DAC Burson DA-160 DAC

Our HA-160D 3 in 1 unit has been warmly received by fellow audiophiles since 2010. Since then, developing a stand alone DAC based on the DAC section of the HA-160D has always been on our minds. After taking into account product feedback and many more valuable suggestions from the audiophile community, we have developed the DA-160, which is fully discrete, more refined in sound and with better compatibility and connectivity. The result met all of our expectations.

Fully Discrete:
Our dissatisfaction with IC based building blocks such as IC opamps and 3 pin power supply regulators have been well aired. The DA-160 is completely free of such cost focused building blocks. Instead we have built the entire DAC with idealistic circuitry designs and top quality discrete components. The focus of our discrete approach was purely on performance.


A More Matured And Refined Sound
Although the DA-160 is based on the DAC section of the HA-160D, being a stand alone DAC we had more freedom to further optimise its performance. We decided to tweak the power supply network into a constant current source power supply and use two power transformers to lower the noise. The result is a more matured sound with even richer micro dynamics and substance.


Connectivity
The new DA-160 is designed to be the heart of an audio system, therefore connectivity is a must. We added two sets of USB inputs to make sharing the DAC between 2 PCs or wireless player easy. Apart from the standard RCA S/PDIF, an additional Optical Toslink was also added. Furthermore there are two sets of RCA outputs running parallel to make sharing the outputs of DA-160 between the two systems possible (eg, headphone amplifier and intergraded amplifier).

Burson HD Audio DAC

While most of the marketing spin centres on the DAC chip, the output stages are in fact the most critical stages in any audio DAC design. They are not getting the air time that they deserve because properly designed output stages are complex and expensive, and the concept is harder to sell to a customer compared to a DAC chip model number.

After the digital signals (0s and 1s) are converted by the DAC chip into stereo signals, A chain of output stages are needed to reconstruct, preserve and amplify the very weak analog signals. Any distortion and signal loss during these stages is irreversible. Unfortunately, due to the lack of customer awareness of the output stages, they are where most audio companies cut their costs, and it is common to see an output stage designed around a $20 IC opamp.

The DA-160 has fully discrete output stages that are independently powered. Operating in Class-A, they ensure the highest level of signal preservation. The result is higher resolution audio playback, with a completely transparent sonic signature consistent with our ideals.


High Density (HD) Construction

Conventional PCB designs are not only big and clumsy, but they often leave audio equipment not optimised.

We squeezed components close and stacked one densely populated PCB on top of another. This design process was completely manual and it complicated production. However because the sonic benefits outweighed the pain, we persisted.

Our HD construction achieves a smaller footprint, while enhancing sonic performance by lowering noise and unwanted capacitance.