Maybe the best praise I can put the Raptor’s way is its chameleon-like abilities when handling music of all kinds. It rocks out when you play powerful 4/4 time ‘rawck’, yet can be a gentle, delicate performer when playing folk tunes. It breaks apart the synths from the natural instruments in ‘nu-jazz’ yet doesn’t leave the music dissected in the process. And if you move from Mozart to Mahler, the Raptor tracks your changes in taste with changes in dynamics.
I’m holding off calling ReQuest Audio The Raptor ‘Beast-lite’ because there is nothing ‘lite’ about its performance. In essence it’s The Beast but without a screen, for a fraction of the cost. In a way, the only thing you can say against it if you were considering buying The Beast, The Raptor does all its bigger brother can do, but without a screen and for much less money. Unless you are ReQuest itself, is that really a downside?
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Type: Solid-state music server with built‑in storage optional DAC and Clock
Storage: 0.96 TB or 1.92TB SSD
Analogue Inputs: Balanced XLR Input (pass through or controllable) over the optional analogue Diamond Volume control
Digital Inputs: None
DAC Resolution/Supported Digital Formats: DSD all 4 different formats, WAVE / FLAC 44.1 / 88.2 / 96 / 174.4 / 192 / 384 and 16bit / 24bit / 32 bit
Analogue Outputs: One stereo balanced (via XLR connectors), one stereo unbalanced (via RCA jacks)
Digital Outputs: coaxial S/PDIF (via RCA jack), TOSLink, PRO i2S, BNC
User Interface: Apple iPad, iPhone, Android, PC or Mac
Other Features: UPnP server
Dimensions (H×W×D):
10cm × 44cm × 46cm
Weight: weight depends upon configuration
Price: from £10,998 (£14,998 with internal DAC option)
Manufacturer: ReQuest Audio Switzerland AG
URL: requestaudio.com
UK Distributor: Absolute Sounds
Tel: +44 (0) 20 8971 3909