Berkeley Audio Design Alpha Series 2 New Lower price on Berkeley Alpha Series 2

Berkeley Alpha DAC
Series 2

Original Price = $4995; now $2495; originally listed at $2895; now, knocked down to $2495 including shipping in the U.S./Canada!!

One (1) Alpha DAC series 2, BLACK (hard-to-find color).  If you do NOT yet have a quality pre-amp,
this is the best bang for the buck out there. 
This is because of Berkeley’s market leading volume control in the digital
domain. 
Truly great audio straight into a quality stereo amp or
monoblocs.  This version is the one with
a single BNC-SPDIF input rather than the very newest with two BNC-SPDIF
inputs.  Much better than ordinary RCA.  You can use a gold-plated adapter if you have
an RCA/RCA digital SPDIF cable.  Most
importantly, the Alpha has a really good AES/EBU input (XLR digital cable
input) that will accept much higher voltages than ordinary DACs (many DACs at
this price don’t even have an AES input).

If you have done your homework, you may have read that
“Berkeley isn’t DSD capable”.  What
nonsense.  The truth is that any DAC
capable of playing DSD does so by its USB input; a common-mode-noise plagued
process.  But -- and it is a large but --
most DSD albums were mastered in PCM, and, by using JRiver on a well-designed
media computer, you can convert DSD back to its PCM format on the fly (or
before playing), then send it into the Berkeley via a galvanically isolated AES
input that is one of the very best out there. 
Or, you can use a music server’s SPDIF input into the Berkeley.  Or, if you have to a USB to AES converter box.  Talk with us about which servers have SPDIF
and AES capability.  We are selling our
Berkeley Alpha DACs because we have replaced them with the Berkeley Alpha
Reference Series 2 and Series 1 DACs (at $19.5k and $16k respectively).  But in this <$4 k range, the Alpha series
2 can’t be beat, and can only be “approximately tied” by the Schiit
Yggdrasil.  But the Yggdrasil, at $2295,
doesn’t have a pre-amp or digital domain volume control, thus requires a
pre-amp or integrated amp. 

So, if you haven’t already purchased a really good pre-amp,
the Berkeley Alpha Series 2 at this price is a true bargain.  Note that this unit has a couple thousandths
slight warp to the aluminum case resulting from 2 years on a slightly warped
shelf, which is the only reason it rates an 8 instead of a 9 or 10.  This can easily be cured via a very thin
shim, or via placement of a couple of bags of steel shot on top of the unit.  Cosmetically perfect.

A true bargain at this price -- $2895.  E-mail us or call us to discuss a special
deal coupled with any Baetis™/Prodigy media computer.   Also, we sell the very best in digital
AES/EBU or SPDIF cables.                                                                     
                                                        

[email protected]

406-686-4282