DC-1

[mam]

rda-1 .... a new dac preamp from emotiva , reference line maybe ?

[jlafrenz]

Jul 6, 2013 17:57:42 GMT -5 garbulky said:

pressureworld Sure is! I would be curious to know what the usb controller is. Is it the same as the xda-2 that has reports of driver trouble.
Also some other thoughts...
- Will they make an Reference emo dac like an RDA-1? Or will they simply update the xda-2 to an xda-3?

If one notices on FR response the XDA-1 and the XDA-2 have flat FR response. Yet they appear to sound a little different and their noise floor/THD is inaudible. Now people that have had both report the RDA-1 sounds different (and better). So how does this happen? IMO there's more to how a component sounds than a few measurements. But if they all have flat FR and specs at "inaudibility" and sound better/different then one can't have an opinion that the difference is inaudible due to inaudibly low distortion while still sounding different/better from another product that measures at inaudibility.

The DC-1 uses the same driver as the XDA-2. The one to use is called New Unified Driver for All Windows Versions and can be found on the XDA-2 product page. This is not a driver that Emotiva created for the DAC. It is actually a USB driver from C-Media.

The only issues I have found using this driver and Windows was while I was also using the ASIO plugin for Foobar2000. It does work with WASAPI. I can't speak to how well it works with JRiver or other media players though.

[GreenKiwi]

The DC-1 have the next revision of the cmedia silicon. It supports 176khz over USB, and hopefully has any other bugs fixed.

[Boomzilla]

Oct 19, 2012 9:37:18 GMT -5 ansat said:

Oct 19, 2012 9:28:51 GMT -5 carlp336 said:

pic of rear //?

Its to early for that kinda dirty talk.

LOL! Too funny

[GreenKiwi]

My DC-1 arrived today!!!!!

Got to try it with headphones at work and it was awesome. Smooth articulate and pleasurable. It drove my Beyer T70s with no problems and to max volumes I would ever listen to.

Some observations, I really like the remote. It has a much better hand feel than the xda-1/2 remotes and the up/down volume controls are above each other rather than to the sides.

It's really really small. My wife will be very happy. (And I'm hoping she just assumes that smaller == costs less)

It plus the nCores will actually be able to live in my living room.

I love the look and feel.

I love the dial for input and volume. I might have to get a second for my work rig.

I'm looking forward to trying it out at home with my nCores.


Oh yeah, almost forgot... USB worked like a charm so far. Happily went to sleep and woke up. They even have a cool option to change USB back to 1.1, presumably if you have compatibility issues.

Attachments:

[klinemj]

Can't wait to see your full review!

Mark

[jlafrenz]

Jul 9, 2013 17:46:03 GMT -5 GreenKiwi said:

Oh yeah, almost forgot... USB worked like a charm so far. Happily went to sleep and woke up. They even have a cool option to change USB back to 1.1, presumably if you have compatibility issues.

A quick note about the USB and 1.1. It does have the option to revert back to version 1.1 and does not require a driver. However, the DC-1 is limited to 48kHz when using USB 1.1. To get a full 192kHz, you will need to use USB 2.0 and the proper driver.

[GreenKiwi]

Jul 9, 2013 18:10:58 GMT -5 jlafrenz said:

A quick note about the USB and 1.1. It does have the option to revert back to version 1.1 and does not require a driver. However, the DC-1 is limited to 48kHz when using USB 1.1. To get a full 192kHz, you will need to use USB 2.0 and the proper driver.

I assumed that it was at least dropping to 96, good to know that it is dropping down to 48, basically the same as the xda-1, in that case.

I figured it was worth mentioning for people who might have driver issues with it on platforms like Linux or windows. So far it is working like a charm with USB 2.0 on my Mac.

I can't get over the size of this... Or how much I really like the looks of it in person. Stealth is a good series name for it.

[jlafrenz]

Jul 9, 2013 18:20:36 GMT -5 GreenKiwi said:

Jul 9, 2013 18:10:58 GMT -5 jlafrenz said:

A quick note about the USB and 1.1. It does have the option to revert back to version 1.1 and does not require a driver. However, the DC-1 is limited to 48kHz when using USB 1.1. To get a full 192kHz, you will need to use USB 2.0 and the proper driver.

I assumed that it was at least dropping to 96, good to know that it is dropping down to 48, basically the same as the xda-1, in that case.

I figured it was worth mentioning for people who might have driver issues with it on platforms like Linux or windows. So far it is working like a charm with USB 2.0 on my Mac.

I can't get over the size of this... Or how much I really like the looks of it in person. Stealth is a good series name for it.

I missed that you were using a Mac. From what I understand is that a driver is not necessary when using a Mac. It is only required if it is connected to a PC/Windows machine.

[mam]

nice looking dac .... love it ...

[thorcorps]

Jul 9, 2013 17:46:03 GMT -5 GreenKiwi said:

My DC-1 arrived today!!!!!

Mine is due to arrive tomorrow. So I should at least have some initial thoughts tomorrow night.

[solidstate]

What DAC does it use? Does anyone have a picture of the PCB?

[solarrdadd]

any pictures of the connections at the rear of the DAC? i keep seeing pictures of the front and sides. someone, please take a nice clear picture of the connections so we can see the layout, thanks!

[GreenKiwi]

I believe it has two AD1955s in it. I think the specs were posted higher up in this thread.

[solidstate]

Two AD1955s?

That's a lot like the Matrix Mini-i DAC.

I'd sure love to see the innards!

[jlafrenz]

Jul 9, 2013 19:53:53 GMT -5 solarrdadd said:

any pictures of the connections at the rear of the DAC? i keep seeing pictures of the front and sides. someone, please take a nice clear picture of the connections so we can see the layout, thanks!

[chaosrv]

The DC-1 is sure shaping up to be a nice piece of gear. I would pick one up myself but I actually use every single input on my XDA-2 (at least until the XMC-1 debuts)

[LCSeminole]

I've had a DC-1 in my two channel room for a few weeks now, and compared to the XDA-1, I'll just say the DC-1 is definitely a keeper. More thoughts later.

[garbulky]

The DC-1 is interesting. At $900 you are competing with DACS that are no longer in the lower middle end. So the competition gets stiffer... At that price range I was hoping they'd go with a more well known pricier DAC chip but it is what it is and I guess in the end the sound quality is what matters.

[GreenKiwi]

For me it competes with the benchmark($2000, has DSD and some different inputs) fairly directly, and is about half the price.

And the it competes with the wyred4sound dac2($1500, no analog volume control I believe, only HT passthrough, no headphone) and matrix x-sabre ($1100 no analog or volume, no headphone).

All of which seem to use the es9018 chip. (Couldn't find the exact chip in the bm2, but the description seems close.)

At least those are the ones that I looked at... and thought about. I'm sure there are others.

I like the size and cost... And the analog input lets me use my TT.

There have been some teasers that the measurements are better than the others... I look forward to seeing those measurements.

If cost weren't an object, the BM dac 2, or Lynx Hilo would be in my possession. Though if emo were making a dac in that price range they would have to make even fewer compromises.

If there's anyone in SF with some other interesting DACs, I would be happy to supply the DC-1 for testing.

Now to finish cleaning the house so I can hook the DC-1 up to my system. Won't get to really listen until tomorrow.