Not sure what the awareness on this forum is for Korean-made headphone amps, but I was turned onto this little gem today:

Carat Ruby



Damn, I guess that whole web page was one big-ass .jpg.

Because the amp doesn't have any integrated batteries, and requires either USB or AC for power, I guess it's technically a home product, but it's sure portable small.

I don't read Korean, so if anyone can shed any further light on this thing beyond the fact that also integrates a 196/24 DAC, that'd be great.

This is their top line AMP / DAC, and the reason why I'm writing about it, is because it's $150 here in Korea. I'm visiting Seoul for a business trip, and the office manager here introduced me to the brand.

So after a meeting tomorrow, I'm going to head to an electronics shop where they sell the thing and pick it up. I mean, heck, the specs alone make it interesting and it's under two Benjis?!

And what about that innards shot? Does that give a rise to you EE guys?

They are going on with Hexad OPAMP Intergration which apparently uses 3 opamps on each left/right side, therefore making use of six opamps.

Oh man, don't even get me started on the use of giant images in korean webpages. It turns any translation into an incredibly frustrating experience.

Wish I could help you out, but I speak very little Korean. I'm interested to hear your impressions. The won keeps sliding lower, making imported gear even more expensive. A locally-built alternative would be great.

Really, they're just talking about how it has great design, using high end parts, making use of circuit board efficiently, etc.. Sort of things that every vendors say to promote their products. All the essential infos such as DAC chips, opamps are stated in english so you're not missing out a lot.

Thanks for the replies thus far... well, I've personally owned the RSA Hornet, Headroom Micro, Corda 2Move, and Ibasso D10, so I look forward to hearing / comparing this little baby tomorrow!

I'm actually fine that it requires USB for power, as I'm setting up a Netbook / FLAC / USB / External Seagate USB HD / Foobar system that will then feed a USB portable amp.

Looks good for the price. The OPA2134 isn't going to do much for headphone listening. Since the OPAMPs aren't socketed, you can't swap them, which is a great pity. It might be worth seeing if you can't get a DR.DAC2 for a good price over there.

Considering its price tag of $150 I say it looks quite nice!

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Although I know next to nothing about about electronics, the board layout doesn't look too skimpy either. However, it sort of looks more like a soundcard which is essentially the same thing.

I, living in Japan, often see Style Audio's products in some audio stores. I don't know Style Audio and their products very well. However, fyi, I heard styleaudio.jp released their new product "CARAT-TOPAZ".

JewelƒVƒŠ[ƒY CARAT-TOPAZ
PCM1792, CS8416, etc.

CARAT-RUBY wasn't released in Japan so I don't know it...

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The only difference between the two seem to be the main DAC chip: PCM1796 for the Ruby and PCM1792 for the Topaz. Otherwise, they seem identical to each other.

Also add in the peridot with 1793 in the dac section. Are the prices similar also for the other models?

topaz is going to release (or released already) in japan with the $500 :|
Translated version of http://styleaudio.jp/php/topaz.php
darn!, ruby on ebay i bought $230 (, but it really a good DAC, i use AH-D2000 so i have no idea about amp, since my headphone doesn't need to amplify much :">
also ruby requires power-adapter (included) not USB-power supply like peridot

Thanks for the continued feedback, and thanks to Trungkien for his experience with the DAC section.

Wow, that Topaz price is incredible - but most of the delta is likely due to the won weakness against the Yen.

In fact, a co-worker of mine said that Apple Korea increased all their prices here by 30% yesterday. So for instance, the 120GB Classic was $200 pre-increase, and the 32GB iTouch was $320.

I haven't visited the Apple store again yet to confirm the price boost, but if so, man what bad timing.

Otherwise, in other electronics stores here I find many Cowon, iRiver, and Samsung Yepp PMPs - sexy little things with touch screens and some with finger-flip functions. But they're only 8-16GB, which is nowhere capacious enough for FLAC and/or video files...

Lastly, Trung, don't feel so bad about buying the ruby for $230. Remember, I had to spend $1,000 to get here.


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Well, interesting development today - at the shop where I was going to buy the Ruby, I came across the Audiotrak DR.DAC2 for $241.

After a bit of internal hemming and hawing, I did the "oh, what the hell" impulse buy that will eventually bankrupt me, and picked up the latter.

Thread on the Dr. soon to come!

thank you for consoling me too, i have Samsung Q1, and i had, have (and will have) hard time about touching, sometimes i touch but the wrong direction, now i wish i could use a button-mp3 player for easier aiming ), but those touch screen is better i think.
so u will buy the dr.dac instead ;, in my opinion, that dr. is quite .... sexy but a little big, i love my ruby more :X since my life is portable too