Auspicious name, though I know not if it is indeed in reference to the goddess.

WM8804/2*PCM1794/24 bit-192kHz/Jensen trafo-coupled output stage/$1295.

No single ended outputs? Most curious.

Neko is probably referring to the Japanese word for cat.

I've been wondering about that DAC since the ad shows up pretty often on HF. But those internals look pretty barren. :/

EDIT: Looks like it can be connected SE with an XLR->RCA adapter (They sell them on their site too)

Yes, very barren. Certainly not much in the way of power supply......

Neko is probably referring to the Japanese word for cat.

The instructions state that you void your warranty if you put a lime on your DAC.

The instructions state that you void your warranty if you put a lime on your DAC.

I am not pleased.

No single ended outputs? Most curious.

You just connect one side of the output to ground and it is single ended.

Yes, very barren. Certainly not much in the way of power supply......

PS looks a little lacking, but the design is nice. For more, look at the RAKK with passive output, same idea except here the chips are used NOS: Passive output

Also among the better priced for interconnects that I've seen.

lol @ knuckle

Here's a positive feedback article on it: dacs

Hello. I'm the owner of Neko Audio and can answer any questions you might have.

For those curious about the power supply, the unit uses ~1W while active. The D100 is also non-oversampling and non-upsampling.

I'll also make an exception to the warranty as long as the lime serves double-duty as a cat helmet. Photographic evidence is required.

Hi Wes, welcome aboard.

My questions are more general interest in names.

So, Neko=cat hence the logo, but is your name actually Miaw and is it pronounced meeow because if so that would be the best naming set evar!

Thanks for the welcome.

My last name is indeed Miaw, which can be pronounced just like a cat. I also have five cats, and Nami is the one who posed for the logo silhouette.

It all comes together.

heh, very cool.

I think it's great that you're using the WM8804. That chip doesn't get used enough. It's pretty much the only serious alternative to ASRC for getting rid of jitter.

I think it's great that you're using the WM8804. That chip doesn't get used enough. It's pretty much the only serious alternative to ASRC for getting rid of jitter.

Wolfson is, unfortunately, slightly harder to get ahold of in the United States because of their distribution chain. That may be one reason they aren't used as much. The WM8804 is the one component in the entire D100 that was difficult for me to get.

It's pretty much the only serious alternative to ASRC for getting rid of jitter.

Incorrect, plenty of other good options.

Wolfson is, unfortunately, slightly harder to get ahold of in the United States because of their distribution chain. That may be one reason they aren't used as much. The WM8804 is the one component in the entire D100 that was difficult for me to get.

Mouser now carries this, and some of the other nice Wolfson stuff.

Incorrect, plenty of other good options.

Yeah sure. Read the patent on the WM8804's elastic buffers. Every other off the shelf receiver uses a simple single or dual stage PLL that only filters jitter at high frequencies. The only other approach, steerable clocks, is generally not practical. It's WM8804 or ASRC if you're looking for an effective solution.

Mouser now carries this, and some of the other nice Wolfson stuff.

When I was building the D100 none of the online U.S. distributors were carrying Wolfson.

I need to clarify my earlier post. The D100 does perform oversampling as part of its PCM1794A delta-sigma conversion. It does not perform oversampling prior to that for any sort of signal manipulation.

Sorry for any confusion.

BTW - Smeggy, did you actually make that cake?

I wish... No, I'm limited to whittling lumps of wood and soldering things badly

Yeah sure. Read the patent on the WM8804's elastic buffers. Every other off the shelf receiver uses a simple single or dual stage PLL that only filters jitter at high frequencies. The only other approach, steerable clocks, is generally not practical. It's WM8804 or ASRC if you're looking for an effective solution.

So what you are really saying is there are no other easy, off the shelf, ways to get low jitter from SPDIF? If you are willing to do some custom work, there are quite a few other approaches. Various ways of making secondary PLL circuits, slaved transports, or forget SPDIF and use async USB.

So what you are really saying is there are no other easy, off the shelf, ways to get low jitter from SPDIF? If you are willing to do some custom work, there are quite a few other approaches. Various ways of making secondary PLL circuits, slaved transports, or forget SPDIF and use async USB.

I believe the ESS9008 has some pretty sweet tech to deal with this?

Speaking of which, another entrant in to the sector at this sort of pricepoint: http://www.headphone.com/products/digital-to-analog-converters/headroom-ultra-desktop-dac.php

So what you are really saying is there are no other easy, off the shelf, ways to get low jitter from SPDIF? If you are willing to do some custom work, there are quite a few other approaches. Various ways of making secondary PLL circuits, slaved transports, or forget SPDIF and use async USB.

I'm talking about conventional S/PDIF DACs, which the Neko DAC is an example of. Of course there are a variety of other custom solutions if you can eliminate S/PDIF or slave the transport.

TONEAudio Magazine has just published their review of the Neko Audio D100, and awarded it one of their Exceptional Value Awards for 2009.

"...the DAC to beat for reasonably priced digital excellence."

- Jeff Dorgay, TONEAudio Magazine

Read the full review.

Nice, and congrats