Description

The D-10000 OTL/OCL (Output Transformer-Less/Output Capacitor-Less) DAC has a pure triple gain stage analog signal path. It uses the 6C19P low internal resistance tube to pass the analog signal directly to line-stage or integrated amplifiers.

In common circuits, output capacitors or output transformers are required to separate the AC music signal from the DC operating potential. If this is not done, the latter will destroy the power amplifier, the loudspeakers, or both. However, these two coupling devices also introduce their own influences on the transmission of the musical signal, adding their own character (colouration), increasing distortion, and consuming small signals, all as predicted by physical efficiency theory. In addition, they also limit signal dynamics. For these reasons, the elimination of output transformers and capacitors has been considered the best solution for the design of the most accurate amplifiers. Removal of these two coupling devices from the signal path achieves the best results possible:

• No colouration of the musical signal

• Extremely detailed expression, natural harmonics and subtle musical decay

• The lowest possible distortion

• The widest musical dynamics and frequency range

In the D-10000, there is no coupling device between the DAC and the preamplifier; that is, the final gain/output tubes are directly connected to the preamplifier. Thus, the benefits listed above are fully present in the Allnic D-10000 OTL/OCL DAC.

With a digital section designed by Dr. C. Shin, principal of WAVERSA SYSTEMS and an expert in high-resolution digital and digital to analog design for both military and commercial applications, the D-10000 OTL/OCL DAC is unique in the marketplace. Except for the DAC chip it employs (For D to A conversion only – not for signal processing, which is accomplished by proprietary FPGA), the ES9018K2M SABRE 32 Reference DAC (“Sabre DAC”), none of the D-10000 OTL/OCL DAC’s digital components are sourced from the audio supply market. In addition, the USB interface and SPDIF receiver are specifically customized for use in the D-10000 OTL/OCL, and custom-built high end up-samplers are utilized for user selectable “real-time” DSD conversion and PCM up-sampling.

The D-10000 OTL/OCL offers the listener the flexibility to select listening directly to:

• the source drive’s audio signal at its native sampling rate, or down-sampled if that signal is above the limits of the D-10000 OTL/OCL’s digital inputs, 384 KHz (so long as the source is of sufficiently high quality);
• a PCM signal from the source drive converted to DSD 128 in “real time”; or
• a PCM signal up-sampled from the source drive’s native rate by a custom up-sampling chip.