Berkeley Audio Design Alpha DAC Reference R2 MQA

This Berkley Alpha DAC Reference Series 2 retails for $19,995 and is the latest improved version of the best dac on the market-the Alpha DAC Reference.  Here are some excerpts from a very positive review by Robert Hartley from the Nov. 2017 issue of Absolute Sound Magazine:

“The Berkeley Audio Design Alpha DAC Reference Series 2 MQA’s unmatched time domain resolution, low noise digital processing and highly accurate analog circuitry combine to reveal the amazing potential of MQA encoded audio…In addition to providing MQA Rendering at an unmatched level of audio quality, the Alpha DAC Reference Series 2 MQA features significantly improved audio quality with standard PCM, non-MQA recordings. Berkeley took what was the finest-sounding DAC extant, its Alpha DAC Reference and significantly improved it with the new Series 2 MQA version. This new DAC somehow manages to combine liquidity with resolution, transient speed with lack of etch, and information density withoutfatigue. And it does this even with CD-quality files. But play an MQA file through the Berkeley and you'll hear the absolute state of the art in digital playback. Digital doesn't get any better than this.”

…it didn’t take long to hear the startling advances wrought by the Series 2. In fact, I’m so familiar with the sound of the  Alpha Reference DAC, and the Series 2 is so much better, that the differences were readily apparent without comparisons.”

Specs, photos and other information are available on the Berkeley Audio Design web site (the photo with this listing is from this web site).