  >   the effort that's been expended on the DAP-777's interior is invisible. Essentially a co-operative effort, JVC supplied the digital electronics and expertise to Kyodo Denshi who actually built the boards, with overall design and structural details dictated by Combak Corporation. It's the latter's understanding and insight into vibrational effects in audio that are both intangible and indiscernible. Until you listen that is.
   The first few bars of the very first track will tell you that this DAC is doing something special. How can I be so certain in apportioning credit? Well, having played with a few of Combak's Harmonix accessories, I can vouch for their astonishing effects. So much of what the DAP-777 is doing comes from common ground with those experiences that Combak's influence has to be the common factor, either in how they do things, or in the clarity of the sonic goals they set. Either way, the results are extremely impressive, taking undoubtedly excellent ingredients to produce something even greater than the sum of its parts.
   The comprehensive input options on the DAP-777 offer the opportunity to connect more than one transport component although given the limited decoding options this seems pretty unlikely. Instead, it's more a case of selecting the best one for you. I didn't try the TosLink optical input, but the rest were put through the mill before I eventually settled on the BNC in preference to the AES/EBU,

the co-axial RCA input trailing in a poor third. I hooked the Reimyo up to the digital output of the Wadia 861SE for most of my listening, although Burmester's excellent CD-player 001 and the Rega Jupiter also played their parts. The rest of the system relied on the Hovland electronics (HP100, HP200 and RADIA) hooked up with Nordost Valhalla to the Living Voice OBX-R2 loudspeakers and Townshend Maximum super-tweeters. The thing that becomes immediately apparent with the DAP-777 in circuit is that it brings an organic warmth and body to the sound. Not the cloying, rosy glow of an aging valve amp, but an inner colour and harmonic correctness that brings weight and presence, body and a natural roundness to instruments without slowing their energy or clogging their acoustic space. Let's take the beautifully structured ‘How Am I Different’ from Aimee Mann's Bachelor No.2 (the Mo-Fi re-issue UDSACD 2025, playing the hybrid CD layer). The Wadia alone delivers an impressively stable, defined, mobile and involving performance. But add the DAP-777, connected via the BNC input and the gains are dramatic and immediate apparent. It's an interesting example because it's one of those tracks that starts sparse and builds by stages to a single, climactic point, allowing you to play with both ends of the dynamic scale.

From the opening phrases you'll notice how much more solidity and presence there is to the individual instruments. Listen carefully to the low-level percussion. What was a tinny drum top and a rattly cymbal take on body, shape and definition. You can hear the volume of air behind the drum skin, the subtle rhythmic interplay between the cymbal taps and the drum counterpoint. The spread and contribution of the two guitars is clearer, their relationship better defined, as is the structure of their chords. And the voice? Solid, fluid and smooth, with beautifully centred notes, picking out the deceptively simple, almost naive melody.
While all that's going on you should take time to appreciate the quality of the blackness behind the instruments; a velvety density and presence that leaves the Wadia (no slouch in this regard) sounding grey and insipid. Here lies the root of that presence, founded in superior dynamic range and micro-dynamic definition. It makes the sound more immediate and louder, confusing direct comparisons. But careful matching with an SPL meter confirms that equal levels really are louder on the DAP-777 – if you see what I mean.
As the track builds you'll appreciate the extra, propulsive power and weight in bass lines as well as the way >