- North Star Design Usb Dac32
- Drivers North Star Design Blue Diamond Cd Player Test
- Drivers North Star Design Colorado
- Drivers North Star Design Llc
- Drivers North Star Design Group
Jan 06, 2012 The North Star Design USB dac32 is finished in your choice of silver or black. The build quality is at a high level. This DAC is rather petite at 11 and a half pounds and measuring 17 inches wide. The Colorado DMV began issuing driver licenses, instruction permits and identification,cards with new designs,in 2016. This design was updated in May 2020 to make it easier to read. The card design includes an entirely,new format and enhanced features, including laser-engraved information in grayscale, as well,as new card material. Recently, DMV started issuing a new card design all across Oregon. The card design will be modified slightly in summer 2020 when Oregon starts issuing 'Real ID' cards. Meets or exceeds national standards for security and durability. Combines security features with images and symbols that represent. Jun 13, 2018 - North Star Tattoo. See more ideas about north star tattoos, star tattoos, star tattoo meaning.
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This review first appeared in the October 2011 issue of hi-end hifi magazine fairaudio.de of Germany. You can also read thisreview of the North Star Design Essensio plus in its original German version. We publish its English translation in a mutual syndication arrangement with the publishers. As is customary for our own reviews, the writer's signature at review's end shows an e-mail address should you have questions or wish to send feedback. All images contained in this review are the property of fairaudio or North Star Design - Ed.
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Reviewer: Ralph Werner
Sources: Luxman D-05
Preamplifier: Octave HP300
Power amp: Electrocompaniet AW180
Loudspeakers: Ascendo System F, Thiel SCS4
Review component retail: €1.590
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Though North Star Design doesn’t sound specifically southern, the firm does stem from near Pisa to make a good fit with German hifi importer Friends of Audio’s portfolio who specializes in Italian products – north Italian products in fact. With Mastersound amplification, Diapason speakers and Basso Continuo racks, there’d been a vacancy for source components. And digital converters happen to be a core competency for North Star. Their latest model is the Essensio Plus, an asynchronous USB DAC which makes it a hot sample in an even hotter component category. North Star has been around for about 12 years. Whoda thunk at the end of the 90s that digital-to-analog converters would experience a massive renaissance? Hifi extremists of that day swore by separate transport/DAC combos which obviously included a converter (North Star still maintains spinners in the present portfolio). Then there was the quaint notion that an aged CD player with digital output could be resurrected as a dedicated transport. I never completely bought into that scheme but never mind that. Who pimps out a CD player today?
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Anything that spins is more likely to be a hard rather than silver disc. The second coming of the converters is thus simply due to the desire to extract the best sonics from computer sources. This segues neatly into the North Star Essensio Plus under review whose 30 x 17 x 7cm WxDxH dimensions don’t occupy the full rack width but do rather exceed the footprint of the popular Benchmark Media DAC1. The North Star offers six digital inputs of which 5 are S/PDIF—2 x coax, 3 x Toslink—and one is the already mentioned USB socket. Max data density is 24/192 for coax, 24/96 for optical, 32/192 for USB. The analog output occurs via RCA as XLRs remain reserved for the next-up model USBdac32. The business end rounds out with the power IEC and mains switch.
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The fascia is equally orderly - a stand-by knob left, volume control right, in-between the display bracketed by six vertical LEDs on either side to confirm chosen input and sampling frequency. A push on the stand-by button and vampires and other night dwellers might need to reach for their sun glasses. Let’s simply say that nobody will complain about any illegible display here. Beneath the bright figure indicating volume lives a 6.3mm headphone socket. And that covers the essensios 'cept for black or silver trim, the latter also available Jeff Roland-style wavy. While I found that particularly attractive, the company reports that it sells the least. There’s simply no arguing with personal tastes.
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The included metal remote controls the variable output voltage, mute and input switching. Attenuation occurs in the analog and digital domains. One first sets the max output to 1, 2 or 4 volts without invoking on-chip digital attenuation. This occurs by holding down the volume control button in stand-by for two seconds. This pulls up the necessary menu as a letter/number combo from which one selects by rotating the volume control. One can bypass attenuation altogether (D), set the main output to work solo (A) or with headphone socket (AH) whilst figures 0, 1 and 2 (not completely intuitive) select the desired output voltage. In this scheme AH2 has both outputs active at a max 4 volts. Should you question the rationale behind this convention, remember that the converter chip handles 0.5-step attenuation in the digital domain. This eventually incurs resolution decimation by about one bit for every 6dB.
