yet another new Pre/DAC - Drawmer HQ
- Thread starter Cereal Killer
- Start date
mikebirtill
pfm Member
lovely bit of kit by the looks of it. ive had tons of drawmer gear over the years and all of it has been faultless. good tyke company too!
dac,pre, phono pre whats not to love about it - one for the shortlist i think - what is the price ?
dac,pre, phono pre whats not to love about it - one for the shortlist i think - what is the price ?
Wilky
pfm Member
I had a quick search around and nothing showing on UK sites.
This place in the States is showing it for $2250 ($225 discount).
http://www.frontendaudio.com/SearchResults.asp?mfg=Drawmer
Dave.
This place in the States is showing it for $2250 ($225 discount).
http://www.frontendaudio.com/SearchResults.asp?mfg=Drawmer
Dave.
Cereal Killer
432
Mike, Wilkys price is correct Luke@drawmer said below the £2K mark but its up to the retailer to set the price they don't sell direct.
mikebirtill
pfm Member
that price is around £1500 - which is very good value for money - now what does it sound like against the audiolab cdq , how good is the phono pre, and can i have the big genelecs pictured in its manual as well.
darrylfunk
Banned
welcome kieron.
pop a message to TonyL on here he is the owner as there may be trade issues.
i still have a soft spot for drawmer gear ....good luck with the new dac/pre.....
pop a message to TonyL on here he is the owner as there may be trade issues.
i still have a soft spot for drawmer gear ....good luck with the new dac/pre.....
Cereal Killer
432
Hello Kieron, A few questions.
1. what is the USB res, I've red somewhere that its 16/44 will this be at all updated to 24/96?
2. Is there a IR remote control for the volume?
3. What DAC Chip does it use?
4. Is the output a "real" balanced one?
Ta, and welcome. Raj
1. what is the USB res, I've red somewhere that its 16/44 will this be at all updated to 24/96?
2. Is there a IR remote control for the volume?
3. What DAC Chip does it use?
4. Is the output a "real" balanced one?
Ta, and welcome. Raj
Wilky
pfm Member
Raj.
The remote version is due according to a review on the Drawmer site (by PSNE).
Here - http://www.drawmer.com/uploads/File/download/reviews/hq-psne.pdf
Dave.
The remote version is due according to a review on the Drawmer site (by PSNE).
Here - http://www.drawmer.com/uploads/File/download/reviews/hq-psne.pdf
Dave.
halvis
pfm Member
There is a full list of UK suppliers on their website, which should be able to provide a price - http://www.drawmer.com/sales.php?sent=1&page=sales.php&area=Europe
mikebirtill
pfm Member
looks a nice piece of kit - any chance of a loan of one? im only up the road in leeds
Hello,
I've had the ok from TonyL to answer technical questions!
Raj,
1. what is the USB res, I've red somewhere that its 16/44 will this be at all updated to 24/96?
The resolution is currently up to 48kHz/16bit plug and play. We appreciate this is not up to the computer audiophile high resolutions available on some other units but it was a feature we added at a low cost to the end user that required no license fee or drivers. It does perform extremely well at CD quality with absolutely no jitter related side bands measurable and a near perfect 16 bit noise floor.
The USB input PCB was designed in as an individual module with an spdif output that is transformer isolated before feeding our AES receiver in the same way all the other digital inputs do, so future upgrades of this would be possible if we found what we considered a suitable solution and the demand was there.
2. Is there a IR remote control for the volume?
No, the remote for the unit is available separately and attaches to the HQ via ethernet cable (not ethernet protocol, DC signals only to prevent any spurious tones) and can control up to four units for 7.1 if required. It also has functions for the pro market that are not available on the front panel of the unit for DIM, MUTE, MONO two preset level buttons, individual source select buttons and a dB attenuation readout.
3. What DAC Chip does it use?
We use a pair of Wolfson WM8740s with a few tricks to squeeze the optimum performance from them to get the THD+N of the DAC/PRE to be >100dBFs with full scale input (~0.0006%) at the balanced output. The unit was initially going to use a pair of WM8741s however after a great deal of testing we found the 8740s to out perform the 8741s in what we considered to be certain critical areas, the repeatability of the 8741s was also not as good as we required and the decision was made to use the 8740.
4. Is the output a "real" balanced one?
The output is a differential stage capable of up to +27dBu with 0dBFs input when used balanced, if used unbalanced it will give 6dB lower, i.e. +21dBu (without shorting the unused phase) or on the unbalanced output.
Thanks for your interest, any further (technical) questions, feel free!
Regards, Kieron.
I've had the ok from TonyL to answer technical questions!
Raj,
1. what is the USB res, I've red somewhere that its 16/44 will this be at all updated to 24/96?
The resolution is currently up to 48kHz/16bit plug and play. We appreciate this is not up to the computer audiophile high resolutions available on some other units but it was a feature we added at a low cost to the end user that required no license fee or drivers. It does perform extremely well at CD quality with absolutely no jitter related side bands measurable and a near perfect 16 bit noise floor.
The USB input PCB was designed in as an individual module with an spdif output that is transformer isolated before feeding our AES receiver in the same way all the other digital inputs do, so future upgrades of this would be possible if we found what we considered a suitable solution and the demand was there.
2. Is there a IR remote control for the volume?
No, the remote for the unit is available separately and attaches to the HQ via ethernet cable (not ethernet protocol, DC signals only to prevent any spurious tones) and can control up to four units for 7.1 if required. It also has functions for the pro market that are not available on the front panel of the unit for DIM, MUTE, MONO two preset level buttons, individual source select buttons and a dB attenuation readout.
3. What DAC Chip does it use?
We use a pair of Wolfson WM8740s with a few tricks to squeeze the optimum performance from them to get the THD+N of the DAC/PRE to be >100dBFs with full scale input (~0.0006%) at the balanced output. The unit was initially going to use a pair of WM8741s however after a great deal of testing we found the 8740s to out perform the 8741s in what we considered to be certain critical areas, the repeatability of the 8741s was also not as good as we required and the decision was made to use the 8740.
4. Is the output a "real" balanced one?
The output is a differential stage capable of up to +27dBu with 0dBFs input when used balanced, if used unbalanced it will give 6dB lower, i.e. +21dBu (without shorting the unused phase) or on the unbalanced output.
Thanks for your interest, any further (technical) questions, feel free!
Regards, Kieron.
Interesting comments about the WM8740 vs WM8741. I recently built a DAC with a pair of WM8741 in differential mono mode and I was disappointed with the result.
I have noticed that a number of DAC manufacturers are using the WM8740 rather than the newer WM8741 so you are not along in preferring the older chip.
I have noticed that a number of DAC manufacturers are using the WM8740 rather than the newer WM8741 so you are not along in preferring the older chip.
Arguments about what DAC is used is a bit like listening to Brian Cox arguing for Physics vs. Julian Baggini arguing for Philosophy on 'The Infinite Monkey Cage'. The physics are going to be essential if the Drawmer hopes to better the current Benchmark, Lavry and Weiss references (it looks weak for PC audio in this respect), but ultimately it's going to be the listening experience that really matters. Listen before passing judgement!
Peter
Peter
darrylfunk
Banned
anyone got round to hearing this yet?
Audio Images
Trade: Audio Images
had it on loan for a week, its very very good