DAC Audio Converter Audiobyte Black Dragon

Overview

The Black Dragon aims to integrate in a single box the answers to these three questions since it is a converter equipped with all the inputs in the latest formats, a preamplifier with unbalanced and balanced outputs and a headphone amplifier.

The original digital processing architecture of the Black Dragon makes it quite unique at this price point. Instead of using immediately available chips for the internal circuits, an FPGA circuit constitutes a powerful and configurable front-end unit to the conversion chips. This circuit includes digital receivers sampling the input signals at 500 MHz, the clock system capable of clocking at error levels below the picosecond, a powerful digital filter consisting of 15 processors and the user interface.

The femtovox clock system allows jitter reduction below 300 fs just before the converters’ input. The proprietary hybrid phase digital filter is a high-performance resampling block reconditioning the incoming signal. It is especially efficient for standard resolution signals of 44.1 or 48 kHz. Given the large number of “taps” and the carefully adjusted response, the extension and atmosphere of the recordings are practically optimized even before conversion. The filter can be activated or deactivated via the interface menu.

A true dual symmetric conversion by 2 x AK4396 is the ideal complement to the digital input stage. Each chip processes one channel in true symmetric mode and guarantees the best possible analog performance as well as the highest noise rejection.

The USB input does not require any application for Mac or Linux and natively accepts resolutions of 24bits/384 kHz in PCM and DSD x64 or x128. In the “download” section, ASIO and WASAPI/KS applications are available for Windows systems. The audio transfer via USB is performed in asynchronous mode, the converter imposes its own clock and not that of the computer for minimal jitter.

The output stage and headphone amplifier is entirely made of discrete components, in true symmetry and in class A without feedback. It is capable of easily powering the various high or low impedances of the headphones.

The main power supply is a low-noise linear type (LNS) and based on two toroidal transformers. It is followed by 11 secondary power supplies stabilized by integrated circuits, 8 of which are low noise. The total filtering capacity exceeds 50,000 µF.

A large display informs even at a high distance of one of the 5 selected inputs. The analog output is available on headphones or on variable balanced or unbalanced outputs.

DAC, preamplifier and headphone amp

Accepted sampling frequencies:
- 44.1 to 384 kHz PCM via USB or I2S
- DSD x64 or x128 via USB
- 4.1 to 192 kHz via S/PDIF or AES/EBU
- 44.1 to 96 kHz via Toslink
Resolution:
- 32-bit via USB or I2S
- 24-bit via S/PDIF, AES/EBU or Toslink