ЦАПы — Musical Fidelity V90-DAC

The Musical Fidelity V90-DAC is a compact D/A converter made in Britain by Musical Fidelity for its small-format V90 range. The case measures only 170 x 47 x 102 mm and weighs 600 g unpacked, so it fits on a desk or beside a streamer, a television or a computer.

Key specs that matter

The V90-DAC has four digital inputs in total. One coaxial S/PDIF input on RCA handles 16 to 24-bit stereo PCM at up to 192 kHz, two TOSLINK optical inputs accept up to 96 kHz, and an asynchronous USB type B input takes data at up to 24 bits and 96 kHz. Analogue signals leave through one pair of RCA line sockets with low output impedance. Musical Fidelity specifies total harmonic distortion plus noise below 0.004 percent and a frequency response of +0 and -0.1 dB, both across 20 Hz to 20 kHz. Over that same band crosstalk measures -104 dB and signal to noise reaches 117 dB. Jitter is quoted as below 12 picoseconds peak to peak.

Engineering and use context

Decoding relies on the Burr-Brown PCM1795, a 32-bit part. Ahead of it, a two-channel sample rate converter re-clocks and up-samples every input to 24 bits and 192 kHz, so the DAC chip always runs at one fixed rate whatever the source delivers. Musical Fidelity also lists extended linearity and high channel separation among the design goals. Because USB transfer is asynchronous, timing is governed by the converter's own clock instead of the computer. There is no DSD support and no volume control, which makes the V90-DAC a fixed-level source for a separate amplifier. The shipping weight including packaging is 1.1 kg. Power comes from an included external 12 V 500 mA DC supply, and the unit also accepts Sbooster 12 to 13 V supplies. Buyers could choose a black or a silver case, and the American list price was USD 399.

Pairing

The V90 range includes matching units of the same footprint - the V90-AMP integrated amplifier, the V90-HPA and V90-BHA headphone amplifiers, the V90-LPS phono stage and the V90-BLU5 HD streaming system. Two optical inputs suit a television and a games console, while file playback from a laptop or desktop computer runs over USB, and the coaxial input remains free for a CD transport.

Alternatives

The Musical Fidelity MX-DAC is a larger converter in a 220 x 53 x 215 mm aluminium case that adds DSD64 and DSD128 decoding, higher USB sample rates and balanced XLR outputs.