Стримеры — Kalista DreamPlay SC

The DreamPlay SC is a two-chassis network streamer with an integrated DAC from Kalista, the brand produced by the French company Metronome Technologie, where each unit is handcrafted. It is the converter-equipped version of the DreamPlay S, which works as a pure streaming transport and needs an external DAC, while the two share the streaming platform, network options, weights and power draw. Both were announced with prices of EUR 44,900 for the SC and EUR 39,900 for the S, and both later received Roon Ready certification, so Roon discovers them on the network without manual setup and lists them as ready audio zones.

Key specs that matter

The DAC section is based on an ESS ES9039MPRO, for which Kalista quotes THD+N of -122 dB and a dynamic range of 137 dB. The streaming engine accepts PCM from 44.1 to 384 kHz at 32-bit and native DSD from DSD64 to DSD256, and it can act as an MQA renderer over the same PCM range. Analogue signals leave through balanced XLR and unbalanced RCA sockets. The main unit measures 445 x 120 x 420 mm and weighs 14 kg, while the separate Elektra power supply measures 420 x 70 x 430 mm and weighs 13.6 kg. Power consumption is given as 60 W. Two finishes are offered, Black Pearl and Diamond.

Engineering and use context

The product is split between a drive chassis and an Elektra supply chassis. Network access is through a single 10/100/1000 Ethernet socket or through Wi-Fi working in both the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands, and a single USB 2.0 port reads external storage. Supported protocols and services are DLNA and UPnP, Audirvana, vTuner, Deezer, Spotify Connect, Qobuz Connect and TIDAL Connect. The maker specifies an operating temperature of +5 to +35 degrees C and relative humidity between 5 and 90 percent. Kalista offers a Silent anti-vibration base and a Classic tripod furniture stand as matching accessories for its DreamPlay units.

Pairing

The analogue outputs connect to a preamplifier or integrated amplifier over XLR or RCA. Anyone wishing to use a separate DAC instead has three digital sockets to choose from. Via S/PDIF or AES/EBU PCM passes at full resolution, with DSD64 to DSD128 sent as DoP, while the I2S output passes DSD up to DSD256 natively along with the full PCM range.

Alternatives

The Kalista DreamPlay Stream is a smaller streamer with its own analogue RCA and XLR outputs, built around an AKM 4497 converter in a 400 x 50 x 270 mm case weighing 5 kg.