Koala Tube

About the Koala Tube

The Gold Note Koala Tube is a high-end CD player and DAC, handcrafted in Italy on a standard rack-width chassis, featuring a drawer-type transport mechanism engineered for very low disc speed fluctuation via the company's Electro-Power power supply system. Its analog stage uses a tubed, truly balanced Class-A output with two 6922/ECC88 mini vacuum tubes, providing both balanced XLR and unbalanced RCA stereo outputs with a smooth yet detailed sonic character comparable to more expensive players. Digital-to-analog conversion is handled by an internal Burr-Brown DAC (20-bit resolution in earlier Koala Tube versions, 24-bit/192kHz architecture in the Koala Anniversary implementation), combined with Gold Note's proprietary Zero-Clock digital filter/clocking system to reduce jitter and timing errors and deliver wide bandwidth with low signal compression. The player also offers a coaxial S/PDIF digital output for use as a transport and, in Anniversary/USB variants, an asynchronous 24/192 S/PDIF input and USB input so the internal DAC can be used with external digital sources. The chassis employs robust metal construction and careful internal layout with multiple transformers and separate supplies for critical sections, minimizing interference and stabilizing voltage to the laser pickup and motor; overall speed fluctuation is specified at approximately 0.0001%, contributing to its natural, vivid and lifelike sound.