AUDIOLAB 6000N PLAY
Had Einstein been alive today, we could just picture him drawing up his next theory of quantum physics while listening to the Audiolab 6000N Play.
Audiolab’s first standalone music streamer would certainly have fitted Albert’s philosophy that a “simple and unassuming manner of life is best for everyone” – aesthetically, the 6000N Play is as unassuming as hi-fi streamers come, with a screen-less, largely unadorned chassis that gives nothing of its vast network talents away.
But behind that modest façade, the 6000N Play has every right to exude an air of quiet confidence.
Family likeness
The 6000N Play uses the same DAC chip (ES9018 Sabre32 Reference) found in the 6000A amplifier (and the company’s Award-winning M-DAC), which we’ve previously praised for its ability to present a capable and composed sound.
With the talents of the 6000 Series siblings stopping short of network streaming smarts, the 6000N Play is left to create its own heart and soul. The foundation, though, of its streaming experience is actually based on another’s creation, DTS’S Play-fi hi-res, multi-room platform.
Having Play-fi at its software core means that when connected to a network through ethernet or its dual-band wi-fi, the 6000N Play can access services such as Spotify Connect, Tidal, Hdtracks, Deezer, Qobuz, Amazon Music, Napster, Tunein, iheartradio and Siriusxm. It also means it can stream hi-res music files up to 24-bit/192khz from networked servers, thanks to DLNA and UPNP compliance, as well as connect wirelessly with up to 32 other Play-fiequipped devices for a multi-room set-up. That’s a lot of rooms.
The gateway to all these functions is the DTS Play-fi control app. We have used this platform before with the Award-winning Arcam rplay, and can confidently say its well-equipped streaming smarts are backed by an intuitive, stable experience.
Access your music services, adjust volume and control a multi-room environment via the neatly organised home screen. You’ll also notice a Hi-res logo, which engages the all-important Critical Listening Mode necessary to enable high-resolution music playback. As Play-fi is a universal multi-room platform that can connect rooms full of Play-fi products together, the software downsamples hi-res files to just above CD quality (16-bit/48khz) to maintain stream and bandwidth performance.
For those with single DTS Play-fi products, or just a few, who are prioritising optimum sound quality over bandwidth juggling, Critical Listening Mode scraps that downsampling process, enabling the full transmission of every bit and sample frequency.
If voice-activation is your thing, support for Alexa is also offered via Amazon devices.
While using a third-party platform largely means conforming to a ubiquitous, one-size-fits-all experience, Audiolab and DTS have worked to create a custom 6000N Play feature by way of six on-unit presets to give direct access to whatever source is being played, say BBC Radio 3. So far, so good. However, selecting a preset often throws out app synchronicity so you have to start all over again when you want to change songs or sources. Not the end of the world though.
A lavish sonic landscape
All those troubles, as Paul Mccartney might say, seem so far away when you’re settled into a radio station, playlist or album. So we play Big Thief’s Cattails and the Audiolab reveals a wide-open canvas, colouring it with well imaged detail lavished with subtlety and space.
It has the insight to capture the band’s trademark quality – Adrianne Lenker’s distinct vocal is carried with stark clarity, acoustic finger-picking is tangible, and there’s the dynamic interest to convey the subtle eruptions in its folky flair as well as the song’s inevitable build as it creeps towards a dense, frenetic climax.
The Audiolab doesn’t quite have the warmth of the 2018-Award-winning Bluesound Node 2i, nor does it knit music strands together as tightly, but with greater clarity, openness and a down-the-middle tonal balance, it proves the more insightful and involving listen.
The Play is a great, affordable way to implement streaming into your system without compromising sonic quality – and with the bonus of being able to slip into your hi-fi rack inconspicuously. Quite frankly, it’s the best budget solution we’ve had the pleasure of meeting.