At this year’s 139th AES Convention in New York, Crane Song is introducing two new products which feature the company’s new Quantum DA fifth generation of D to A converter technology, the Avocet IIA discrete class A monitor controller and the Solaris digital to analog converter. The Quantum DAC uses a 32 bit converter and asynchronous sample rate conversion for jitter reduction with up sampling to 211 KHz. The reference clock uses a proprietary reconstruction filter for accurate time domain response; and with jitter less than 1pS, Quantum DA has the lowest published jitter values in the industry.
“There are several years of measurable analysis and subjective listening in the development of this technology; the Quantum series DAC is the most accurate that I have ever designed,” explains Crane Song founder and developer Dave Hill. “Typical jitter from 10Hz to 20 KHz from the internal clock is 0.055pS and from 1 Hz to 100KHz it is less the 1pS.”
The Crane Song Avocet IIA builds on the success of the original Avocet and Avocet II. It is a stereo monitor controller capable of operating in surround configurations up to 7.1 that is comprised of a rack mounted unit and table top remote control. Avocet IIA has many features including; dim, mute, phase, mono, and 16 bit truncation functions, plus a speaker select switch that sends line level balanced audio to one of three outputs. In addition to exploiting the new Quantum DA conversion technology, this newest version offers new functionality that expands the flexibility of the system. There is now a dedicated subwoofer output for each of the three analog monitor outputs. Additionally, output levels are now programmable in 0.25 db steps for extremely accurate speaker level matching.
The Solaris Quantum D/A is a stand-alone 19-inch rack digital to analog converter utilizing the new Quantum D/A technology. It features three separate analog outputs: The main out has a discrete output amplifier with a stepped attenuator and a max output of +24dBu. The secondary output, which is also balanced, has a fixed level with an output of +18dBu. The headphone output/amplifier has its own stepped attenuator.
The LCD function display shows input source, sample rate and level metering. The input section accepts sources up to 192k and provides a full range of input options including AES, SPDIF, Optical and USB, making it ideal for both pro audio as well as audiophile applications where exceedingly accurate monitoring is required.
The Avocet IIA has an MSRP of $2995 and will be available October; the Solaris has a MSRP of $1849 and will be available first quarter.
www.cranesong.com
