When it comes to hi-fi gear, how much functional integration in a box is good and how much is too much? Is that product that includes a streamer, a DAC with Bluetooth, a preamp, and a power amplifier really going to serve your long-term musical interests? Or does the path to long-term happiness require some separation of concerns? This post attempts to answer some of these questions from an AVA perspective.

The wonders of miniaturization are presenting consumers of audio gear with greater and greater levels of functional integration. It’s not uncommon today to find what seem like perfectly reasonable single-box solutions incorporating everything from a digital audio streamer, some local file storage, a DAC with Bluetooth, an integrated amplifier, and a headphone amplifier. Everything you could ever want wrapped into one tidy little package.

These solutions are emerging at the same time that many music lovers are wanting to downsize their installations. There are no doubt lots of reasons for this, but it’s probably true that these very products are fueling expectations that users can have more features in the same space or the same features in less space than they are used to.

Whatever is actually going on, highly integrated boxes are proving very seductive to lots of folks. So …

What could go wrong?

Going waaay back to at least the 1960s, the argument in favor of "separates" has been that you can upgrade individual components in your system as needed and your resources allow. If and when you need more power, you can sell or repurpose your old power amp and get a new one. Rinse, repeat as needed.

In other words, the more the functionality in a system is separated, the greater opportunity there is to refine it incrementally. This was the case stretching way back when, and it may even be more relevant than ever. The digital audio space in particular continues to change quickly, especially with respect to streamers and Bluetooth codecs. This means that an all-in-one box you buy today may be effectively obsolete much sooner than you expect.

AVA is a company that builds audio equipment for the long haul. A lot of our gear has been in service for decades, and that’s by design. In addition, and probably more importantly, we are focused on the Stuff That Really Matters™ to sound quality. Or, to use a term from information technology, we are interested in solving audio's last mile problems.

For example, we don’t really care what path your digital audio bits take to get into your house. We just want to make sure they are rendered as faithfully and musically as possible when they hit your ears. Everything involved in the conversion from digital data to analog audio output inside a DAC impacts your musical experience tremendously. But whether the digital signal it’s converting comes from streamer A or streamer B doesn’t, as long as they output the same bits and none of the associated equipment is demonstrably broken.¹

So, we care a lot about DAC circuitry -- and let you decide what the best streamer or Bluetooth interface for your situation is. A well-designed DAC will provide you years and years of musical service, long after the streaming service, streaming technology, or Bluetooth codec du jour has become obsolete.

So, where does AVA draw the line?

Of course, the answer to this has to be very fluid. Technology changes too quickly for it not to be. So please keep this in mind as we evolve with the times.

As mentioned above, in the realm of digital audio right now, we’d rather put our design and engineering to use in creating the best digital-to-analog conversion we can that supports standard digital audio interfaces -- so you can have a quality DAC you can use for years and years. Our DVA Digital Preamplifier was designed in accordance with this.

Integrated Bluetooth support would be convenient for lots of users, but Bluetooth codec technology is still evolving at such a rate that we’d rather you connect a reasonably priced third-party Bluetooth adapter (with digital output) to one of our DACs.² If and when a new codec you want to benefit from is released, you can then replace that adapter with a new reasonably priced one. The same is true for streamers. Choose what’s best for you now, because it will be different in two years. It's OK; your DAC will still be awesome.

In terms of speaker amplification, we don’t currently see enough client value in making something more integrated than an amplifier that combines the roles of a preamp (including phono), a power amp, and a headphone amp. Our CA1 Control Amplifier does this. If it becomes possible to add a DAC in a future product without introducing unacceptable compromises, we'll joyfully consider doing so.

Embrace individuality

So, yes, this isn’t what those who have been bitten by the downsizing bug want to hear. But AVA holds our clients’ long-term interests very dear. As Frank Van Alstine has often said, “We want you for a long-term client, not for a quick buck.” And highly integrated boxes all too often represent false economy.

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