Real consequence is hard to find these times and in our branch. All too often the design of a device line changes from generation to generation, following the spirit of the age or the currently lowest-priced case makers. The hip data format is constantly changed as well, and almost inevitably one has to wonder why for Heaven’s sake in music reproduction the wheel is being reinvented in ever-shorter intervals. Despair of an ailing branch?
Audionet is different. The first units from a good 15 years ago can still be easily combined with the current products, and it took no less than 13 years before the integrated amplifier SAM G2 lost its two rotary knobs and conformed to the otherwise prevalent four-knob dictate. The question if it’s necessary to have only four front panel buttons is something that probably only remote control lovers really won’t care about. As an avowing »haptician« I prefer some more options of direct function access. And yes, I prefer a stylish metal-bodied remote control with the basic commands over a freely programmable plastic jumble of tiny buttons. However, as I have recognised every so often that my rather conservative taste in this respect has anything but a majority appeal, my criticism should not pose a problem for Audionet. And after all I’m bickering about this marginal note only so vehemently to utter at least a touch of criticism at all. For the new Audionet player ART G3, that much be revealed already, is an audiophile good luck charm of the highest class which can forcefully pressurise even far more expensive competitors and gave me the most beautiful music hours.
Highend is Formula 1
Like I said before, its outward appearance has remained unchanged: the face is still characterised by a plain front of brushed aluminium which is only interrupted by a display and the four above pushbuttons. At best the little vent slots behind the drive compartment point to the fact that the cooling is now purely passive. Similarly they have hardly altered the basic mechanical design of the CD player – why ever should they?! Still we can see a heavy granite slab delivering a solid foothold and a bass performance which goes down into the frequency cellar just as boldly as you will imagine right now. The rest of the body is once again made of MDF – an excellent choice in view of the many ringing top lids of the competition. And the drive block, milled from aluminium and suspended from tightly strained bands, has also been left untouched. Only the previous Philips drive was replaced by the even better Pro version. In addition, Audionet modified the mechanical CD locating surface: the puck centres better now and also allows the use of the various CD mats available from specialist retailers. I couldn’t resist the temptation and checked out the Millennium carbon fibre mat: the spatial order was thoroughly tidied up in a clearly audible manner, and so the little disc was deployed for all the tests.
Ready for digital communication
At the beginning I was talking about other media. By this I mean the computer as a music supplier that is currently rising with giant steps from a toy to a serious signal source. The fact that it is now also a topical subject with Audionet, becomes evident by the USB port located on the rear panel. This may be the most important digital input on the ART G3 and should render the other SPDIF sockets jobless. The USB port is native which means for the users that they won’t have to install any drivers or other software on their computers. As soon as the ART is linked to the PC or Mac with a (preferably high-quality) USB cable, it will instantly appear as an external device in the corresponding menu of the system settings. When playing music over the computer, the ART will receive all the data previously clocked by the source to store them temporarily in a »pre-memory«. Freshly reclocked, they will then be fed to the D/A converter. »Asynchronous reclocking« is the magic word Audionet uses to lead off the fight against the music-endangering jitter. By the way: the data from the internal drive pass through the same memory – even on this short path the Bochumers don’t like taking chances.
