Best,
J. Konradsen (Denmark)

Yes the Concept DAC has arrived. I plugged it in and warmed up my valve amp before playing. I attached t to my NAD BEE 521 CD Player.
First impressions weren't that good. Seemed to lack depth and detail of CD player. However, I knew there had to be a burn in period so left it in my system.

I am glad I did... Amost two weeks in and around 70 hours of playing I am truly blown away with the sound. It is amazing. I am using a KT88 Valveamp, Acoustic Energy EVO speakers. DNM Solid core speaker cable and Van den Hul Bay C5 connectors. I play hard rock / metal most of the time and this set up is a dream. Doubt if I'll be upgrading much in the future. Never been so satisfied with my audio set up as I am now.

Regards

Hooked it up to Squeezebox and SET flea amp.
Have another NOS DAC, like yours better.

Glad I found the Concept. Have tons of gear in rotation but something
tells me the Concept stays where it is.
Thanks for making music intelligently.

As I already have a 'DICE' I had no hesitation in buying the non USB version for purely HI-FI use.

This is a great product, well constructed, value for money and with excellent delivery - I can heartily recommend

Thanks again and kind regards,
J. Redpath (UK)

Concept DAC is arrived.
I have listened the DAC sound. It's very good.
The high frequency are wide and clean, the bass frequency is very well.
A very good "sound machine" !!

Best Regards

Thanks for your email, Yes I received and setup the Concept DAC at the end of last week and am very pleased with the results so far. I have not had a chance to do any serious testing yet, but initial results are extremely impressive, Thank you for supplying this little gem.

Regards

D. Axler (UK)

Very good service, the dac arrived very fast (within 5 days) and functions. The difference between my old setup and the inclusion of the dice dac is audible. Let me expain.

In my home there no TV, no hifi stereo installation or anything of that kind any more. All my media experiences are with a MacBook connected to a set of audioengine 5's and a sanyo plv-z5 beamer. Before the arrival of the dice dac the (analogue) line-out of the macbook was used to get the audio to the speakers. Now, the dice dac has come between (usb connected) and it makes a difference. The audio coming from my MacBook (Itunes AAC encoded 256/128 vbr, dvd and live tv) sounds more spatial (better channel seperation?) with clearer highs, more defined middle and better proportioned bass. With better proportioned bass I mean that bass is there but not rumbling through any more (as with the macbook line-out). It sounds defined with clear starting and ending points.

All in all I am very pleased with the dice dac and the sound improvement and, as I understand, it will only improve with more playing time.

Kind regards,

G. Atwaul (UK)

Thanx for the quick delivery, the Concept works fine, I now have a broader stereo image.

I have wonderful music with the Concept, the connection is to my Apple Airport Express.

Both inputs (coaxial and optical) work fine when connected to my CD-player as well.

Greetings,
J-E Maneschijn (Netherlands)

The DAC arrived last week - better postal service than locally!

My system is now set up and I’m relieved to be very pleased with your Concept DAC. Unlike the Roku, there’s a real and positive difference to the sound when the Sonos is diverted through the DAC - much less muddy and the spatial separation is also better. It is a slightly colder sound but I can live with that. Presbyacusis is starting to get to me so I see no point in spending even more money on the listening experience of my children and pets!

Anyway, will recommend your product to anyone who asks. Several of my friends are interested in the Sonos system (which is fantastic I must say) so will be showing it off.

All the best,

N. Flatt (UK)

The Moodlab Dice has arrived yesterday and made it´s way through customs obviously
without any problem. Very nice build quality matching the looks of our MacMini for what
it´s destined to work. Just had a glimpse of the sound quality hooking the Dice up to the
MacMini and listened to some 320 kbps files on my wife´s hard disk. Very refined sound
though I didn´t make any direct comparisons to the Naim CDI (with the TDA 1541 DAC)
in our music room. I will be reporting later...

I don´t have the possibility to test it in the nearer future - it´s just temporarily hooked
up (we´re renovating the house and inhabit only some of our rooms). I´m plannning to use
the Dice in a minimalistic chain in the new living room with a MacMini/ external hard disk
as music server, a t-amp and a setup of Magnepan MMG W´s I just ordered (subwoofer to
follow). We already have changed the old living room into a music listening area with the
big rig. So I think the Dice will be doing it´s job in the future right well ? if I manage to get
the setup right.

With the best wishes for the (still) new year!

