Both the name of the company and the look of their products belie what I found to be the company’s spirit. “CAD”—short, in this case, for Computer Audio Design, but more commonly denoting computer-aided design, evokes highly technical, inhuman stuff. The main CAD products on active display in this room at AXPONA—the CAD Audio Transport, the 1543 Mk II DAC, and various “Ground Control” boxes—are squared off and minimalist in design, resembling space objects from 2001: A Space Odyssey. The components’ green logos evoked, for me, nothing so much as the eyes of aliens come to abduct us.

CAD, though, isn’t like that at all. A British company run by an American expat, CAD is all about humanity and approachable music. Art Dudley would approve—I’m sure of it (except perhaps for the prices). In this room, there was much talk of rhythm and pace and flow and the deleterious effects of high-frequency noise.

CAD’s technology—spearheaded by CEO and chief designer Scott Berry (the expat)—focuses on simplicity and reducing that high-frequency noise—EMI and RFI—which Berry believes is one of the main culprits—perhaps the main culprit—in digital-sounding digital sound. I think he might be right. I’m reminded, ironically, of analog days, when phono stages with very wide bandwidths often sounded grainy. At the time—1970s or so—many experts (including some Stereophile reviewers) attributed that grainy sound to noise above the audio band. Was that the predecessor of today’s “digital” sound?

The 1543 Mk II DAC ($12,000) is non-oversampling, presumably to keep switching frequencies low and lower high-frequency noise. It uses a ladder architecture and vintage Philips TDA1543 DAC chips—one generation removed from the chips used in some of the earliest single-box DACs, such as Arcam’s Delta Black Box. The case is made from acrylic.

The transport is dubbed CAD CAT ($14,000)—they call it a transport but it’s actually a server with a transport built in. Put a CD in and it’s automatically ripped to memory. The transport, too, is designed to reduce high-frequency noise and radiation. There appears to be a lot of technological sophistication here, aimed mostly at making CAD’s products old-school. High tech for luddites. They also damp vibrations in their cables (CAD USB Cable II, $1500). Amplification was by Trilogy Audio Systems, a U.K. company: the 915R Reference Preamplifier ($18,900) and the 995R Reference Monoblocks ($14,800 each). Analog cabling was by the Swedish company Bibacord.

In addition to the more conventional components, CAD had also deployed a device called the Ground Control, which is aimed at reducing noise on ground wires, both signal ground and true earth ground. Ground Control prices range from $1995 to $21,500. Cables are an extra $350.

I spent half an hour or so in the CAD room, with the CAD server and DAC, the Trilogy amplifiers, and a pair of Verity Amadis S loudspeakers ($40,695 in the Makore finish), which, distinctively, feature rear-firing woofers. The component stand was Quadraspire’s Evo, in Cherry. The power distribution block was from VIBEX. Power Cables were from The Chord Company, their entry level “Shawline” range.

I found the sound remarkably sweet and flowing, with good rhythm and pace, and full and rich. Those rear-firing woofers were producing a lot of low bass. I’m no luddite, but, despite its modest scale, this room is on my shortlist for best sound in show. There’s no denying it though: There’s nothing modest about the prices.

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