For all discussion about Ken Law's previous dodgy business practices, please visit the Action Against Storm Digital thread. This thread is ONLY for discussion the Storm Pandora DAC. The other thread is ONLY for discussing the previous problems. Thankyou
Storm Digital is infamous around these parts, and finally after a long eager wait their new DAC has been released on the world. The previous model, the D02, was largely loved by those who owned it or heard it, but it unfortunately suffered from some technical problems.
After a long (and painful for storm fans - i'm looking at you rincewind) time the storm pandora has released. Although few people have yet to receive one, I'm lucky to be auditioning one right now. Those with preorders will presumably receive theirs soon
So, since I haven't had a good listen yet, lets start with the technical details..
Features
The pandora is a NOS dac which uses, in its stock form, 8 TDA1543 chips. The dac chips all sit on a separate board, which is stackable to allow the use of extra chips. At least 16 is able to be fit within the case, but I think the design allows an unlimited amount of boards to be stacked [with the lid off, for example]. The reason to add extra boards is that the TDA1543 seem to work better when many are used in parallel - the more, the better.. but with diminishing returns. 8 chips is largely considered to be the "sweet spot" between good sound and an affordable quantity
Here is a photo of the stacked chips:
[note: the heatsinks are added by COEM. ken's next batch will come with heatsinks attached]
Inputs
- Coax - 32 / 44.1 / 48 / 88.2 / 96kHz (via bnc. it comes with a bnc/rca converter for those of us who use RCA terminated coax cables. BNC is the better standard for low jitter)
- Optical - 32 / 44.1 / 48 / 88.2 / 96kHz
- USB - 44.1 / 48kHz (it does usb-> i2s which i think should make it low jitter)
- AES/EBU - 32 / 44.1 / 48 / 88.2 / 96kHz (i believe this is a spdif connection)
- sync in/sync out (for wordclock? i'm not sure)
The selection of inputs seems to be focused on minimizing jitter.
USB works fine plug-and-play on linux, so presumably it also works on every other system known to mankind
Outputs
it has single ended output via rcas, or balanced output via XLRs
Clocking
The pandora has a number of different "signal synchronization modes". At this stage I'm getting over my head, so I'm not really sure what they do. The purpose is undoubtably to minimise jitter.
Since i'm over my head i'll just do my best to compress the manual
- Crystal clock mode (internal or external)
- PPL (phase locked loop) mode
- asynchronous mode
- word sync mode (master or slave)
- CD sync mode
PPL
"a closed-loop feedback control system is used to generate signal in relation to the frequency and phase of the input. it is complied to the standard of sp/dif"
Crystal Mode
Uses the transport's clock. If a signal lock cannot be achieved it will switch to PPL mode
Word Sync Mode
Pandora has both word sync in and word sync out, so it can be either master or slave for wordsync.
CD sync
The pandora can synchronise with a cd player with bitclock capability. it can use either 16.9344mhz or 11.2896mhz
Asynchronous mode
"this mode is a special method to synchronise the incoming recovered signal at very fast clock. the digital signal latch out the rising edge of the fast clock. you may configure it use internal or external source". yup, no idea what that means.
The signal sync mode can be set as a different item for each different input (eg you could have your coax set to PPL as default and your optical set to async). The screen shows what frequency is being received
Construction
The pandora is slightly smaller than the d02 and has very similar construction. It's made out of thick aluminium, either in silver or anodized black. it. "Mine" has a solid lid, but future production will come with holes in the lid to assist with cooling. Ken runs the chips at high voltage to make them sound better, but it requires heatsinking and venting.
The front display can be dimmed. There are 6 brightness settings, the lowest of which is about as dim as a screen can possibly be without being turned off. I generally like this feature as i hate bright leds and such. Unfortunately the leds stay bright. Ken's maybe working on that
it weights 6.5kg (14.3lb)
Firmware
The DAC has updateable firmware. I think this has to be done by the retailer, but possibly it may be doable by usb.
The internal software can be used to change clocking modes, input and output methods, screen brightness,
Battery
n the d02 there was an internal battery, but to be honest i couldn't hear the difference between AC mode and battery mode. In the pandora there is no internal battery, but it is available as an external add-on. there's a battery input on the rear. I'm not sure if it will make a difference or not in the pandora
Other stuff
There's a phase invert button to, uh, invert the phase.
Only one output can be used at a time (single ended or balanced). it's selectable by pressing the "output" button.
what else to say? So far it sounds very nice.. but impressions will come later.
The d02 was a nice dac, and if nothing else the pandora certainly blows it out of the water for features. i have to give it a proper listen before i say much about the sound
Storm Digital is infamous around these parts, and finally after a long eager wait their new DAC has been released on the world. The previous model, the D02, was largely loved by those who owned it or heard it, but it unfortunately suffered from some technical problems.
