A Digital Front End, Complete
The Creek Voyage CD can be described most accurately as a digital pre-amplifier that happens to include a disc drive. Six digital sources are selected from the front panel or remote — CD, asynchronous USB, two coaxial SPDIF inputs and two optical TOSLINK inputs — with volume adjustable in the digital domain when required. Whatever arrives, from a laptop running Roon to a television feed to a disc pulled from the shelf, leaves as analogue of a standard that justifies the Voyage name.
Designed in the UK and made in the European Union to the highest standards, the Voyage CD is a twenty-first-century product built with top quality parts and sound engineering. Mike Creek’s stated ambition for the range — sound quality through passion, design and innovation — reads less like marketing when the specification is examined closely.
Conversion Handled Properly
Creek selected a premium AKM AK4493EQ 32-bit converter with VELVET SOUND™ technology for low-level distortion and wide dynamic range. A switched capacitor filter design supports a broad signal range, while Over Sampling Ratio Doubler technology substantially reduces out-of-band noise. Dynamic range measures 123dB, with OSRD reaching 126dB in normal mode.
Five 32-bit digital filter shapes are selectable from the remote, allowing the reconstruction characteristic to be matched to a recording or a system. Sharp roll-off, slow roll-off, super slow roll-off, low-dispersion short delay and two short delay variants each trade differently between performance and suppression of unwanted artefacts. As a hi-fi DAC, the Voyage CD offers the kind of adjustment usually reserved for standalone converters costing considerably more.
USB, Discs and Everything Between
Bit-perfect operation is available through the asynchronous USB Class 2 input, built around an eight-core XMOS microcontroller running custom Creek firmware and clocked by two low phase-noise, low-jitter oscillator circuits. PCM signals to 384kHz and Direct Stream Digital to 22.4MHz are both supported, so a demanding library plays without downsampling. Firmware updates install in seconds over the same connection.
Legacy Compact Discs are read by a rugged and reliable Stream Unlimited CD80 slot-drive transport. Coaxial and optical digital outputs allow the disc signal to pass to another converter should a system already contain one — a useful route for anyone building around an existing DAC for hi-fi duties.
Balanced Outputs and Direct Connection
Audio leaves through top quality unbalanced RCA sockets at 2.0V RMS and professional Neutrik balanced XLR sockets at 4.0V, buffered by two Texas Instruments OPA2134 Sound Plus™ op-amps. Close tolerance WIMA polypropylene capacitors and MELF surface-mount resistors filter remaining digital aliasing artefacts.
As a balanced DAC, the Voyage CD earns the description honestly — though Creek is refreshingly candid about when it matters. Beyond roughly two metres, balanced connection may improve performance or eliminate interference caused by ground loops; over shorter runs the benefit may not be audible. Cable quality affects the result either way.
The converter’s built-in non-decimating volume control activates with a rear-panel switch, adjusting output in 1dB steps. Enabling variable output allows the Voyage CD to connect straight to a power amplifier, or to the Voyage i20 with direct power amp mode selected — removing a preamplifier stage from the signal path entirely.
Built to Ignore the Mains
A custom high-frequency power supply provides regulated, noise-free DC to both the converter and transport circuitry, operating seamlessly from 85V to 265V AC anywhere in the world. Performance holds regardless of mains quality, voltage or frequency.
Double pole common-mode filters, combined with the supply’s natural immunity to poor mains, remove any need for expensive external line conditioners or surge suppression. Multiple discrete regulators feed clean voltage to each circuit, with organic polymer capacitors decoupling the critical analogue and digital stages. In standby the circuitry shuts down automatically, conforming to current EuP European standards at under half a Watt.
Form to Match the Voyage i20
A rugged 2mm steel case carries a luxurious 12mm extruded aluminium front panel in brushed and anodised silver or black, matching the Voyage i20 integrated amplifier precisely at 430 × 80 × 350mm. Discreet push buttons on the wide acrylic window handle disc functions, input selection and volume, with full remote control alongside. A large OLED display shows all settings, adjustable for brightness or switched off entirely.
Audition the Creek Voyage CD in London
The character of a digital source reveals itself over an unhurried session with music you know intimately. Visit Audio Lounge on Wigmore Street to hear the Creek Voyage CD alongside the Voyage i20, or enquire with our team to discuss how a reference converter fits within your existing system.
About Creek Audio
Creek Audio began in London in 1982, when Mike Creek’s CAS4040 integrated amplifier earned critical acclaim for delivering genuine hi-fi performance from a compact, honestly engineered design. A first CD player, the CD60, followed in 1990. More than five decades in the audio business have shaped a consistent philosophy: engineering substance first, presentation second, music above all. Creek Audio products remain proudly designed in the UK, with the Voyage range representing the most ambitious expression of that thinking — components built without shortcuts, using parts chosen on merit rather than reputation. From the original CAS4040 to the Voyage CD, Creek Audio continues to reward those who value musical truth over fashion. Explore the Creek Audio collection at Audio Lounge.
