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LampizatOr- The Horizon DAC Manual
Data formats
The DAC is capable of automatic recognition of all sampling rates from32 to 768 kHz
and bit rates from 14 to 32. Since few if any transports offering S/PDIF format of the
192 kHz exist in the consumer market, it is hard to guarantee the operation but on the
professional ones which we tried – it worked. From our experience the transmitters of
S/PDIF are incapable of making good square wave over 48 kHz, so if you play a 192
kHz file, be aware that on one hand you "play" more detailed data, but at the same time
your signal is waaay more distorted so at the end of the day for this reason alone it
may not be worth it to chase the hi-rez rabbit via S/Pdif. USB is made for that.
If you use USB connection, all our DACs will play up to 768 kHz and 32 bits. This
theoretical limit does not imply that you need RECORDINGS of that resolution, which
don't exist by the way, but that you can use up sampling to play regular files. We
however listen to all recordings at the resolution settings they were recorded.
By PCM files we mean all known file formats like: MP3, MP4, Aiff, Flac, WMA, WAV,
Ogg, and many more less known types. PCM abbreviation stands for pulse code
modulation.
DSD
Direct Stream Digital, also known as DSD format - this format is not new as many
people think, it is as old as digital but it wasn't used for consumer audio or home audio
- before. It became very popular after 2010 and continues to make its way into our
homes. It is VERY different than our well known PCM format as found in our CD files,
MP3, FLAC or WAV - AIFF. It encodes the music in the data stream differently, looks
different and sounds different. It is the format in which the SACD discs were recorded
and a format in which the analog master tapes were backed up by record companies. It
is currently the format in which the master recordings are made in record industry.
In Horizon DAC - we use AUTOSENSING and automatic switch from DSD to PCM and
back. User doesn't need to do anything, just enjoy.
Our DAC will automatically recognize and switch all DSD speed rates from normal 64
SACD format to 2x (128x) and quad 256x format or 512x shall you need it.
Audio volume level
Tube technology allows us to set practically unlimited volume level at the output, up to
3 x higher than from a normal CD player. We have decided to adhere to one internally
set standard: the test tone of 1 kHz at -20 dB produces an output of sine wave 300 mV
AC under the amp load of 47K. Thats equivalent of circa 3 V pp. Balanced signal is
double that.
Generally - we prefer the sound of the DAC with high output levels, and most amps
don't have any problem with that. A simple potentiometer or stepped attenuator in the
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