DACs
After the great success of my MagiDac with the O-Netics transformer output stage, I have a few more DAC tricks up my sleeve. See below:
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The
Zhaolu "Hot Rod DAC"™
The 2.5 from Zhaolu in China is a well built, nice sounding DAC at a great price. But I'm making it better!
This DAC uses the same Cirrus
Logic chipset as I used in the MagiDac - it's a great sounding combo. Plus the
2.5 has a very good, clean power supply.
So how to make it even better? Transformer Magic,
of course! I take a good DAC and make it great -world class in fact. The upgrades
will include custom, USA made output transformers from O-Netics as well as few
other tweaks. No more digital nasties to mar you listening pleasure. Just sit
back, relax and let the music take you away.
These will be available soon, at an attractive price. Please email me for further info.
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The
Hot Rod DCX™
More Transformer
Magic in the works! The Behringer DCX 2496 will be transformed into
a world class DAC and digital crossover/EQ.
If you know the DCX, you know that it's a pretty special piece of gear, with
an amazingly low price. It's a stereo 3-way digital crossover with heaps of
flexibility. Many audiophiles use the DCX as the crossover + DAC in their high
end systems. Just one problem... Though the digital section of the DCX is very
good, the analog section is, well - not. So in stock form the DCX leaves
a something to be desired in the sound quality department.
A whole cottage industry of modifications has sprung up to deal with the less than stellar analog section of the DCX. You can buy complete I/O replacement boards or send yours in for upgrades. The power supply is usually next in line of upgrades.
I will soon have a replacement analog output board for the DCX. Six full channels of lovely, lovely O-Netics transformers. No more cheap, nasty opamps in the analog output section. Just the pure sound of high quality transformers. Pure passive beauty. As the digital section of the DCX is quite good, the unit is ripe for some Transformer Magic. Just use the digital input and you're on your way to audio heaven.
Of course a six transformer output board will not come cheap - the transformers themselves cost more than the DCX - but you will be surprised at how little you have to pay for a 2 in - 6 out DAC and crossover that can take your system to new heights of listening pleasure.
Please email me if you are interested and want further details.
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What's "Transformer Magic" you ask? Allow me to tell you a little story.
Long ago and far away (France) there lived a humble, cheap little CD player that had no pretensions of being high end or "elegant". Just an ugly duckling. But a clever audio wizard recognized that this humble little player had a heart of gold - a very good digital section. The only thing really keeping it from greatness was the substandard analog output section. So the wizard simply replaced the analog section with a new one of his own design. It used tubes. In fact you could see the tubes glowing thru the air holes the wizard had drilled in the back of the case to let the heat out.
Thus the ugly duckling of a CD player was transformed into a beautiful swan - at least sonically. Now it was invited to all the best parties to play with the rich and famous and indulge in the greatest of music. Some, however, were aware of its ugly duckling origins and were not happy to be outshone or rub shoulders with the low born. But the little duckling CD player did not care because it had become a beautiful swan and played beautiful music. All the high born "fancy" CD players were jealous.
This true fairy tail taught me a lesson that stuck with me for many years. "There may be a heart of gold lurking in even the most humble DAC." All that is needed is to give it wings
The moral of this story was not lost on me over the decades. The ensuing decades also began to make another thing clear - I like the sound of transformer coupled circuits. Be they in Hi-Fi or pro audio, they sound good to me. Interstage, output, input, isolation, splitter, etc. They a sound good to me. The transformer not only removes noise, it seems to remove other, more subtle annoyances, too. Usually adding a transformer in a circuit will make me say "Ah... that's better." The edginess is gone. Skeptics may say "that's just reduced bandwidth" but the transformers I use are mostly flat out to 100KHz. If I'm losing noise above 100K, I'm fine with that. =)
One day the idea of a transformer DAC hit me. No an original idea, it's been done before, but I wanted to try it. Nothing but a transformer at the DAC output. So I bought an assortment of inexpensive signal transformers and attempted to upgrade an ugly duckling DAC. Would it have a heart of gold? Yes, it did - success! No more "digititus", no more fatigue from digital sources. Magic! And simple. No transistors, no opamps, no tubes, no power supplies needed in the output stage, just a transformer.
Then came the lucky day when Bud Purvine of O-Netics came along. I first knew him thru his EnABL process. Bud makes all sorts of transformers and is quite a craftsman. His custom DAC transformers that he wound for the MagiDAC are wonderful! Compared to the original, inexpensive transformers the O-Netics are more open and more dynamic with even more detail. And still no digital fatigue. Of course, this comes at a price, but good transformers are never cheap.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it. For me the use of a good DAC chip and the magic of a good transformer on the output have brought CD and other digital sources up to a level of listening pleasure that only vinyl or tape could provide before. And I'm no the only one to think so. My Transformer Magic has been a great hit at RMAF 2007&2008 as well as at FSI Montreal and the recent Hi-Fi show at Heathrow (UK) where the Brits went mad over it.
Soon, I will be offering small numbers of the DAC units above with transformer outputs Stay tuned or drop me a line if you're interested..
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