See Peter Q's essay on this subject at the main Audio Note site. I use the word "unbelievable" for a reason. This DAC is probably not one that on first listen will "WOW" you with unbelievable details, soundstage, and new sound cues in comparison to top end players with tons of oversampling and other processing. I will not go into the various stages as I feel they are not truly important. Just enough listening to get a sense of improvements at various stages. I did not listen much at all during this time so there was not the opportunity to let myself "get used to the sound". The DAC took about 200-300 hours to "burn -in" due to the amount of iron and the BlackGate Caps in the power supplies. The smooth organic feel I got at the show was very relaxing to one's ears, body and mind so I thought that I would give it a try via the kits available. As many audiophiles have noticed, digital gear has gotten very detailed in it's presentation especially at the top levels but after a while the sound is not very endearing and it can leave one cold upon extended listening. I purchased this DAC Kit after hearing Audio Note products at an audio show which I was attending as an exhibitor. So some things may change in the time it takes you to build one.Model: DAC Kit 2.1 Signature Category: DAC Processors Suggested Retail Price: $1799 Description: Tube output DAC 1X oversampling Manufacturer URL: Audio Note Model Picture: View I am building one of the very first DAC Kit 2.1's - from the very first batch, in fact. This allows you to connect the DAC to your computer. This interface is actually bought in from another company by AudioNote Kits. I also went for the USB interface option. From level B, this DAC uses Audio Note I/V transformers for the I/V section as used in Audio Note's finished product DAC's from level 2.1 upward (as far as my web research tells me). The hard-wired option will still be available, however - but only by special request from the more experienced builders. A new, high quality PCB board is now supplied as standard. This is because many of the less experienced builders have had problems building it correctly and too long has been spent supporting them - making it non cost-effective. Information Update: I have been informed that the hard-wired analog board has been dropped as a standard option. I believe that the Audio Note finished product DAC's up to and including their Level 3 DAC's use these same valves. This signature version also has Copper Foil output capacitors, tantalum resistors and Black Gates. This board uses an individually heated 6922 valve per channel in SRPP mode. The analog board is silver hard-wired (although there is a PCB version going to be made available for a simpler build). This adds on some Black Gates and a Digital Input Transformer to the digital board. this one) comes with the Signature Digital Board. The second is that the Crystal CS8414CP input receiver is used instead of the older CS8412CP. The first change is that there is now no analog filter - just like the latest production model DAC's from Audio Note. The digital board is very similar to the one in my DAC Kit 1.1 with a few changes. The two power supplies are even switched on and off independently - yes, there are two mains switches. This means that there are a total of two mains transformers. The M2 power supply board uses both a 6X5 and ECL82 tube for rectification and current regulation respectively. This uses the AudioNote Trans 0103 Mains transformer/Choke combination and Audio Note's M2 power supply board taken, I believe, directly from one of their production models. The analog PSU is same M2 power supply that is used in the Kit1 Phono Stage Signature that I built previously. The digital PSU is actually the one from the older DAC Kit 1.1 that used to be used for the entire DAC. It sports two separate power supplies one dedicated to the digital section and one dedicated to the analog section. Who would have thought that Audio Note would have allowed such a kit to see the light of day. This really is an exciting new product - one that I thought I would never see, in fact. Instead, however, I decided to go for an entirely new build as I am trying to get together enough components for a decent second system. I could have upgraded by DAC Kit 1.1 to the new one as there is an upgrade package coming out soon (check with AudioNote Kits) that will upgrade either a DAC Kit 1.1 or 1.2 to the new 2.1 (including new chassis). I was originally waiting for official upgrades to be released for my DAC Kit 1.1 but instead, the DAC Kit 2.1 was released. This section takes you through the build of the newly released DAC Kit 2.1.
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