NADAC, the first ever Network Attached Digital to Analogue Converter (DAC), is available in two versions - stereo or 8-channel - NADAC is the first device to bring the power of RAVENNA networking into the home, thus removing traditional limitations to boost performance to levels never yet experienced in a consumer setting.
So why a networked DAC, and why use RAVENNA? Merging's Chris Hollebone explains: "The modern world has become increasingly dependent on networks, both at home and in our professional environments. As network capacities have increased, more and more people are turning to IT networks for carrying both audio and video.
"Gigabit Ethernet clearly had sufficient capacity for high quality audio, but still was far from ideal without an additional protocol to add the required precision and management. We looked at alternatives that could offer sufficient accuracy and reliability with high channel counts and Hi-Res Audio data-rates. The only choice that made sense to us was RAVENNA."
Andreas Hildebrand, senior product manager at ALC NetworX, the company behind the RAVENNA technology, notes, "While originally targeted at the most demanding applications in the professional broadcast environment, we also designed RAVENNA with utmost flexibility in mind. With RAVENNA now being able to support even the most precise formats in the commercial audio market, we see this as a proof of concept for our open, standards-based solution approach."
"Finally, audiophiles can look forward to hearing the same quality in their own home and home cinemas as the engineers and musicians heard at the recording session," concludes Hollebone. "The combination of our expertise in converter technology and analog circuitry matched with the power and accuracy of RAVENNA audio transport is simply an unbeatable combination. We're proud to offer sound quality of this level to a new market in the form of NADAC."
(Jim Evans)
