SOLD: Pure Audio Lotus DAC 5. Original owner.
SOLDMint Condition - low hours
Asking $795.00 plus shipping costs from 54406
Retail Price: $1995
Note: It also functions as a preamp
Award winning exceptional high-end dac with the latest and greatest ESS ES9038PRO chip. Sounds amazing!
Full metal construction (including remote). Exceptional performance. Competes against much more expensive DACs.
Here are the summaries of three different reviews:
Tone Audio: Bottom line
“As mentioned earlier, the Lotus 5 would be a great value even as a DAC alone, but considering the variable outputs and it’s ease at driving any power amplifier you might want to mate it with, that puts it over the top as a top performer and incredible value. While my viewpoint might make some uncomfortable, the advent of Tidal and Qobuz offering so much music for so little money (and leaving the MQA vs. FLAC high res files out of this) I find it tough to really want to embrace analog if I had to start from ground zero. So, if you happen to be a digital music only music lover, I can’t think of a better anchor for a great two channel system than the Pure Audio Lotus 5 in this category. With that being said, I am more than happy to award this DAC one of our Exceptional Value Awards.”
Positive Feedback: Conclusion - “The Pure Audio Lotus DAC5 has seemingly appeared from nowhere and looks to stay for a while with its multifaceted approach to the audiophile market. It is not often that a DAC of this caliber retails for less than $2000, and should definitely be taken seriously when considering a top of the line system for both headphones and speakers alike. With various output and preamp functionality, the Lotus does well in being a pure system control center. Not to mention that it can handle MQA and DSD files, which not all DACs can boast within the tools of their arsenals. Along with the well-designed remote and informative glass panel display, the Lotus DAC5 represents great value for money and certainly worthy of an audition.”
Headphone Guru: “The Price – $1995 which is so completely fair and might be called even a bit unfair to its competitors. A true System Control Center clothed beautifully and completely useable. I don’t say that lightly as I’ve just recently had the Mytek Brooklyn through the listening studio here and for my money, I like this product even more as sonically it’s The Goods. Not soft, nor round – just musically pleasing and honestly a steal of a deal at the price. Enthusiastically Recommended”
Details:
The Lotus DAC 5 is a 32 bit/768k DAC/preamp that decodes PCM & DSD files, up to DSD 512, as well as fully unfolding MQA files. It uses a fully balanced design and has XLR & RCA outputs. It has 7 digital inputs including asynchronous USB, two coaxial, two optical, I2S and AES/EBU. It allows you to upsample all inputs to DSD512 as well as multiple PCM sample rates up to 768k. It also has 7 adjustable digital filters as well as output phase invertion capability.
ESS ES9038PRO 32-Bit HyperStream II Audio DAC
The Lotus DAC 5 uses the critically acclaimed ESS’ Sabre patented HyperStream II architecture and time domain jitter eliminator, the ES9038PRO 32-bit audio dac delivers an unprecedented dynamic range of up to 140dB and THD+N of –122dB. The Sabre DAC 9038 Pro is considered by many to be the finest DAC chip made today.
Asynchronous USB for low jitter
The XMOS USB input receiver chip offers USB asynchronous transfer mode. It uses the high precision clock and precision power supply of the Lotus DAC 5 bypassing the computer's clock for dramatically lower jitter.
Ultralow Noise, Ultrahigh PSRR RF Linear Regulator
LT3042 is a ultralow RMS noise, ultralow spot noise and ultrahigh PSRR linear regulator, It offers high quality voltage supplies that greatly enhance the performance of the ES9038PRO.
Precision Thin Film MELF Resistors
Precision thin film MELF resistors are the perfect choice for most fields of modern professional electronics, which reliability and stability are the
main reasons why we use it.
High Quality, High Performance Capacitors
Electrolytic capacitors manufactured by Panasonic Japan. The caps help clean the power of high ripple current and along wiht their low ESR make the power more stable for upgraded sonics.
Large Readable Front Panel Display
The display shows the current status of the input, contains the channel name, volume and sample rate. and can adjust the display brightness according to the environment or directly switch off the display to get the best listening performance. It will also show if MQA is being unfolded
A high-quality aluminum remote control allows the user to operate all adjustments in the SETUP menu
