The Golden Tulip is another trendy hotel just across the way from the Radisson Blu Sobieski, which is where we stayed and where the majority of exhibitors at Audio Video Show 2024 were located for the previous three days. It’s a much smaller show area, but it’s disproportionately packed with gems, especially since much of the exhibition space is divided across conference rooms that are large enough to really show the capabilities of an ultra-high-end system. Destination Audio didn’t reserve one of those huge spaces, though I kind of think they’re better off for it, frankly.
The reason is that, immediately upon exiting the stairwell into the main show area at the Golden Tulip, one is greeted by three chunky black- and copper-clad tube audio devices, the sort of things that are big and bad enough to dare to say “Up yours!” to the likes of hi-fi royalty. I learned about all three devices, but the final product is the most important, as it was being premiered at this show and features a noteworthy collaboration.
Destination Audio is perhaps best described as an American-via-Poland company. Sam Wisniewski, who is the company’s head and with whom I spoke here, is originally from Poland but is currently based in Las Vegas. The company’s main products are speakers. But at the Golden Tulip, the brand showcased its electronics: an integrated amp, a phono preamp, and its newest product, a DAC.
First, I was introduced to the GM70 integrated amp. The amp utilizes two chassis, with one dedicated to its power supply, and the second housing just the audio circuitry. The power supply uses solid-state rectification and a truly bonkers number of high-grade capacitors and chokes. The amplifier itself uses two ECC40 tubes, two 5687 tubes, and two 6W6 tubes. Don’t confuse the 6W6 with the more common 6L6 or 6V6 tubes. The 6W6 is a miniaturized pentode, but in this application, it’s connected in triode mode. The 6W6s drive the namesake GM70 output tubes, which make 14 watts a side. The GM70 amp sells for $50,000 (all prices in USD).
The WE417A phono stage is likewise over-the-top in terms of its design and build quality. Its namesake Western Electric devices form the all-important input stage, with a quad of 5687 tubes providing subsequent amplification. This phono preamp uses a unique LCR equalization circuit, meaning that RIAA compensation is done using audio-grade inductors, along with the more typical resistor-and-capacitor network. A 5U4G rectifier tube rounds out the complement. Additionally, Wisniewski said that this phono preamp accepts moving-magnet and moving-coil cartridges, with two different step-up settings available to accommodate the different output levels of the various moving-coil cartridges available now. This world-beating phono stage goes for $36,000.
The final product I was shown was the Tube DAC, which is new for the show and was designed in concert with Łukasz Fikus, of Lampizator fame. Wisniewski had limited info about what exactly Fikus did while designing the digital side of Tube DAC, but he did mention that it will accept up to DSD512 and “any” incoming PCM signal. Wisniewski is responsible for the analog part of the DAC, which includes the tubes. Here, they are a Mullard AZ31 rectifier tube and two ECC40 triodes. The DAC’s output is capacitively coupled via a pair of Dueland film capacitors. Wisniewski told me, however, that a balanced version of the Tube DAC is coming in 2025, which necessitates four ECC40s and four Dueland capacitors. The unbalanced version shown here will be available shortly and will retail for $36,000. There’s no word on the price for the balanced version, but if you’re at all familiar with the going rate for new-old-stock ECC40 tubes or Dueland film capacitors, you already know that the price difference versus the unbalanced version will not be trivial.
Sadly, I had no opportunity to hear this goliath of a tube DAC here in Warsaw, but it’s probably just as well—if it weren’t sitting out on a desk at the Golden Tulip’s entrance, I might never have become aware of it. Hopefully, I’ll have an opportunity to hear some of Destination’s gear at a future show.
Matt Bonaccio
Contributor, SoundStage!
