There are more and more good quality audio DACs newly released. But, a good audio source is still difficult to find. Trends Audio developed an USB Audio Converter UD-10, which works as an external sound card with various formats of digital output and decoded headphone output. It effectively isolated the serious interference from the noise within the PC case, e.g. the high frequency data signals, the switching-mode power supply and the FAN motors, etc.
(Check for details: http://www.trendsaudio.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=40&Itemid=17)
Features
In the front panel, there are the USB socket and the headphone socket (can convert to a pair of RCA audio output with the bundled adaptor). The back panel is mainly the digital outputs (optical x1, coaxial x2 (RCA & BNC), AES/EBU x1) and the external power supply socket.
- high-end Burr Brown PCM2704 IC for USB audio conversion.
- proprietary dual power regulation circuits design (normal implementations are just directly apply the 5V USB bus power). No matter the power is supplied from the USB bus or from external socket, it is regulated before supply to the related ICs. Dual regulated powers are supplied to digital circuits and analog circuits individually.
- separated digital/analog ground. The digital GND (network) and the analog GND (solid) is totally separated except connected via a ferrite bread in a single point. It effectively reduce interference between digital signals and analog signals.
- Option to use USB bus power [convenient], Trends PW-10 PSU or external power [better sound] (e.g. AA size rechargeable battery 1.2V x4=5V, don't use normal batteries with 1.2V x4=6V, it would be too high for safety and good sound performance)
- 4pins high accuracy crystal clock (+-10ppm)
- applied RS422 driving IC to concurrently drive 4 groups of balance & non-balance digital outputs. Audiophiles can compare the differences between these digital outputs instantly or play for the Bi-DACs or even Quad DACs.
- proprietary impedance matching circuits for AES/EBU(110ohm), Coaxial(75ohm) digital outputs
- applied the specially designed pulse transformers for each AES/EBU and Coaxial outputs to further isolated interference from UD-10 to the external DAC. The most pure, accurate, standard digital signal is then regenerated with minimum interference and jitter.
- plug-and-play without driver installation for most PC operating systems, e.g. Windows 2000, Windows XP, etc?
We applied audiophile grade materials and electronic components, including the high-quality Japanese/Korean precise SMD resistors and capacitors. Besides reducing the space, it also reduces the resident inductance (relative to DIP components). The power filtering and decoupling is using Sanyo OS-CON solid-state electrolyte capacitors. The analog signal decoupling and coupling are using ELNA Silmic electrolyte capacitors and WIMA MKP10 film capacitors.. The case of the device is the stylish iron-gray whole aluminium one.
Remark: Bundle with Trends PW-10 PSU or Trends UD-10 Battery Pack for better sound.
Should your products ever require repair service please contact the service centers listed in the User Manual
or visit their web site for more information.
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