This year Audial turned fifteen, and came with the most ambitious plans so far. The first release for 2021 is the S5 DAC, Audial’s current reference non-oversampling design based on the TDA1541A D/A chip. With regard to its predecessor S4, the S5 brings improved supply, and offers more inputs, so now, other than the USB and electrical S/PDIF, there is also optical, and I2S/PCM direct input. In addition, due to its four-channel capable USB stage, and by using this direct connection and Philips simultaneous data protocol, two S5 units may work as a four-channel USB DAC, capable of operating up to 384 kHz.
Audial S5 is available directly from the manufacturer, for 2200 EUR, plus 150 EUR for optional toroidal output coupling transformers.
