FAQ

Q: Do you making the best DAC in the world?

A: No. We are not going to do the best DAC in the world, because it will be very expansive and it's development payback period will be very long or even endless.

Instead of this, we are tying to do the best DACs with the reasonable and balanced price, and we have high performance, mid level and economy solutions.

Q: How I can use you multi channel USB interface and D/A convertors?

A: There are 3 different applications:

• • multi channel audio (home cinema), 5.1, 7.1 and 9.1

  • multi band amplification for stereo audio - you can use digital crossover (DePhonica, JRiver, etc.) for frequency band splitting, then X amplifiers and X speakers. Up to 10 channels (up to 16 with ATDAC-92).

  • multi channel audio with multi band amplification. This requires more then 10 channels, let say 12-16-24. We do not sell the separate USB interface for this application, but we have ATDAC-92 with optionally up to 16 channels.

Q: Why you do not recommend to use digital volume control? Modern DACs are 32 bit, most of the audio tracks are 16 or 24 bit.

A: This is a very common mistake, when the data register width is considered as the real DAC resolution - there is no connection at all!

There are 2 usually used methods to define the real DAC resolution - SNR and ENOB.

I prefer the second method, ENOB (Equivalent Number Of Bits), calculated from the SINAD (Signal-to-Noise And Distortion).

SINAD is calculated from SNR (Signal-To-Noise Ratio) and THD (Total Harmonic Distortion).

The first method uses SNR only. You should remember - ENOB < SNR < Data Register bits.

This is the comparison table of the most popular DAC chips:

Q: What is the difference between ATDAC-8A and ATDAC-8AM?

A: 8AM is the same as 8A but with the separate headphones amplifier and analogue volume control (potentiometer).

Q: What is the difference between ATDAC-10 and ATDAC-8 lines?

A: ATDAC-8 line are low cost, USB input only D/A convertors. The same is about ATDAC-91 vs ATDAC-9.

Q. What is the difference between ATDAC-10 and ATDAC-10S?

A. We made ATDAC-10 now only in 10B version, with AK4490 chip and now this version is obsolete.

ATDAC-10S was designed with 3 options - AK4490, AK4493 and AK4497, but only AK4497 version was in production.

10S have additional analogue input, optional analogue volume control and balanced outputs, Infra Red Remote Control and other features. See the description.

Now this version is postponed due to AKM disaster, but we have ES9038Pro based ATDAC-12E instead.

Q. Is there any sense in the numbering ?

A. Not always, many numbers has been historically happened, but some sense is:

• 8xx - Small USB DAC

• 9xx - Multichannel DAC

• 10xx - High Performance Stereo DAC

There are some exceptions, like ADAC-810, etc.

Q: All items, shown at your site are for sale?

A: No. Some items are obsolete, and we keep this items at out site to show the history. Not all, of course.

Also we have some devices which are not shown at out site (usually the customized devices, etc.)

Q: Do you accept the individual orders for developing custom device?

A: Usually - no. We can make customization of our devices, if this is possible or if we see the market for this device (at least for 20-30 pcs). But, there are exceptions.

Q: You making only audio devices?

A: No, but the audio is our mainstream.

Q: You have your own production line?

A: Yes and No.

PCB assembly for very small quantity we are doing manually "in house", for higher quantity - we use factory machine assembly.

Also the final device assembly and testing we are doing "in house".

But, of course we use subcontractors for some parts and operations (PCB manufacturing, some mechanical parts, higher quantity PCB assembly, etc.)

Q: What is a lead time for orders?

A: It depend of a stock. Items we have in stock are shipped within 2-3 working days.

Q: Do you provide combined shipment?

A: Yes. But the total weight should be considered.

Q: Do you provide the tracking number for shipment?

A: Yes, we do not send any parcel without the tracking number.

Q: What are your shipment options?

A: Currently: regular mail with the tracking number, EcoPost or EMS.

Q: What are my payment options?

A: Cash, check, PayPal for Israeli customers, PayPal only for customers abroad.

Q: Do you pay taxes?

A: Yes, sure. We pay VAT, income tax and the social insurance.

Q: Do your customers must pay VAT?

A: Only customers in Israel must pay VAT. All prices at out site are before VAT.