Regards from a happy customer in Germany

Dr. S. Bender (Germany)

Today I recieved my Concept, a handful of days after ordering it. I was looking for a solution to upgrade my already quite decent Mac Pro + Audioengine 5 combination. I wasn't sure what to expect since I had found no reviews of the Concept or Dice in combination with the Audioengines, but based on positive general reviews I gave it a shot and ordered the Concept.

I have to say that its above my expectations. I expected clear and detailed sound, surpassing my onboard audio. And I had earlier done a comparison by connecting my Marantz CD60000OSE straight to my speakers, creating a noticably better experience than my onboard audio, but the Concept has definately taken my sound up a big notch.

Whilst the Marantz was clearer and had a better soundstage than my onboard audio the differences were not that great. I had to listen and compare the two sources for a while before coming to a conclusion. The Concept on the other hand blew me away right out of the box. I even notice some instruments in songs that 'Ive listened to quite a bit, instruments that were much less clear earlier now take an active part of the tunes.

Thanks for a great product!

Warm regards,

J. Martensson (Sweden)

Sorry about the very long delay. I was initially using the Concept dac using the toslink (optical) output of my Yamaha CDC755. There was an improvement in sound but not as much as I had expected. I then played round with things and found that the sound level of the player could be lowered and this also lowered the sound level through the toslink output as well. I then connected the dac to my Philips DVD player (base model) and what a difference! It tuned my base DVD player into a high end music player. Music sounds fantastic, drums, cymbals, guitars, pianos and horns sound like they should. Voices are realistic and full, back ground detail and soundstage are all there, not blurred in the mix. The rest of my system is nothing special Denon PMA-700AE amp and Polk S10 speakers so a better system would produce even better results. I now need to buy another DVD player as the Philips and your Dac will be the new CD player in my system for years to come. A great product I will be recommending to my friends, it has now given me many musical hours of enjoyment.

Yes I received the Concept DAC very quickly. I’ve been on holiday so haven’t had much time with it yet. Initial impressions are that it’s an huge improvement on my Squeezebox. I’d like to have a bit more time with it before commenting further. I’ll email you in a month or so.

Fyi, my amp is a Musical Fidelity A300 and the speakers are Monitor Audio Studio 20 SEs.

Thanks.

R. Leftwich (UK)

Yes, the Concept has arrived but I have only used it for about 7 hours so it’s not run in yet. So far it has better bass and treble response, the mid range is like miracle. Sound stage is good now but still getting better. Once I put 25 hours on it I will compare it with the DAC in the Yamaha CDC755 it is replacing and write back. Will also try different audio interconnects.

Will let you know more in a week or two once I get the hours up.

Regards

Thanks for your message.

The DAC arrived 4 days after I ordered which was a pleasant surprise - the package tracking service was very good. The box was well packed and arrived without any signs of being mishandled. The DAC was well put together and everything worked straight out of the box. I like the indicator of locked signal (green) vs no signal (red). The DAC now sits quite discreetly in the stereo rack.

I am using the Concept DAC to take the optical signal from my Airport Express to my home stereo (Naim amp and speakers). The i-tunes on my Mac sends to the Airport Express.

Sounds good - open, balanced and warm sound. Have compared the output with my CD player (Naim CD5i). For it's price the Concept does a great job.

best regards

T. Rule (Australia)

The Concept DAC has arrived pretty fast. It's up and running since about 3 weeks and the gain in quality of sound is remarkable and so far I'm very pleased.

I got my portable computer hooked up to it (through optical connection) at one end and my old Marantz (about 25 years old) to the other end. All in all a nice set up, that sounds rather good.

Best regards,

K. Klomp (Switzerland)

The DAC arrived in three 3 days! The sound of the Concept DAC is definitely better than the one in my TVIX. My initial impression is that the treble is more detailed and sweeter. Thank You!

Regards,
J. Foong (Malaysia)

I've taken many days listening to your Concept DAC and now I'm sure it's very good and I'm satisfied
to buy it.

Thank You.

V. de Bartolo (Italy)

I recently wrote an article on my blog about a system I built with the Concept DAC, a Trends Audio TA-10.1 and B&W 603S3s. Thought you might be interested.

http://dream.adeli.ca/archives/posts/guide-audiophile-quality-sound-for-student-dollars/

Thanks!

