The Athena DAC is an advanced digital-to-analog converter that delivers the best of both worlds. In collaboration with a team of world-class digital designers, Zesto Audio has fused innovative digital technology with award-winning tube circuits, resulting in one of the most musical DACs available.
Zesto Audio is proud to be one of the only manufacturers to offer an all-tube analog phonostage at this price point. You will receive the same quality and sonic excellence that you would expect from any Zesto product, hence the name Andros Spirit.
Inspired by RCA’s vacuum tube circuit designs from the 1930s, the Andros has been engineered to bring you the clarity and depth of your original recordings. The highs are crisp but not overly emphasized, midranges are clear and present without being shrill, and the bass is full and firm, not boomy.
The Andros Deluxe II Phonostage is created from taking the very best attributes from both the Andros 1.2 and the Andros Tessera, while maintaining its own unique sonic personality.
A completely new 100% tube analog circuit design with optimized components, increased dynamic range, and loading on the secondary of the MC transformer captures the most detail from your cartridge. Completely independent dual-mono channels and increased output volume allow you to better match your cartridge to your system.
Six KT150 output tubes create 250 watts of very musical Class A power. Optimized frequency response provides the best musical range to benefit the natural harmonic structure of the instruments. Transformer balanced true differential XLR input offers noise cancelling, as well as providing ground isolation from your preamp. Each unit is hand built in the US.
Zesto founder George Counnas has loved music all of his life—as a musician, record producer, and audio engineer. That makes George fussy about sound. And that’s a good thing!
Digital technology has its place, but true audiophiles know that for the truest, purest sound, nothing beats analog. As George Counnas returned “home” to the warm, wonderful world of vinyl, he looked for gear that would deliver the highest fidelity. And he wasn’t satisfied, so he built his own.
Vacuum tubes faithfully bring warmth and harmonic tonality like nothing else can. As a young man in England, George designed vacuum tube circuits. He worked for Britain’s largest electronics company as part of a research and development team designing airborne navigational systems for the Royal Air Force. So he has many years of experience designing, creating, and bringing to market high-end electronic equipment.
George started doing research on past tube designs going back to the original RCA circuits of the 1930s. “Those guys got a lot of things right, even though their tools were slide rules and trial-and-error,” he says. “Their ‘classic’ designs were my starting point. But I had the advantage of CAD software to simulate electronic circuits. Ah yes, the old and the new. But even with the engineering skill, history, and technologies, in the end it’s designed by how it sounds, by ear.” The resisters are very quiet, the capacitors are transparent, and the transformers have minimal distortion. To make sure its visual aesthetics lived up to its sound, he had an industrial designer (Musky Mistry) and an artist (Carolyn Counnas) collaborate to create an elegant enclosure that’s built like a tank. In the end, however, it is about what you hear. Hearing is believing.
Contact Linda and David today to arrange an appointment. Hear for yourself what Zesto Audio components can do for your music at Deep Dive Audio, Florida’s Zesto dealer.