C41 Network Player

Description

Equipped with a state-of-the-art digital-to-analogue converter including MBL True Peak technology, your music will be reproduced with the highest quality and refreshing naturalness. Thanks to its extensive features, the MBL C41 works with a number of different streaming partners such as ROON¹, UPNP/DLNA, Airplay/Shairport, Tidal², Spotify² as well as Qobuz². So your favourite music is always just a touch of your fingers away.

The C41 also proves cooperative when it comes to integrating it into existing hi-fi systems. With its multitude of inputs and outputs, and can be easily integrated into various chains. With its built-in volume control, the C41 is happy to take over the task of the control centre in hi-fi chains with purely digital sources, making a separate preamplifier unnecessary.

True Peak Technology
The simple calculation, 16 x 6 = 96, represents the dynamic range of a CD, meaning the ratio between the quietest sound a disc can store and the loudest noise it is capable of producing as defined in decibels. The audio tracks of the CD are encoded with 16 bits. Each bit delivers a dynamic range of 6 decibels, making a total of 96 decibels of dynamic range.

One might think that would be enough to flawlessly capture a piece of music on a digital file or CD recording with the lowest levels of the music sufficiently far away from noise, and with enough safety distance from distortion-prone overloads. This is the assumption of the major manufacturers of digital-analogue converter chips, such as AKM, ESS or Texas Instruments (Burr-Brown).

Unfortunately, audio reality paints a completely different picture, especially with pop music where overdriven recordings are the order of the day. Every music producer wants his songs to be loud and dynamic when they reach the audience’s ears. What could be achieved by any listener with a simple turn of the volume knob is built in right from the start by many recording studios where producers encode the music signal hard and fast to the maximum level. This is to the detriment of the highest-quality music playback. If several samples on a CD are fully distorted one after the other, the digital filters of the converters generate waveforms that are overdriven by up to three decibels – and are then abruptly cut or “clipped.” Unpleasant distortions are the audible and measurable outcome of this practice.

Fortunately, this is not the case with MBL’s converter design. With sophisticated stop-gaps built into the digital filters, MBL’s engineers have ingeniously created an additional modulation reserve of three decibels, thereby correcting and basically eliminating any sound-degrading overloads from CD or music files. MBL call it True Peak Technology. Listeners call it extraordinary. The result is natural, distortion-free sound from CDs and digital music files – even at peak volume levels.

Extraordinary, indeed!

Features

• The C41 at a glance
• High flexibility due to various inputs and outputs
• State-of-the-art DA-converter with MBL True Peak technology
• Resolution and sampling rates up to 24 bit / 192 kHz as well as DSD64
• Integrated volume control with rotary knob on the front of the housing
• Display of title information on VFD display
• Control of the streaming servers via smart keys on the front of the housing
• Wide range of usable streaming services: Roon, UPNP, Tidal*, Spotify*, Qobuz* (*Q4/2023)
• Streaming from smart phone via Airplay/Shairport
• Possibility to connect PC/Mac via USB audio input
• Easy expandability and updateability through online updates
• MBL SmartLink for simple and comprehensive system operation and integration