Audio Note DAC5 Fifth Element Digital to Analogue Convertor

DACs don’t get much more special than the DAC5 ‘Fifth Element’ and ‘Fifth Force’. This two box convertor is the current ultimate specification convertor in the Audio Note range. Unusually for a two box item, two power cables are required, keeping the analogue and digital power supplies completely separate.  

As you’d expect, the specification screams ‘no compromise’, with the majority of the contents being sophisticated power supplies. Naturally there’s silver wire used throughout and even a valve buffered digital input (with an EF800 RF Pentode valve). The  DAC chip is the classic AD1865 multi bit convertor. The picture below shows the very final stages of circuitry, the two cylindrical cans on the left (clamped with massive copper bracing) containing the IV transformers which feed the two triode output stage, with silver capacitor coupling between them and the final silver output transformers.

Input: RCA 75 Ohms SPDif
Channel Impedance: 600 Ohms, Balanced or Single Ended
Reference Output: 3.2V RMS
Channel Balance: Less than 0.2dB
Valve Complement: 1 x 6189, 1 x 6463, 1 x EF800, 1 x 6X5, 1 x 6X5, 1 x ECL82 & 1 x 5651
Unit Weight: 20 kg - per chassis
Unit Dimensions (HxWxD): 160mm x 445mm x 428mm - per chassis
Digital System: 18Bit Ananloue Devices AD1865N & 44.1/48/96KHz input capability