Hifi Pig

Romanian manufacturer Rockna have announced the  new Wavedream DAC series will be available in the UK soon. There are 2 main models : Edition (featuring Rockna RD-1 discrete DAC modules) and Signature (featuring Rockna RD-0 discrete DAC modules) with each version being available in single ended or balanced configuration.

In addition to the Femtovox clock system, both Edition and Signature benefit from a new discrete output stage, have an improved power supply section and in addition have dedicated sections for digital and analogue areas. There are 3 separate transformers, and all power supplies are low noise linear – no switchmode power supplies are used whatsoever. There are a total of 20 linear regulators inside the DAC.

The RD-1 module has a 26-bit ladder structure, while RD-0 is a 27 bit ladder structure. Both are FPGA-based, meaning they have their own (upgradable) firmware. A custom solution, freed from the limitation of the available chipsets, comes into place, allowing them to design and build from the scratch an entire digital audio system.

All building blocks of the Wavedream DAC concerning digital processing are built entirely on a single piece of programmable silicon – an FPGA . With an FPGA, the internal hardware architecture could be described by a piece of software. When upgrading the Wavedream with new firmware, you actually changing its hardware. This system allows flexibility, obsolescence protection and lets Rockna improve the sound of your DAC by changing its internal architecture, or to add new features, or improve the existing ones.

The Wavedream upsamples any material with a fixed rate of 16x. The DAC modules will decode the digital stream with a rate of 768Khz, or 705.6Khz, respectively, according to input sample rat which the guys at Rockna say is the rate they found to be optimal for analogue performance of the DAC modules. The digital filters are made with the combined effort of 58 DSP blocks, resulting into in 15 GMACS of processing power. The developed filters are unique say Rockna. They avoid standard Nyquist rate filters as Rockna thought they did not “provide the expected performance for the DAC”. After lots of mathematical simulations and careful listening tests, they have created a custom Parks-McClellan upsampling filter. There are three variations available on current firmware: linear, minimum and hybrid phase. 

Finally, the last stage of the signal path is the analogue output stage. Designed from the scratch to work with converter modules RD-0 & RD-1, the output stage is totally discrete and acts as a high-speed buffer. Made entirely with through-hole components (non-smd), Rockna engineers combined J-Fet & Bipolar Devices into a class A design, with a closed-loop output impedance of under 1 ohm and equivalent input noise as low as 1nV, as a perfect match for the converters overall performance.

Both DACs will be available from BD AUDIO in the UK soon.

Chord Electronics is expanding its presence at Sound and Vision for 2016. Chord’s regular room, the Matthew Suite (lower ground floor), will have demonstrations of the flagship DAVE DAC/preamp with Chord’s most famous power amplifier, the SPM 1200 MkII, PMC twenty.26 speakers and The Chord Company cables for an all-British-built system.

This year, Chord Electronics will also be introducing a new concept on the ground floor. Chord will be presenting ten acclaimed headphones, using the company’s DAC/headphone amplifiers Mojo, Hugo and Hugo TT. The demonstrations promise to give show-goers the best headphone-comparison facility at Sound and Vision, using Chord’s proprietary DAC technology.

Chord Electronics will also be supplying high-performance electronics to a number of other manufacturers at Sound and Vision:

• Melco will be using a Hugo TT
• Armour Home Electronics will be using a Hugo TT and Hugo
• The Chord Company will be using a Hugo TT and DAVE

Monitor Audio will premiering its new flagship Platinum II range using DAVE, a CPA 5000 preamp and SPM 1400 MkII power amp.

Roksan Audio’s K3 range of hifi electronics has been a resounding success since its introduction in 2014. Consisting of a high-specification integrated amplifier, CD player and a new CD/DAC; Roksan are now introducing their much anticipated stand-alone Digital-Analogue Converter (DAC).

The K3 DAC was first teased at Munich High End in 2014, and since that point extensive development has forged it into a “superb sounding audiophile device” that meets the highest specification possible, while maintaining a user-friendly interface. In that way it perfectly matches the K3 Series’ mantra: Style. Performance. Function. 

