APL DSD-AR DAC

APL has just released its ‘most affordable’ DAC, the APL DSD-AR, which retails in Australia for $12,990. It’s a full-featured DAC with USB, coaxial RCA and AES/EBU XLR digital inputs.The USB input is capable of converting PCM up to 384kHz/32-bit and up to DSD256.

The coaxial and AES digital inputs accept up to 192kHz/24-bit. As with APL’s top-line converters, the DSD-AR DAC converts PCM to DSD128 or DSD256 for digital-to-analogue conversion, with the re-sampling rate user-selectable via remote control. Filter selection is also user-selectable, with a choice between ‘Normal’, ‘Slow Rolloff’ and ‘Zero’. Analogue output is also switch-selectable, between unbalanced (RCA) and balanced (XLR).

APL Hi-Fi was established in 1988 in Ruse, Bulgaria, by Alex Peychev, with the motto ‘No Boundaries’. Unlike most other manufacturers, Peychev designs his products to have a ‘house sound’ based on what he hears from his analogue system. ‘I am not after the “latest and greatest”, or what others might think is the best,’ he says. ‘I simply spin LPs on my Kuzma Stabi M turntable equipped with Kuzma 4Point arm and Dynavector XV1s cartridge, amplified by my own-designed RIAA stage and use it as a reference for my digital designs. What I am after is the soul of the music, the realism, naturalness and magic, which I feel pure analogue machines, such as vinyl and reel-to-reel, best achieve.’

Like all other APL products, the new APL DSD-AR DAC is handbuilt in Bulgaria. It has an aluminum enclosure and uses custom power and output audio transformers by Lundahl in Sweden. All the power supplies are linear, as Peychev prefers not to use switch-mode supplies and there are no op-amps in the signal path. All analogue amplification circuitry inside the DSD-AR is Class-A.

‘The DSD-AR offers a unique sound quality which is in line with our “house sound”,’ says Peychev. ‘We are certain that many audiophiles will fall in love with it, especially when it comes to analoglike sound reproduction from digital.’

For more information, contact APL’s Australian distributor, Absolute Hi End, on (04) 8877 7999 or at www.absolutehiend.