Fidelix CAPRICE DAC/Preamp

Fidelix CAPRICE is equipped with the highest performance ESS ES9018 32-bit DAC chip. To take full advantage of this performance, the ultra-low jitter clock is provided by a high-speed amplifier with bipolar input instead of CMOS, and the current is supplied from a dedicated shunt power supply. The IV conversion section is equipped with key devices developed in-house, including a quick-response power supply with ultra-low noise and no overshoot, which is approximately 30 dB lower than that of ordinary 3-terminal regulators, and an all-JFET, class-A, ultra-low noise OP amplifier (1.8 nV/√Hz) that is dedicated to sound quality. is composed of two circuits of these OP amplifiers in parallel. The coaxial input is a high-speed pulse transformer (115MHz, 0.5pF with shield between PS) and a high-speed comparator with hysteresis by bipolar input to prevent jitter contamination, and TOSLINK is a high-speed type (25MBPS), both SPDIF inputs support 24Bit/192 Both SPDIF inputs support 24Bit/192kHz sampling (32Bit/192kHz sampling has also been tested). Two coaxial inputs and two TOSLINK inputs are also provided. However, one of the three digital inputs, which can be switched by a rotary switch on the front panel, is switched between coaxial and TOSLINK on the rear panel. Note that the three digital inputs can be switched by remote control.

 Two analog inputs are provided, one of which can be optionally configured as a phono equalizer (input equivalent noise voltage -140dBV) using an all-JFET OP amplifier. As a further option, SP and LP curve switching is also available. Analog signals are injected into the differential IV conversion circuit via an in-house developed real-time BTL circuit (consisting of JFET input OP amplifiers). Note that this injection circuit is disconnected during digital operation.

*USB and AES/EBU may have some adverse effects when connected, and USB in particular may be subject to a great deal of switching noise from PCs and other devices, so we have purposely eliminated them and recommend that they be converted to coaxial for use. 

Variable outputs with front volume are provided in RCA at the rear. This makes it very convenient to use as a DAC / preamplifier. This line amplifier is a complete DC amplifier with two JFET input OP amplifiers in parallel. Since there is plenty of drive power, it also serves as a headphone output. The direct output of the DAC, which does not pass through the volume, is an XLR (No. 2 hot) balanced output, and when used unbalanced, only XLRs No. 1 and No. 2 are used (No. 3 is not connected anywhere). This design daringly eliminates the balanced/unbalanced conversion circuit, which degrades the freshness of the sound. The output voltage is 2.7V for unbalanced XLR No. 2 and 5.4V for balanced XLR No. 2 and No. 3, and the signal-to-noise ratio and dynamic range reach the world's highest level of 131dB. Clock jitter has also proven to be by far the lowest. The distortion rate has reached the world's highest level of 0.00064% (BW=30kHz) at 5.4V output at 1kHz.

For the power supply section, independent left and right power supplies are used, based on the experience that crosstalk through the power supply is extremely pernicious because it is non-linear. The digital input can be digitally volume controlled by remote control, so that the XLR balanced output can be sent directly to the power amplifier with balanced input. When combined with the CERENATE power amplifier, the configuration is simple, with no balanced/unbalanced conversion circuits or their inverse conversion circuits, allowing for a more vivid sound. However, since digital volume cannot be used for analog input, a fixed output is used.

Three power transformers are used for analog, one for left and right independently, and one for digital. 2 transformers for analog are connected in a direction that cancels out flux leakage. The power supply is equipped with a noise filter to ensure that this ultra-high performance can be demonstrated even in noisy power supply environments. Schottky barrier diodes, audio capacitors, and audio resistors that do not generate power supply noise are used. The audio quality perfection is further enhanced by the wide use of audio non-magnetic resistors made by PRP of the United States. The connector-less design ensures high reliability, and the main external terminals are gold-plated. The transformer and some components are mounted at an angle because of the design's emphasis on the nature of electricity and performance-oriented design.

The board is equipped with inputs for I2S and DSD signals, which can also be 32Bit/192kHz or 24Bit/352.8kHz (an optional isolated PS AUDIO compliant HDMI input can be mounted internally as a sub-board). Dip switches on the bottom allow settings such as sharp roll-off, slow roll-off, PLL bandwidth, DSD filter characteristics, oversampling, and with/without jitter reduction function. The design is full of exploration and playfulness.

*About I2S Specification PSAudio compliant I2S specification I2S connection supports signals up to 192kHz/32bit.
*DSD specification: DSD format using L, R, and Clock signals, but Fidelix's proprietary DSD-only device using HDMI connectors, so SPDIF signals cannot be used. It also does not support DSD signals via HDMI in the AV amplifier standard.

The ES9018 has 8 pairs of differential DACs inside, all of which can be used as 1-channel mono. In this case, you can set whether the DACs are for the right or left channel by using two CAPRICE units and making these settings with the dip switches on the bottom panel, which theoretically provide near-infinite separation. This is the ultimate in performance at this time.

The "amazingly realistic sound field that makes you forget the existence of hardware" and "natural, analog sound quality" *Wireless and Experimental

I also listened to the 192kHz/24-bit sampled sound sources, and there were a number of performances that made me realize for the first time how amazing they are. I was amazed at its ability to reproduce at least classical sounds in a very lifelike manner. An amazingly diverse range of expression. It builds music with an overwhelming amount of information. *Audio Accessories