May be just a tad too late for this round of the shootout, but Wyred4Sound finally released details on their new DACs and their release dates. One of them has 24/192 async USB! Both are based on the Sabre Chip. Details from their newsletter:
The time has finally come..... It's been a long journey for the DAC, but we now have another product ready to immediately impress. Many thanks to all who have been extremely patient during the development of the DAC and to all our customers out there supporting our passion! I can assure you; these products were worth the wait!
Two versions will be offered. We will have one for those looking for a DAC to focus mainly on SPDIF sources and to operate as a stand-along unit. This will be the DAC-1. We will also offer the DAC-2; it will offer more inputs including the overdue 24 bit / 92kHz Asynchronous USB interface, volume control, remote control and HT bypass. We are currently processing photos, and specs on the DACs, so please be patient, they're coming very soon.
DAC-1 product information
The DAC-1 will be offered with the following features:
* ESS 9018 Sabre32 Reference DAC (32-bit dac)
* W4S proprietary discrete output stages for optimum sonics
* ESS Time Domain Jitter Eliminator®
* Upgradable Digital, output, and USB boards (designed for future improvements)
* Automatic 500kHz oversampling for precise output filtering
* Fully balanced design with balanced and unbalanced outputs
* Oversized toroidal transformer
* Robust 35A bridge rectified power-supply with 88,000uF of filtering.
* LCD display for input and sample rate viewing
* 2x Coax inputs
* 2x Toslink inputs
* 16/48 USB input (future upgrade to 24/96 USB)
* Retail = $999 (starts shipping 4/09/2010)
DAC-2 product information
The DAC-2 will be offered with the following features:
* ESS 9018 Sabre32 Reference DAC (32-bit dac)
* W4S proprietary discrete output stages for optimum sonics
* ESS Time Domain Jitter Eliminator®
* Upgradable Digital, output, and USB boards (designed for future improvements)
* Automatic 500kHz oversampling for precise output filtering
* Fully balanced design with balanced and unbalanced outputs
* Oversized toroidal transformer
* Robust 35A Schottky bridge rectifier (also used in the STP-SE)
* 88,000uf of filtering with W4S low ESR "super-cap" (also used in the STP-SE)
* VFD display for input, sample rate, and volume control viewing
* Remote control
* Defeatable - 32 bit volume control via remote
* HT Bypass inputs (selectable via DC trigger)
* 2x Coax inputs
* 2x Toslink inputs
* 1x AES/EBU input
* 1x Balanced I2S input via HDMI cable (not standard HDMI cable format)
* 24/192 Asynchronous USB input.
* Retail = $1499 (estimated shipping 4/23/2010)
