Which, roundabout historical tour, brings us up to date, the introduction of another set of digital components – and even more confusion. With customers finally getting their heads around the C1 Mono having three boxes, the C10 DAC has gone and altered the nomenclature and upgrade path all over again. At least, it has on the surface and that’s what matters. Accordingly, when it first appeared, CH referred to the C10 DAC, the C10 Master DAC, the Conductor, the C10 Statement DAC and the C10 Statement DAC Mono. Confused? I certainly was – and it seems like most other people were too, especially those who’d spent the effort on getting familiar with the 1 Series expansion plan.
From a customer perspective, CH abandoning the established terminology and, apparently abandoning the established topology too, is definitely a source of confusion. Adopting instead, a host of cliched, marketing-speak monikers really doesn’t help. From order to chaos in one easy step? Well, yes and no. Let me attempt to explain…
The beginning… a very good place to start!
How about we start with the fact that nothing (or very little) has actually changed, at least in topological terms.
The C10 Reference DAC is a straight-forward two-channel DAC, with the added benefit of an external power supply. That makes it broadly equivalent, at least topologically speaking, to the C1.2 combined with the X1.
However, there’s one important change that becomes significant further down the road: although the C1.2 is a dual-mono design, the C10 takes that a whole stage further, with a symmetrical, mirror-image layout and separate ground planes for the left and right DACs.
The next step on the upgrade path introduces two more boxes. Owners wanting to step up to the next level receive a new chassis and power supply. The DAC cards from the C10 are transferred into that new chassis, leaving the input switching and DSP behind – thus creating what CH refer to, at least internally, as the Conductor. The separate DAC section is now referred to (again, in CH-speak) as the Master DAC, allowing dealer/service discussion of the different parts that constitute the whole. But customers don’t need to worry about that. From their perspective, this is now simply the C10 Statement DAC.
Given that the DAC cards are already dual mono, this basically amounts to exactly the same step as the switch from C1-to-C1 Mono. The DSP section inherits its own, dedicated power supply, as do the two DACs – they’re simply housed in the same chassis.
Finally, the Statement DAC Mono adds a second power supply to the DAC chassis, giving each channel its own separate, dedicated DC feeds.
So, for all the indeterminate (and largely meaningless) labels that have been stuck on the various configurations, it’s actually pretty simple, especially given that the Conductor and Master DAC can only be used in conjunction with each other and, these days are largely internal labels to indicate elements within the upgrade path.
