[tyrion]

Oz, at Let There Be Sound Just got in a few of these new USB DACs from Cayin. It has a USB in on the front of the unit as well as a mini headphone jack. It also has controls on the front of the unit, including volume control. It also comes with a remote. There are two DAC chips. Analog out 1 uses a TDA1543 and Analog out 2 uses a PCM2706 which is also volume controlled. The iDAC can be used as a preamp through the second analog out. I finally got into my music room to try it out. I am using it as a pre at the moment through a Berendsen STA 150 power amp and my System-Audio Ranger speakers. The only headphones I have at the moment are ER-6is. I haven't tried them yet. As you can see from the pics, it is similar in shape to the HA-1A headphone amp and preamp which I've owned. The iDAC has rounded edges and is much more attractive than the HA-1A, imo. It also has a coax and optical out on the back. So far it sound nice. At some point I will compare to my Wavelength Cosecant. I thought I would share this new option for those of us using computers as a source.

It uses 2 6N1 tubes.