My Australian friend acquired one of these in September and insisted I share its amazing attributes
Costing the equivalent of R118k, he wanted to try it against his Denafrips Terminator, which at current prices, is 20% less
The DSDAC1.0 Deluxe is the highest model in a series of three versions Cen.Grand offers. There is the baseline option and then an upgraded "Super Clock" edition, both of which look identical from the outside and use enclosures very similar to the one used by Cen.Grand's Silver Fox headphone amplifier. The Deluxe DAC sits at the top of the list and offers additional upgrades including a more elegant enclosure, a significantly upgraded power supply with complete isolation from the rest of the circuit, plus separate transformers for analog and digital sections, more complete pre-amp capabilities including RCA and XLR inputs, and various other internal upgrades. The Deluxe version sells for A$7200 and he bought it from a Russian audio dealer. His twin brother is the finance minister for Fiji
Unlike some compact DACs you see in headphone systems, the DSDAC1.0 Deluxe is a full-size design and weighs 12Kg. The chassis design and build is immaculate, and the device would not at all look out of place in a system using top-calibre gear
The DSDAC1.0 is a completely original design which handles D/A conversion in a fairly unique way. It uses chips based on those made by Playback Designs. The DAC uses a combination of custom code running on a powerful FPGA chip, plus resistor arrays and shift registers, converting all incoming signals to high-rate DSD which is user selectable in several increments from DSD128 to DSD1024. The process is tightly integrated. It's common for devices to initially apply upsampling, then send that signal over to a DAC chip for actual conversion, in a two-stage process. The upsampling can often be defeated if the user desires. The Cen.Grand handles it in a more integrated fashion where the DSD conversion naturally and inseparably leads to the discrete 1-bit D-to-A stage. The DSDAC1.0 cannot natively process PCM at all.
Also integral to the design is more proprietary tech in the form of Cen.Grand's "synchronous direct clock technology", which involves a femtosecond clock feeding directly into the shift register array itself. Cen.Grand explains that most other designs, whether using an on-board femtosecond oscillator or even an expensive external clock, require the use of a frequency divider which adds jitter to the equation. Their solution side steps that issue altogether by once again taking a more unified approach.
Another bit of proprietary technology is their "clock blocking" circuit which completely strips away all timing information from incoming signals. This, when combined with their synchronous clocking mentioned above. As a result, Cen.Grand claims transport quality is far less critical than it otherwise would be with a DAC of this calibre.
As far as user interactions go, the DSDAC1.0 lets you cycle through choices of various digital filters, which makes an extremely small impact on sound quality. More important is the ability to select the rate of DSD used in the (necessary) conversion, which causes more noticeable changes to the presentation. The device can be set to fixed volume or variable output mode, which uses the same switched-resistor solution used by Pass Labs in several of their expensive preamplifiers. Those with turntables in their systems can take advantage of the high calibre preamp capabilities which the Deluxe has to offer, either via XLR or RCA inputs, with no digital processing involved. In those cases the display helpfully switches to larger text showing the volume level and selected input. A nicely built bundled remote also makes this a more viable preamp than those DACs which only work via manual adjustment.
On the digital side, the DAC covers all the usual bases including coaxial, optical, BNC, AES, and USB, but not i2S
The Cen.Grand DSDAC1.0 Deluxe is the overall best DAC he has ever experienced. It actually sounds fairly similar to my Denafrips Terminator, which helped him make a quick transition as he moved from one reference to another. He also heared improvements in key areas such as timbral accuracy, liquidity, soundstage depth, instrument localization, and tonal weight, which collectively elevate the experience to new heights.
The overarching character of the Cen.Grand DAC centers upon being extremely smooth, organic, fluid, and effortless. At first listen most people would not immediately point out its superb clarity or massive soundstage - though both aspects are certainly true. Instead they would notice how easily everything flows, which is quite unlike many other DACs on the market. Only after having worked that out would most folks then make the connection that the levels of detail and openness are also extremely impressive.
