All
Core Audio
Website:https://www.coreaudio.eu/
Est. year: 2003
Core Audio is a Hungarian maker of digital playback equipment for high-end audio, founded by Viktor Váradi and run with design engineer Gábor Depner and advisor Mihály Erdélyi, PhD. The company works on the digital side of a system - servers, converters and clocks - and builds its products in the EU, with a stated aim of balancing analogue and digital qualities in playback. In this catalog it appears through the DENPO, a reference DAC built around the ROHM BD34301 converter from the Japanese MUS-IC range.
Range & what it's known for
The range covers the whole digital chain as separate boxes. DAIDO is a music server and streamer, DENPO is the D/A converter, KARUNA is a digital-to-digital converter and KAGEN is an external master clock with four outputs. A USB P24 PCIe card for computer playback sits among the accessories. The DENPO shows the house approach. It runs a single BD34301 chip in non-oversampling form without an FPGA, takes USB through an XMOS interface with an extra reclocking stage, and feeds the digital, analogue and clock sections from a fully linear seven-section supply with two separate transformers inside a shielded aluminium case.
Who owns it and where it's made
Core Audio is a privately held Hungarian company led by its founder and CEO Viktor Váradi. Design and engineering are done in-house by the Hungarian team, and the company states that its equipment is manufactured in the EU. Its own site also lists a TARALABS cable line among the products it handles.
The lineup in this catalog
DACs. The DENPO is listed here, accepting PCM up to 24-bit/384kHz and native DSD up to DSD256, with no MQA decoding.
Who it's for
The DENPO suits owners of a computer, streamer or CD transport who want a dedicated converter with a linear supply rather than a DAC built into another box. Buyers who like the result can extend the chain within the brand, adding the KARUNA converter in front, the KAGEN clock or a DAIDO server, so the whole digital front end comes from one designer.
Range & what it's known for
The range covers the whole digital chain as separate boxes. DAIDO is a music server and streamer, DENPO is the D/A converter, KARUNA is a digital-to-digital converter and KAGEN is an external master clock with four outputs. A USB P24 PCIe card for computer playback sits among the accessories. The DENPO shows the house approach. It runs a single BD34301 chip in non-oversampling form without an FPGA, takes USB through an XMOS interface with an extra reclocking stage, and feeds the digital, analogue and clock sections from a fully linear seven-section supply with two separate transformers inside a shielded aluminium case.
Who owns it and where it's made
Core Audio is a privately held Hungarian company led by its founder and CEO Viktor Váradi. Design and engineering are done in-house by the Hungarian team, and the company states that its equipment is manufactured in the EU. Its own site also lists a TARALABS cable line among the products it handles.
The lineup in this catalog
DACs. The DENPO is listed here, accepting PCM up to 24-bit/384kHz and native DSD up to DSD256, with no MQA decoding.
Who it's for
The DENPO suits owners of a computer, streamer or CD transport who want a dedicated converter with a linear supply rather than a DAC built into another box. Buyers who like the result can extend the chain within the brand, adding the KARUNA converter in front, the KAGEN clock or a DAIDO server, so the whole digital front end comes from one designer.
