Oh, glorious day! USB audio is growing up! Yes, folks, here's a first peek at April Music's Stello DA100 USB DAC in for review here at SonicFlare. If you want the quick dirt, the DA100, at $695, does USB audio right and sounds just silly good.

While more comprehensive coverage will come later, here are a few snippets to get you salivating. Over the weekend, I had a chance to throw the Stello into the octagon with such giants as the $13000 Chord Blu transport/DAC combo and an older Linn player hooked up to an ATC/Linn system. If you're not familiar with ATC, they're an ultra high-end pro company with speakers sharper than razor blades. If you can't hear it over ATCs, then it's simply not there.

The Stello, if you look closely, is a complete DAC with multiple inputs including coax and optical (pic next page). The size of a ream of printer paper, the construction is first rate. Of course, next to the Cartier-inspired Chord gear with its blingified aluminum chassis and alien landing gear lights (pic next page), the Stello was just another black box. But, hey, what do you expect for $695? Source consisted of an Apple PowerBook running Lossless through iTunes.

Now, the most important part: how did the DA100 stack up to Chord and Linn? Would you believe me if I told you the Stello was better than both? If you answered "no" you get a shiny gold star. The Chord and Linn were hands down better. For 13 grand, there should be a significant difference. But switching between the Stello and the Chord, it was just amazing just how good the Stello was.

To delve into audiophile babble (I'm dirty, I know), the differences between the Chord and Linn were pronounced with the Chord having a much crisper and cleaner image while the Linn was warmer and more laid back. Personally, I like the Chord though others may cozy to the Linn (especially Linn's newer equipment). In any case, the Stello was like a Chord Blu-lite, hitting that same crisp and clean image but not as well.

So what percentage of performance did the Stello hit relative to the Chord? 70%? 80%? I'm not even going to touch that one, but the overall feeling is the Stello will give less expensive CD players a serious run for the money. It can't touch $13k but $2K? $3k? $10k? Maybe, maybe not. Time will tell.

I imagine the vast majority of the Stello's magic is simply due to the solid implementation of the USB input and the jitter-slaying qualities of hard disk-based audio. I did not get a chance to run the Chord Blu transport directly into the Stello to compare the DA100's DAC directly to the BLU's outboard DAC, but I imagine the Blu is vastly better. So chances are the performance results from the Stello are simply an indication of "USB done right" and the giant-slaying qualities of HDD audio. April Music makes highly regarded equipment, but I can't believe the DAC alone accounts for the monster performance.

Keep an eye out for more comparisons against lower priced CD players as well as other USB DACs. But, fellas, if this little sampler is any indication, you'll soon start seeing industry-wide reviews of USB DACs murdering CD players at double and triple the price. Mark my words, it's going to happen.