Digital/Analog Converters

When this DAC came in the United Kingdom in 2007, it was nearly alone. It’s funny to think of now, but the digital to analogue converter was nearly extinct. The Benchmark DAC1 was a bit of a novelty back then, and the USB option that arrived soon after added to its uniqueness. The unit’s pro […]

The world was astonished when Cambridge Audio’s first DACMagic was released in 1995. It was designed by John Westlake, of Pink Triangle DaCapo and Audiolab M-DAC renown, and it put the firm on the map as a real contender for seriously good, affordable digital converters. The business released the redesigned DacMagic in 2009, which boldly

This was a hit when it debuted at the 2001 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. It wasn’t simply the company’s first digital-to-analogue converter; it was also the result of Rob Watts and John Franks meeting by coincidence. The former is a talented audio engineer who began his career at Deltec Precision Engineering, while the

Since he “foolishly decided to become engaged with creating hi-fi,” Rob Watts has gone a long way. He cofounded Deltec Precision Audio after graduating from Cardiff University in 1984 and quickly established himself as a talented electronics engineer. Then he went on to digital, where the PDM1, his first Bitstream DAC, raised some eyebrows. He

With its transport, DAC, clock, and upsampler, the flagship four-box dCS Vivaldi system is a magnificent thing. It is, however, exorbitantly expensive and difficult to set up, and it necessitates a considerable quantity of living space. The Debussy entry-level model, which shares most of its technology, is a simpler, slimmer, single-box design that doesn’t sound

Simon Lee, the founder of April Music, is a hi-fi aficionado who left a solid profession to import obscure foreign brands into his native South Korea; he then decided to start developing his own designs as well. The DP200 you see here is one of the intriguing products that resulted. Although commonplace now, the concept

Arcam has a track record when it comes to digital-to-analogue converters. In reality, the Black Box was the first ‘offboard DAC’ (as they were known at the time) when it was released in 1989. The idea of removing the DAC from the CD transport was revolutionary at the time, but it’s now commonplace, so what