Korg DAC-100

Hy guys,

I saw a new DAC by Korg today on the back cover of the Sound on Sound magazine and I thought I should share it.

 http://www.korg.com/us/products/audio/ds_dac_100/

There are two versions of it, the flagship is bigger than the 'm' version, has two XLR and two TRS outputs. The USB in and the Headphone out are shared by the two versions. The smaller one is defined mobile, as it has only one TRS 1/8' output and the headphone out.

The samplerate goes up to 192khz/24 bit or it can operate at [email protected].

I've never used a 1bit piece of gear, but I've worked plenty at 24/96khz and the audio experience is out of this world compared to standard 16bit/44.1khz. I'm talking about professional recording of course, for videogame use 24/48Khz would be a huge improvement already.

The mobile version might be suited for general PC use, music listening and gaming. On Thomann (the biggest music store in Europe) the mobile version is out at 350€ and the flagship model at 500€.

Perhaps they're overkill, but if you occasionally dabble into audio without and external dedicated audiocard, might be an interesting solution (although for less than 350€ you could get a good audio card with an average headphone amp).

My only 'concern' it's the USB interface. It's ubiquitous on all PCs, but I'd have preferred an optical in. But it's a piece of kit designed for mobile audio engineers, and not many laptops sport an optical out.

I've had korg stuff in the past (guitar processors, multifx, keyboards and such) and it's an ok brand, commercial enough but with solid quality and quality control.

Bye, have a good one!