Aqua Acoustic Quality La Voce S2 User manual
La Voce S2
D / A converter
Owner’s Manual
Rev 2.0
IMPORTANT SAFETY NOTICES
The triangle with the lightning flash symbol displayed on the unit advises the user of
dangerous uninsulated voltage inside the product’s enclosure.
To reduce the risk of electric shock, do not remove the cover.
The triangle with the exclamation point symbol on the component suggests that the owner
refer to important operating and maintenance instructions in the owner’s manual.
Modifications and alterations not approved by the manufacturer may violate adherence to
EC regulations and make the appliance no longer suitable for use. The manufacturer
declines all responsibility for damage caused to persons or property due to the misuse or
malfunction of device subject to unauthorized change.
In order to make changes that improve the already excellent quality of its products, Aqua -
Acoustic Quality reserves the right to modify the information or the contents of this manual
at any time and without notice.
II La Voce S2 D / A converter Owner’s Manual
Aqua - Acoustic Quality audio products are warranted to be free from manufacturing
defects for five (5) years from the original date of purchase. The warranty includes parts
and labour. In the event of a defect or malfunction, contact your dealer or Aqua – Acoustic
Quality directly for return authorization. Aqua - Acoustic Quality will remedy the problem by
repair or replacement, as we deem necessary, to restore the product to full performance.
Products must be returned using original packaging material only. Packing material may
be purchased from Aqua - Acoustic Quality if necessary. This warranty is considered void
if the defect, malfunction or failure of the product or any component part was caused by
damage (not resulting from a defect or malfunction) or abuse while in the possession of
the customer. The warranty excludes the following components:
-Audio tubes
-NOS (New Old Stock) Components
CAUTION: Changes or modifications to this equipment not expressly approved by the
manufacturer could void the user’s authority to operate the equipment.
GENERAL SAFETY INFORMATION
The following general safety precautions must be observed during all phases of operation
of this equipment. Failure to comply with these precautions or with specific warnings
elsewhere in this manual violates safety standards of design, manufacture, and intended
use of the equipment. Aqua - Acoustic Quality assumes no liability for the customer’s
failure to comply with these requirements.
• DO NOT operate the product in an explosive atmosphere or in the presence of
flammable gases or fumes. For continued protection against fire, replace the line fuse(s)
only with fuse(s) of the same voltage and current rating and type. DO NOT use repaired
fuses or short-circuited fuse holders.
• Keep away from live circuits. Operating personnel must not remove equipment covers or
shields. Procedures involving the removal of covers or shields are for use by service-
trained personnel only. Under certain conditions, dangerous voltages may exist even with
the equipment switched off. To avoid dangerous electric shock, DO NOT perform
procedures involving cover or shield removal unless you are qualified to do so.
• DO NOT operate damaged equipment. If the built-in safety protection features have been
impaired through physical damage, excessive moisture, or any other reason, REMOVE
POWER and do not use product until safe operation is verified by service-trained
personnel. If necessary, return the product to Aqua - Acoustic Quality for service and
repair to ensure that the safety features are maintained.
• DO NOT service or adjust alone. Do not attempt any internal service or adjustment
unless a person capable of rendering first aid and resuscitation is present.
• DO NOT substitute parts or modify equipment. To avoid the occurrence of additional
hazards, do not install substitute parts or perform any unauthorized modification to the
product. Return the product to Aqua - Acoustic Quality for service or repair to ensure that
the safety features are maintained.
III
La Voce S2 D / A converter Owner’s Manual
In This Guide…
1 Operation and Features
2 Specifications
3 DAC Configuration
4 Front panel
5 Back panel
6 PC connection
IV La Voce S2 D / A converter Owner’s Manual
1.
Operation and Features
Make sure the supplied voltage is the one required by the device. Please ensure the
quality of the connecting cables, paying particular attention the coaxial digital cable. Often,
numerous tests have revealed the importance of this cable for obtaining the best sound
quality. The transport unit which is responsible for the extraction of numeric data, is
affected by jitter, which is non-temporal coherence. In more recent years, this issue has
been taken seriously by some manufacturers, significantly improving the results in terms of
sound quality. Aqua - Acoustic Quality counsels that this quality should be carefully
assessed in order to achieve the desired result.
Key features
• High performance proprietary DFD (Direct From Decoder) digital decoding
without digital filter for purest digital signal quality
• Galvanic isolated S/PDIF - AES/EBU Digital input
• Jitter free digital interface Aqlink (I2S protocol), uncompromising digital
connection to digital transport unit
• Zero S/PDIF Jitter design, digital receiver stage PLL (phase locked loop)
technology
• precision sign magnitude R2R ladder DACwith 2 Burr-Brown PCM -1704K
arrayed in dual mono configuration (PCM1704-K DAC option)
• Passive current / voltage conversion (I / V)
• Discrete Regulator (MOSFET, J-FET, BJT) for analog and digital DAC’s power
supply
• RJ45 (AQlink) input connection, employs CAT6 cable
• 2 separate low noise power transformers, one for the analog and one for the
digital section
• MODULAR DESIGN with upgradeable multi board system
• Fully discrete analog stage, not even a single Op-Amp is used
• Proprietary USB Firmware / driver :
Apple MAC OS - Linux OS : USB asynchronous native support, no need to install
drivers software
• Fully upgradeable Bit perfect asynchronous USB module with resolution up to
24 bit and 192 KHz, operates with computers running OSX 10.6.4 and above,
Windows XP, 7 and 8 ASIO – WASAPI bit perfect high-speed
• High-quality parts selected for sound quality:
−105° long life capacitors
−low noise Metal Foil ultra-precision resistors
−metallized film pulse capacitor
−ultra-fast diodes
• Aluminum anti-resonant cabinet with Nextel
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La Voce S2 D / A converter Owner’s Manual
2.
