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The RD160 is the first standalone DAC from Korean audiophile wizards HiFi Rose. It has their signature look and operational innovation, with simple front-panel controls and display. More importantly, its high-quality internal design uses a two-chip AKM DAC, three customized reference power supply units, and impeccable circuitry that can render music from all of your digital sources with crisp, articulate detail.
The RD160's dual-chip DAC module and trio of custom power supply units help it deliver impeccable musical detail.
AKM designed the RD160's DAC module in collaboration with MUSES, an audio-focused semi-conductor developer. The dual-chip design divides the DAC's decoding duties — one chip handles digital filtering and initial delta-sigma conversion stages while the other performs the digital-to-analog conversion. That helps this unit deliver immaculate analog sound with remarkably low noise.
The RD160 has coaxial and optical inputs, plus a USB-B input for your computer. It also has an audio-only HDMI I2S, AES/EBU XLR, and SFP (small form-factor pluggable) fiber ports. The fiber port provides the clearest possible signal from compatible components, like this DAC's perfect match, the RS130 streaming transport.
What looks like a blank front panel turns into a detailed display when you power up the RD160. A bank of buttons let you select input and cycle through filter and upsampling presets. You can also choose a clock input if you're using an external one, mute playback, and set the display's brightness and mode. The instantly responsive display can show you decoding data, a circuit-like design flow chart, and more. There's also a large, defeatable volume knob.
This DAC features a chassis milled from a single piece of aluminum to eliminate joint vibration. Heat sink side panels keep internal running temperatures cool. Inside, three customized power supply units occupy the heart of the RD160's top-quality circuitry. Critical input and output sections are wired using high-quality oxygen-free copper for distortion-free signal transfer.
The RD160's super-accurate built-in OCXO clock maintains a constant working temperature. That helps it keep timing errors that can smear musical detail to a very low level. You also get inputs for adding an external master clock generator for even cleaner, more precise, jitter-free digital audio signals.
