Welcome to the Machine…

Upon my first listen to the PecanPi Ultra Streamer, I am greeted with Malia’s smooth, yet haunting vocals in “Raising Venus.”  In the song, not only was I able to feel the raw emotion expressed in her vocals but the digital soundtrack carried throughout the album.  The PecanPi Ultra Streamer’s dual-mono complement of Burr-Brown PCM 1794A DAC’s can provide airy detail as well as sub-octave lows such that I have never heard before.

Next, I travel down a road less taken and am enveloped in the blues of Kenny Wayne Shepherds’ guitar and the dual duty of Jerry “Boogie” McCain’s harmonica/vocals.  With this sound, I am truly transported to a joint session of what makes up blues through “Potato Patch.”  In this piece, I can feel what is the definition of a laid back, Blues that just drips from the South.

For an $850 DAC/Streamer, what makes it produce such detail at such an affordable price?  This is possible because Orchard has used a mix of the dual mono Burr-Brown DAC’s, Low Jitter Crystek clock, and true dual balanced output.

The PecanPi Ultra Streamer is narrowly beat in sound quality by my reference $1,150 RME ADI-2 DAC FS, which implements the AK4493.  With the RME, I must run a secondary Roon Bridge, as it is only a DAC.  A Roon Bridge is a device that communicates with Roon and the Internet.

Specifications

XLR Output

Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR): 130dB (A-weighted)

Dynamic Range (DNR): 125dB

Total Harmonic Distortion + Noise (THD+N): -110dB or 0.0003%

Frequency Response: DC (0Hz) to 22kHz

Output Voltage: 5Vrms

RCA Output

Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR): 124dB (A-weighted)

Dynamic Range (DNR): 121dB

Total Harmonic Distortion + Noise (THD+N): -110dB or 0.0003%

Frequency Response: DC (0Hz) to 22kHz

Output Voltage: 2.5Vrms

Balanced Headphone Output

Power into 32Ω: 1.56W peak

Power into 150Ω: 333mW peak

Damping Factor:  > 210

Regular Headphone Output

Power into 16Ω: 781mW peak

Power into 32Ω: 390mW peak

Damping Factor:  > 230

Input Power

Input Connector:  Barrel Plug, 2.1mm I.D. x 5.5mm O.D. x 9.5mm

Input Voltage: 9VDC

Input Power: 20W

PecanPi® USB Compatibility

Windows: ASIO driver

MAC OS X: driverless

Linux Alsa 2.0: Compliant

Android/iOS: Compliant

General

Sampling Rates: PCM up to 192kHz

Bit Rates: Up to 24-bit

Formats: Supports all formats including DSD.

DAC Compatible Rpi Models: 1B+, 1A+, 2B, 3B, 3B+, 4B, Zero, ZeroW

Size

Streamer: 120mm (4.72") x 120mm (4.72") x 70mm (2.76")

USB: 160mm (6.3'') x 120mm (4.72'') x 50mm (1.97'')

DAC: 97mm (3.82'') x 78.5mm (3.09'') x 38.1 mm (1.5'')

DAC Implementation

DAC chips: 

Dual flagship Burr-Brown PCM1794As in monaural mode

Digital HW Volume Control and Re-clocking:

Crystek CCHD-575 oscillator -- ultra-low clock jitter of 82fSec

SRC4193 for volume control

Output stage: True balanced dual different output stages

Uses OPA1612s

Low Noise Panasonic Resistors

Proprietary filtering topology

Ultra-low noise linear power supplies:

TPS7A4700 (4.17uV noise) for positive op-amp power supply

TPS7A3301 (16uV noise) for negative op-amp power supply

TPS7A4901 (15.4uV noise) for DAC Chips

Headphone driver:

Dual parallel OPA1622s for regular headphones

Quad parallel OPA1622s for balanced headphones

Malia - Convergence

Kenny Wayne Shepherd - 10 Days Out: Blues from the Backroads— Quote Source