DENAFRIPS Terminator User manual

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1. INTRODUCTION
Thank you for choosing DENAFRIPS products! You have made the right choice to purchase
the company’s FLAGSHIP DAC! Congratulation!
The Terminator is DENAFRIPS' flagship DAC. Being a flagship, the Terminator is filled with
our years of R&D achievement in it. State of the art fourth generation discrete resistor 26Bit
R-2R for PCM decoding, 6Bit DSD hardware decoding with 32 steps FIR filters, a total
breakthrough of the traditional integrated chip constraints.
Dedicated encapsulated power supply section within the same chassis is equipped with Dual
Type-O Transformers, Ultra-Low ESR Reservoir Capacitors, and WALT Jung Super Regulators
and multi-stages super linear power supply to power up the DAC.
The DAC core conversion module R-2R is constructed with 0.005% high precision, 10ppm
low thermal effect precision resistors. Each channel uses more than 500pcs of these
precision resistors, or 1000pcs for two channels, it's 4 times more than the other typical R-
2R DAC. These achieve a truly astonishing low distortion, full balanced design. CRYSTEK
FEMTO clocks are used with FIFO Adaptive Buffer Technology to ensure the DAC clock is less
dependent to the input source.
It will be the Reference Master Class DAC of DENAFRIPS for the next 10 years.

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2. DESIGN HIGHLIGHT
2.1 ADAPTIVE FIFO MEMORY CACHE ARCHITECTURE
Adaptive FIFO technology is used to transfer the audio data input to the high-speed RAM
buffer, and, by using the high stability active crystal clock signals generated from within,
extract the audio data from the high-speed RAM and converts these data to I2S protocol,
then, transmit the I2S data to the R2R DAC for DA conversion.
This FIFO is literally jitter free. It eliminates the possible jitter caused by the upstream
source, cable, or the digital receiver chip in the DAC. Let’s put it this way, the number of
jitter in Terminator DAC can only be caused by the quality of FIFO active crystal. Terminator
crystals are high end CRYSTEK FEMTO 9 series clock, and powered by LDO regulator, the
jitter is so small that it can be neglected.
2.2 I2S INPUT
Terminator i2s DAC works slave mode, the source i2s shall provide the necessary MCLK to
work with the DAC. The i2s is not an industrial standard, DENAFRIPS cannot guarantee the
compatibility with other i2s devices.
2.3 All New USB Audio Solution
The Terminator is equipped with the proprietary USB Audio Solution via STM32F446
Advanced AMR Based MCU, with DENAFRIPS redesigned and optimized circuitry, allow the
DAC to be used as high-end DAC with computers / streamers. It supports 24bit/1536kHz
PCM data stream, and native decoding of DSD up to DSD1024. It comes with licensed
Thesycon USB Driver for Windows Platform.
NOTE: The USB Module is designed to trigger on only when USB Input is selected. This is
intended design to reduce inputs cross interference for best sound reproduction.
2.4 Proprietary SPDIF DIGITAL AUDIO RECEIVER
The SPDIF Coaxial, TOSLink, AES/EBU input support up to 24bit/192kHz digital audio format.
The Terminator abandon the use of Digital Audio Receiver chip. The digital data is decoded
by the on-board FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), shorten the signal path and
eliminated the undesired coloration.
2.5 NOS/OS
Fancy of NOS/OS selection to change the sound signature of the DAC? The Terminator allow
the user to change the sampling mode on the fly. NOS, as the name suggested, does not do
Over Sampling of the digital input stream. The sampling rate of the digital input signal
remain untouched, and it is converted to analogue output signal right away.

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2.6 PROPRIETARY R-2R AND DSD DECODING ARCHITECTURE
The Terminator is equipped with 26Bit R-2R DAC to decode PCM data stream and 32 steps
FIR analogue filters hardware decoder to decode DSD data stream. These designs
guaranteed the PCM format can be perfectly decoded, at the same time, the DSD format
can be perfectly decoded as well. It is rare in the currently market that a R-2R DAC can
hardware decode both the PCM and DSD formats.
2.7 DAC ARCHITECTURE
This is the simplified architecture diagram. All digital input data are fed and buffered
through the on-board FPGA DSP board FIFO high speed RAM buffer.
These data stored in the internal high-speed FIFO, are retrieved via the local CRYSTEK CCHD-
957 FEMTO, processed, and reconstructed, for the final stage Discrete R-2R for DA
conversion.
The reliance of digital input source clock quality is less critical. This made DENAFRIPS DAC
sounds good with literally any source.
As in all audiophile high standard, a good source quality does make a different to the sound
quality. But we’d like to stress that, don't lose sleep over the technical aspect of the DAC.
Just sit back, and... enjoy the music!