Specifications
Native Sample Rates
Supported S/PDIF - AES/EBU :
24 bit / 192 KHz
AQlink - I2S serial bus :
24 bit / 384 Khz
Asynchronous USB
(High Speed) USB Type B
Digital Receiver PLL (phase locked loop) technology 128 or 256 FS
internally selectable
AQlink (I2S bus) CMOS level
Digital filter Proprietary DFD (Direct From Decoder) digital decoding
without digital filter
Oversampling factor 1x
Digital to analog conversion
type MODULAR:
Multibit sign magnitude R2R ladder (PCM1704-K DAC
option)
Analogue Outputs UNBAL 2 RCA Output 2.1V RMS
BALANCED (asymmetrical output) 2 XLR Output : 4.2V
RMS
Current / voltage conversion
(I / V) Resistor passive (I / V)
Output Impedance 100 ΩRCA - 200 ΩXLR
Load Impedance 10 k Ω(min.)
Frequency Response 20Hz to 20kHz +0.5dB/-0.5dB
THD + N <0.1% 1KHz -20dB
Front Panel Power, input selector. Phase selector
Power Consumption 100-115V / 220-240V; 50 or 60Hz - 58VA
Dimensions ( W x D x H ) 450 x 310 x 100 mm
Weight 7 kg
Front finish Satin Alu Silver or Satin Black
Case finish Grey Nextel powder coated
3.
DAC Configuration
Digital to analog conversion board is modular (es. option D104-K Multibit sign magnitude
R2R ladder PCM1704-K DAC). More info at www.aquahifi.com.
VI La Voce S2 D / A converter Owner’s Manual
4.
Front panel
On the front panel, you will find:
●power on/off switch
●rotary switch for selection of the digital input
●PHASE ( 0 / 180 ) switch
●LED power indicator
5.
Back panel
On the rear panel, you will find:
●IEC connector of the power supply (220-240V or 100-120V).
●Digital inputs :
- RJ45 AQlink (I2S serial bus) - 24 bit / 384 Khz
- BNC coax (S/PDIF) 75 ohm - 24 bit / 192 Khz
- USB port - 24 bit / 192 Khz
MODULAR INPUT upgradable, options :
AES/EBU balanced 110 ohm - 24 bit / 192 KHz
RCA coax (S/PDIF) 75 ohm - 24 bit / 192 KHz
AT&T (ST Fiber) - 24 bit / 192 KHz
Optical TOSLINK - 24 bit / 96 Khz
●The TX LED which indicates the timing of the digital signal S/PDIF / AES/EBU
●analog outputs :
- RCA single-ended
- XLR balanced symmetrical (optional)
PIN ASSIGNMENT
The pin assignments of all of the XLR-type male analog outputs, the XLR-type
female digital inputs are as follows:
Pin 1: Signal ground
Pin 2: Signal + (non-inverting)
Pin 3: Signal - (inverting)
Connector ground lug: chassis free
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La Voce S2 D / A converter Owner’s Manual
6.
PC connection
ADVICE: Windows users must install the driver prior to connecting the USB cable to
the PC (please refer to download section http://www.aquahifi.com/download.html ).
The USB cable that connects to a PC, must conform to the 2.0 specifications, and should
be of adequate quality. Please avoid using cable more than 2m, to avoid invalidating the
bus performance
True plug’n’play operation with Mac
Mac computers with OSX 10.6.4 and later have a native support for audio devices
compliant with USB Audio Class 2.0. This means that the driver is already included in the
operating system and the user needs not to install anything. Just connect the La Voce S2
DAC to your Mac and it will be immediately recognized by the OS and ready to use. Macs
with older OS need update.
To use aqua USB as output device for your Mac, you need to select it as default output
device from the Audio Control Panel (Preferences -> Sound).
After selecting aqua USB, please check settings, you can select the sampling frequency
fixed for La Voce S2 DAC, regardless the native sampling frequency of all audio tracks.
For the best sonic results, you may want to use a player which follow the native frequency
of the tracks, like Sonic Studio Amarra or Channel D Pure Music.
True plug’n’play operation with Linux
L’Ingresso USB high speed da Personal Comput
PC with Linux 1.0.24 and later have a native support for audio devices compliant with USB
Audio Class 2.0 This means that the driver is already included in the operating system
and the user needs not to install anything. Just connect the La Voce S2 DAC to your PC
with Linux and it will be immediately recognized by the OS and ready to use.
Windows XP, VISTA, 7, 8 O.S.
For the best sonic results, you may want to use a player which support ASIO*, like Foobar
or JRiver Media Center
*ASIO is a trademark of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH
VIII La Voce S2 D / A converter Owner’s Manual
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