ADAT Lightpipe -- it is certainly capable of transferring quite a bit (8 channels of 24/48 ). But as has been mentioned, the spec itself does not support it.

It should accept 24/192 over toslink. My desktop portable accepts 24/192 over toslink. I send 16/44.1 from my squeezebox to my upsampler and then send 24/192 or 24/176.4 to the desktop portable DAC using either coax or toslink SPDIF. There are also protocols that use toslink besides SPDIF such as ADAT that Dusty linked to.

Here is the info on the Ultra Amp and Ultra DAC

Ultra Amp info

Ultra DAC info

Enjoy. Looks great

Edited March 24, 200917 yr by riceboy

Here is the info on the Ultra Amp and Ultra DAC

Ultra Amp info

Ultra DAC info

Enjoy. Looks great

I believe both of those links are the same...

I believe both of those links are the same...

Thanks for the heads up. They are fixed now .

This definitely puts the whole Audiophile Desktop arrangement back on my ever-growing wishlist. Wonder how the Ultra amp would drive a pair of balanced HD800s?

I wonder how hot these units will get.

This definitely puts the whole Audiophile Desktop arrangement back on my ever-growing wishlist. Wonder how the Ultra amp would drive a pair of balanced HD800s?

x2, especially if my little idea never comes to fruition.

I wonder how hot these units will get.

Did the previous Desktop series run hot?

The only problem I see is that if I got one of these I'd probably want to pop for the DPS, too, and that strikes me as pretty steep at $500.

Here's Tyll's own stack, from the other site.

The previous Home/Home balanced amp/dac did get pretty warm, I don't think the Max balanced amp only will get too much hotter (if any) since it's not like the doubled the number of modules to get to the Max level and there's no DAC in there now.

Hrmm I actually kinda want one, and by that I mean the entire Ultra stack including the DPS. Would be nice to spend some serious alone time with HeadRoom gear instead of in meet conditions.

/shakes fist at wallet

The previous Home/Home balanced amp/dac did get pretty warm, I don't think the Max balanced amp only will get too much hotter (if any) since it's not like the doubled the number of modules to get to the Max level and there's no DAC in there now.

Well there are a lot of little op-amp people in there now - 16 OPA627's with a bit of bias each. And the output tranny's have a higher bias current I believe.

Still, I would not expect it to get 'hot'. Warm, yes. My Balanced Home w/Max Modules/DAC never really got warm - I miss that thing, wonder where it is now? No. 001...

Well there are a lot of little op-amp people in there now - 16 OPA627's with a bit of bias each. And the output tranny's have a higher bias current I believe.

...... 16 OPAMPs?

I saw the description of OPA627 with Jung Diamond buffer and thought 'Pffft, PPAv2'...... but if you are right, then that is a bit more interesting.

I don't think the Max balanced amp only will get too much hotter (if any) since it's not like the doubled the number of modules to get to the Max level and there's no DAC in there now.

Actually, you can keep your hand on it without trouble, but it's pretty darn warm.

I`ve been a bit slow to ask this, but are there any plans to release a version that includes i2s input ?

toslink, usb, i2s and coaxial/bnc would cover all the bases

There's a max dac that's coming out with all the above?

Thought the Ultra was basically the old Max and the point at which the new line will top out?

So is this amp really sounds better than the previous balanced Max Tyll?

Thought the Ultra was basically the old Max and the point at which the new line will top out?

As far as I understand it (and I'll try to confirm it) the new Max DAC shares essentially nothing in common with the old and represents the first step of what you'll see headroom moving towards. You are correct though that the Balanced Ultra Desktop Amp is based on the old/current MAX modules and will be the top of the line amp for them for a little while.

As far as I understand it (and I'll try to confirm it) the new Max DAC shares essentially nothing in common with the old and represents the first step of what you'll see headroom moving towards. You are correct though that the Balanced Ultra Desktop Amp is based on the old/current MAX modules and will be the top of the line amp for them for a little while.

Sorry Nate, still not clear on this. Is there a new Max DAC on the way as well as the new Sabre-based Ultra DAC?

The Ultra, standalone DAC is based on the Sabre chip, the MAX DAC will remain the top of the line "module" offered in the amps. What is new on the Ultra DAC (in addition to the chip) is the front panel mounted switches which IIRC are at least relay based if not micro-controller based. I really should start bugging Tyll again about whether or not he's going to let me compare the new DAC to his namesake.

Nice writeup of the single-ended Ultra Desktop at Secrets this week (whatever you think about the choice of headphones). With the Max DAC and the pre-amp functionality, that looks like a pretty darn good deal for a desktop system.

Edited April 29, 200917 yr by Hopstretch

Hi guys. Sorry, I really should try to keep a better eye out on the threads here, and I will.

The new BUDA is essentially the Max in a smaller package. If there is any improvement it's that the switches control relays in the box to move signals so the traces may be a bit shorter, but for all intents and purposes it sounds like a Max.

The new UDAC shares nothing in common with the Max DAC boards in the other products. It starts with the Sabre chip and Joe did a great job of providing 4 regulated power supplies internally for the different parts of the DAC and output circuitry, and he did a supurbe job of setting up the analog output stage which is critical and essentially part of the DAC converter circuit.

The thing I don't like about the product is that the friggen ESS DAC chip is soooooooo friggen complex. DACs these days are getting to the point that you need a PhD in number theory to understand what the hell is going on. Also the ESS guys want to make sure no one really understands it well eoungh to copy it. Trying to write about the product intelegently is a friggen nightmare.

The good news is that for all it's complication, it sounds ... well ... like nothing. It's one of the most transperant and natural sounding audio gizmos I've heard.

To my knowledge there is only one product out there that does 192/24 and it's one of the pro pieces (sorry I don't remember which one). There are a number now that do the 96/24 using the TI TAS 1020B. The UDAC only does 16/44 on USB as it still uses the 2902 chip. I've been using the M-Audio Transit to convert USB to 96/24 S/PDIF then into the optical in on the UDAC and it works well.

To my knowledge there is only one product out there that does 192/24 and it's one of the pro pieces (sorry I don't remember which one).

That would be the Grace Design m802.