The high-end French audio company Kalista markets the DreamPlay XC as a “universal digital source,” and given that it combines four devices (CD/SACD player, streamer, DAC, and digital preamp with Leedh volume control) in one gorgeous, touchscreen-equipped chassis, cleverly suspended on an optional anti-vibration base and powered by a large outboard supply, it kinda is. Beyond its remarkable versatility, what makes the DreamPlay so special is its sound, which, to JV’s ear, is highly reminiscent of that of the superb Soulution 760 DAC, which is to say the DreamPlay has an analog-like liquidity, density of timbre, and three-dimensionality rarely found in digital playback components. Of course, it also offers the resolution, dynamics, and bass that we rightly associate with ones and zeroes, but it offers them without any of the thinning down of body or whiting out of timbre or etching of transients that we (or some of us) also associate with digital sources. Played back on its built-in CD/SACD player, physical discs are particularly natural sounding. Indeed, with CDs and SACDs the DreamPlay XC sets a new standard for analog-like musicality in digital replay. As a disc player, this is a world-class unit that JV (not one of digital audio’s most ardent fans) could happily live with until the cows come home from wherever they go when they’re out and about. JV, 344