merason frerot digital to analogue convertor
The Swiss are famous for their precision watch engineering, but generally overlooked for their hi-fi. Merason continue their tradition of producing straightforward, high end digital to analogue convertors for discerning music listeners, despite the trend for manufacturers to overcomplicate things nowadays.
The Merason DAC1 is a simple DAC for those wanting straightforward decoding from conventional digital sources such as compact disc players, streamers, and music servers such as Innuos. The Frerot is based around the Burr Brown PCM1794A DAC chips - a popular choice for high end digital conversion - using Class A topology, and components chosen by hand based on listening tests rather than cold hard specifications.
The back panel of the Merason Frerot DAC is a simple affair, as the magic happens inside...
Digital inputs come in the form of two optical, two coaxial, and a Type A USB, all galvanically isolated.
Unbalanced RCA outputs provide a 2v output, and fully balanced XLR outputs provide 4v output, allowing connection to suitably equipped amplifiers.
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Burr Brown PCM1794A DAC
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Class A buffering circuitry/output stage
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RCA unbalanced outputs [2v output]
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XLR balanced outputs [4v output]
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2x optical digital inputs [up to 24bit/192kHz]
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2x coaxial digital inputs [up to 24bit/192kHz]
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USB digital input [up to 24bit/96kHz]
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H50mm x W225mm x D180mm
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silver or black finish
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2 year warranty
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£1500
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£2200 with Power1 triple linear PSU