John
We’re going to be hearing a great deal about Femto clocks in the coming months. (I predict they will be the digital audio marketing trend of 2013).
AURALiC have a Femto clock in their newly announced statement DAC – the VEGA. In fact, they don’t call it a DAC, they call it a “Digital Audio Processor”. Fancy. I’m gonna call it Alan.
The marketing spiel runs like this, “The purpose of the Femto master clock is to give the DAC an ultimate clock with extremely low jitter and phase noise. It utilises an aerospace-grade crystal oscillator, ultra low noise linear power supply and temperature compensation technology to generate a master clock with extremely low jitter performance at 82 femtoseconds(0.082 picoseconds). What’s more important, the phase noise which affects sound quality [a lot] has been dramatically reduced to -168dBc/Hz. Driven by such an amazingly clean clock, VEGA can easily reproduce the musical details in the ‘last bit’…”
Seasoned DAC-ers know jitter numbers don’t necessarily determine end sonic results and that proof is ALWAYS in the listening.
Up-sampling gone mad! The Vega uses a Sanctuary Audio Processor to up-sample incoming PCM streams to 32bit/1.5MHz. Yes, MEGAhertz. Little surprise then that native DSD will also be supported. The VEGA sports six in-built, user-selectable filters.
A digital-domain volume control means a direct connection to a power amplifier is possible. Single-ended and balanced outputs round out the package.
Expect to see the AURALiC VEGA land at your door for around US$3499. Pricewise, that’s right into PS Audio PerfectWave and Metrum Hex territory.
Further information: AURALiC