At its heart is a DSD1794A DAC chip from Texas Instruments. This chip handles both PCM (up to 24-bit / 192kHz) and DSD (up to DSD 128) data streams utilising the advanced DAC architecture to secure excellent dynamic performance and improved tolerance to clock jitter. This allows for a consistent high performance across the myriad of input options at your disposal, including 1 x AES3/SPDIF (XLR), 1 x Optical, 1 x Coaxial RCA and 2 x USB (Type B). 

The K3 DAC is also the first product to use Roksan Audio’s new wireless technology, K-LINK. K-LINK allows for uninterrupted CD-quality wireless streaming from a digital or analogue transmitter at up to 150m range (150m range is only when the dongle and receiver are in a clear line-of-sight. In a typical household, 30m+ is a more expected range).

The K3 DAC is supplied with a digital USB dongle for wireless streaming from a Laptop or computer with support for Mac and Windows, while the optional analogue transmitter allows for wireless streaming from a traditional Line-level hifi source. The analogue transmitter is available separately for £125.00.

The K3 DAC is available in the same three finishes as other K3 Series products; Anthracite, Charcoal and Opium. Control over inputs can be achieved via the front panel or through the supplied R7 System Remote, which also works with the K3 CD players and K3 Integrated Amplifier.

SRP £1,250.00

The K3 DAC is available in the UK now.

Computer Audio Design’s USB digital-to-analogue convertor (DAC) has been upgraded. Computer Audio Design has announced a refit to its CAD 1543 DAC, now using proprietary EMI/RFI reduction materials, improved DAC circuit boards, single-crystal UP-OCC internal wiring and refined power supply filtering, to create the CAD 1543 MKII DAC. 

CAD is one of a handful of digital audio companies offering resistor-ladder DAC technology, along with no oversampling and no filtering, which CAD believes offers a distinctively different sound than most digital audio products on the market today – a sound that is tangibly closer to the original performance they say.

The CAD 1543 MKII DAC takes its name from the application of an increasingly rare resistor-ladder convertor chip, the Philips TDA1543/N2, with its selected 16 devices now mounted on a revised four-layer circuit board. This new layout minimises intrinsic noise, optimising the chips’ specifications to now allow native conversion of 192 kHz PCM audio.

And where most conventional modern D-A convertors employ over-sampling techniques and a digital interpolation filter, the CAD DAC unashamedly adopts the non-oversampling (NOS) approach in order to protect precious timing resolution. With no filter to ring and smear the fundamental timing of impulsive data – the shape of natural music – the 1543 MKII brings to life both the subtle and macro dynamics of recorded sound.

The hyper-minimalist design is engineered with the fewest number of switches and connectors between mains plug and output sockets. It features a single USB 2.0 input that galvanically isolates the 16 TDA1543 chips from a connected PC. The analogue output sees a single pair of low-mass pure copper RCA phono sockets wired directly to the chips through a passive I/V stage. The summed output of paralleled multi-bit convertor chips means there is no need for additional signal amplification or buffering, thereby removing unnecessary signal stages.

Signal wiring has been updated to single-crystal OCC (Ohno Continuous Casting) copper, custom manufactured to CAD specifications. The casework retains its laser-cut 10 mm-thick acrylic construction – available in black as standard or other colours to special order– and is now supplemented with internal RFI/EMI materials to reduce the effects of high-frequency interference on the circuit boards and their ground planes.

Further fighting the insidious effects of EMI/RFI, Computer Audio Design has redesigned the power conditioning at the unit’s power input, helping minimize AC line noise from the DAC; as well as isolate neighbouring audio components from any residual digital noise released by the DAC.

The overall result of such scrupulous attention to power supplies and potential noise sources is an audio convertor that seems to paint ink-black quietness behind the sound. A DAC that preserves and projects the rhythm and drive of dynamic music.

Computer Audio Design 1543 MKII DAC key features:

Five independent transformers feeding five fully discrete linear voltage regulators for the cleanest power to each modular section of the unit.

Custom 10 mm acrylic case selected for superior acoustic properties.

NEW: additional internal EMI/RFI materials to lower electromagnetic interference noise floor.

