⌈ SOUNDAWARE is a brand established in 2011 in Singapore. Its founder is Mr. LIN, bearing the nickname xs_horizon, who is also its chief engineer. It focuses on digital-to-analog signal processing, as well as audio file playback. We test its top-of-the-line kit: the D/A converter DAM-1 and the USB power supply/conditioner PA-1 REF. ⌋

HERE IS SOMETHING TO IT - as I've written before, small companies from China, Singapore and other countries in this region of the world have been playing the role that companies from Japan once played. By this I mean reaching for solutions that hi-tech manufacturers have long rejected, combined with modern techniques. This is best seen in the area related to audio file playback, that is, with their players, transports, but primarily digital-to-analog converters.

Traditional approaches is reflected by choices for decoding digital to analog signals. While almost the entire world uses monolithic, integrated circuits from Texas Instruments or (usually) ESS Technology, the companies in question go for discrete circuits usually designed in-house with no oversampling. Converters of this type are called NOS from Non-OverSampling. Their modern approach, on the other hand, involves the use of DSP circuits to properly prepare the signal for such a circuit. Such is the converter from Soundaware that I would like to introduce to you.

Contact with the owner of the company, Mr. Lin, is possible through an intermediary, a company owned by Mr. WENG FAI HOH.

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⸜ A few simple words…

WENG FAI HOH
Sales representative

⸜ Owner and founder of Soundaware, Mr. Lin

WOJCIECH PACUŁA When was Soundaware founded?
WENG FAI HOH It was registered in 2011.

WP Who is the founder and chief designer?
WFH The founder and chief designer is Mr. Lin, who uses nick xs_horizon in Internet. It is him on the photo above.

WP Are engineers in Soundaware responsible for particular projects, or products?
WFH Various engineers work on their own projects.

WP What are the company’s future plans?
WFH SOUNDAWARE began research and development of high-quality digital playback solutions in 2011, accumulating considerable experience in digital processing and D/A converter development. Our future R&D efforts will build on this technical foundation, with a particular focus on the development of streaming players.

⸜ Block diagram of the DAM-1 converter

Given the exceptional compatibility of the X86 and Windows basic application system (APP), the AMC platform will continue to introduce file transports with different specifications and all-in-one systems equipped with integrated DAC modules. As for DACs, the DAM-1 is the first separate DAC in Soundaware's portfolio. Our future offerings will include not only "DACs" for desktop computers, but also portable digital decoders, headphone amplifiers and other mobile devices.

What's more, Soundaware owns key technology patents, including high-quality solutions for regenerating Bluetooth and USB signals, which will occupy an important place in our future products. In summary, SOUNDAWARE aims to provide a broader and comprehensive range of products based on our core technologies in the future.

WP Could you describe the reference system Soundaware uses?
WFH First and foremost, every product undergoes rigorous verification using professional instruments to test measurable parameters before leaving our factory. This objective process ensures quality control of our audio products. For troubleshooting and sound control procedures, we have access to a wide range of reference equipment. We use Adam S4X-V speakers, Amphion Two18 with BaseTwo25 subwoofer, and a wide variety of headphones. In addition, we use a variety of sound sources and converters.

Although for some reasons we would prefer not to list all equipment by its make or model, it is important to remember that the equipment used in our comparison auditions is often several times more expensive than the SOUNDAWARE products we are comparing to them. WFH

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▌ DAM-1 ⸜ PA-1 REF

DAM-1 IS a digital-to-analog converter (the company calls it DAM1, and the power supply PA1-REF, I provide their names according to Polish standards) and nothing more. Not a "streaming DAC," not a "converter/preamplifier" or anything invented by computer guys. It's simply a DAC - a digital-to-analog converter. It's a purist design meant to show the industry what the company is capable of achieving, hence the subtitle on the first page of the manual: "Reference Level DAC." It took the company as long as four years to design it.

The DAM-1 is a device we feed with a digital signal, whether from a CD transport, files, or a game console or TV, and it outputs an analog signal, which we then amplify in an amplifier. The unit is small, measuring 320 x 223 x 60 mm and weighing 4.3 kg, but very solidly built. This was possible in part because the power supply has been separated into the second chassis. The company called this solution "Split design." This power supply can be upgraded to a better one, by the way. The company offers two such products: LXP and PA-1 REF. It was the latter that we tested the converter with. Its enclosure is build with aluminum plates welded together with massive aluminum brackets. It stands on four spiked feet, which we place on sizable metal pads.

The converter, although small, has received a sizable OLED display. This is needed because the digital signal can be decoded in several different ways in it, so it is important that we get a clear text message about it. On it, we will see the frequency of the input signal, how it is decoded, information about whether the analog output signal is low or high, whether we have applied an absolute phase shift, whether mute mode is enabled, and what input we have selected. Since the volume can be adjusted for NOS mode, this information will also be displayed.

