Digital Drive: REVIEW: Chord DAC64 DAC Processors by Paul-D Upsamplers, DACs, jitter, shakes and analogue withdrawals, this is it.

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Model:	DAC64
Category:	DAC Processors
Suggested Retail Price:	3000
Description:	Digital analogue converter
Manufacturer URL:	Chord
Manufacturer URL:	Chord

Review by Paul-D on December 25, 2001 at 04:11:43 IP Address: 195.174.3.210

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Introduction

I have a rather large CD collection, most of these CD’s are important to me, they have been chosen for all kinds of specific reasons, and I love to listen to this music in optimal circumstances. There is a lot changing in the music industry – we might see internet based distribution of music content, or we might see new digital media settling in, like SACD. Because my CD’s will be around for a long time, I have been looking for a good CD playback system, independent of developments in the digital arena.

Chord DAC64: no standard way of doing things

I decided to have a go with the Chord DAC64 this spring, mainly I am so satisfied with my Chord amplifier. Chord is testing boundaries with new technologies, which eventually they manage into extraordinary sounding machines. My idea is that if one wants to reach further than the standard-of-the-shelves solution, one has to reach for custom designs, so no Crystals or Burr-Browns to be found in this box. I made the purchase in August, and I am attempting to write down my experience in a first ever review. The unit appeals to the eye, it is machined from a single piece of aluminum, is rather small, 34*14*6 cm, and the main eye catcher is a lens at the top, through which you can see the illuminated innards. The weight is 7 kg. It has 3 digital inputs, a BNC 75 ohms, a 110 ohms AES/EBU and an optical TOSLINK. You can select these with a toggle switch located between the connectors at the back of the unit. It has an IEC connector for a power cord, and there are balanced and unbalanced outputs, which are driven independently from each other. There is a second toggle switch where you can select a buffer size for the digital input, you can choose between no-buffer, medium and large buffer. There is no standby, or on-off switch provided.
Now the main difference with other DAC’s is Chord’s choice to use FPGA’s (Field Programmable Gate Arrays) instead of standard chipsets for filters, digital input receiver and DA converters. This means that during boot-up, the DAC64 loads it’s algorithm from an EEPROM into the FGPA’a, setting the hardware ready for use. The FPGA’s are three 100MHz XILINX SPARTAN and one ACTEL VLSI, which is used as a programmable input receiver. This is a lot of processing power, surpassing the power of Pentiums I guess, generating some heat during operation, but who cares about that if the sound is fine. There are a lot of almost microscopic SMD mounted components in the analogue output stages, making me wonder whether Chord has a discrete implementation of a part of the DAC, it looks like the SPARTANS are driving the discrete outputs. The input receiver re-clocks the input, and passes the digital signal through a buffer, making the DAC less sensitive to the input jitter. There is 2048 times oversampling, and seventh order noise shaping. The DA converter is a “Pulse Array DAC”. Chord is using a 64 bit architecture in the DSP’s, the main benefit is that there is no truncating of data during the processing in the filters, e.g. rounding off of intermediate results. Chord states that the main advantages of these very high rates are the possibility to reconstruct exact timing, which results in superior sound reproduction.

Choice of buffer size

I am using the maximum buffer because it has the cleanest, fullest sound. My report below is based on the maximum buffer size. It would lead me too far to try to describe the differences between the buffers.

Audio Nirvana achieved?

Maybe yes, at least for CD reproduction in my experience as an audiophile. I have now a full 5 months of listening to the DAC64 behind me, and I have been enjoying all of this time. Music reproduction has become very exciting, there is a sense of aliveness and realism I did not have before the DAC64 was in my system. It is difficult to pinpoint a typical strong side of the DAC, because there isn’t, this I guess is also the reason that the sound has not turned boring, I can say that what is being presented to the listener is what is on the disc. This is tricky of course, if one expects a certain sonic signature from the reproduction chain, e.g. “pink glasses”, one could be disappointed. In order to try to be more specific I have made some notes during listening that I would like to share:

Leonard Cohen “ Ten New Songs”, on track 8, “You have loved enough” (sic), Leonard Cohen is sitting comfortable and firm between my 2 speakers. The backup vocalists are standing around him, clearly separated. This soundstage is very solid and disconnected from the speakers. Drums and bass are very physical, however not slamming. The music is fully integrated, but you can still hear all the separate details. The small sax solo is spooky real somewhere in the middle of the track.

Muddy Waters on “The folk singer” (Universal Chess 112 027-2) on track 9 “Feel Like Going Home”. On this track Muddy Waters is alone with his acoustic guitar. This is simply amazing, and goes beyond CD reproduction, the reverberation of the instrument and sliding of Muddy’s fingers on the guitar. After a while Waters starts tapping his foot on the floor, as if he is playing a kick-drum. He then starts shouting during his performance, no problem, the DAC64 will do that for you. These are fabulous dynamics, you will need a potent amplifier though to keep up with these changes in volume.

Cassandra Wilson “New Moon Daughter” on the first track “Strange Fruit”. The whole thing starts with a full-bodied bass, then a floating coronet comes to help, with a super timing from the resophonic guitar, this just surpasses any drum kit! And there she is: Cassandra, we get to hear her luscious voice. This is a special performance, and I have some difficulty to dissect the act in audiophile terminology – because she deserves more than to be analyzed. All the instruments keep the full sonic characteristics at all levels, very well indeed.

I could summarize the reproduction of CD as presented by the DAC64 as being inertia-less, without a sonic fingerprint, unlimited in micro- and macro dynamics. I am pretty sure to hear what is on the disc. If the things on the disc are awful be prepared to hear awful stuff. On the other side, if it is wonderful, you get rewarded!

Because of this DAC I am happy to live with my CD collection, which is still expanding further.

Annex

One could speculate on the compatibility of the DAC64 with formats such as DSD and DVD-A because of its open architecture and very high speed processors. The question was asked to Chord and the reply was that basically yes, the DAC64 can reproduce DSD and DVD-A in 2 channels, but they have not done so, because there is no standard digital interface defined (yet). If ever that would happen, Chord could eventually implement DSD and/or DVD-A into the DAC64, depending on that interface. This would require a replacemt of the EEPROM – the main question is what the physical interface would be.

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Product Weakness:	No on-off switch
Product Strengths:	Dynamic and musically involving, smooth as silk and brutal as brutus

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Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier:	Chord SPM 1200C (330W/8ohm)
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	Pathos InControl (12AU7 linestage)
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	Sonic Frontiers SFT1
Speakers:	Revel Ultima Studio
Cables/Interconnects:	AQ Diamond X3 balanced; Kimber Bifocal XL
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	Different
Room Size (LxWxH):	8m x 7m x 2.5m
Time Period/Length of Audition:	5 months
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner

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