For Sale Cen.Grand DSDAC1.0 Super Clock DAC

Further Information

CEN.GRAND DSDAC1.0 Super Clock Model 1024 upsampling DAC with accessories and original packaging. AUS receipt from Apr 1 2024.

I feel this is one of the best DACs <10K. Lovely timbre, tonal quality and soundstage. Really brings the analogue sound with variable PCM to DSD upsampling and onboard volume control. I’m only selling this as I’ve moved up to the “Deluxe” version to get that last 5-10%.

Created by CEN.GRAND, the DSDAC 1.0 SUPERCLOCK  is a DAC based on DSD technology. It is different from most DACs on the market. In fact, the DSDAC 1.0 can increase the frequency of any digital input signal, including PCM and DSD64, up to DSD 1024. If the signal is equal to or greater than the DSD128 you can also choose not to increase the frequency of the signal.

The DSDAC 1.0 SUPERCLOCK does not integrate a conventional DAC chip but an optimized FPGA for an efficient reclocking system and discrete components for digital processing. The SUPERCLOCK version of this DAC has much better clock performance than the standard model, the RMS jitter is as low as 100fs and advanced components are used.

It has 3 advanced audio technologies:

High precision DSD frequency algorithm

Direct synchronous clock.

Clock blocking technology.

Synchronous direct clock technology

The DSDAC 1.0 SUPERCLOCK is equipped with an integrated femtosecond clock. Its signal is sent directly, without intermediate conversion and without going through the frequency divider, to the shift register. This allows the performance of the femtosecond clock to reflect directly on the analog outputs of the DAC.

An FPGA takes care of the synchronization of the audio signals. In short, it makes it possible to offer a more precise and transparent sound reproduction, while drastically reducing noise.

Clock blocking technology

The DSDAC 1.0 SUPERCLOCK is able to block the clock signal of devices transmitting an audio signal upstream, your CD player for example, so the DAC only uses its internal clock. This technology solves the clock problem often seen in digital audio.

XMOS XU208 custom USB interface

The XMOS XU208 USB interface is capable of receiving native DSD source format. The SPDIF inputs can receive DSD64 in DoP mode.

1.  R & D Background

DSD audio coding mode is almost perfect although it has many technical barriers. The unique charm of DSD sound attracts many people, many music lovers have high enthusiasm for DSD in the past decade. At present more than 10,000 SACD music albums have been released in the world which is a valuable music resource for mankind. To make it play a greater role many people are making unremitting efforts, and we are one of them.

 Due to the fact that disc storage space is limited, SACD adopts the DSD64 format which with lower frequency. The accuracy of DSD64 in D/A conversion is low and there is out of band noise (noise above 23khz) after D/A process. Therefore, most SACD players must convert DSD64 to PCM before D/A conversion. This way weakens the advantages of DSD, and it was an important reason why SACD fails in the competition with CD.

 With the passage of time, more in-depth research on DSD coding technology have made progress. FPGA technology has also made great progress. Therefore, the technology of raise DSD frequency form 2.8224MHz to high number has been available. It can make the D/A process with higher accuracy after frequency was raised.  At the same time because the frequency of out of band noise is pushed up, it can be easily filtered out. Based on these conditions we decided to start the research and development of the algorithm for DSD sampling frequency raising.

2. R & D History

DSD technology is a commercial technology, so there is little public information can be found. We studied the basic theory of DSD and after several years of efforts, we created a unique algorithm to realize the high-precision frequency rising. At the same time, we made a comprehensive innovation in the clock framework, created two unique technologies of "synchronous direct clock" and "clock blocking".

Analog circuit is the key part of DAC. The advantages of the digital part must rely on the analogue circuit. One deviation of the analogue part is enough to offset the three advantages of the digital part. The R & D team of DSDAC1.0 spent nearly a year for designing the circuit architecture of the analogue part more than 20 times. After a long period of adjustment, dsdac1.0 has reached the level of reference DAC.

3. Core Technology

The high-precision frequency rise algorithm is the core of DSDAC1.0. Although there are many ways to realize frequency rising but the high-precision frequency rise algorithm is a complex mathematical problem not a digital technical problem. The technology of frequency rising not only makes DSD more widely used but also makes DSDAC1.0 become leading audio DAC.

Synchronous direct clock technology: femtosecond clock inside DSDAC1.0 will be sent to the shift register directly without any intermediate conversion, so that the performance of femtosecond clock is directly reflected in the analogue output. This technology is different from the use of external femtosecond clock and built-in femtosecond crystal oscillator. The use of external clock and built-in crystal oscillator can only be a source clock, it must be divided by a frequency divider. In this way, there are large additive jitter which changes the femtosecond clock from femtosecond to picosecond. The clock of DSDAC1.0 can be sent to shift register directly without frequency divider; it is an advanced technology of clock application.

Clock blocking. It means that the clock from the pre-devices is abandoned and the DSDAC1.0 only uses the local clock. In this way, the clock of pre-devices such as digital turntable, CD player and digital interface will no longer affect the performance of DAC. As long as the data is correct, there is no difference in any digital source. This technology is a dream of digital audio. Clock blocking is synchronization process, not the ASRC, which has great negative impact on sound quality. It solves the clock problem that has plagued the digital audio field for a long time.

DSDAC1.0 has advanced USB interface and can receive DSD source code in native mode. As a DSD DAC, receives DSD source code is a necessary function. DSDAC1.0 has two ways to input DSD source code: one is to input DSD64 via SPDIF in DOP mode, and the other is to input DSD512 via USB in native mode. The XU208 scheme of XMOS inside DSDAC1.0 has ground isolation function; the interference of the front digital source can be almost isolate. We have customized the special driver from XMOS to enable DSDAC1.0 to receive the source code of DSD512 in native mode.

Functional Parameters

SPDIF sampling rate: PCM 192 kHz / dop64 (AES, optical fiber, coaxial, BNC)

USB sampling rate:pcm384 / dsd512 (native)

Output interface: one for XLR and one for RCA

Output level: 5.0V RMS (XLR), 2.5V RMS (RCA)

Volume control range: - 70dB ~ 0dB

Overall dimension: 430 * 360 * 100mm

Net weight: 10.6kg

Gross weight: 13.3kg