John
As teased at Munich High-End earlier this year, Florence’s Gold Note has announced the imminent availability of their DS-10 streaming DAC, one that features an internal headphone amplifier and switchable analogue pre-amplifier.
The DS-10’s broad range of streaming inputs (Wi-Fi and Ethernet) includes Roon, UPnP/DLNA, Spotify Connect, Airplay and V-Tuner, plus Tidal and Qobuz from a supporting iOS/Android app. A Bluetooth input is also present but advanced codec support is unknown at time of writing.
On physical digital inputs, the DS-10 gives us the following: a suite of 24bit/192kHz-capable S/PDIF (AES, coax, TOSLINK); an asynchronous USB-B input for connection to a Mac, PC or streamer that extends PCM capabilities to 32bit/384kHz and adds DSD128; a USB-A input for streaming from a directly-connected hard-drive. On outputs, we note both single-ended RCA and balanced XLR socketry. In between, an AKM AK4493 DAC chip, logic controller and PLL clock generation.
The DS-10’s feature set is rounded out by a 2.8″ TFT display. Yes, it does MQA.
From the press release: “The DS-10 features a great mechanical structure made of solid machined aluminium [your choice of black, silver or gold] guarantees low-frequency resonance and magnetic inertial field. The iconic air vent design derives directly from our acclaimed PH-10 phono stage.”
The audible performance of the DS-10 can be further extended by the optional PSU-10 “inductive” power supply.
The DS-10 will begin shipping in August 2019 and will sell for €2490.
Further information: Gold Note
