ESOTERIC D-2

Commentary

D/A converter equipped with newly developed distortion shaper ZD-II.

It is equipped with ZD-II which is an improved version of ZD circuit using dither method.
The ZD-II achieves a high S/N ratio by driving the dither signal out of the audible band by using a high-frequency-concentrated (high-pass) dither. It also improves the distortion shaping effect by dispersing the conversion error of the D/A converter and realizing a significantly low distortion factor.
By flattening the D/A conversion step over the entire band of 18 bits (262,144 steps), reproducibility at a very small level, overtone components in a large volume signal, and reproducibility of subtle hole tones are enhanced.

Perfect balance transmission for both digital transmission and analog transmission prevents noise from entering the ground line.
In this fully balanced transmission, in addition to the normal positive-phase signal, a negative-phase signal is transmitted simultaneously. Digital noise flowing into the ground through stray capacitors (stray capacitance) is canceled by taking advantage of the fact that it becomes negative-phase, thereby ensuring pure ground potential.

In order to perform accurate D/A conversion, a lithium tantalate VCO with very low VCO noise is used in the PLL circuit, and a newly developed jitter cancellation circuit with high carrier purity is incorporated in order to accurately transmit the time axis obtained from the PLL circuit to the D/A converter.

In order to respond to various digital inputs such as CD, DAT and BS broadcasting, it is equipped with an automatic search mechanism to realize a high precision wide lock range.

The digital filter uses a 45-bit 8 x oversampling digital filter.
In addition, it is equipped with a newly developed noise shaper to convert accurately calculated 45-bit gray-scale information into 18-bit information, and achieves resolution below the noise level without truncating ultramicro signals of 18-bit or less.

For analog circuits, we use carefully selected MOS-FETs with very little odd order harmonic distortion, which is easier to hear than ordinary transistors.

Uses 4BOX2 chassis to eliminate mechanical and electrical interference.
In this structure, the digital, analog, power supply, and power transformer sections are each housed in one box, and are independently laid out in a highly rigid inner chassis. In addition, external vibration and internal resonance are completely eliminated by fixing it to a front panel with 18 mm thick section and a rigid body.
In addition, stability is improved by using a low center of gravity structure in which heavy parts are laid out in the lower part of the body.

A special alloy insulator with high damping effect is used for the insulator.

PC-OCC is used for the circuit wire, and a glass-epoxy substrate with gold-plated through holes, which is resistant to changes over time, is used for the substrate, greatly improving transmission efficiency.
It also includes original audio parts such as the OFC center bus bar and specially developed capacitors, diodes and transformers.

The power supply is equipped with a newly developed 100 VA transformer for audio.
In addition, the power cord uses an extremely thick type with polarity indication to improve the transmission performance of both digital and analog systems.

45-bit noise-shaping with 45-bit noise shaping enables extremely high-quality CD playback at low levels.

A newly developed soft mute mechanism is incorporated to prevent unpleasant noise generated during manual mute operation.
This function smoothly attenuates noise caused by waveform distortion in manual mute mode to eliminate noise.

Equipped with a soft mute phase switching mechanism, the absolute phase switching of the stereo signal is digitally processed to eliminate unpleasant noise.

Equipped with FL brightness adjustment mechanism that can continuously adjust the display to the desired brightness.

Model Rating

Type	D/A converter
Sampling frequency	32 khz, 44.1 khz, 48 khz ± 0.1% (Automatic Switching)
Digital input	Optical : 2 systems Coaxial : 2 systems
Analog output	XLR (Balanced, one system) : 2.5 Vrms RCA (one system) : 2.5 Vrms * Both are digital volume
Digital output	Coaxial (1 system) : 0.5Vp-p
Frequency characteristic	32 kHz : 0 to 15 Hz ± 0.3 dB 44.1 kHz : 0 ~ 20 kHz ± 0.3 dB 48 kHz : 0 ~ 22 kHz ± 0.3 dB
Signal-to-noise ratio	110 dB or More (1 kHz)
Dynamic range	100 dB or More (D/A part : 108 dB)
Harmonic distortion factor	0.0014% or Less (1 kHz)
Wow and flutter	Measurement Limit Value or Less (Crystal Oscillator Precision)
Channel separation	110 dB or More (0 ~ 20 kHz)
D/A converter	18-bit, 4 dac + "ZDII" circuit
Digital filter	45-bit 8 x Oversampling Digital Filter + Noise Shaping
Analog filter	Third order Butterworth filter
Pwer	100 VAC, 50Hz/60Hz
Power consumption	21W
External dimensions	Width 225x Height 134x Depth 425 mm (Including Legs)
Weight	11kg
Sold Separately	Upgrade to D-3 (¥ 350,000)