sHP-100 is a combined USB DAC & high performance headphone amplifier.
The unit supports USB, Coaxial, Optical and Analog line input and has headphone output as well as analog line output.
As for DAC function of the unit, there is a Line output select switch on the bottom side of the unit, you can set the analog line output to the variable line output or the fixed line output. If you set it to the variable line output, you can connect the unit to a Power-amplifier and control the analog line level by the Volume control knob on the front side of the unit. If you set to the fixed line output, you can connect the unit to a Pre-amplifier or Inti-amplifier.
As for headphone output, you can control the output by the Volume control knob on the front side of the unit, and set the output impedance of headphone by the Headphone impedance select switch on the bottom side of the unit.
Also, the unit has a 3.5mm stereo line input jack on the front panel so you can use the unit as a headphone amplifier or pre-amplifier by connecting the unit to your smart devices or portable audio player.
The unit uses the AK4113 DIR chipset from AKM for Coaxial and Optical digital input and supports24bit/192KHz playback. For USB input, it supports 24bit/192KHz PCM and DSDx64, x128 playback through a multi core RISC processor from XMOS and also USB audio class 2.0.
All digital input sources translate via CS4398, the Flagship DAC from Cirrus Logic for analog signal and output via LME49720 & TPA6120A2 from TI which are some of the best audio OP-AMPs & headphone amps. The unit also minimizes the distortion of the audio signal by the volume control circuit using an exclusive audio variable resistor from ALPS.
For the high quality power supply, a ULNR(Ultra Low Noise Regulator) is used for the digital and analog circuit. An extremely Low Jitter Oscillator and Active Noise Canceller is used for the clock circuit, which is the most important part of the DAC module. These components have proven to make the best sound among devices at a similar level.
The unit doesn’t need an extra power supply since it can run via USB power only, but with a well built power supply for audio purpose, sPS-500, it will perform better, make a much more beautiful sound, and be a visually matching system.
