Digital devices thrive on precision.
Tiny electrical impulses must dance through logical circuits, carefully enough to reanimate something as natural and beautiful as music.
Or at least, that’s what they try to do.
Thankfully we can trust the craftspeople at Accuphase to the task.
True to the Japanese way, Accuphase have the perfectionism to strive tirelessly for flawless digital performance—and the appreciation for nature’s way to capture what makes music beautiful.
Accuphase’s new DC-500 isn’t just a marvel of audio performance, but the electronics equivalent of James Bond in a velvet smoking jacket.
Like everything in the Accuphase catalog, this unit has sex appeal.
It begs to live in a room of rich mahogany, with dark ceilings, and leather chairs that are actually comfortable.
Though to be frank, it looks awesome just about anywhere. Real, gloss-finish red timber side casing. Subtle-yet-unmistakably gold facing. A tasteful green glow from the insignia. It’s the kind of piece that gives off quiet satisfaction every time you make eye contact with it.
This DAC has a sound to match, too.
It reveals everything, but only as intended. Subtle details stay subtle. Instrument timbres are palatable. The soundstage has incredible resolution. The performance seems to sit right in front of you.
To achieve this, Accuphase have selected high-performance ES9028PRO chips, and placed eight of them in parallel operation. This ensures error-free conversion, as errors and noise produced by any one chip are averaged out on the post-processing side.
That said, DAC chips of the audio calibre are almost all excellent, high-performance parts. It’s the implementation of those chips that matters most; how a device handles factors like power supply noise, digital filtering and analog output.
Accuphase must be familiar with Occam’s Razor, as they’ve implemented only the technology needed to control noise and distortion, and preserve the performance of their excellent DAC topology.
No fluff or extra. That means fewer electrical conductors to make noise.
The DC-500 completely isolates power for the digital and analog subsections at the transformer stage. So it’s done as soon as mains power enters the system. This separates the high-frequency digital stage (which creates more electromagnetic interactions) from the music-critical analog output—an efficient answer to the problem of noisy mains.
A common mode of noise at the other end of the system—right after the DAC conversion state—occurs as the DAC’s variable current output is converted to a variable voltage.
Accuphase have placed a feedback loop there, one they call the Accuphase Noise and distortion Canceling Circuit (ANCC), to listen for and correct outgoing noise.
They’ve also tipped their hats to lovers of the DSD niche: the DC-500 includes Multiple Double Speed DSD (MDSD) support. Accuphase’s proprietary method for solving high-frequency DSD noise and avoiding the need to convert DSD into PCM for filtering purposes. (In other words, a way to have native DSD from start to finish.)
As any device from Accuphase, the DC-500 has a wonderful, natural sound that’s accurate, dimensional, and rich with emotion.
Visit our showroom in Leichhardt, Sydney to hear the Accuphase DC-500 for yourself. Bring your existing DAC for a side-by-side, if you’re so inclined.
You can let us know you’re coming at 02 9561 0788 or use the live chat on this page.
Happy listening!
