Audio Alchemy Digital Decoding Engine V3.0 + Digital Transmission Interface V2.0 + (2) Power Station 4 Power Supplies + 1 meter I²S cable

Multibit sound quality - AD1862N DAC chips

From my personal equipment collection. This DAC and DTI combination has been in my headphone rig for several months getting regular use.

I am selling due to downsizing my audio equipment collection. As information, I prefer the DDE 3.0 and DTI 2.0 with the PS4 power supplies versus the PS2 or PS3 units, as I find the PS2 and PS3 units to be mechanically noisy due to transformer hum.

See the photos for my headphone rig set up. The RPi (not included) is my streaming source and is connected to the DTI via coax digital or TOSLINK optical. A BNC to RCA adapter (not included) will be needed to allow using a standard RCA digital coax cable or there are numerous cable companies that offer BNC connections.

The DTI is connected with the I²S cable to the I²S input on the DDE.

It would be my recommendation to use the 2 units together and connected via the I²S cable. This connection has the highest sound quality (in my opinion) and offers the lowest jitter compared to the other output and input connections.

The DTI has been tested and used with the coax BNC digital and the TOSLINK optical inputs. I have never owned any AES/EBU equipment, so that is UNTESTED. As mentioned above, I have used the I²S output and that is my preferred connection.

The DDE has been tested and used with the coax digital and I²S inputs. The TOSLINK optical has never worked in my ownership of this unit. The note on the bottom of the DDE indicates this. As mentioned above, I have used the I²S input and that is my preferred connection.

I also have played HDCD discs through the DTI/DAC combo and the HDCD light comes on and the music sounds great. I have the internal gain control set at position 3 for an attenuated output of 110 mV RMS. There are 3 other settings that can be used by changing the shorting plugs to different jumper positions. This internal gain control system allows effective system matching and potentially more useful range on the master volume control for your audio system.

Will be double boxed for shipping.

If you have not owned Audio Alchemy gear before, I will point out that the instructions recommend doing all cable connections to the DAC and DTI before connecting the power cables. I have followed this method with all the various Audio Alchemy gear I have owned with no issues.

This DAC was one of Stereophile's Joint Budget Components of 1996.