Displaying items by tag: dac - StereoLife Magazine

Topping has never been particularly shy about squeezing ambitious specifications into inexpensive little boxes, but DX1 II is a much more substantial update than its familiar name might suggest. The original DX1 was deliberately simple - a USB-powered DAC and headphone amplifier built around AKM's AK4493S, with a single USB input, RCA output and 3.5 mm and 6.35 mm headphone sockets. DX1 II keeps the compact desktop format and USB-powered operation, but almost everything around it has changed. There is a new ESS converter, fully balanced analog architecture, considerably more headphone power, optical input and output, 4.4 mm connections, parametric EQ, a display and remote control, plus features aimed specifically at PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch users. In other words, what started as an inexpensive way to improve computer audio has evolved into a surprisingly complete little DAC, preamplifier, headphone amplifier and digital signal processor.

One of the traditional arguments against active loudspeakers is that their electronics age faster than their cabinets and drivers. An amplifier module can become outdated, streaming standards change and DSP platforms improve, while the acoustic part of a well-designed speaker may remain perfectly capable for decades. Buchardt Audio has been thinking about this problem since developing its first active models, and its latest product tackles it unusually directly. Rather than asking owners of A500, A500SE, A700, A700 Limited Edition or Anniversary 10 speakers to replace them with an entirely new generation, the Danish manufacturer has created the Mk2 Upgrade Kit - a user-installable package that replaces the complete amplifier, DSP and power-supply platform inside the existing cabinets. Selected models receive a new tweeter as well.

AudioQuest DragonFly is one of those products that hardly needs an introduction. The original model appeared in 2012 and helped turn the USB dongle DAC from a niche computer-audio accessory into a genuinely mainstream hi-fi product, with more than 300,000 DragonFlys sold worldwide since then. Black and Red followed in 2016, Cobalt arrived three years later, and then the series went quiet for almost seven years. Copper finally breaks that silence. Rather than simply updating Cobalt with a different finish, AudioQuest has substantially reworked the internal architecture, giving its latest DAC-preamp-headphone amplifier more output power, lower current consumption and a new copper-plated enclosure intended to improve RF noise dissipation.

Ferrum has spent the last few years building a compact ecosystem around digital conversion, headphone amplification and power management, but one obvious piece has been missing - a network transport of its own. That gap is now filled by Broen, the Polish company's first dedicated streaming product and a natural partner for the Wandla DAC family and Hypsos power supply. The model was previewed at the Audio Video Show in Warsaw and the Paris Audio Video Show in late 2025, but has now reached its final production form. Its name means "bridge" in Danish, which neatly summarizes the concept - Broen is designed as a digital gateway between streaming services, local music libraries and an external DAC rather than another all-in-one streamer with conversion and analog circuitry squeezed into the same chassis.

Marantz is refreshing the entry point to its traditional hi-fi range with two full-size components - the Model 70 integrated amplifier and the matching CD 70 player. The new duo follows in the footsteps of the popular PM6007 and CD6007, but the transition involves considerably more than a change of model numbers. Both products adopt the visual language previously associated with more expensive Marantz components, while the amplifier gains HDMI ARC, two-way Bluetooth connectivity and a revised amplification section. The CD player, meanwhile, combines conventional disc playback with high-resolution files from USB storage.

Focal has introduced the Diva Alta Utopia, the most advanced model in its family of active wireless loudspeakers developed in partnership with Naim. The French brand is clearly positioning this system very high - not as a luxury network speaker for an elegant living room, but as a fully fledged high-end system intended to replace a traditional stereo set-up made up of loudspeakers, amplifiers, streamer, DAC, cables and the rest of the usual audiophile infrastructure. The difference is that here, everything has been built into large active loudspeakers.

FiiO is expanding its range of desktop audio equipment with the Level 1, a compact integrated amplifier designed to drive passive loudspeakers. The new model combines a Class D power amplifier, a built-in digital-to-analogue converter, Bluetooth connectivity, traditional tone controls and outputs allowing the system to be expanded with an active subwoofer or an external power amplifier. All of this is housed in an aluminium enclosure with wooden side panels. The Level 1 is slightly different from the products with which the Chinese company has traditionally been most closely associated. Rather than another portable player or DAC with a headphone amplifier, it is intended to serve as the heart of a proper stereo system built around conventional passive loudspeakers. This may explain why the front panel carries the JadeAudio logo. Owned by FiiO, the brand is positioned as a younger, more modern alternative with a particularly strong focus on value for money. JadeAudio benefits from FiiO's technical resources, engineering experience and proprietary solutions, but products developed under this project carry their own JadeAudio branding.

YBA is a French high-end audio manufacturer founded by Yves-Bernard Andre and known for electronics designed around a distinctive approach to musicality, circuit layout and component selection. The company's products have traditionally focused on dedicated hi-fi systems, while the Design One extends the brand into a more portable and desktop-oriented category without abandoning its emphasis on high-quality playback. Now YBA has introduced the Design One, a transportable battery-powered SACD player designed for portable, desktop and conventional hi-fi use. The French manufacturer describes it as the world's first travel-ready SACD player, combining a top-loading disc mechanism, headphone amplifier, DAC functionality and line-level outputs in a compact device measuring 188 x 166 x 40 mm and weighing 1.34 kg. The concept is unusual because it brings together two separate trends - the return of interest in portable CD players and the renewed attention being paid to SACD collections.

Topping has introduced the E50 II, a compact pure DAC with preamp functionality and no onboard headphone amplifier. The new model joins the company's popular E Series of budget-friendly converters and is designed for desktop systems, hi-fi setups, active speakers, separate headphone amplifiers and even more demanding studio-oriented use. It is a small device, but the feature set is unusually broad, combining a modern AKM DAC chip, balanced and single-ended outputs, high-resolution USB input, Bluetooth, app control and a sophisticated parametric EQ system.

Exposure Electronics has introduced the 5510 Pre-Amplifier, a new flagship model designed as the control center of a high-end separates system. In a market increasingly dominated by integrated amplifiers, streaming amplifiers and compact all-in-one components, the dedicated preamplifier remains a very specific proposition. It is aimed at listeners who want to separate signal management from power delivery and build a system in which each part has a clearly defined role. With the 5510, Exposure is returning to that classic hi-fi logic, presenting a component whose task is not to amplify loudspeakers or attract attention with extra functions, but to handle the incoming signal with accuracy, low noise and long-term flexibility before it reaches the power amplifier.