Discrete - entirely composed of bespoke parts In design terms the vast majority of digital to analogue converters are very similar. They're implemented with existing low cost bought-in IC parts able to perform the three specific tasks required: digital input reception, digital filtering for oversampling or noise shaping, and the d-to-a conversion itself. But the compromises of this building-block method are sufficiently serious as to place an artificial limit on the ultimate performance attainable. With this conventional method it would not have been possible to reach our required level of fidelity and authenticity in the reproduced sound - a level sufficient to convince even the most critical listener that the original music is actually being performed - live in their own listening room. Reception to perfection The industry-standard input receiver is perfectly functional but leaves significant data timing problems on the recovered clock, thus potentially losing the music's perceived infinite decay or confusing the recorded acoustic's signature. By developing a custom input receiver we've been able to remove the mediocre initial acquisition PLL, and replace it with a highly stable and accurate discrete version, so combining properties of rapid detection, auto dual-band switching with the capacity to lock to all incoming data rates from 32k through 192k and produce state-of-the-art phase noise figures. This precision, single master oscillator, dictates the timing for the whole fully synchronous dac whose clocking frequency is determined by the digital input signal and which is uniquely distributed throughout the entire converter. Thus removing at a single stroke the intermodulation of multiple internal oscillators - a major source of jitter ridden timing errors in nearly all other converters. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Next > © 2010 Audio Synthesis