In the last weekend I had listen to Concept. I made a "pre" 48H burn-in with my Logitech Squeezebox.
Just one word: Concept is the closest "analog" sound i ever heard from a DAC. :-)
Beautiful sound stage, sound clear and sharp... I'm in love with Concept. :-)

It'd be good a new model with more coaxial and optical input, and a front input selector, for plug more device.

I open a thread on Concept in www.avforum.it, the bigger italian forum of audio and video. You'll find the thread here:

Thanks again,

M. Lener (Italy)

Just to let you know, the Concept dac arrived in three days !!

First impressions are good and can become only better after burning in.

I use this dac in combination with a Micromega Stage 6 and it even improves this lovely CD player.

Regards

I bought it because I didn't like a lot the sound of my PlayStation3 with my Rotel amplifer and Mission speaker.
When arrived the Concept DAC I connected it at the optical output of PS3 and i set the output frequency to 44,1 Khz in bitsream mode.
After this upgrade I relistened my favourite Music DVD Video and the sound changed completely BETTER.
I want Thanks you for all.

Best Regards
M. Iannaccone (Italy)

Thanks again for fast shipping...today I had the time to have a closer look and especially hear on the Concept and what should I say, it works very fine. Sounds very clear and tidy. What do I have to tell...you know the story :-)

By the way, is it a problem to place the box on one side (90 degree rotatet) to fit inbetween CDs?

Best regards,

H. Wittenfeld (Germany)

Your dac plays very well in any range of price. A miracle for the
cost. I am using it with my Micromega and I prefer the Concept dac and
his sound.

Sorry again for my english

Ciao

Stefano (Italy)

Yes, it arrived quickly and in perfect condition. Thanks! I did mean to email you but I guess I got too tied up in re-listening to all my CD collection.

I'm feeding the DAC from the optical out of a Mac Mini. The Concept DAC then goes into a TA-10.1 and my B&W DM602s3s. I love it! I wouldn't describe myself as an audiophile at all although I work in pro audio but I like to think I have ears that can tell what sounds 'good'. This setup sounds fantastic. It's great to have such a compact hifi that with the exception of the speakers is fully portable.

Keep up the good work. I hope business is going well for you guys. You make great products.

All the best,

T. Fletcher (UK)

After a couple of weeks audition, I am very pleased with the sound from the Dice, extremely detailed compared to my vintage Meridian CD system, and I am busy ripping the CDs to apple lossless so I can play them back using the Mac and USB.

I may even upgrade my amp and speakers to take advantage of the new sound quality I am receiving!

Thank you for an excellent product at a very reasonable price.

Best regards,
M. Bedish (UK)

Thank you so much for helping me set up the Dice using Linux!

I am now listening my music collection using the linux box and I would like to tell you that I like it a lot. It gives me a very clean and detail sound. The jazz reproduction is outstanding with excellent timing and pace. Female vocal is so silky and refine. All in all, bravo!

May I wish you and your company every success!

Regards,

Dirk (The Netherlands)

My Concept arrived this morning via UK customs in perfect working order,congrats on the packaging!

First impressions are very good with a much better soundstage/bass extension than the bare Squeezebox 3.
I'm using IXOS Toslink cable between SB3 and Concept and it's connected to a Bonnec Timpano preamplifier (£3K). So it's getting a good frontend! My speakers are Linn Products Kabers actively driven by 3 x Artikulate C4200 Chakra amplifiers.

My ultimate decision on buying your product was helped by reading your customer's reviews and also audio forums.
The Concept is sitting next to my Linn Linto,so flat earth vs digital eh?! :-)

Many thanks for your quick service from HK and I will send an update when I have had more time to have a serious listen!

D. Mclaughlin (UK)

The DAC arrived 3 days after payment - from Hong Kong to Germany - really great!

The product: I connected the DAC to my Windows Vista Media Center PC and a Yamaha High-End Stereo System with the digital Coax connector - i have to say: WOW! WOW! WOW! There is so much more sound in the room with your DAC - i wouldn't believe it, if someone other tells this. The technical and optical design of your DAC is fantasic, too.

Regards from Germany to Hong Kong
Peter (Germany)

Yes, it arrived very quickly indeed. I started thinking of buying the Concept originally because of mains hum feedback issues on a satellite receiver (my hi-fi is pretty good). The DAC didn't solve the hum! But the improvement on sound from the satellite is great - on TV certainly but what impressed me was that satellite radio has now become a real pleasure.

