Owner`s manual
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very practical application for a high quality two-channel music system. The output of the DAC would then be fed into your analog preamplifier.
Another use might be in between your CD/DVD player and your digital processor. You will get the same benefit as the two-channel system. In
this situation, resolution enhancement, world-length adjustment, and sample rate conversion need to be bypassed if you are listening to a
compressed format like DD or DTS. I am not sure what happens if you have the speaker or room correction option since they do not have the
coefficients for my speakers yet. I am assuming that in order to do speaker/room correction on a compressed format, the signal would have to
be decoded and then re-encoded in real-time by the 1A.
If your home theater surround processor has digital outputs, then you could insert three 1As after the sources (DD or DTS) have been
decoded on the digital outputs. In this scenario you could take advantage of everything. You would need three DACs to go after the 1As. (The
P-3As would work nicely here.) But then you have to worry about volume control. If you let the processor handle that it would have to be done
in the digital domain and the digital output would have to be variable. Or you would need to use an external volume control. You would plug the
three DACs into this six-channel volume control and be ready to go. It’s a little more work, but may well be worth the trouble if the results are as
good when just using the 1A in a two-channel system.
But wait, I have more applications for the 1A including one that I tried. I have a LinxOne digital card in my PC at work. It’s a 96/24 digital sound
card, and I fed the output of that into the P-1A. Genelec markets digital 96/24 near field monitors that make great PC speakers. You can feed
the output of the 1A directly into the speakers. (They require AES/EBU, and it just so happens the 1A is so equipped.)
P-3A
Front Panel
The front panel is virtually identical to the 1A. In fact, the only differences from the two are the stenciled name and
that the input and program buttons are reversed. The front panel has two buttons, one on the top, which is used to
program the 3A, and one on the bottom, which is used to select the input. It also has 7 LEDs broken out into two
sections 1-3 and 4-7. Each LED is also capable of three different colors. These are used to determine the state of
the 3A.
LEDs 1-3 going from the top of the 3A down represent the Phase and Sampling rate. LEDs 4-7 are used to select the
input of the 3A. 1 = Toslink, 2 = AES/EBU, 3 = Coax, and 4 = I
2
S.
Inputs
Optical (Toslink)
Balanced (AES/EBU)
Unbalanced (Coax (S/PDIF))
I
2
S (5-pin mini-DIN)
9VAC
Outputs
Unbalanced Analog (RCA) Jacks
Under the Covers
The 3A uses the latest Crystal CS4397 192 kHz 24-bit DAC. The 3A, like the 1A, also uses the Crystal CS8420 SRC chip. All low sample rates
signals like 44.1 and 48 kHz are upsampled to 96 kHz.
You can see (photo at right) that the DAC chip itself is only a very small portion of the
product. There really is much more to a DAC than just the DAC chip. People often make
the assumption that all the DACs that use the same chip will all sound the same.
And just like the 1A, the power supply section of the 3A board is VERY good. A ground
plane is also used.
User Interface
Programming of the 3A is more straightforward than the 1A, but then again it’s a DAC
and does not need all of the wiz bang features of the 1A. You simply select the input you
want with the input button, and the program button can be used to invert the phase.
If you want to pass a 192 kHz source, then you have to do a little button combo.
Currently, it will not accept a 192 kHz source, but a future upgrade will enable that.
General Use
As you will read later when John and Paul comment, the new 1A and 3A are splendid products. The 1A packs many, many features into a
single box. It essentially picks up where the Audio Alchemy DTI Pro-32 left off. The 3A actually continues where the Monster Cable Number
Cruncher DAC left off.