Open the packaging and inside you’ll find a featureless (I suspect generic) component chassis, roughly the footprint, proportions and weight of the original Naim NAP 110 power amp. (For younger readers, think pint-sized Uniti component – like the Atom.) The sides consist of heatsinks, with ventilation slots cut in the top plate. The rear panel sports a gold-plated Furutech IEC input, a circular rocker switch, a chassis ground terminal and a DC outlet socket. The front panel is plain black apart from the nameplate. It really is the archetypal black box. There’s not even a power LED. Which is fine by me. As an after-market add on, it’s pointless trying to style it to match whatever it’s going to be connected to, simply because the DC4 can be configured to match any number of different partners – hence my ‘semi-stock’ description. The Chord DAVE DAC is apparently a popular pairing – although that requires a larger, full-width case.. I’ll take a simple and largely anonymous box anytime, especially as in many cases it will find itself tucked away out of sight. It’s plain, simple and reassuringly chunky
Apart from a healthy dose of common sense, this also reinforces the belief that the real money has gone on the insides – which is exactly where I want it spent. Lift the lid and you’ll discover that your suspicions are correct. No stone has been left unturned in the search for improved performance, making the circuit a veritable Who’s Who of audiophile componentry and approved circuitry. Rather than wade through the technicalities, I’ll just give you (an abridged version of) the description from the Custom HiFi Cables website:
This is a slightly simplified version of our best-in-class ARC6 DC4 PSU – we still use the same ARC6 module and DC4 regulator module as the full-spec ARC6 DC4, but we use a smaller transformer to fit within the limitations of the compact casework and we also have to remove some of the vibration-damping features. We still keep the gold-plated Furutech IEC socket with separate DC4 power switch, grounding post and Neotech ICC internal DC wiring and DC4-spec umbilical cable. Essentially you are getting ARC6 DC4 electronics inside a DC3 case, at a lower price than the full ARC6 DC4.
The ARC6 module uses active rectification, over 198,000uF of reservoir capacitance (five times that of the old RECAP module) and a high-current choke to eliminate any residual noise before it feeds into the regulator modules. We also offer upgrades of the DC wiring – the standard wire is 18AWG Neotech OCC wire, you can also have Mundorf’s excellent silver-gold hybrid wire fitted in either 18AWG or 15AWG sizes. The 15AWG option allows for a lower supply impedance. We can make the umbilical cables to any desired length, we do suggest a shorter cable is better for performance.
The DC4 regulator module also contains our new “CX” module – this acts to drastically reduce incoming DC noise from the reservoir capacitors, by factors of up to around 1,000 at low currents. DC4 regulator modules can supply up to 5A continuous current. The DC4 regulator PCB, like the rectification/capacitor PCB, is gold-plated, and the circuit layout is optimised for performance, low noise and low impedance. This is due in part to using different components that allow shorter circuit paths to be created, with lower parasitic inductance/capacitance.
