|
ARC, with the introduction of the DAC 8, leapfrogs from being a bit of a latecomer to re-writing the rules for today's best digital-to-analog conversion. The DAC 7 was a great sounding unit, but came a little late to the party to which only DACs that could cope with input signals beyond the old Red Book CD standard of 44.1kHz/16 bit resolution were invited. The last version of the DAC 3 exited the scene in 2000 and it wasn't until 2008 that the DAC 7 appeared as the first high-res Audio Research DAC. The wait was worth it as the 7 opened our ears to the world of Red-Book-and-beyond sound quality from hard drive and streamed sources, as well as improving the sound of just about any CD player when its digital out was connected to it, and proved to be a price-class performance leader.
The DAC 8, however, promises to be on a whole different level. We say "promises" because, as of this writing (early July), our demo is still probably 300 hours of break-in away from sonic splendor, so we have actually yet to seriously audition it. But we have the faith born of our long history with Audio Research products and, in a way, feel as though we've been present during the gestation. We had the opportunity to give input to the engineering team during the development of the product. This is a great idea, giving dealers the chance to influence a product’s final design based on our understanding of how you, our customers, use your gear and systems, and what your needs and wants are.
The list of attributes at the right is long and impressive. What all this means is that there is virtually no digital signal you can't plug into a DAC 8, and it will take them all and make the best sound you have ever heard from a digital source. Personally, we can’t wait to hear some HRx Reference Recordings and other super resolution recordings from the Bit Perfect USB output, which banishes all computer sound card concerns to the file marked "Irrelevant." That, plus what it will do for Red Book, lossless and even, if you must, MP3 files makes it impossible to resist. Order now to avoid the inevitable delays when the rest of the world finds out!
| |
- USB 2.0 High Speed (HS) for 16 to 24 bit audio at Sample Rates from 44.1kHz to 192kHz.
- Measures and displays the actual sample rate being transmitted via USB or SPDIF to the DAC8, so you always know what you are getting.
- Employs four, 24-bit D/A Converters (DACs). Each channel uses dual 24-bit DACs running in mono mode to increase the dynamic range and lower the noise floor.
- Uses an R-Core power transformer instead of the iron core power transformer used in the DAC7 to further improve sonics and reduce the noise floor.
- Represents Audio Research's first true "monoblock DAC." Each channel has its own dual 24-bit DAC, regulators and direct-coupled differential analog amplification for unequaled sonic performance.
- All inputs galvanically-isolated from the source to assure no ground loops.
- Works with Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7, both 32 and 64 bit; Intel-based Mac OS10.4 and higher. USB 2.0 HS port required for USB.
- Provides the high speed audio drivers not supplied by Windows or MAC OS (both of which are limited to 24/96) to assure "Bit Perfect" data transfer between the server/computer and the DAC8 at all sample rates.
- Employs dual low jitter master crystal oscillators; one for sample rates of 44.1, 88.2 and 176.4kHz, and the other for sample rates of 48, 96 and 192kHz to eliminate music decoding and quantization errors caused by using a time base that is not an integer multiple of the music sample rate.
- Uses a true direct coupled, all solid-state differential amplifier with an extraordinary bandwidth from DC to 90kHz in each channel.
|