The sound quality from the Concept is very nice: musical, makes me want to listen more, and very accurate.

All-in-all, a great experience buying the product from you (it is cute too).

Thanks a lot.

Best regards.

Steve (Luxembourg)

I have just installed new speakers, the old ones were partly blown and distorting. Today is first day that I can evaluate the Dice and it is wonderful, even before the new speakers have ‘run in’. The Dice gives a wonderful vinyl sound to my music on hard drive and it is a magnetic listening experience already. Many thanks for your interest, I will mail again in a month or so when it has all settled down.

Best Regards

M. Smith (UK)

The Dice has a full, rich sound. Very easy to relax into the music and enjoy. I like it! The bass is strong and it grooves right along. I'm using my Apple Macbook Pro and inexpensive little book shelf speakers. It all adds up to a lot of fun. Thank you.

Best Regards,

T. Andersen (USA)

The sound quality?

The change from the sound that I was experiencing before the Dice made its way to my system is enormous. Sometimes it is hard to believe that something so small can have such a profound impact, but it is almost as if
I have upgraded the whole system! There is more bass, without any loss of control or pace, in fact these areas has improved almost as much as the quantity, sweeter treble, also without any loss of detail or timing. And we
can add to this an increase in 'musicality', everything that comes out of the speakers is just so much more enjoyable. Very much a case of the proverbial 'it seems though I am re-discovering my music collection again'.
I guess that for a music lover there is nothing like hearing all your music again for the first time.
And one more thing it is still getting better, each time I listen it is even more pleasurable.
Well done Albert, please feel free to quote this if you would like.

Cheers

George (UK)

Faced with a dead CD player, I opted to base my audio system around
lossless FLAC files on my PowerBook G4 paired with the Concept DAC
using an optical S/PDIF link.

In blind comparisons with high-end equipment, I have been very
impressed with the solid engineering and genuinely audiophile quality
from this DAC which gives a precise presentation, good dynamic range
and a particularly expansive sound stage.

As an adjunct to the Mac, a moodlab DAC is the perfect companion
which brings high-end audio to everyone.

Best regards,

Joel (UK)

Just wanted to let you know that I have been using the moodlab Dice thingy a lot over the last week. It sounds fantastic! Very clear. I would like to buy another one for my other stereo system in another room. Do you have an even better quality model?

Kindest regards, and thanks again for making me very happy with my music.

Cheers
Peter (Australia)

Haven't been able to try the dac for some time because I was looking for a cheap and small cd-transport. I want one like a external dvd-burner. But I didn't find one so I plugged it in to my old dvd and I must say "The Concept" dac sounds really really good. Full-bodied, warm, open soundstage, musical etc. I'm very pleased.

Tack for en jattebra produkt! (Thanks for a really good product!)

Dan Goransson (Sweden)

I'm particulary happy.

Your DICE DAC has greatly improved the sound of my DVD reader (a NAD), which is much clearer now, not to mention the sound of my PC.

I am very grateful to you.

Bruno (Italy)

Cheers

Andrew Marascelli (Australia)

Dear Moodlab,

The Dice has played very well in my system, it outperforms my CD player (a Densen Beat). The sound from the DAC is very clean and musical. I love the Dice very much.

I will try to connect it to my Mac later and report to you soon.

Best regards,

Van Der Veen (The Netherlands)

The DAC has arrived and I am very pleased with it so far, got it yesterday. I am using it between a SlimDevices Squeezebox and my pre. As other has commented it sounds very “analog” compared to the other equipment I have.

Very fast delivery, impressing!

Best regards

Trond Kjetil (Norway)

Il DAC Concept si e permesso il "lusso" di mettere un lettore DVD Pionner DV 585 A(con circuito di sovracampionamento disattivato da "MENU' IMPOSTAZIONI", fondamentale questa condizione) nelle condizioni di poter, in tutta scioltezza, "UMILIARE" un ARCAM 8 S.E., un Cambridge CD 6, e di pareggiare ai punti con un Musical Fidelity quando abbinato alla sua amplificazione con diffusori Magneplanar MMG.......... Il che e gia un ottimo inizio !

Le differenze che si riducono DAVVERO IN SFUMATURE nei confronti di macchine da DECINE DI MIGLIAIA DI EURO, e queste sfumature finiscono per essere soltanto la panacea che giustifica, obbiettivamente con difficolta, i facoltosi proprietari di tali elettroniche, pertanto il possesso delle stesse, a questo punto, esplicita quanto mai la classica "PERVERSIONE D'OGGETTO" !!

