Fostex HP-A8C 32-Bit Digital Audio Converter and Headphone Amplifier

The Fostex HP-A8C 32-Bit DAC Headphone Amplifier is a high-fidelity digital-to-analog converter with a discrete analog headphone amplifier. With this DAC, you can listen to music on headphones or speakers from a computer over USB or from another audio source device. For inputs, the DAC accepts digital AES/EBU, digital optical, digital coaxial, SD cards via an SDHC card slot, or analog RCA. For audio streamed via USB, coaxial and optical inputs, the DAC can up sample the incoming signal by x2 or x4 at up to a 192 kHz sample rate with 32-bit resolution for Mac OS X and 24-bit resolution for Windows.

Outputs

For outputs, the DAC features RCA line and two 1/4" headphone jacks

Control

A button on the front of the unit allows you to turn the power off/on, and two knobs allow you to select the input and output sources. An electronic volume knob allows you to adjust the headphone gain from 0 to -12 dB in 0.5 dB step increments. A direct-out mode can be engaged to bypass the volume control knob altogether. For added convenience, the DAC comes with a dedicated remote controller

Built-in SDHC Card Slot for DSD Playback

The SD card slot can playback content in Direct Stream Digital File format (DSF)

Asynchronous Mode with TCXO Clock

To keep precise low-jitter time, the DAC utilizes an internal asynchronous temperature-compensated crystal oscillator clock

Power

The DAC utilizes a large-capacity toroidal transformer power supply

Selectable Internal or External Clock

The DAC can utilize either its internal asynchronous crystal oscillator clock or be switched to sync via digital I/O to an external clock source such as from a separate analog to digital converter, a master clock, or a reference clock for syncing audio to video

Digital Filter Selection

To remove pre-echo from playback, the DAC allows you to select between a traditional sharp roll off and a minimum delay filter