DAC’s better

Owners of Astell&Kern’s A&futura SE180 digital audio player are in for a digital treat as the company has recently announced a new SEM4 DAC module.

Designed around a Asahi Kasei AK4493SEQ dual-DAC chip, it’s also the first to feature Digital Audio Remaster (DAR) upsampling technology to a maximum of 384kHz PCM and DSD256 while catering for native rates up to 32-bit/768kHz and DSD512.

The SEM4 is the fourth DAC module available for the SE180, following on from the standard SEM1 ESS ES9038PRO and upgrades SEM2 Asahi Kasei AK4497EQ Dual DAC and SEM3 ESS ES9038Q2M Quad DAC. All models sport 2.5, 3.5 and 4.4mm headphones jacks.

The SEM4 Asahi Kasei AK4493SEQ Dual DAC costs £369, find out more at Astell&Kern.com.

Previous

McIntosh MHA200 headphone amplifier review

Next

Classic HiFi: Alchemist Forseti APD 15A Integrated Amplifier