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Massdrop x Airist Audio R-2R DAC
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Massdrop x Airist Audio R-2R DAC
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Product Description
Featuring discrete resistor ladder technology at an unheard-of price, the Massdrop x Airist Audio R-2R DAC is one of our most requested and anticipated products this year: a DAC with the looks and quality to match our new lineup of amps. An older technology that’s been making a comeback, R-2R is known to produce rich, warm, natural sound and can have benefits in spatial awareness and staging Read More
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Will
8470
Chief Product Officer
Jun 6, 2018
Hey Friends,
Here’s a summary of the top questions and answers from our pre-launch discussion. This covers the most frequently-visited topics from the first couple of hundred discussion posts.
Q: What is R-2R and why do I care?
A: A different way to process digital to analog conversion, which many audiophiles prefer for it’s characteristic “sweetness”.
Q: Is this different from the Schiit Audio Multi-Bit DACs?
A: Different species, same family. The Multibit DACs use chips with integrated resistor ladders. The RDAC uses discrete resistor ladders.
Q: Is the RDAC a copy of the Hibiki DAC?
A: No, the top PCB of the RDAC has a similar layout, but these projects are unrelated, read more about RDAC development here: https://www.massdrop.com/buy/massdrop-x-airist-audio-r-2r-dac/talk/2100186
Q: Why use discrete resistors instead of a resistor array?
A: Integrated resistor arrays are not inherently better or worse than discrete resistors. In the context of the RDAC, the price point made it unrealistic to source sufficiently wide and precise integrated arrays.
Q: What are the main differences between the RDAC and other popular R-2R implementations?
A: We've pared it down to the core elements that make R-2R DACs sound great, focusing on a discrete ladder implementation over the more popular integrated implementation.
Q: Does this DAC “upsample” it’s input? Is it “NOS”?
A: The RDAC up-samples the input but the digital-to-analog conversion does not oversample. Thus, it can be considered a “no-oversampling” DAC even though there is “upsampling” at the digital inputs (with an FIR filter to reduce noise through input processing before D-to-A conversion).
Thanks for your interest in this product and don’t hesitate to join the discussion below!
verifonix
1181
Aug 9, 2019
What are you even talking about? There is a FIR filter that upsamples everything to 192Khz anyway, including 44.1
It is totally "fair" to the hardware and design engineers to use redbook 16/44 content.
verifonix
1181
Nov 7, 2019
If you select 192/24 as setting, you will let Windows upsample to 192 which I personally would not do.
I'd select 44 or 48 Khz as device setting myself
rastus
1391
Aug 9, 2019
verifonixExactly that; upsample... damn,, so f’n tired of hearing redbook... should be relabeled redrum... an industry-sponsored & paid for, Reed Solomon cookbook for covering errors;)
(Edited)
verifonix
1181
Aug 9, 2019
Who said the Airist is NOS though? It uses a Linear-phase FIR, so not NOS. It utilises filtering (SBAF forum measured it and it filters/upsamples to 192Khz, so NOT filterless NOS :)
(Edited)
rastus
1391
Jun 24, 2019
Hi Nick,
Yes, there is real value in paying more for hardware and software that takes the sound quality forward,, to whatever level you perceive as perfection. How to get there, well there is no one path in design practice,, anywhere... thus you will always see different hardware and software solutions in pursuit of perfect music and song reproduction; none all right / nor none all wrong. I am responding to your perseverance in pushing for an "all-in-one-end-game-solution" at $2.5K, all good, it's a challenge puzzle~game as I look at it.
This is in there with asking 'what would you bring to the 'deserted island' with a budget of only $2.5K, and you will have to live with that dsp/dac/amp rig, "player" also applies here with an SD - card though not DSD native capable from there (why iFi?), forever as your "end-game-solution" till death do you part, in sickness (MP3 upsample it) and in health (DSD 5.6 native)... the last $2.5k wish for sonic bliss into (your) eternity on this mortal plane, your little island, with no hope of upgrades (cute segway back into the plateau thing, you get the drift;) iFi Pro iDSD looks like the fit.
(Edited)
Draeftlore
45
Jun 18, 2019
In the details it says;
DSD method: Converted to PCM
So does that mean if i use foobar to realtime up-sample to dsd from a wav or flac file it will just reconvert it back to PCM in the DAC?
mtmercer
47
Jun 4, 2018
Sweet looking Resistor Ladder DAC!
1) Is the input upsampled to a certain frequency before being sent to the resistor ladder? 2) Would a adding a 3rd party quality linear power supply add any improvement to the sound quality?
1) Is the input upsampled to a certain frequency before being sent to the resistor ladder? 2) Would a adding a 3rd party quality linear power supply add any improvement to the sound quality?
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