Greetings friends, I hope you are well. 🙂

DHL just dropped off an exciting parcel from Gold Note, containing the Gold Note DS-10 EVO streaming DAC, along with the optional Gold Note PSU-10 EVO dedicated external power supply. 

Photos (above & below): Gold Note PSU-10 EVO external power supply (left), Gold Note DS-10 EVO streaming DAC (right).

The DHL parcel was very nicely packed and arrived without any signs of wear & tear from its travel all the way from Firenze, Italy, to Washington State in the USA. 

Upon unpacking the Gold Note DS-10 EVO & PSU-10 EVO I was impressed by the care in packing, along with the protective microfiber satchels that protected their finish.

I was surprised by how hefty these half-sized chassis were, and impressed with their rugged & artful build quality.

On the top of each chassis is the image of an ancient Roman soldier blowing into the mouthpiece of a buccina, an ancient horn used to convey communications to soldiers, and an ancestor to the trumpet and trombone. 

Overall the Gold Note DS-10 EVO & PSU-10 EVO appears to be extremely well built, as well as very classy and tasteful in appearance.  

In case you haven't heard, the hierarchy of audio software goes like this: reel-to-reel master tapes are on the top step of the podium, with the best examples of vinyl made from said master tapes being next, and CDs a ways off those two. 

Editor in Chief of Positive Feedback, David Robinson, has all kinds of cool audio kit at his place, and a fair amount of recording studio kit as well, and David has been telling me for a while now how impressed he is with the transfers of master tapes to digital via quad DSD. 

David had told me that what is being said about these quad DSD digital transfers from master tapes is true, they are indistinguishable from the master tapes, and he's going to prove it to me, the skeptic.

So that gives us a revised order of performance: reel-to-reel master tapes are on the top step of the podium with quad DSD digital transfers from master tapes, with the best examples of vinyl being next, and CDs a ways off from those.

David has told me how impressed he is with the performance of the Gold Note DS-10 EVO streaming DAC, along with its associated power supply, the Gold Note PSU-10 EVO. 

You might think of Gold Note for their impressive high-end turntables. Allegedly, according to Doc David, quad DSD transfers of master tapes can outperform the best vinyl played back on a high-end turntable like those of Gold Note or others, when played back through the Gold Note DS-10 EVO & Gold Note PSU-10 EVO. 

Playing back master tapes over his studio quality R2R, or playing back quad DSD transfers of said master tapes, are indistinguishable, says David.

What is equally exciting is what's happening on the studio front with this sort of technology. Because of this quad DSD technology, recording studios can now record direct-to-disk what's being heard at the microphone - the microphone feed from recording sessions - without all the equipment induced signal degradation that occurs downstream from the mics that usually is there. This could essentially take us into a new era of recorded fidelity. Exciting times!

Back to the story: David coordinated with Tom Dolfi at Gold Note and Tom sent me the above combo to hear for myself. Thanks to David and Gold Note for arranging this!

As a result, I'll be starting a new article series about the Gold Note DS-10 EVO streaming DAC & PSU-10 EVO power supply combo.

I'll be telling you about my impressions about all these fascinating developments from the perspective of being a newbie to streaming high-resolution digital, quad DSD, etc., to listening to the various capabilities of the Gold Note DS-10 EVO streaming DAC & PSU-10 EVO power supply combo, over streaming services like Qobuz and Roon, to playing David's transfers of master tapes.

Will high-rez digital really be on par with master tapes? Will it really be better than the best vinyl? Is it really better than the best CDs, and if so, how much better?

I have more questions than answers at the moment, but I'll be exploring all of these in depth.

This will take some time, but stay tuned, there will be lots of good things to come! 

Ok, back to the unpacking story: After unpacking, the first thing I did was read the user manuals about Gold Note DS-10 EVO & PSU-10 EVO combo. 

The DS-10 has so much capability that I'll have to describe it all to you in future articles as I proceed investigating it, so please wait for that.

You can read about all the DS-10 EVO's extensive capabilities in the user manual HERE. 

Then I went to the Gold Note YouTube channel and watched the setup video about the Gold Note DS-10 EVO HERE. 

Next I installed the Gold Note DS-10 EVO & PSU-10 EVO combo into my vintage inspired audio system in my office: Thorens TD-124 turntable restored by Artisan Fidelity, with Schick tonearm & Ortofon SPU GTX S cartridge, Leben RS-30EQ phono pre, and Leopold Stokowski's custom vintage Altec loudspeakers with Duelund-ized crossovers (more HERE). 

First I hooked up the umbilical between the DS-10 EVO & PSU-10 EVO combo, then installed a pair of Acoustic Revive RCA Absolute FM interconnects between the DS-10 EVO streaming DAC / preamp and the impressive Triode Lab 45 EVO SET integrated amplifier, hooked up the power cords, and powered them up. 

The DS-10 EVO DAC really puts on a light show!

The DS-10 EVO can be connected to the internet via ethernet port or wi-fi. At the moment I'm connected with wi-fi, but in the future I'll be trying the ethernet cable connection with my Ziply fiber service's 300 Mbps upload/download speeds to compare the two types of connections' performance.  

Next it was time to get my iPhone 16 Pro Max out, download the Gold Note iPhone app, and setup network connections according to the video instructions. 

My first use was playing Seattle's Jazz24 streaming service, followed by Operavore, via a Bluetooth connection from my iPhone at a PCM 44.1 kHz rate. Sounds good!

Ok, that's just CD quality streaming, but I'll be exploring high-rez streaming in the near future.

Ok, that's all for now.

Thanks to Positive Feedback's Doc David and Gold Note's Tom Dolfi for making it possible for me to to do this series of articles for you about the Gold Note DS-10 EVO streaming DAC & PSU-10 EVO hot-rod power supply combo.

As always, thanks for stopping by, and may the tone be with you!