The Slovak company CANOR presents its latest addition to its catalogue. We are referring to his first DAC model 2.10, which as its main feature has a tube output. Let’s see its most outstanding technical characteristics.
CANOR DAC 2.10 uses the dual mono configuration of ESS Saber’s ES9038Q2M digital-to-analog converters, which ensure high sound quality. Thanks to these converters it is possible to play files in PCM format up to a sample rate of 768 kHz and for DSD format up to Native DSD512 through the USB input, thus covering most digital files that you can normally play, buy or stream.
CANOR DAC 2.10 – A tube DA converter/CD player
We can connect up to 5 digital sources:
- 1*USB
- 2 optical S/PDIF TOSlink® inputs
- 1 coaxial S/PDIF RCA input
- 1 x balanced AES/EBU XLR input
Analog outputs:
- Balanced analog XLR output
- Unbalanced analog RCA output
The analog output is a buffer, which is resolved by a high-quality electronic connection. Dual converter wiring uses separate signal paths for the left and right channels.
There are seven digital converter filters for the PCM format and one proprietary one for the MQA format, which is set automatically during MQA playback and cannot be changed. These digital FIR (finite impulse response) filters change the impulse response and transient characteristics of the sound being played, so the listener can adjust the sound exactly to their liking.
The last (eighth) item in the digital filter menu “Oversampling Bypass” can be selected. But it is not a digital filter, as it disables digital filtering so you can compare unfiltered audio, which automatically enables sampling so that the output signal has enough bandwidth. This configuration is also commonly called NOS (Non-Oversampling) and its use is quite experimental and at the discretion of the user.
It is also possible to turn on or off the analog low-pass filter with a drop of -3dB at 25kHz or use its automatic switching for the DSD64 format, which on the principle of pulse modulation using signal density (PDM – Pulse-density modulation). ) creates a hill of noise at this and higher frequency that may be audible and should be filtered out.
The signal from the digital inputs is processed by a powerful multi-core XMOS microcontroller with advanced multi-core RISC architecture. The Altera (currently Intel) CPLD MAX II (Complex Programmable Logic Device) (FPGA) circuit is used for reclocking, which synchronizes digital audio signals with the main clock. Together with the XMOS microcontroller, they provide high quality digital signal processing.
When playing MQA formats, reclocking is automatically activated along with upsampling, which increases the original sample rate to a higher 352.8k/384kHz by a multiple of the original sample rate, eliminating potential issues when playing different bit rates. sampling, not just MQA files.
Technical parameters of CANOR DAC
- Frequency response at Fs=192kHz: -/+0.03dB at 20Hz to 20kHz
- XLR output: Output voltage at 0dBFS: 4V RMS
- RCA output: 2V RMS
- Analog outputs:
- Balanced analog output: 2 x XLR. Unbalanced analog output: 2 x RCA. Buffer Output: Balanced valves. Valves: 4 x 6922EH
- Digital Inputs:
- USB data transfer: Asynchronous USB 2.0 Audio Class 2 standard
- Supported PCM Sample Rates: 44.1k/48k/88.2k/96k/176.4k/192k/352.8k/384k/705.6k/768kHz
- Support for DSD over PCM: DoP DSD 64/128/256
- Native DSD Support: Native DSD 64/128/256/512
- MQA Support: Full hardware MQA decoding from all digital inputs
- Optical S/PDIF input: 2 x (24bit / 192kHz)
- Coaxial S/PDIF input: 1 x (24-bit / 192 kHz)
- AES/EBU input: 1 x (24bit / 192kHz balanced)
- Digital to Analog Converter: 2 x ESS9038Q2M (dual mono)
- Filter Settings: 8 x Digital Filter
- Screen: 3.5” TFT module, 480×320, 360 cd/m2, IPS technology
- Power consumption: 38W, <0.5W in standby
- Dimensions W x H x D: 435 x 118 x 420 mm
- Weight: 10.8kg
