m-i-c-k-e-y
Headphoneus Supremus
AUDIOBYTE is a brand of Rockna Audio, a manufacturer of high-quality audio equipment since 1999 widely known for their Wavedream DAC and Server. Rockna provides OEM/ODM assistance to Audio Mirror, Acoustic Precision, Fase, Jadis, Nonsolomusica, PS Audio with their PerfectWave transport, Wadia, Goldmund and even MSB.
Sometime ago Audiobyte presented the triple-chassis AUDIOBYTE HYDRA STACK consisting the HYDRA.VOX as DAC as Headphone Amp. HYDRA.ZAP as a low noise power supply. And HYDRA.HUB (coming soon) as digital audio transport.
Little information could be gathered so I created this thread hoping to have a shared information/experience on this product.
The Hydra.Vox is a discrete 1-bit DAC executed as 100% custom code on a Xilinx-7 FPGA. That works at 200MHz with 68-bit processing and built-in phase correction inside its digital filters. This DAC will upsample to DSD512 then can process that as pure-path DSD to bypass the internal 32-bit volume control whilst muting the 3W/16Ω class A bipolar ¼" headphone output. A unique feature of the Hydra.VOX is the seamless integration between analog and digital filters in orders to preserve accurate phase of the audio signal. Analog outputs deliver 3.8V peak on RCA and XLR having both THD+N and S/N ratio rate at -118dB.
Controls are done on touch screen or from a iOS and Android app which allow access to sonic tailoring via three different firmware versions called Rocket, Bullet and Torpedo.
The Hydra.ZAP is a twin-bay external PSU with four power ports, two of which are fed by a low-noise linear supply for analog, two from a 300F ultra-capacitor bank for digital à la Gryphon, Nagra and Vinnie Rossi. Hydra.ZAP powers both the Hydra.Vox and Hydra.Hub.
Hydra.Hub will be a matching Roon streamer performing digital reclocking on all its inputs including Ethernet. Embedded HQ Player software straps to 80 parallel DSD blocks handles upsampling and format conversion of PCM -> DSD and DSD -> PCM. When combined with Hydra.Vox, resampling to high-rate DSD occurs in Hydra.Hub unloading the DAC from this processing task and work as a pure NOS 1-bit converter. Dedicated data connection for that is I²S over HDMI. Hydra.Hub performs also as a USB bridge/reclocker. With a 32-bit digital volume adds digital preamplifier functionality.
Price: Hydra.Vox + Hydra.ZAP = 4,165 Eur
Hydra.Hub (coming soon)
Review:
Soundews.net in YT
Comparisons (Its YT so...):
13 Mega DAC Shooutout: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
Hydra.Vox vs APL HI FI DSD Master vs Playback Designs Dream DAC: Link
Audiobyte Black Dragon, Hydra.Vox, Rockna Wavedream Sig. Bal., and APL HiFi DSD Master: Link
Sometime ago Audiobyte presented the triple-chassis AUDIOBYTE HYDRA STACK consisting the HYDRA.VOX as DAC as Headphone Amp. HYDRA.ZAP as a low noise power supply. And HYDRA.HUB (coming soon) as digital audio transport.
Little information could be gathered so I created this thread hoping to have a shared information/experience on this product.
The Hydra.Vox is a discrete 1-bit DAC executed as 100% custom code on a Xilinx-7 FPGA. That works at 200MHz with 68-bit processing and built-in phase correction inside its digital filters. This DAC will upsample to DSD512 then can process that as pure-path DSD to bypass the internal 32-bit volume control whilst muting the 3W/16Ω class A bipolar ¼" headphone output. A unique feature of the Hydra.VOX is the seamless integration between analog and digital filters in orders to preserve accurate phase of the audio signal. Analog outputs deliver 3.8V peak on RCA and XLR having both THD+N and S/N ratio rate at -118dB.
Controls are done on touch screen or from a iOS and Android app which allow access to sonic tailoring via three different firmware versions called Rocket, Bullet and Torpedo.
The Hydra.ZAP is a twin-bay external PSU with four power ports, two of which are fed by a low-noise linear supply for analog, two from a 300F ultra-capacitor bank for digital à la Gryphon, Nagra and Vinnie Rossi. Hydra.ZAP powers both the Hydra.Vox and Hydra.Hub.
Hydra.Hub will be a matching Roon streamer performing digital reclocking on all its inputs including Ethernet. Embedded HQ Player software straps to 80 parallel DSD blocks handles upsampling and format conversion of PCM -> DSD and DSD -> PCM. When combined with Hydra.Vox, resampling to high-rate DSD occurs in Hydra.Hub unloading the DAC from this processing task and work as a pure NOS 1-bit converter. Dedicated data connection for that is I²S over HDMI. Hydra.Hub performs also as a USB bridge/reclocker. With a 32-bit digital volume adds digital preamplifier functionality.
Price: Hydra.Vox + Hydra.ZAP = 4,165 Eur
Hydra.Hub (coming soon)
Review:
Soundews.net in YT
Comparisons (Its YT so...):
13 Mega DAC Shooutout: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
Hydra.Vox vs APL HI FI DSD Master vs Playback Designs Dream DAC: Link
Audiobyte Black Dragon, Hydra.Vox, Rockna Wavedream Sig. Bal., and APL HiFi DSD Master: Link
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