MusiCHI media player

The suite consist of 4 applications allowing you to rip, to tag, to play and to manage the libraries independent of each other. This allows you to e.g. play and rip at the same time while doing some tagging.

This suite is primarily targeted at Classical and Jazz.
It offers different styles to manage a classical and a jazz collection.
Beside the conventional tags it adds

• Period or style
• Album Artists (aka Performers)
• Instruments
• Grouping
• Composition

It comes with its own database (CHIClean) containing an impressive list of composers (> 2500).
The compositions of major composers (Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Dvořák, Handel, Haydn, Mahler ,Mozart,Schubert, Schumann and Vivaldi) are available.
This allows you to tag your compositions in a consistent way.
Interface supports English and Français


There is a tutorial on how to tag classical music.
It is a bit hidden in the Blog but obvious written by somebody deeply immerged in classical music.
The Zen of Classical Music Tagging (Part1)
The Zen of Classical Music Tagging (Part2)



Website: MusiCHI

Metrum Acoustics Hex

Non oversampling dac.

Dual mono, 8 Dacs pro channel in differential mode.

Inputs:

2x optical Toslink, Coaxial 1x BNC and 1x RCA.
Optical 44 - 96 kHz sampling rate .
Coaxial , USB and AES/EBU: 44 - 192 kHz sampling rate.
AES/EBU module optional (€ 168.00)
USB module optional ( € 168.00).
The USB input is not UAC2 (USB Audio Class 2) compliant but uses the M2Tech proprietary drivers for Win and Mac.

Output voltage:
RCA : 2 Volt RMS full scale.
XLR: 4 Volt RMS full scale

Frequency response:
1Hz - 20 khz - 2.5 dB 44.1 kHz sampling rate.
1Hz - 65 kHz - 3dB 192 kHz sampling rate.

Distortion: 0.03 % THD
Noise :-130 dB related to 2 Volt RMS output

Jitter: < 35 pico Seconds

Website: Metrum Acoustics
Price: Hex € 2185

Primare DAC30

USB audio class 2 compliant DAC with USB receiver by XMOS

• 24 / 192 Khz
• Crystal DSD DAC CS4398 (BD32)
• Fully balanced analogue output stage (BD32)
• Inputs: 1x asynchronous USB-B, 1x AES/EBU, 3x Optical, 3x Coax S/PDIF
• Outputs: 1 pair XLR and 1 pair RCA (both 4,3V)

Website Primare
Price € 2350

Burson Conductor

Headphone amplifier/ Pre amplifier / DAC

Inputs

1 x USB Connection
1 x Coaxial RCA (Support up to 24bit @ 192Khz)
1 x Toslink / SPDIF (Support up to 24bit @ 192Khz)
2 x RCA line level input


Outputs
1 x headphone jacks 6.35mm
1 x RCA Pre Amp output
1 x RCA DAC direct line out


DAC Specification
ESS SABRE32
Channel Separation: 140 dB @ 1KHz, 130 dB @ 20KHz
THD+N: 0.0005% @ 1KHz, 0dBFS
COAX & Toslink / SPDIF : 32 bits / 44.1K, 48K, 88.2K, 96K, 176.4K, 192KHz


USB Specification
Tenor TE8802
OS Requirement: Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Mac OS X
USB : 24 bits / 44.1K, 48K, 88.2K, 96K, 176.4K, 192KHz
Support up to 24bit @ 192Khz with 10ppm low jitter clock
Asynchronous Transfer Mode


Website: Burson
Price: $1.850

Bel Canto REFLink

Asynchronous USB converter

Supported sampling rates: 44.1kHz - 192kHz
Supported word lengths: up to 24-bit
USB driver for Win

Output:

• Coaxial SPDIF on BNC 75Ω 
• Balanced AES on XLR 110Ω 
• LightLink ST Fiber 

Proprietary 500MHz DSP Asynchronous USB Core
Dual Ultra-Low Phase-Noise Clocks
Two-stage galvanic isolation
Dedicated LNS (Low Noise Supply)

Website: Bel Canto 
Price: AU$ 1595