Computer Audio Design, a new British innovator in high-end DAC design, wins ‘Best sounding hi-fi room’ at Britain’s biggest hi-fi and home cinema show
The best sound at Britain’s biggest audio and home cinema show, Sound and Vision 2013 (The Bristol Show), came from Computer Audio Design and its new CAD 1543 DAC. In a competition organised in association with industry body The Clarity Alliance, a team of judges visited every room at the show and scored them against a challenging criteria. The final results were announced on Friday 22ndFebruary with Computer Audio Design scooping the top honour of Best Sounding Hi-Fi Room.
Computer Audio Design’s new CAD 1543 DAC saw off competition from an incredible 188 exhibitors at a packed show, with designer Scott Berry clearly wowing the judges with the extraordinary sonic performance of this painstakingly designed USB-only DAC. Vice-chairman of The Clarity Alliance, Simon Byles, said: "It is important that the hard work and effort put in by the many companies which exhibit at the premier UK hi-fi show is recognised and rewarded."
Designed and lovingly hand-built in the UK, CAD’s 1543 DAC has been skilfully crafted as a no-compromise asynchronous USB DAC that delivers a sonic performance far beyond that of even the most luxurious CD players. The DAC has been built on an obsessive design principle that seeks to minimise components in the signal path.
The DAC is also unashamedly computer-orientated in recognition of today’s high-resolution digital music files and yet has been designed to deliver the same natural, effortless sound that’s inherent in the best analogue source components. It’s this exclusive sound presentation that makes the CAD 1543 DAC unique in the marketplace and capable of engaging a generation of analogue aficionados with the best that CD- and high-resolution digital music files can offer.
Based around a dedicated, non-magnetic acrylic chassis with superior isolation and damping, the new CAD 1543 DAC has been optimised to work with a computer and painstakingly designed to minimise disruption to the incoming signal. To this end, the DAC has a single high-quality USB input, plus one set of RCA outputs. This configuration enables the signal to pass through the DAC without encountering the highly degrading effects of unnecessary switching. It also allows a super-short signal path (of just 1cm) from the USB board to the DAC.
Price and availability
The CAD 1543 is available now priced at £6,900 (standard finish) with custom finishes and colours available on request
Technical specifications
• DAC chips: 16 x TDA1543/N2
• Input: single asynchronous USB, with full galvanic isolation from computer
• Output: unbalanced RCA (extremely high-quality, low-mass Tellurium copper)
• Sampling frequencies: 44.1kHz, 48kHz, 88.2kHz, 96kHz and 176.4kHz operation
• Bit depth: 16 bit (will play any bit-depth)
• Maximum output voltage: ~1.65Vrms
• Output impedance: 135 ohms at 1kHz
• Can drive most power amplifiers directly using digital volume control
Press contact
For further Computer Audio Design information, images or interview requests, please contact Dan George on +44 (0)7899 808918 or email: dan@napthineporter.com
Computer Audio Design contacts for publication
Tel: 0203 397 0334
Email: info@computeraudiodesign.com
Web: www.computeraudiodesign.com
About Computer Audio Design
CAD is a specialist high-end audio company that is dedicated to achieving the finest sound quality from computer audio sources. A British company, with manufacturing right here in the UK, CAD is unashamedly computer-orientated in recognition of today’s high-resolution digital music files and a future where computer sources will dominate in high-performance systems.
Its debut product, the CAD 1543 DAC, has been designed to deliver the same natural, effortless sound that’s inherent in the best analogue source components. Designed by Scott Berry, a British-based US-born electrical engineer who has worked for some of the biggest names in the electronics world, the DAC 1543 has been painstakingly crafted over several years. The company sources 90% of the CAD 1543’s components from UK manufacturers, with each unit carefully crafted by hand to specification.
For more information on Computer Audio Design, please visit www.computeraudiodesign.com
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