The DAM-1 is based on a proprietary algorithm that replaces digital filters used by other manufacturers. The company says it has chosen a proprietary DSP chip with FIFO memory, it's called Jinling Audio DSP. It gets its signal from one of as many as five digital inputs: USB, optical Toslink, AES/EBU, coaxial RCA and HDMI. The transmission of IIS signals through this video/audio link is not standardized, so there are several available pin connections. In order to make the DAM-1 as versatile as possible, the manufacturer placed DIP switches next to the latter, that allow you to choose between different settings. The analog section is balanced, so we can get the signal from RCA or XLR jacks.

The DAM-1 is a unique device because it offers three ways to decode a digital signal. The primary choice should be the NOS mode, as it was the most important for the designers. When it is selected, all PCM files are synchronously upsampled to 32 bits and 352.8 (44.1 kHz) or 385 kHz (48 kHz), and the DSD signal is converted to PCM. There is also an "All DSD" mode, in which all PCM signals are converted to DSD256; in this mode the DSD signal is not upsampled. And there is also "Normal" mode, in which no upsampling takes place, and the signal is only re-clocked by the Jinling module and decoded in sigma-delta circuit.

As it seems, the manufacturers were concerned with obtaining the highest possible dynamic range and the lowest possible jitter. The measurements they report are impressive - you don't see such results even in the top-high-end. The manufacturer reports that the upsampler module offers a dynamic range of an incredible 170 dB, and the entire DAC offers a dynamic range of 129 dB, THD+N distortion of 0.0001% and negligible output noise of 800 nV. It was also very important for the designers to provide the chips with precise clocking - the 5 ps result speaks for itself.

Special treatment has been given to the USB input in particular. This is a separate, rear-screw module called PA-1. It is based on the D300REF interface, previously available as a separate device within the Soundaware range, built around an XMOS chip. It has been "tweaked" in-house, and to use it, the module must be activated, with a switch on the back. The DAC is controlled by a small remote control, from which you can change the upsampling mode and enable "mute" mode.

Soundaware's design team and a group of its product users grouped on social media have dubbed this device the "Dream DAC."

⸜ PA-1 REF • As I said, the converter can be powered by three different power supplies, differing in price and design: LP-1 Custom Version, LPX and PA-1 Reference. The manufacturer advises against the use of other power supplies, because, it says, this usually leads to damage to the device.

The tested DAC was connected to the most expensive power supply, the PA-1 Ref. It has an equally robust enclosure as the DAC, to which it connects via a short cable terminated with screwed plugs. It's actually two power supplies in one enclosure: a linear one, with a large toroidal transformer, and a switching mode power supply. Working with them are powerful 370 Farad (!) capacitors; the company refers to them as "supercapacitors."

You have probably noticed the coincidence of symbols: PA-1 - the USB input in the DAC, and PA-1, in the power supply symbol. This is no coincidence. For the PA-1 Ref allows you to additionally clean the USB signal from noise and overclock it. The process is repeated in the DAC, which gives, the manufacturer says, considerable sonic benefits. The device also allows you to convert a USB signal into an Ethernet signal and send it over the network.

▌ SOUND

⸜ HOW WE LISTENED • The Soundaware DAM-1 DAC was tested in a HIGH FIDELITY reference system and compared to the D/A section of the Ayon Audio CD-35 HF Edition SACD player, which also worked as a CD transport, and the Lumin T3 file player which also worked as a transport, but of files. As usual, I was most interested in how the DAC handles the CD signal, but this time it was equally important how it worked with the signal sent from the external file transport via USB cable.

The Ayon's digital output was connected to the DAC's RCA input with an RCA → RCA Acrolink Mexcel 7N-DA6100 II cable, and the Lumin was connected with a TiGLON TPL-2000U cable. The DAC was powered by a Harmonix X-DC350M2R Improved-Version cable. Since the cable connecting the DAC to the power supply was too short for me to place them on separate shelves, I had to place them one on top of the other. To minimize noise and vibration, I placed the DAC on Acoustic Revive SPU-8 pads, and these on RKI-5005 pads. On top of the DAC, I placed a Verictum X-Block passive EMI/RFI filter and only on top of it the power supply.

The DAM-1 stood on the top shelf of Finite Elemente's Master Reference Pagode Edition Mk II rack. In my system I use RCA cables and this is how the DAC was tested. It was connected to the Ayon Audio Spheris III preamplifier by Crystal Cable Absolute Dream cables. However, I separately listened to its XLR output with volume control (in NOS mode) - the balanced signal was routed directly to the XLR outputs of the Soulution 710 amplifier. However, I preferred the sound with an external preamplifier.

» RECORDINGS USED FOR THE TEST ⸜ a selection

→ COMPACT DISC
⸜ JOHN SCOFIELD, Swallow Tales ECM Records ECM 2679, CD (2020).
⸜ REYNA QOTRUNNADA, Passion, Master Music MMXR24001, XRCD24 ⸜ 2019.
⸜ DIRE STRAITS, Brothers in Arms, Vertigo/Universal Music Ltd. Hong Kong 5483572SX, SHM-XRCD2 ⸜ 1985/2011.
⸜ MAYO NAKANO PIANO TRIO, Miwaku, Briphonic BRPN-7007GL, Extreme Hard Glass CD-R (2017).
⸜ LISA GERRARD & PIETER BOURKE, Duality, 4AD/Sonic Records SON 139, CD ⸜ 1998.

