Author Topic: Exciting new DAC  (Read 3701 times)

Offline yoshio

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Exciting new DAC
« on: June 04, 2011, 03:48:38 PM »
Guys,

What do you think about the below description :




asynchronous NOS USB DAC with a sample rate up to 384kHz and a resolution up to 32 bits. It includes a jitter-free, three-layer buffer mechanism and three temperature-compensated, crystal-oscillator clocks—one dedicated to USB signal transmission, another for files at multiples of 44.1kHz, and a third for files at multiples of 48kHz, up to 384kHz—and each one is selected on the fly according to the sample rate of the input file. A proprietary Duet Engine uses analog interpolation to effectively double the file's original sampling rate without digital upsampling, oversampling, or noise shaping.

The distribution of harmonic-distortion components is more important than the total harmonic distortion (THD), and distortion in the higher-order harmonics—say, the fifth or sixth order and above—causes far more audible damage to the sound than lower-order harmonic distortion. To address this concern, the DaVinci includes a proprietary Lower Order Harmonic Distribution (LOHD) system that distributes any distortion into the second-, third-, and fourth-order harmonics, which is said to eliminate any sense of harsh or edgy sound.

Uses no digital filter to minimize digital ringing. Instead, there is only a pure analog lowpass filter whose corner frequency is automatically selected for each sample rate. Other audiophile features include complete isolation of the power circuits in the lower module and the digital and fully balanced analog circuits in the upper module, which also includes gear-shaped heat sinks that eliminate the need for a cooling fan.

PS: There is a chance that I will be representing this product, but until then I am just a excited consumer

Offline kajak12

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Re: Exciting new DAC
« Reply #1 on: June 04, 2011, 08:12:20 PM »
Bill this is the dac it runs of a mac   ;D
bye bye bye
still discovering the link between electronics and audio reproduction.so much to learn and so little time

Offline bhobba

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Re: Exciting new DAC
« Reply #2 on: June 05, 2011, 12:38:57 AM »
Bill this is the dac it runs of a mac

What do I think of it?  Well the experience up here is the older DAC chips simply sound better and have a profound effect on sound, so without knowing the chip it uses then its really hard to say.  Also the output stage has a massive impact.  The most important thing though seems to be battery power with very clean power regulation for all the circuits before the DAC and low jitter oscillators.  The DAC that would get me excited would be a PCM1704 NOS operating at 384 khz or even 768 khz up-sampled from the computer with a software player specifically designed to get the best out of it.  If fact one guy has already built it - its called the Phasure DAC:
http://www.phasure.com/index.php?board=9.0

But it uses propriety methods rather than USB and is a lot more expensive that I think it should be.

Thanks
Bill
« Last Edit: June 05, 2011, 12:46:39 AM by bhobba »