Build quality
Contents
Audiolab’s products are characterised by their sober appearance and clean lines, and with the Audiolab 6000N this has been extended to the extreme. The front right side only has an on/off button and six small buttons to store radio stations. Actually, it would have been better to omit those six keys because radio stations can be stored perfectly in the app. The black version we are getting is, because of its matt version, rather sensitive to fingers, but there is a grey version available.
At the back we see analog and digital (optical, coax) and an ethernet connection. There is also a control button that connects to the 6000N via usb. A small setup key must be pressed when installing via wifi. By the way, two antennas provide a very stable wifi signal, something we always test separately. We would have liked to have seen a real usb connection, still a popular connection for many
Under the hood is the same excellent ESS Sabre 9018 dac (PCM 24bit/192kHz) as in the 6000A and we see the same isolated power supply as in the 6000CDT. The circuit has been kept short and the years of experience of the designers gives confidence. There is no screen available, logical in this price range, and actually we don’t miss it. The tablet or smartphone serves as a screen. Isn’t that right?
With these three very affordable components (6000A/N/CDT) Audiolab tries to conquer the world and they are right. The more affordable stuff the better. We are very curious how this streamer, the first for Audiolab, will perform given the positive experiences with the amplifier