NEW: redesigned mains power conditioning to reduce ingress and egress of mains-borne noise.

Sixteen Philips TDA1543/N2 resistor-ladder chips.

Filterless NOS design for unparalleled time-domain replay accuracy.

NEW: custom four-layer PCB to support DAC chips.

Passive output stage with Duelund Coherent Audio capacitors and selected US-made audio resistors all made to CAD specifications.

NEW: internal signal wiring upgraded to custom UP-OCC copper.

The 1543 MKII DAC is made in a modular fashion to make future upgrades possible ensuring your investment will last a lifetime.

The CAD 1543 MKII DAC is available now, priced at £7,250 (incl. VAT).

Owners of the original 1543 DAC can opt to have their units refitted to full MKII specification at a cost of just £600.

Audiolab launches the premium version of the M-DAC this month. The new M-DAC+ will sell alongside the classic M-DAC, sporting a number of enhancements both inside and out in return for an additional £200.

Like the M-DAC, the new M-DAC+ is a high-performance, multipurpose audio DAC (Digital-to-Analogue Converter) for home use, designed to sit on a desk or table, or integrate into a hi-fi system. It incorporates an audiophile-quality digital preamp and Class A output stage for connection to a power amp and speakers (the output can be fixed for use with an existing preamp or integrated amp). A high-quality headphone output is also provided.

The new M-DAC+ is based firmly on the classic M-DAC, with carefully targeted improvements in key areas – a logical move, given the original model’s sustained popularity over the last four years. Like the M-DAC, the M-DAC+ is built around the ESS Sabre32 9018, a 32-bit DAC chipset. There’s a proprietary, discrete master clock to minimise jitter, coupled with extensive time domain isolation and there’s a A JFET Class A output stage. 

Compared to the classic M-DAC, the most immediately obvious change is to the aluminium case and control scheme. The M-DAC+ features a new chassis, with the OLED display window now centrally positioned and rounded at the sides, in keeping with Audiolab’s recently launched 8300 Series components. The display is flanked by two rotary controls, one to adjust volume and the other to select settings, replacing the buttons found on the classic M-DAC.

Under the hood lie a number of performance-related enhancements. The M-DAC+ now processes audio data up to 32-bit/384kHz via USB; this is a far higher specification than that required by current hi-res music formats, ensuring this new addition to the M-DAC family is fully equipped for future advances in ultra-high-definition digital sound.

The USB input now also supports DSD files (the digital audio system originally developed for Super Audio CD), offering compatibility with DSD64, DSD128 and DSD256. This is a significant addition, as DSD has an important role to play in the developing high-resolution downloading and streaming scene.

Like the classic M-DAC, the M-DAC+ features user-selectable filters for optimal listening and measurement modes, in addition to more conventional types for easy comparison.

These filter settings allow the user to tune performance to suit his or her preference, depending on system configuration, digital file quality and musical taste. The M-DAC+ inherits seven filter settings from the M-DAC for PCM files and adds four more for DSD playback, allowing the user to optimise the noise floor to suit the performance of the source file and the bandwidth of associated equipment such as amps and speakers.

Another important change relates to the power supply, which has been upgraded and is now fully incorporated within the M-DAC+’s chassis (hence its slightly taller and deeper case compared to the classic M-DAC). A precision-wound toroidal transformer uses multiple windings to feed separate analogue and digital rectification stages. From there, multiple power supply sections feed the necessary voltages to each area of the DAC, keeping any crossover interference to a minimum.

Around the back, digital input options have been expanded with an AES/EBU socket and an additional USB Type A input – ideal for connecting Apple devices – alongside the existing USB Type B connection. These join a full complement of inputs/outputs retained from the classic M-DAC: 2x coaxial digital inputs; 2x optical digital inputs; 1x coaxial digital output; 1x optical digital output; single-ended RCA and balanced XLR analogue outputs; 12V trigger loop.

The Audiolab M-DAC+ comes with a redesigned remote control and is available in black or silver from late-January 2016, at an RRP of £799.95. The classic M-DAC continues at £599.95.