2. digital
  3. 1183905341

Is there such a DAC?

What DAC will accept 16/44.1 and 24/96, give you option to defeat any upsampling if you chose so, upsamping is not done using ASRC, is jitter resistant but not through upsampling of any kind but rather employing some other proven methods (for example, short buffer memory and reclocking using internal very stable clock, etc.), possesses extreme low level accuracy and phase linearity, do not use off-the-shelf inexpensive ICs but employ other proven techniques (for example, resistor network with controlled temperature dependency, or some parallel architecture)?
No tubes anywhere.
No op-amps, but discrete analog section with proper power supplies.
Has at least one SPDIF and one AES/EBU digital input.
Reliable, do not have to go for repair every year.
Sounds open, dynamic and analog, good transients without robbing-off decay and ambiance.
For example, I do not find Esoteric gear I heard analog sounding at all, it sounds technically correct, well controlled without any faults, but mechanical.
sashav

Showing 1 response by audioengr

audioengr
3,282 posts
 
The only DAC's I'm aware of that meet most of these criteria is the Northstar 192 DAC and the Northstar Extremo. They both have discrete output stages. Very smooth on vocals and great layering once they are modded by EA. The 192 needs a few mods and then it is superb. The Extremo needs a lot more mods, so I'm not doing any more of them. You forgot to mention DC-coupled - this is a must.

The I2S interface on the 192 does no upsampling, but only supports 24-bit data. The S/PDIF and AES inputs automatically upsample to 24/192 and they do an excellent job, one of the best upsampling chips available. I would recommend driving the I2S from a computer converter with SRC upsampling in software. You can buy a stock unit at:
http://www.perrottaconsulting.com

Steve N.
Empirical Audio
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