The Well-Tempered Computer, an introduction to computer audio

Monday, April 25, 2011

Aqvox USB 2 D/A MKII

German made Aqvox USB 2 D/A MkII is fully balanced USB 192kHz/24bit capable DAC with quite a unique set of features including USB input/output, defeatable asynchronous upsampling to 192kHz, integrated audiophile headphone amplifier.  The USB input/output is compatible with Windows98SE, Windows 2000, XP, Vista, Linux, Mac OS with included ASIO driver.




  • 4 x digital inputs: AES/EBU, Coaxial, Toslink and USB (USB1.1 48kHz/16bit without drivers, with optional USB2.0 upgrade - 192kHz/24bit with custom ASIO driver)
  • 2 x analog outputs: balanced XLR and unbalanced RCA
  • USB digital output (same port as input, up to 48kHz/16bit)
  • Selectable oversampling filters (32, 64, 128fs)
  • Dither on or off
  • Microphone input with integrated ADC to measure room acoustic (with accompanying software)
  • Audio file-formats: ALC, AiFF, FLAC, FLA, WAV, PCM, WavPack, SPDIF, via USB-ASIO, Monkeys Audio, AIF, Audio-CD, CDA, Apple Lossless, MPC, MP+, MPP, MP1, MP2, MP3, MP4 , LossyWAV, WMA, WMV, AU, OGG, AAC, MOV, AVI, AU, IFF, SVX, SND, AAC, APE, MAC, VOC, mp3PRO
  • No Op-Amps in signal path, Fully discrete, single-ended class A amplification, one amplifier per balanced analog output stage, true balanced circuitry for entire analog signal path
  • Headphone amplifier with fully discrete Class-A circuitry has no IC in signal path.  The headphone amp is coupled directly to the DAC chip, shortest signal path possible
  • No global overall feedback
  • LowNoise power supply
  • Dual Mono DAC chip (2 x Burr Brown PCM1796) 
  • USB-Codec: Texas-Instruments PCM2906 Transceiver
  • SPDIF digital input transceiver and sample rate converter for upsampling and jitter elimination AKM AK4114 192khz 24bit 
  • All functions are controlled with a programmed ATMEL Microcomputer chip set
  • Only passive elements are used in the filter-stages
  • Available in Black or Silver finish
  • US$1,799