ЦАПы — Merason DAC1 Mk II

The DAC1 Mk II is a separate D/A converter made by Merason, a Swiss company that builds its electronics by hand in Switzerland. This Mk II revision of the DAC1 shares the range with the DAC 2, the Mountain DAC, the frérot and the pow 1. The design is fully balanced and dual mono, uses no oversampling, and pairs Burr Brown converter chips with discrete analogue circuitry.

Key specs that matter

Two Burr Brown PCM1794A chips do the conversion, one per channel, which Merason says gains about 5 dB of dynamic range over a single shared chip. Four digital inputs are fitted - USB, coaxial RCA, Toslink and AES. Accepted formats are 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4 and 192 kHz at 16 or 24 bit, and DSD is not supported. Maximum output is 3 V RMS from the balanced sockets and 1.5 V RMS from the single-ended ones. Merason states a response of 20 Hz to 20 kHz within 0.3 dB, a signal-to-noise ratio above 120 dB and THD+N below 0.01 percent. The case is 45 cm wide, 10 cm high and 29 cm deep and weighs 5.5 kg, and power draw is 30 W from 230 V or 115 V mains.

Engineering and use context

Each chip delivers a current, and the DAC1 Mk II turns that current into a voltage in a discrete stage rather than an op-amp, then buffers it in class A. Because the layout is balanced from the converters onward, the analogue section runs as four independent channels. Merason gives every functional block its own supply, twelve in total, and the two output channels are fed by separate linear supplies built around an oversized transformer. All inputs are galvanically isolated from the rest of the circuit - capacitive coupling does this for USB, while transformers or capacitors handle the other inputs - so noise from a computer or streamer is kept away from the conversion stage. The USB receiver is based on Amanero technology with two oscillators, one for each family of sample rates. The chassis runs about 20 K above room temperature, and Merason specifies an operating range of 10 to 30 degrees Celsius. Silver, black and champagne finishes are offered.

Pairing

The stronger XLR signal lets the DAC1 Mk II feed a balanced preamplifier or integrated amplifier, and the RCA outputs cover single-ended gear. A computer or network streamer can connect over USB, while a CD transport can use AES, coaxial or optical. Collections held in DSD need converting to PCM first.

Alternatives

The Merason Mountain DAC is the larger converter of the Mountain Line, adding DSD64 and DSD128 playback and 3.4 V balanced output in an 18 kg chassis.