Questyle CAS192D DAC

Description:

Key features

• Customized toroidal transformer from Plitron
• Nichicon FG capacitors
• DALE military resistors
• Customized WIMA capacitors
• ALPS potentiometer
• Neutrik connectors

What is it?

The quest is over! The Questyle Audio CAS192D, the first DAC equal to the performance of Questyle’s Current Mode Amplification, is now the world’s first DAC to support True DSD.

Unlike other DACs that claim DSD support, yet in actuality provide DoP (DSD over PCM), the Questyle Audio CAS192D accepts the DSD bit-stream directly from your computer, bypassing your computer’s audio processing and digital volume control as well as the Questyle Audio CAS192D’s digital filters, to provide True DSD, the way it was meant to be heard, without requiring expensive difficult to install proprietary connectors, or as is the case with DoP breaking up the bit-stream into 16bit packets and compressing them into a PCM data-stream and then uncompressing them at the other end, buffering them, then reassembling the bit-stream so that it may be sent to the DAC as DSD, all of which requires an extreme amount of processing at both the computer end and the DAC end to perform in real time (which invariably leads to latency, data loss, etc), not to mention a 33% increase in bandwidth requirements for the USB ports and cabling.

Currently the majority of DACs use FIR (finite impulse response) digital filters, but research and testing has shown that our ears are very sensitive to the pre-ring that FIR digital filters add to the impulse wave, making the music sound incoherent and unnatural. The Questyle Audio CAS192D offers the more advanced IIR digital filter, which completely eliminates the pre-ring from the impulse wave producing a more natural sound.

How does it work?

Precisely dig out every single detail via patented 3x Clock Asynchronous Transmission structure and True DSD technology. During every second of music playback, there are hundreds of thousands of time operations. Any micro error will distort the sound. In CAS192D, it is the 3x clock and the asynchronous transmission structure that ensures a more accurate operation. Among the 3x clocks, one clock is in sync with PC data, the other two individually control multiples of 44.1kHz and multiples of 48kHz. CAS192D True DSD digital to analog conversion ensures that the signal processing is done under the original DSD format. When processing DSD signals, CAS192D hardware immediately switches to True DSD channel, all the digital filters as well as digital volume control are bypassed, strictly following the standard processing of SACD playback.

For most of the upsampling design, no matter how much the sampling rate is, all the channels sample at 192K other than re-sample integrally, which will cause timing errors and lower the sound quality. While the dual clock integral upsampling of CAS192D is quite different, with extremely low phase noise, the processor automatically identifies the sample rate and upsamples integrally, which eliminates timing errors and improves the sound quality.

The majority of digital audio in the world use FIR (finite impulse response) filters. The pre-ring which FIR digital filters add to the impulse wave produces unnatural sound that ruins the enjoyment in music. While the advanced IIR digital filter completely eliminates the pre-ring from the impulse wave and keeps away from “grainy sound”, producing more ethereal and natural sound. As we know, the top dCS only uses IIR digital filters.

What’s in the box?

• The Questyle Audio CAS192D DAC
• Warranty