This was an interesting process, as Niels dropped by several times, every time with 2 identical looking DACs under his arms. Spread over several listening sessions, I heard 3 versions of this interesting triangle-shaped DAC, each version bettering the last one. The USB DAC had no other inputs than USB, but what I heard from this prototype using the AudioAanZee Reference Flow music server was already so impressive that I can understand the logic of leaving out anything that can compromise the quality, even if that means there’s only one input.Ībove: prototype Mosaic USB-DAC (the triangle shape was abandoned in favor of the more production-friendly rectangle shape it has now. What followed were several incarnations of the initial triangle-shaped USB DAC, and this was the first version I heard when Niels brought it along.
It’s a good thing that he dropped by with the DAC in person because to be honest even if I was intrigued by these people and their product, I must admit that I did underestimate it.īut let’s go back to the first post-TDA DAC.
Niels is a good friend of the Browns, and he has done a lot to help in the shape of mouth-to-mouth advertising, creating enthusiasm among his audio friends and of course by driving to my place several times. Unlike many digital audio products these days, all EC Designs products are hand-built in the Netherlands, by the Browns themselves. Initially, there was still a buffer circuit in place but the final commercial versions omit even that: here the DAC resistors directly drive the outputs! Clearly, EC Designs have no fear of threading unknown and even frowned-upon paths, in their quest for perfect sound. That’s when they decided to build their own ladder-DAC from scratch using discrete resistors and the absolute minimum in component count. Ultimately they decided that these kinds of chips had too many errors built-in, and they couldn’t be sufficiently improved upon.
For example, for the longest time they worked on perfecting a DAC using the Philips TDA-1541 chip. This is something to treasure: audiophiles who can explain on a deep technical level why we hear what we hear.ĮC Designs was established in 1990 and although high-end audio isn’t their sole developmental area, they have been experimenting with DACs for a long time. There has not been a single question I had, that they couldn’t adequately answer.
Mosaic pro warrior 21 review movie#
Being on the phone with either of them forms the idea in my head of speaking with the “Doc” from the movie Back to the Future minus the abstractness of the fictional character, because of the obvious driven and enthusiastic manner in which they speak of their products. Both John and Gordon can convey the entire working principle of their DAC in a cohesive manner, along with several side-principles, in a cohesive monolog that leaves no gaps anywhere. Even if I did have my reservations, I was curious and naturally agreed to a listening session.ĮC Design, based in Beringe, in the Southern part of the Netherlands, is run by two brothers: John and Gordon Brown. Oh, and its connections are pretty non-conformistic too: mini jack and toslink only.Īt the time that Niels called me, he had already heard several prototypes, and the one that I was about to hear was also a pre-production sample. And it is minimalistic too: no oversampling, no filtering and no capacitors in the signal path. Even the DAC itself is a proprietary solution. It is hand-made in the Netherlands, using discrete components and zero off the shelf solutions. He said he had a DAC that did everything differently. It was Niels, a fellow-Apogee speaker enthusiast.
Review samples kindly supplied by EC DesignsĪ few months ago, a friend called me on the phone to say that he had something very special for me to hear. Mosaic T – non-oversampling, non-filtering and non-conformistic DAC Retail price Mosaic T 16 bit: 1500 euroĬurrently not yet available – please check with the manufacturer for timelines
0 kommentar(er)
