Dodge Audio writes: “We release our first DAC, but it is the most innovating DOGE product. It is 32 bits but it sounds analog!! We chose the best chip available, the ESS Sabre, and we mixed it with a 100% tube analog stage. That gives an astonishing analog sound which is immediatly recognizable even with DAC using the same chip and can be compared to “turntable sound”.
An elegant design with all features you can require. 6 digital inputs, 3 analog outputs, DSD compliant. all inputs are 32 bits/384Khz. The analog stage uses 6 tubes depending if you use RCA outputs or 8 tubes if you use XLR outputs.
Many of you encourage us to design it since 2013. We worked on it during 2.5 years. It is now there, ready to ship. The DOGE 7 is our most innovative product ever. It combines the best of digital and analog worlds and offer a sound that is so close to turntable, that we would challenge to recognize it in a blind test versus turntable.
It offers at the same time a 384KHz/32bits chip that is DSD compliant and a full tube analog stage without solid state components, where most of the other tube DACs on the market offer just a buffer tube stage except a few ones that can be counted with fingesr of one single end. One is the polish “Lampizator” at 3 to 5 time our price depending model, or the UK “Audio-Note” at 7 to 15 time our price depending model.
DOGE 7 uses a 32 bit last generation ESS Sabre 9018 and a 6 tubes analog stage if you use unbalance output or 8 tubes analog stage if you use balance output.
We have two coaxial inputs, two optical input, one native 384Khz USB input, one AES-EBU input. All our inputs are DSD compliant. We use famous XMOS chip to have the USB input to get full benefit of HD digital bitrate, where 90% of DAC on the market get only 96KHz on USB input.
One important digital feature of our DOGE 7 is that our DAC is not DSD compliant only with USB input like most of DACs, but is DSC compliant also in coaxial, optical and AES-EBU inputs. However we have to be frank, we don’t believe DSD makes a huge improvement, we don’t even know if this improvement can be recognized in a blind test, not speaking of our DAC, but all DSD compliant DAC, so you don’t have to be afraid to use DOGE 7 if you don’t have DSD files. We think 90% of DOGE 7 owners won’t use this DSD function. We just think you would be relieved to know it has it. We didn’t chose the ES9018 chip because it is DSD compliant, but just because it has a marvelous sound. However since it is DSD compliant it would have been a pity not to offer a full DSD compliancy to DOGE 7.
There are many DACs on the market with ES9018, but none of them offer such an analog stage like the DOGE 7. That makes DOGE 7 sound really different from any existing ES9018 DAC, whatever its price is.
Like our DOGE 6, after the ESS Sabre chip has converted the signal from digital to analog, the analog signal is only treated by vacuum tubes, we do not use solid state chips to make the amplification. The result is an incredible “analog” sound that makes DOGE 7 sounds more like a turntable rather than a DAC. Some A/B test done with some other DACs has shown DOGE 7 easily recognizable in all tests.
The DOGE 7 comes with a quality headphone output with volume controller. Please note the headphone output is the only solid state stage on the DOGE 7. It would have been impossible to have a quality tube headphone output according the size available inside the chassis.
The same volume controller offers a very interesting preamp mode. That means you can set the output of DOGE 7 in variable mode to drive directly a power amp. This volume function is controlled by the chip itself, so there is no potentiometer on the path of the signal in variable output. This preamp mode can be used only with power amp with high sensitivity as the max output voltage is not as high as our DOGE 8 preamp.
DOGE 7 comes with a elegant and discret display that shows:
> the bitrate
> the input sected
> the digital mode PCM (traditional mode) or DSD
> the output mode. Standard DAC or preamp.
Its firmware can be updated through USB input.
PRICE POLICY
> Estimated retail price in shops : $2,290 (excluding VAT)
> Factory-direct price : from $1,599 (Australia, Canada, UE, USA) including delivery to your front door, Paypal or CC fees and one year warranty served in your country.
VACUUM TUBES UPGRADE OPTIONS
All our Doge 7 are supplied with tubes printed with a Doge logo. They are first grade Shuguang origin with Doge additionnal QC.
However since many customer asked some upgrade choices, we now offer these ones :
Optional Psvane TII for RCA use only : $160
Optional Psvane TII XLR + RCA use : $230