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3. INSTALLATION AND SETUP
The Terminator is easy to use. Nonetheless, DENAFRIPS advice to read this section to fully
understand the functions and features available.
Figure 1. Terminator Front Panel
Description:
(1) Standby Button
Press the button once to switch on the DAC, vice versa, press once to switch the DAC into
standby mode. The Standby LED shall be on when the DAC is in Standby Mode. The LED shall
be off when the DAC is in Operating Mode.
(2) Control Button (From left to right)
a. INPUT +- :
Press the button to select the input source, namely, CO1, CO2, OPT, AES1, AES2,
USB, I2S. Press + to select the next right input. Press – to select the previous left
input. The respective input source LED shall be on to indicate that the input
source is selected.
b. PHASE
Press the button to toggle Phase Output. LED On: Positive Phase, LED Off:
Negative Phase
c. OS/NOS
Press the button to toggle between OS/NOS model. The LED lit to indicate the
DAC is in NOS mode.
d. MUTE
Press the button to enable/disable Mute. When mute, the Input Signal LED will
be blinking from Left to Right.
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Parameter Settings:
(1) Filter Selection (Effective in OS Only)
1. Press the Mute button once to enter configuration mode
2. Press the Mode momentarily
 1X LED On, 8X LED On = Slow Filter
 1X LED Off, 8X LED On = Sharp Filter
3. Wait for 10s
4. DAC back in operational mode
(2) Dual AES/EBU Input
1. Press the Mute button once to enter configuration mode
2. Press the INPUT+ momentarily, AES 1, AES 2 LED will turn on/off
 AES1 On = Dual AES/EBU Input Enabled
 AES2 Off = Dual AES/EBU Input Disabled
3. Wait for 10s
4. DAC back in operational mode
(3) I²S Pinout Configuration
1. Select I²S-A Input
2. Press the Mute button once to enter configuration mode
3. Press the Phase button momentarily, 1X 2X 4X will turn on/off in a fixed pattern to
denote binary 000-111
 PSAUDIO I²S Standard = 1X On, 2X 4X Off = 100
4. Wait for 10s
5. DAC back in operational mode
(4) I²S DSD Channel Swap Configuration
1. Select I²S-A Input
2. Press the Mute button once to enter configuration mode
3. Press the NOS button momentarily
 CO1 On = DSD Channel Swap
 CO2 On = Normal
4. Wait for 10s
5. DAC back in operational mode

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I²S Pinout Configuration
LED DATA BCK L/RCLK
1X 2X 4X Pin1 Pin3 Pin4 Pin6 Pin7 Pin9
0 0 0 DATA(-) DATA(+) BCK(-) BCK(+) L/RCLK(-) L/RCLK(+)
0 0 1 DATA(-) DATA(+) BCK(-) BCK(+) L/RCLK(+) L/RCLK(-)
0 1 0 DATA(+) DATA(-) BCK(-) BCK(+) L/RCLK(-) L/RCLK(+)
0 1 1 DATA(+) DATA(-) BCK(-) BCK(+) L/RCLK(+) L/RCLK(-)
1 0 0 DATA(-) DATA(+) BCK(+) BCK(-) L/RCLK(-) L/RCLK(+)
1 0 1 DATA(-) DATA(+) BCK(+) BCK(-) L/RCLK(+) L/RCLK(-)
1 1 0 DATA(+) DATA(-) BCK(+) BCK(-) L/RCLK(-) L/RCLK(+)
1 1 1 DATA(+) DATA(-) BCK(+) BCK(-) L/RCLK(+) L/RCLK(-)
Table 1. I2S PINOUT CONFIGURATION
Figure 1. Terminator HDMI i2s Input

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(3) Digital Audio Signal Input Sampling Rate
The following table illustrate the Input Sampling Rate LED status.
Base Sampling Rate Multiplier Input Format
44.1 kHz
1X 44.1 kHz
2X 88.2 kHz
4X 176.5 kHz
8X 352.8 kHz
16X = 2X + 8X 705.6 kHz
32X = 4X + 8X 1,411.2 kHz
48 kHz
1X 48 kHz
2X 96 kHz
4X 192 kHz
8X 384 kHz
16X = 2X + 8X 768 kHz
32X = 4X + 8X 1536 kHz
DSD
1X DSD 64
2X DSD 128
4X DSD 256
8X DSD 512
16X = 2X + 8X DSD 1024
Table 1. Sampling Rate

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Figure 2. Terminator Rear Panel
Description:
(1) AC Power Supply
CAUTION! Worldwide AC Power Supply voltage supported. The AC input voltage is
automatically ranged thanks to the DENAFRIPS smart power management technology.
(2) Analog Audio Signal Output
Balanced output via XLR (pin2 hot), singled ended output via RCA. The Terminator is a true
balanced DAC, we recommend using balanced output whenever possible. The RCA and XLR
output are shared, please use either of the output at a time. It is not recommended to use
both RCA and XLR output simultaneously.
(3) Digital Audio Signal Input
There are 9 inputs, namely, COAX 1, COAX 2, OPT, AES 1, AES 2, I2S A, B, C and USB.
I2S-A HDMI (LVDS) I2S-B (LVDS) I2S-C RJ45 (LVCMOS)
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4. SPECIFICATION
Description Parameters
AC Power
Worldwide AC Power Supported 110 - 230V, 50/60Hz
In 110VAC supply, the min voltage ranges from 92V to max 126V
In 230VAC supply, the min voltage ranges from 184V to max 253V
Power Consumption
< 30W
Frequency Response
20-40KHz -0.2dB
THD+N
≤0.0010% (1KHz A Weighted)
Output (RCA)
2.3(+/-10%) V RMS(1KHz)
Output (XLR)
4.6(+/-10%) V RMS(1KHz)
Supported Format (DSD) DSD64 All Input
DSD64 – DSD1024 USB & I²S Only
Supported Format (PCM)
24bit/44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4, 192 kHz All Input
44.1 – 1536 kHz USB & I²S Only
S/N Ratio
115dB(RCA), 114dB(XLR)
Dynamic Range
>132dB
Stereo Crosstalk
-110dB
Dimension
430*380*105 mm
Weight
19.0kg

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5. WARRANTY & SUPPORTS
DENAFRIPS Terminator purchased from the Authorized Distributor comes with 36 months of
warranty from the date of purchase / delivery (whichever later). Customers shall bear the
two-way shipping cost for RMA. In event of tampering found on the unit, the warranty shall
be voided.
Visit our website at www.denafrips.com for more updates
Enjoy the Music!