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From Wizard High-End Audio Blog: Berkeley Audio Design Alpha DAC Reference...

Alpha-DAC-Reference-Series-angle.jpg

 

$14000

 

Berkeley Audio Design is extremely pleased to announce the availability of the new Alpha DAC Reference Series.

 

The Alpha DAC Reference Series embodies everything we know about digital to analogue conversion taken to an unprecedented level – a level that requires new design concepts & new components at the edge of what is possible. The result is an immediacy and presence of music reproduction that is simply real.

 

We literally designed the Reference Series before is was possible to built it. Almost three years in development, the Alpha DAC Reference Series uses components designed to our specifications that were not commercially available. Several suppliers were not able to meet our requirements which delayed the release of the Reference Series by more than one year. But those obstacles were overcome and now the Alpha DAC Reference Series is a reality.

 

The presence & sonic reality of the Reference Series is the result of digital to analogue conversion at a new level of accuracy made possible by tremendous electrical & mechanical noise isolation coupled with extreme time domain stability. Ceramic circuit board materials are used in all critical areas and the enclosure is carefully engineered to minimize electrical noise while maximizing mechanical stability. The Reference Series weighs over 40 pounds and the entire enclosure is precision machined from a a solid billet of 6061 – T aluminum alloy.

 

A new high output, all metal IR remote control with direct input source selection is provided with the Reference Series.

 

Careful consideration was given to providing the highest possible reproduction of DSD files by the Alpha DAC Reference Series. 99% of modern DAC’s, including the Alpha Reference Series use mult-bit D/A converters because they provide better performance than 1-bit converters – even those who advertise “native” DSD compatibility. So, at some point, the 1-bit DSD stream must be converted to multi-bit for all of those DAC’s.

 

We could, like many other manufacturers, convert 1-bit DSD to multi-bit within the Alpha DAC Reference Series and show “DSD” in the front panel display. That would be the easiest approach from a marketing perspective. But that would also mean increasing the amount of processing in the DAC during playback which would degrade audio quality, and audio quality is the reason the Alpha Reference Series exists.

 

Fortunately, virtually all reproduction of DSD files using external DAC’s occurs with a computer based music server as the source. If the 1-bit DSD to multi-bit conversion is done first in the computer it can be performed with extremely high precision and superior filtering that preserves all of the content of the DSD file. Computer DSD to multi-bit conversion can be at least as good as that performed in a DAC and without adding processing noise near or in the D/A converter chip. Another advantage of computer based DSD to PCM conversion is that if higher performance DSD versions such as DSD 4x appear in the future they can easily be supported with a software upgrade.

 

For all of those reasons, DSD capability for the Alpha DAC Reference Series is provided by an included state of the art software application that provides either real time conversion of DSD 1x and DSD 2x to 176.4 kHz 24 bit PCM during playback or conversion to 176.4 kHz 24 bit AIFF or WAV files. The software application is included in the price of the Alpha DAC Reference Series and is compatible with either Windows OS or Mac OS based music servers.

 

The Alpha DAC Reference Series supports 32 kHz to 192 kHz 24-bit PCM through four input; Balanced AES, Coaxial SPDIF 1, Coaxial SPDIF 2 and Toslink Optical. Independent, single-ended and true balanced analogue outputs are provided. Dimensions are 17.5 inches Wide X 12.5 inches Deep X 3.5 inches High.

Eloise

---

...in my opinion / experience...

While I agree "Everything may matter" working out what actually affects the sound is a trickier thing.

And I agree "Trust your ears" but equally don't allow them to fool you - trust them with a bit of skepticism.

keep your mind open... But mind your brain doesn't fall out.

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Interestingly they have stuck to their guns and not included USB nor DSD (except by providing software conversion).

 

Eloise

Eloise

---

...in my opinion / experience...

While I agree "Everything may matter" working out what actually affects the sound is a trickier thing.

And I agree "Trust your ears" but equally don't allow them to fool you - trust them with a bit of skepticism.

keep your mind open... But mind your brain doesn't fall out.

Link to comment
Not without controversy, but a lot of manufacturers believe I2S is the best way to transmit data between a source and a DAC (provided you use a very short run cable).

And a lot of other manufacturers think i2s is the work of the devil outside the box...

 

I would suspect that if you did use i2s this way it would eliminate the point of the USB interface being separate anyway.

 

Eloise

Eloise

---

...in my opinion / experience...

While I agree "Everything may matter" working out what actually affects the sound is a trickier thing.

And I agree "Trust your ears" but equally don't allow them to fool you - trust them with a bit of skepticism.

keep your mind open... But mind your brain doesn't fall out.

Link to comment
  • 2 weeks later...

It's good to hear an argument that is based on experience of specific equipment rather than just theory...

 

As I've commented before there are many ways to skin a cat ... Or play back your audio!

Hi VandyMan - Good question. Word clock is a strange concept to most computer audiophiles.

 

Two common ways to use word clock with computer audio.

 

1. Use a Lynx or RME card in a desktop PC with a DAC that sends word clock out to the card. The Lynx or RME software is set to accept incoming word clock. The playback software is usually unaware of the configuration. A major pit fall can be manual word clock adjustments when switching sample rates.

 

2. Using an Aurender W20 that has dual AES output and word clock input with a DAC that sends out word clock and accepts dual AES input (dual AES not required though). I just used this configuration at the Magico factory (Aurender W20 with dCS Vivaldi). The Vivaldi (Master) sends word clock to the W20 (Slave). This configuration is all automatic. No manual switching of sample rate required.

 

Note regarding async v. word clock etc... Based on my experience with many async USB DACs and systems that use external word clock, I think a state of the art externally clocked system can outperform async USB. For example, a dCS Vivaldi & Aurender W20 combination sounds best using AES and external clock. Both systems have state of the art USB implementations for comparison.

Eloise

---

...in my opinion / experience...

While I agree "Everything may matter" working out what actually affects the sound is a trickier thing.

And I agree "Trust your ears" but equally don't allow them to fool you - trust them with a bit of skepticism.

keep your mind open... But mind your brain doesn't fall out.

Link to comment
  • 6 months later...
The DAC should be here any day now.

One new toy at a time Chris... You can't start playing with the Berkeley until you've completed you Aries homework!!!

 

:-)

 

Eloise

Eloise

---

...in my opinion / experience...

While I agree "Everything may matter" working out what actually affects the sound is a trickier thing.

And I agree "Trust your ears" but equally don't allow them to fool you - trust them with a bit of skepticism.

keep your mind open... But mind your brain doesn't fall out.

Link to comment

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