High End 2016 • Hot Product

Prism Sound is a well-established name in pro-audio digital conversion, both A to D and D to A. Prism Sound components can be found in almost all of the top studios, yet it has taken until now for the company to dip a tentative toe into the hi-fi market. "Tentative" because the Callia is a relatively compact DAC with a relatively compact price of $2392. It features the usual USB and S/PDIF via coax or optical inputs and has balanced XLR alongside single-ended RCA outputs. Analog output can be variable or fixed, and there is a dedicated headphone amplifier with its own separate volume pot. It’s good for PCM up to 32 bits/384kHz and DSD, with the latter having the benefit of architecture similar to Prism Sound’s ADA-8XR pro DSD converter. No MQA or Roon so far, but hopefully the brand’s studio credentials will show through where they count -- the sound.