The dCS Scarlatti DAC

Well first and foremost this is the greatest DAC we have ever heard bar none.

Combined with the dCS Scarlatti Upsampler, dCS Scarlatti CD/SACD Transport and Scarlatti Master Clock the performance beggars belief. It takes CD as a format further than we thought possible.

Combined with appropriate amplification, speakers, support and cabling the Scarlatti raises the bar sky high.

This is pretty much on permanent demonstration in-store and we love it. If you are one of the lucky few who are in a position to purchase such an stunning product why not arrange a demonstration.....you will not be disappointed.

More will follow in due course when our dCS Rough Guide appears.

A little bit from dCS

Our design philosophy in building Scarlatti was to use our 21 years of experience to deliver the best digital playback components in the business without compromise. For people who are serious about their music, the natural realism delivered by Scarlatti is like no other system on the planet.

One of the main drivers behind the extraordinary performance of Scarlatti is the patented dCS Ring DAC, which is a discrete balanced design and does not use any off-the-shelf DAC chips commonly found in other manufacturers' product. Scarlatti DAC uses an enhanced version of our Ring DAC, improved through increased processing power, faster FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays), separate power supplies for all things digital and analogue and a quieter electrical environment.

Scarlatti DAC features standard AES3, SPDIF and SDIF-2 inputs in addition to the IEEE 1394 interface. The digital volume control allows direct connection to a power amplifier, there is no need for a preamplifier. Maximum output can be either two or six volts to suit different amp/speaker combinations. Four filters are provided in DSD mode to allow listeners to tailor system response.

The unit can be used in Master mode to provide a clock for the source or be locked to an external word clock signal generated by a dCS Master Clock - this produces a substantial performance improvement.

To realise the greatest performance, Scarlatti DAC should be used with the matching dCS Scarlatti CD/SACD Transport and Scarlatti Master Clock. Scarlatti DAC can be used with any industry standard CD Transport.

The PCM inputs on all our DACs are industry standard AES/EBU, SPDIF or SDIF interfaces. There should be no difficulty using them with other manufacturers' equipment, provided it also complies with industry standards.

All of the Scarlatti products benefit from our 'soft' approach to programmable logic, which allows new software to be loaded from a dCS update disc to add new features and adapt to changes in digital formats

• Scarlatti DAC uses the latest version of the patented dCS Ring DAC, which has several detail improvements over earlier versions.
• The dCS Ring DAC is a discrete balanced design which does not use any off-the-shelf DAC chips commonly found in other manufacturer's products.
• Our proprietary 5 bit oversampling topology produces exceptional linearity across the dynamic range.
• All dCS products use a sophisticated multi-mode phase locked loop (PLL), which significantly reduces clock jitter.
• Faster, 100% accurate DSPs (within the bounds of their resolution) give improved filters revealing yet more fine detail.
• Higher capacity FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays) give more logic capacity and increase the scope for additional features and enhancements.
• Improved power supplies give lower running temperature and increased tolerance to AC supply variations.
• Our 'soft' approach to programmable logic allows dCS products to adapt to changes in digital formats and add new features by loading new software from a CD.
• Aero grade aluminium chassis and laminated acoustic damping panels, reduce magnetic effects and vibration.
• The Scarlatti range features a low-power LCD display that makes the user interface easier to read, keeps the power requirements down and minimises electrical noise.