ELAC Alchemy DDP-2 DAC streamer

At the turn of the 1980s and 1990s, an event rocked the audio industry and sidelined tape audio media. Music enthusiasts fled from tape cassettes and reels to the comfort of CDs, which promised "definitely the best sound". But discerning listeners soon found out that ones and zeros are far from perfect.

A small design team around Peter Madnick unlocked the potential of digital media and thus the Audio Alchemy brand was born. In just four years since its inception, Audio Alchemy has produced hundreds of thousands of DA converters, jitter filters, headphone amplifiers, preamplifiers, power amplifiers and phono preamplifiers, many of which are still in service to the satisfaction of users. Although the brand did not survive the 1990s, its jitter control, resolution enhancement and analog filtering technologies are still used today. In 2013, Peter Madnick, together with the team of original Alchemists, had the opportunity to revive the brand and a new series of Audio Alchemy products was created. In the fall of 2016, Audio Alchemy will fully integrate with Elac.

A completely new stage begins this year. Peter Madnick will present the new Elac Alchemy model series to high-end fans in Munich, consisting of the DDP-2 audio controller, the DPA-2 power amplifier and the powerful PPA-2 PHONO preamplifier.

All three components share the same chassis with a surprisingly low build of just 5cm. The black aluminum front panels have a horizontal recess in the middle, in which the control elements are embedded. This line is interrupted on the right part by OLED display windows, which in the case of all three components inform about the current settings. In the case of the DDP-2, we can find the volume control on the far right. The audio circuitry is designed to be fully balanced, so it offers an ideal set of XLR inputs and outputs for interconnection. The common feature of the entire series is the unprecedentedly extensive setting of work parameters, all from the comfort of a phone or tablet screen with control applications.