Cocktail Audio X45 Roon Ready High-Resolution Audio Player and DAC (Black)

December 2015 I reviewed the Cocktail Audio X35 and loved i t. I also announced a version without amps and with a higher quality DAC, the X45, which is finally on review here. Cocktail Audio uses the same kind of design policies modern car manufacturers use: platforms. The X35 and X45 use the same front, the same streaming platform, the same FM and DAB+ tuner and so on. So designing the X45 starts with the same basic setup as used for the X35. But then the audio board is designed to hold higher quality DAC’s in stead of power amps. That way Novatron - the company that makes the Cocktail Audio products - can produce a series of devices that all contain a pre-amp, FM-tuner, DAB+ tuner, MQA DAC, ripper, streamer, burner, digital recorder, NAS, DLNA server/player and Roon Endpoint. The different models have different levels of audio quality or contain a stereo power amp. That’s not only han