Sydney, December 2023
Amburam Prasad
Costing the equivalent of R118k, he wanted to try it against his Denafrips Terminator, which at current prices, is 20% less
The DSDAC1.0 Deluxe is the highest model in a series of three versions Cen.Grand offers. There is the baseline option and then an upgraded "Super Clock" edition, both of which look identical from the outside and use enclosures very similar to the one used by Cen.Grand's Silver Fox headphone amplifier. The Deluxe DAC sits at the top of the list and offers additional upgrades including a more elegant enclosure, a significantly upgraded power supply with complete isolation from the rest of the circuit, plus separate transformers for analog and digital sections, more complete pre-amp capabilities including RCA and XLR inputs, and various other internal upgrades. The Deluxe version sells for A$7200 and he bought it from a Russian audio dealer. His twin brother is the finance minister for Fiji
Unlike some compact DACs you see in headphone systems, the DSDAC1.0 Deluxe is a full-size design and weighs 12Kg. The chassis design and build is immaculate, and the device would not at all look out of place in a system using top-calibre gear
The DSDAC1.0 is a completely original design which handles D/A conversion in a fairly unique way. It uses chips based on those made by Playback Designs. The DAC uses a combination of custom code running on a powerful FPGA chip, plus resistor arrays and shift registers, converting all incoming signals to high-rate DSD which is user selectable in several increments from DSD128 to DSD1024. The process is tightly integrated. It's common for devices to initially apply upsampling, then send that signal over to a DAC chip for actual conversion, in a two-stage process. The upsampling can often be defeated if the user desires. The Cen.Grand handles it in a more integrated fashion where the DSD conversion naturally and inseparably leads to the discrete 1-bit D-to-A stage. The DSDAC1.0 cannot natively process PCM at all.
Also integral to the design is more proprietary tech in the form of Cen.Grand's "synchronous direct clock technology", which involves a femtosecond clock feeding directly into the shift register array itself. Cen.Grand explains that most other designs, whether using an on-board femtosecond oscillator or even an expensive external clock, require the use of a frequency divider which adds jitter to the equation. Their solution side steps that issue altogether by once again taking a more unified approach.
Another bit of proprietary technology is their "clock blocking" circuit which completely strips away all timing information from incoming signals. This, when combined with their synchronous clocking mentioned above. As a result, Cen.Grand claims transport quality is far less critical than it otherwise would be with a DAC of this calibre.
As far as user interactions go, the DSDAC1.0 lets you cycle through choices of various digital filters, which makes an extremely small impact on sound quality. More important is the ability to select the rate of DSD used in the (necessary) conversion, which causes more noticeable changes to the presentation. The device can be set to fixed volume or variable output mode, which uses the same switched-resistor solution used by Pass Labs in several of their expensive preamplifiers. Those with turntables in their systems can take advantage of the high calibre preamp capabilities which the Deluxe has to offer, either via XLR or RCA inputs, with no digital processing involved. In those cases the display helpfully switches to larger text showing the volume level and selected input. A nicely built bundled remote also makes this a more viable preamp than those DACs which only work via manual adjustment.
On the digital side, the DAC covers all the usual bases including coaxial, optical, BNC, AES, and USB, but not i2S
The Cen.Grand DSDAC1.0 Deluxe is the overall best DAC he has ever experienced. It actually sounds fairly similar to my Denafrips Terminator, which helped him make a quick transition as he moved from one reference to another. He also heared improvements in key areas such as timbral accuracy, liquidity, soundstage depth, instrument localization, and tonal weight, which collectively elevate the experience to new heights.
The overarching character of the Cen.Grand DAC centers upon being extremely smooth, organic, fluid, and effortless. At first listen most people would not immediately point out its superb clarity or massive soundstage - though both aspects are certainly true. Instead they would notice how easily everything flows, which is quite unlike many other DACs on the market. Only after having worked that out would most folks then make the connection that the levels of detail and openness are also extremely impressive.
Sydney, December 2023
Amburam Prasad
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