Computer Audio Design (CAD) is delighted to announce a new MkIII edition of its multi-award winning 1543 Digital-to-Analogue Converter (DAC), combining the essence of the original design with additional technologies emerging from the company’s ground-breaking advances in tackling high-frequency noise in digital audio.
Key to the 1543’s superb, distinctive sound quality is CAD’s ongoing commitment to the use of vintage resistor ladder DAC integrated circuits, along with no oversampling and no filtering, which designer Scott Berry firmly believes delivers a sonic performance that is rare in digital audio – one that is tangibly closer to the original performance.
At the same time, Berry equally believes that power supplies are the most important part of any DAC design, and this is the main focus of the MkIII update. His research and development work for the company’s Ground Control, USB Control and Ethernet Control products has further enhanced the company’s expertise in mitigating the effects of high frequency noise in digital audio and the resulting new technologies are incorporated into the 1543 MkIII DAC.
The CAD 1543 MkIII DAC therefore retains the original 16 iconic Phillips TDA1543/N2 resistor ladder DAC integrated circuits along with custom built Duelund Coherent Audio capacitors in the output stage, and adds completely new power supply designs and integrated power conditioning.
All five independent power supplies, which drive both digital and analogue circuitry, have been redesigned from the bottom up, including new transformer topologies. These new power supplies offer improved dynamics and clarity, improved low frequency response and enhanced energy, pace, timing and musicality, all while retaining the non-fatiguing sound that is the hallmark of the CAD 1543 DAC.
As in the original 1543 DAC design, each of the five independent power supplies is isolated from the others and uses its own transformer, in order to minimize noise intermodulation.
The USB interface is a custom-built design that uses low power, reduced noise, Complex Programmable Logic Device (CPLD) technology. Additionally, the MkIII edition now incorporates oscillators with significantly reduced low frequency phase noise.
The CAD 1543 MkIII DAC is plug-and-play with most servers on the market and a driver is available for Windows based devices.
DACs and ladders:
The CAD 1543 DAC takes its name from the application of an increasingly rare resistor-ladder converter chip, the Philips TDA1543/N2.
Like its predecessors, the new MkIII edition adopts the non-oversampling (NOS) approach to protect precious timing resolution. With no filter to ring and smear the fundamental timing – the natural shape of music – the 1543 MkIII DAC brings to life both the subtle and macro dynamics of recorded sound.
The result is a sound quality akin to the finest analogue vinyl and reel-to-reel tape systems.
When less is more:
The DAC’s hyper-minimalist design is engineered with the fewest number of switches and connectors between mains plug and output sockets. It features a single USB input that galvanically isolates the 16 TDA1543/N2 chips from the connected server / source. The analogue output is via a pair of low-mass pure copper RCA phono sockets wired directly to the chips through a passive input stage. The summed output of 16 paralleled TDA1543/N2 resistor ladder integrated circuits means there is no need for additional signal amplification, thereby removing unnecessary signal stages and distortion.
Internal wiring uses single-crystal OCC (Ohno Continuous Casting) copper, custom-manufactured to CAD specifications. The casework remains a laser-cut 10mm-thick acrylic construction.
Further fighting the harmful effects of high frequency noise, CAD has redesigned the power conditioning at the power input, helping to minimize AC line noise entering the DAC as well as isolating neighbouring audio components from any residual digital noise released by the DAC.
The overall result of such scrupulous attention to power supplies and potential noise sources is a DAC that seems to paint ink-black quietness behind the sound, and one that preserves and projects the rhythm, tonality and drive of music. This is a DAC for the 21st century, dedicated entirely to computer-based audio, and crafted to unlock with new clarity our digital audio recordings.
Computer Audio Design 1543 MkIII DAC key features:
• Filterless NOS design for unparalleled time-domain replay accuracy.
• 16 Philips TDA1543/N2 resistor-ladder chips.
• Passive output stage with custom Duelund Coherent Audio capacitors and selected US-made audio resistors made to CAD specifications.
• Custom-built low power/noise CPLD USB interface.
• Five independent transformers feeding five fully-discrete power supplies for the fastest, cleanest power to each modular section of the DAC.
• Redesigned mains power conditioning to reduce high frequency noise from the mains power entering the DAC and also to limit the DAC’s higher frequency noise from exiting and affecting other audio components.
• Internal EMI/RFI materials to lower the electromagnetic interference noise floor.
• OCC copper internal signal wiring.
• Four-layer DAC PCB.
• 10mm laser-cut acrylic case selected for superior damping acoustic properties and for being electrically non-conductive and non-magnetic.
The 1543 MkIII DAC is made in a modular fashion to enable future upgrades, ensuring that your investment will last a lifetime.
Pricing & availability:
The CAD 1543 MkIII DAC is available now, priced as follows:
• USA: $17,500 (no tax)
• UK: £16,950 (inc. 20% VAT)
• Europe: €19,500 (inc. 20% sales tax).
All previous original and MKII 1543 DACs can be upgraded to MkIII specifications. Contact your dealer or CAD for details.