ЦАПы — YBA DESIGN WD202 DAC

The DESIGN WD202 DAC is a standalone DAC made by the French company YBA, placed in the Design Line of the catalogue. Beyond conversion it doubles as a remote controlled digital preamplifier with variable outputs and as a headphone amplifier, all housed in a case machined as a single aluminium frame and finished in black metal.

Key specs that matter

For conversion YBA chose the PCM1795 from Texas Instruments. The digital inputs accept word lengths of 16, 24 or 32 bits at sampling rates of 32, 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96 and 192 kHz, and every signal is upsampled to a fixed 32 bits and 192 kHz before conversion. The USB port takes PCM up to 24 bits and 384 kHz as well as DSD64 and DSD128. Noise is specified at 113 dB below signal on the XLR outputs and 108 dB on the RCA outputs. Frequency response runs from 20 Hz to 20 kHz, and THD+N stays under 0.002% across that band. Output level is variable on both connections, reaching up to 2 V on the RCA sockets and up to 4 V on the XLR sockets, which is 2 V per phase. The chassis measures 320 x 280 x 62 mm and weighs 3.5 kg.

Engineering and use context

Five sources are selectable from a single front push button - optical, coaxial, AES/EBU, USB and iPod - and a row of blue LEDs marks the active one. When DSD-encoded material arrives on any input, the source indicator changes from blue to green. The digital stage is built around an ultra low jitter design with high precision re-clocking, and the unit runs from a linear supply, its transformer being a high performance R-core type. The front panel also carries a power button, an IR window, volume keys and a 6.3 mm headphone jack. Plugging in headphones makes the volume keys act on the headphone output alone and automatically mutes the XLR and RCA outputs. A remote control is supplied with the unit. Windows computers need a driver from YBA's documentation area for USB playback, while Mac computers work without any download.

Pairing

Because the outputs are variable, the WD202 needs no preamplifier ahead of a power amplifier or active monitors and can be the only control unit in a digital system, with the balanced XLR outputs suited to amplifiers that have balanced inputs. Its optical, coaxial and AES/EBU sockets cover CD transports, network players and TV sources, and the USB port handles computer playback including DSD files.

Alternatives

Within the same catalogue YBA also offers the Design YD302 Standalone DAC.