After a long (and painful for storm fans - i'm looking at you rincewind) time the storm pandora has released. Although few people have yet to receive one, I'm lucky to be auditioning one right now. Those with preorders will presumably receive theirs soon
So, since I haven't had a good listen yet, lets start with the technical details..
Features
The pandora is a NOS dac which uses, in its stock form, 8 TDA1543 chips. The dac chips all sit on a separate board, which is stackable to allow the use of extra chips. At least 16 is able to be fit within the case, but I think the design allows an unlimited amount of boards to be stacked [with the lid off, for example]. The reason to add extra boards is that the TDA1543 seem to work better when many are used in parallel - the more, the better.. but with diminishing returns. 8 chips is largely considered to be the "sweet spot" between good sound and an affordable quantity
Here is a photo of the stacked chips:
[note: the heatsinks are added by COEM. ken's next batch will come with heatsinks attached]
Inputs
- Coax - 32 / 44.1 / 48 / 88.2 / 96kHz (via bnc. it comes with a bnc/rca converter for those of us who use RCA terminated coax cables. BNC is the better standard for low jitter)
- Optical - 32 / 44.1 / 48 / 88.2 / 96kHz
- USB - 44.1 / 48kHz (it does usb-> i2s which i think should make it low jitter)
- AES/EBU - 32 / 44.1 / 48 / 88.2 / 96kHz (i believe this is a spdif connection)
- sync in/sync out (for wordclock? i'm not sure)
The selection of inputs seems to be focused on minimizing jitter.
USB works fine plug-and-play on linux, so presumably it also works on every other system known to mankind
Outputs
it has single ended output via rcas, or balanced output via XLRs
Clocking
The pandora has a number of different "signal synchronization modes". At this stage I'm getting over my head, so I'm not really sure what they do. The purpose is undoubtably to minimise jitter.
Since i'm over my head i'll just do my best to compress the manual
- Crystal clock mode (internal or external)
- PPL (phase locked loop) mode
- asynchronous mode
- word sync mode (master or slave)
- CD sync mode
PPL
"a closed-loop feedback control system is used to generate signal in relation to the frequency and phase of the input. it is complied to the standard of sp/dif"
Crystal Mode
Uses the transport's clock. If a signal lock cannot be achieved it will switch to PPL mode
Word Sync Mode
Pandora has both word sync in and word sync out, so it can be either master or slave for wordsync.
CD sync
The pandora can synchronise with a cd player with bitclock capability. it can use either 16.9344mhz or 11.2896mhz
Asynchronous mode
"this mode is a special method to synchronise the incoming recovered signal at very fast clock. the digital signal latch out the rising edge of the fast clock. you may configure it use internal or external source". yup, no idea what that means.
The signal sync mode can be set as a different item for each different input (eg you could have your coax set to PPL as default and your optical set to async). The screen shows what frequency is being received
Construction
The pandora is slightly smaller than the d02 and has very similar construction. It's made out of thick aluminium, either in silver or anodized black. it. "Mine" has a solid lid, but future production will come with holes in the lid to assist with cooling. Ken runs the chips at high voltage to make them sound better, but it requires heatsinking and venting.
The front display can be dimmed. There are 6 brightness settings, the lowest of which is about as dim as a screen can possibly be without being turned off. I generally like this feature as i hate bright leds and such. Unfortunately the leds stay bright. Ken's maybe working on that
it weights 6.5kg (14.3lb)
Firmware
The DAC has updateable firmware. I think this has to be done by the retailer, but possibly it may be doable by usb.
The internal software can be used to change clocking modes, input and output methods, screen brightness,
Battery
n the d02 there was an internal battery, but to be honest i couldn't hear the difference between AC mode and battery mode. In the pandora there is no internal battery, but it is available as an external add-on. there's a battery input on the rear. I'm not sure if it will make a difference or not in the pandora
Other stuff
There's a phase invert button to, uh, invert the phase.
Only one output can be used at a time (single ended or balanced). it's selectable by pressing the "output" button.
what else to say? So far it sounds very nice.. but impressions will come later.
The d02 was a nice dac, and if nothing else the pandora certainly blows it out of the water for features. i have to give it a proper listen before i say much about the sound
Mine's next to ship! Hooray! It's kinda cool that us Aussies are the first to get in on something for once. When mine arrives, I plan on posting a very, VERY in-depth review. I got kinda chewed out last time for my methods (eg surfaces different DACs were sitting on, as well as the music I used for comparison). I've been waiting for this a long time and very eager