Ottimo prodotto ALBERT !!

Saluti
Giorgio (Italy)

I picked up the dac yesterday and it sounds fantastic! I’m really impressed, this is good value for money.

Thank you for fast delivery and an excellent product.

Best regards,

the Concept DAC sounds wonderful:

Great soundstage and superb dynamics over all. Big Band Jazz has a lot of punch in bass!

I really enjoy listening, now.
What makes me wonder that it doesn´t matter if a quality CD-Player or a cheap DVD-Player is used for transport - just the same result in sound. Your reclocking system to avoid jitter seems to work perfect!

Regards

it arrived on Friday. I am so pleased, it sounds really good, even better than my Paradisea. Great bass lines :-)

Once again thank you for resolving the delivery problem.

Kind regards,
Mike (UK)

Received the Concept today and very please with it straight out of the box!

ho provato il Dice DAC col cavo coassiale utilizzando il mio CD Rotel come meccanica e funziona OK. .
Peraltro il Dice suona molto bene, complimenti!

Grazie ancora,
Pierangelo (Italy)

I'm just contacting you to say I received the Concept DAC I ordered last week.

I've only had time for a small listening session before I had to go to work this morning, but my initial impression is that this is an excellent sounding DAC! (not to mention its cool looking and well built)

I bought the unit to replace a similarly-priced DAC I had recently bought as an upgrade to one of my CD turntables, but hadn't been entirely happy with. I must say that straight away, the Concept DAC is MUCH better. The sound was much more full-bodied and warm than the DAC i had previously. It also has better dynamics, tighter bass and a much better soundstage. I'm an instant fan of the NOS sound now.

I will be buying a second Concept for my other CD turntable as soon as funds allow, hopefully in a month or two.

Thanks for the great service and making such a fantastic product.

Regards,
Adam (UK)

The parcel has arrived! Thanks! Sounds good so far straight out of the box!

Thanks again for your prompt responses via email.

Please update me when you have new products.

Thank you.

The shipment was sensational fast, I'd like to say.
Thank you very much.

It would have been arrived at 20.12., but the local postman made a mistake
so that the DAC arrived at 22.12. (and that's really fast enough :-) )

In my opinion, the DAC itself is a great product.
Very good sounding machine.
I like the deep soundstage and the "non-harsch" sound.
I think it goes in the analog direction, just a bit like my turntable.

I use the DAC with my Squeezebox 3.

The mechanical design is also very good.
Nice case and nice frontpanel.
I think a good sounding device should also look good.
In fact the Concept-DAC does.

I just received a dice DAC from you. Thank you for the quick delivery :-).
I am very pleased with the sound of the dac.

Jonathan (Bristol, UK)

Listened to the DICE last night through USB… what a revelation! I had no idea that 16bit digital can sound so good! I played lossless encoded files through Foobar and ASIO. My notebook computer has now become a high end digital source, hard to believe but true. Great product Albert!

Regards,

Received the DAC over the weekend, but have been away so first chance to respond. Love the little box, sounds great.

Thanks

Malcolm (UK)

The Dice DAC arrived yesterday and I'm very pleased with it.

I'm using this with a Media Centre PC and a Naim Nait 5 that I bought for
it. I found that the onboard soundcard was too noisy. It's great that you
can just plug this DAC in to a USB socket and get a much improved sound
quality at a very good price. I know that there must be loads of people who
are more interested in sound quality than surround sound from their Media
Centre PCs - why don't you post some ads on some of the Media Centre forums
if you want to sell some more?

Andy Gigga (UK)

The DAC arrived this morning. Impressive delivery service.
All seems well, now listening to Gidon Kremer & Keith Jarret playing "Fratres" by Arvo Part and it sounds very nice

Thanks for the prompt .service

Andrew Clark (UK)

Chris Dawson (UK)

Ok, finally had a good play with it and was impressed.

There was improvement in image as compared to an upsampled cd in
image with a mellowing of the overall sound. What really worked well was when
I used it with my pc for mp3s. Even 128kb/s opened out filling the room. My
next step is to see if I can dispense with the cd player by using lossless
sound files.

The system I tried it on was a pair of modded Shanling valve monoblocks and
Honer Zeus speakers.

Best regards

Ralph Scott (UK)