Accuphase DG-68

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.

A great concept—sound enough to serve as the foundation for an independent democratic nation.

Yet what’s sound in one sphere doesn’t necessarily apply to sound in another, namely the rooms in which our systems reside. As much as we audiophiles may wish to declare our independence from room resonances, image smearing from first-order reflections, slap echo, and every other environmental and speaker-related factor that can handicap system performance, no mere declaration will make it so. Not all rooms—and not all components—are created equal.

To reference American mythology, Dorothy may have closed her eyes and clicked her ruby-red heels together three times as she declared, “There’s no place like home,” but she knew exactly what home felt like. Audiophiles who have only heard our components in compromised sonic environments have only a general idea of what their systems can sound like under optimal conditions. There is no there there when you don’t know what “there” is in the first place.

Finding the way home

Enter the Accuphase DG-68 Digital Voicing Equalizer ($24,000). The fifth iteration of a unique component that debuted in 1997—a very different era in digital audio—as the DG-28, the DG-68 combines soundfield correction, which Accuphase defines as “Voicing,” with soundfield creation, which the company equates with “Equalizing.” In “Voicing” mode, the company claims that the DG-68 “measures room acoustics accurately and eliminates extreme dips and peaks such as standing waves. This improves the localization of vocals and the expansion of sound stage dramatically.” The DG-68 can perform voicing automatically: A repeating sequence of preprogrammed, cascading multioctave tones generated by the unit is measured by a supplied microphone placed at the listening position. Manual voicing, in which the user creates a preferred target curve before the tones sound, is also possible. Optional custom equalization, in turn, can be performed manually, using a supplied stylus to tailor the frequency-response bands on the unit’s large display. Accuphase says that “by performing ‘Voicing’ and ‘Equalizing’ [VC/EQ]¹, it is possible to achieve the ultimate ideal sound.”

Accuphase’s awkwardly translated, 12-page online pdf elaborates on the difference between “Voicing” and “Equalization”: “The Voicing function involves measuring the acoustic characteristics of