Стримеры — dCS Lina DAC X

The Lina DAC X is a network music player and D/A converter from dCS, hand-assembled and tested in Cambridgeshire, UK. It joins the Lina series alongside the Lina Network DAC, Lina Master Clock and Lina Headphone Amplifier, and carries the same feature set as the Lina Network DAC while adding a physical volume dial, an infrared remote and a full-width case in place of the half-width original. Deliveries began in June 2025 at GBP 13,500 in the UK and USD 15,500 in the US, in silver aluminium or black.

Key specs that matter

PCM is accepted from 44.1 to 384 kS/s at up to 24 bits, alongside DSD64 and DSD128, native or via DoP depending on the input, plus FLAC, WAV, AIFF and MQA. Two AES/EBU inputs take 44.1 to 192 kS/s each and can be paired to carry 384 kS/s, the BNC and RCA S/PDIF inputs run to 192 kS/s, TOSLINK to 96 kS/s, and asynchronous USB-B to 384 kS/s including DSD and DSDx2. Output level is chosen in the menu between 0.2 V, 0.6 V, 2 V and 6 V RMS at full scale. Output impedance is 3 ohm on XLR and 52 ohm on RCA, with 600 ohm as the minimum load and 10 to 100 kohm recommended. With filter 1 the response stays within 0.1 dB from 10 Hz to 20 kHz. Residual noise at the 6 V setting is better than -113 dB with 24-bit data and -96 dB with 16-bit data, and crosstalk is better than -115 dB. The chassis is 444 mm wide, 122 mm high and 356 mm deep, weighs 14 kg and draws 30 W from 90 to 127 V or 220 to 240 V mains.

Engineering and use context

Conversion uses the proprietary dCS Ring DAC, fed by multi-stage DXD oversampling with switchable DSD upsampling at 2.822 or 3.07 MS/s and DSDx2 upsampling at 5.644 or 6.14 MS/s. The circuitry sits on a single flex-rigid PCB, and the processing platform can be updated in software. A socket accepts an external dCS clock such as the Lina Master Clock. Files stored on a hard disk or flash drive can be played through the USB-A socket. Control runs through the dCS Mosaic app, and the built-in player handles UPnP, internet radio, Qobuz, Spotify, Deezer, TIDAL, QQ Music and Roon Ready playback, with Audirvana and JPLAY also supported as sources.

Pairing

The internal volume control lets the XLR or RCA outputs connect without a preamplifier to stereo or mono power stages and to self-powered speakers, while the four output settings allow the level to be matched to the input sensitivity of the amplifier. A conventional preamplifier or integrated amplifier can also be used, taking the RCA or XLR signal into a line input.

Alternatives

The dCS Lina Network DAC offers the same streaming and conversion features in a half-width case without the volume dial and remote.