Audio Note DAC Fifth Element IZVOR/Fifth Force

Conceptor’s Note

Details

The Fifth Element IZVOR / Fifth Force DAC is without doubt or question, the finest Digital to Analogue Converter we have ever produced. No expense has been spared in the construction of the circuit or the components used, as one would expect for a full Audio Note (UK) Level 5 product. 

The Fifth Element IZVOR / Fifth Force is one of the most unique digital products available today. It uses the most unusual and innovative digital circuit on the market, combined with some of the finest components, materials and power supplies possible. 

Extensive research into the fundamental properties of the data stream itself have shown beyond doubt that, regardless of the theoretical advantages of the signal manipulation employed in our competitors products, such as higher oversampling, noise shaping, re-clocking or jitter reduction, these corrective measures greatly interfere with the critical time domain requirements of the signal. 

Music is a time continuum from start to end which when broken is irreparably damaged, and no amount of clever manipulation can restore it to its original time / frequency / amplitude duration or relationship, regardless of what the theorists may tell you. 

As a result, we have developed a way of excluding or bypassing all these corrective measures, to allow the conversion from digital to analogue to be done without any manipulation whatsoever. All we do is reformat the data stream to allow the converter chip to be able to interpolate the incoming information correctly. 

In other words, the Fifth Element IZVOR / Fifth Force has no oversampling, no jitter reduction, no noise shaping and no re-clocking. Having removed all of the digital filtering that is required for oversampling, all filtering is done in the analogue domain where it is easier to retain good, wide band phase-frequency and dynamically coherent behaviour.

Design and Components

After the audio signal exits the IZVOR discrete R2R Ladder DAC module digital section, it is fed to the filter-interface transformers. These are of the highest possible quality, using 55% nickel Super mu-metal cores with our own 99.99% pure silver wire. The air gaps in the two filter coils are matched across the full frequency range to within 0.1dB of each other, using a specially designed program to supplement an Audio Precision System 2 test rig.​

An extremely unique feature of the Fifth Element / Fifth Force is its use of an input buffer stage for the incoming digital signal, using an EF800 valve. Audio Note (UK) was the first company in the world to commercially implement such an arrangement, and it is one of the many technical achievements found in the Fifth Element IZVOR / Fifth Force that pushes the performance of this digital to analogue converter beyond the threshold previously thought possible.​

The line stage is an upgraded version of the one found in our M9 preamplifier, using a ECC82 and a 6463, both of which are dual triode valves. These are coupled to the output transformers, which are wound with Audio Note (UK) silver wire for the primary and secondary. With a 33:1 step-down ratio, these output transformers not only have exceptionally wide frequency response, but also just about the absolutely best dynamic transfer function possible. The analogue output provides both single ended / RCA and balanced / XLR connections.​

To power this spectacularly revealing arrangement, we chose to use a version of our patented Galahad feed-forward power supply, as used on our M9 preamplifier.

This PSU features full valve rectification, regulation and voltage stabilisation. This technique not only provides excellent isolation between the digital circuitry and power supply, but also provides well-isolated short and clean analogue signal paths. This is housed in an external chassis to minimise transferred noise to the sensitive digital and analogue stages.​

The digital power supply is an exceptionally low noise, shunt-type, designed specifically for the DAC, by Andy Grove. It is a solid-state interpretation of our Galahad feed-forward power supply, making it possibly to reach a −130 dB noise floor.

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Some of the superior quality components used in the Fifth Element IZVOR include: -

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IZVOR Module; 1w non-magnetic Nichrome resistors, solid silver end caps, silver lead-outs

Audio Note (UK) 2 Watt non-magnetic Tantalum resistors

Audio Note (UK) silver foil signal capacitors used in critical areas

Audio Note (UK) Standard, Kaisei NP, and Blackgate electrolytic capacitors

used in critical areas

In-house designed and manufactured silver / silver interface transformers

In-house designed and manufactured silver / silver Double C Core Perma 55% nickel output transformers

In-house designed and manufactured UHiB mains transformer

In-house designed and manufactured I-E PSU choke