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That makes it advisable to set the max output voltage as low as practical relative to amplifier gain, room size and desired listening levels to minimize the amount of digital attenuation for fine adjustments. North Star of course adds that their 32-bit/192kHz data processing delays the onset of where digital volume digs audibly into resolving power. The basic upshot is, why run a 2V-out DAC when 0.6V are happily sufficient only to throw the rest away digitally? Though far from esoteric or complicated, this solution is quite trick. It harvests precision digital attenuation—North Star claims zero balance issues even at low levels plus a constant low output impedance to make amplifiers happy—whilst avoiding resolution decimation.
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Since the Essensio Plus USB protocol works in async mode, a few explanations on the subject seem à propos. The most practical advantage of USB lies in the ‘U for universal’. It’s the most common most widely adopted and thus universally available computer interface fitted to pretty much all PCs and laptops extant. That said, it’s not a dedicated audio interface. It shares duties with printers, modems, backup devices, keyboards, mice and sundry office/work appliances. Hence audiophiles are concerned how to best make use of USB for their purposes.
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Electrical measurements and in particular high voltage measurements have been critical in developing technologies for the last 100 years. North Star HV Probes are designed to achieve unmatched accuracy whole providing wide bandwidth capability, rugged physical packages, and convenience. PVM probes are designed for the widest accurate bandwidth and portability. The VD proves are designed for higher voltage with uniquely wide bandwidth for those higher voltages.
North Star Design Usb Dac32
Upgraded “bare” versions of our probes for space-saving installation into oil (or SF6) tanks are now available. These probes have the same specifications as VD series probes at a somewhat lower cost. When installing these probes some information about the surrounding areas is required. The length of a VD-120 bare probe (120 kV) is 0.35 m. These units are threaded and can therefore be stacked into higher voltage units. The VD-60 and VD-120 are offered at 60 kV and 120 kV respectively…
High power switches such as ignitrons, thyratrons, and spark gaps require unique high power triggering systems. Our triggers can all operate from 5 mA/5 V sources and/or fiber optic inputs…
About North Star High Voltage
North Star High Voltage develops and manufactures high voltage probes which define the state of the art in high voltage measurements. We also develop and manufacture support circuits for closing tubes including Thyratrons and Ignitrons (Thyratron drivers and Ignitron drivers).
North Star builds two main types of high voltage probes – the PVM series designed for portability, and wide bandwidth, and the free standing VD series designed for long life and accuracy. Both types of probes can be used with 1 Megohm input oscilloscopes (standard) or with meters of various input impedances (specify meter type when ordering). The probes are also available in “bare” versions for OEM applications. See more on High Voltage Probes.
Standard Cables & Long Cables Make Difficult Measurements Easy
Drivers North Star Design Blue Diamond Cd Player Test
Drivers North Star Design Colorado
A major advance embodied in the design of our probes is the use of standard 50 ohm or 93 ohm coaxial cable to connect the probe to the oscilloscope or digitizer. Since standard cable is used, the probe can be placed some distance away from the recording instrument (standard units with 30 ft. cables are available) while retaining the wide bandwidth capability. The probe can be placed at the test device while the recording instrument is placed in a screened room, or in a low noise location far from the device.
Low temperature and voltage coefficient resistors and capacitors are used throughout the probe line to provide maximum measurement accuracy. The probe has a rugged nylon housing, and it is filled with dielectric oil for maximum high voltage stability.
Drivers North Star Design Llc
Ignitron & Thyratron Drivers
Drivers North Star Design Group
Our ignitron drivers are designed to operate at high current (>400 A) while providing high voltage (>2 kV) in a rugged metal package. Our thyratron drivers are available in styles with DC or pulsed preionization or without preionization. Our thyratron drivers are capable of driving tubes from all manufacturers. Our spark gap drivers can drive both trigatron type and midplane gaps.
