Building on the extraordinary quality/price ratio of its vacuum tube-based amplification electronics, Copland has just launched its first digital audio processor –DAC- with dedicated audiophile-grade headphone amplifier specifically aimed at getting the most out of high resolution digital formats. As befits a product signed by a company with an unmistakable purist accent, the DAC215, which immediately attracts attention for its very compact dimensions and its purity of lines, bases its attributes on a very careful combination of circuit topology and components chosen for their qualities. sonorous.
Thus, at the heart of Copland 's new DAC we find a D/A conversion section with several S/PDIF inputs and PCM and DSD signal processing capabilities, based on the renowned ES9018 Reference “chip” from the exclusive American firm ESS. It is a sophisticated piece of microelectronics with 32-bit technology, mounted, in this case, in a quad-monophonic configuration (i.e., 8 mono to 2 stereo). On the other hand, and in line with Copland 's philosophy, the analog and filtering sections of the DAC215 are made entirely with discrete components, it is worth highlighting in this regard that the Class A topology used in the first of them is identical to the one we can find it in the celebrated CD players of the Scandinavian firm. To all this we must add that the DAC215 houses a fully equipped preamplification circuitry, of which we must highlight an audiophile-inspired analog volume control and, most especially, a headphone output powered by a circuitry that combines operation in Class A with gain stages based on vacuum tubes that provides unprecedented musicality in a product of its class and price.
Characteristics:
- Headphone amplifier with very high-performance DAC.
- D/A conversion circuitry with 32-bit resolution.
- Supports PCM signals up to 32-bit/384 kHz and DSD64/128.
- Asynchronous USB input plus 3 S/PDIF digital inputs.
- Preamplification circuitry executed with vacuum tubes.
- Analog output circuitry configured in Class A.
- Dedicated headphone amplifier configured in Class A.
- Frequency response: 20 - 20 kHz, +0 dB, -2 dB.
- Signal-to-noise ratio greater than 120 dB.
- USB input compatible with Windows XP/Vista/7/8, Mac-OS X and Linux.
- Dimensions: 200 x 115 x 280 mm (W x H x D).
- Weight: 3.8 kg.