→ FILES
⸜ ZOË KEATING, The Path w: Into The Trees, self-publishing/Tidal FLAC 16/44,1 ⸜ 2010
⸜ CANNONBAL EDDERLEY, Autumn Leaves w: Somethin’ Else, Blue Note/Tidal Master, FLAC MQA Studio 24/192 (1958/2014).
⸜ FINNEAS O'CONNELL, A Concert Six Months From Now w: Optymist, Interscope Records/Tidal Master, FLAC MQA 24/88,2 (2021).
⸜ VINI VICI, Make Us Stronger w: Ghost Rider, Dreamstate Records DREAMSTATE01, FLAC 16/44,1 (2017).
⸜ HANIA RANI, At Dawn w: Venice – Infinitely Avantgarde, XXIM Records/Tidal Master, FLAC MQA Studio 24/48 (2022).

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IN THE TEST OF A DEVICE OF THIS TYPE, that is, one that offers the ability to shape the sound and tailor it to one's own system and one's own needs, the first step for the tester must be to determine which mode is best for him and which works best in his system. This is, of course, a subjective approach.

However, a good audio journalist's reference system should be built to not only meet his requirements, but also to be as transparent as possible to changes within it. Therefore, it should be assumed that the settings he chooses will also work well for readers. So I began my test of the DAM-1 DAC with the PA-1 REF power supply by indicating the way the DAC sounds best.

⸜ MODES There are three filter modes at our disposal. We can use the classic filters "sewn" into the D/A converters. Yet this is the least recommended option. There is also a NOS mode, i.e. without oversampling, as well as conversion to DSD256.

It doesn't take long to determine that the absolute best for PCM signals is NOS mode. After boosting the output signal to 2.0 (the indication on the display) level, I received an unbelievably deep and dense sound. I'm familiar with this type of mode from various devices, most often - surprise surprise - made in China or Singapore, so I was prepared for what I would hear.

The scale of the changes, however, was a surprise to me. JOHN SCOFIELD's guitar from Swallow Tales or REYN QUOTRUNNAD's beautiful voice from Passion as remastered at JVC studios and released on XRCD24, but also all the other discs I listened to, all were extremely energetic and saturated. Energy and saturation - possibly fullness - are the two main elements you get with the NOS mode.

But the tonal balance also changes with it. There is less treble in recordings, and more low midrange and bass. The change is quite pronounced, so if you like a more direct and open presentation, you can use the NORMAL mode. Bodies of instruments are not as clear with it as they are with NOS, and the stage is a bit flattened. But openness, impact, carrying capacity - this is something that this mode offers. Interestingly, the class of sound is not too different from what you get with the mode without oversampling. Yes, I preferred NOS, but I could also listen to this device in its basic mode as well.

I didn't expect it, but I had the most trouble listening to the DAC in ALL DSD mode. In theory, it should be the best; after all, I myself use such upsampling in my SACD player, and consider it its most important advantage. Here, however, at least in comparison with the NOS and NORMAL modes, it performed worse.

When I sent a PCM signal to the DAC, the sound was smooth on the one hand and slightly brightened in the upper midrange on the other. The overall sound also has a slightly fuzzy edge and there was a lack of energy in the presentation. Much better results were achieved, on the other hand, when the input signal was DSD. Then it made sense and could be enjoyed. And yet, whenever I could, I chose the NOS mode and ran the test with this setting.

⸜ SOUND • NOS The tested converter plays fantastically. That is the thing I would like to convey to you in this text, the rest is didascalia. Important, but side issues. The device is very, but very "musical" - in the sense that the technique disappears behind the emotions that are extracted from the recordings. And this is true regardless of what kind of music we listen to.

The DAM-1 offers the listener a rich panorama and a dense, wide-bandwidth presentation. I mentioned earlier about the slight treble roll off in NOS mode, and that's true. But not all of it. On the one hand, the focus shifts towards the midrange, there would probably be less treble on the graph, but on the other hand, the energy of this range was higher just with NOS. And this is not a contradiction. Static measurements show one thing, and dynamic measurements show something else. The tested DAC shines precisely because it performs brilliantly with music, rather than staying with perfect measurement signals.

This worked out very well with the Passion album, but I heard it even better with the DIRE STRAITS disc and the ˻ 2 ˺ Money For Nothing. This time I went for the SAHM-XRCD2 version of this disc, which sounds in a rather hard way and sometimes a bit bright - it was taken directly from the U-matic PCM-1630 16/44.1 tape, onto which it was remastered. The DAM-1 showed it exactly that way, it didn't change the edge of the attack, didn't burn in the low midrange harder than necessary to get big sound sources. And yet the presentation was interesting with it, engaging with its energy and colors.

The tested DAC slightly weighs down the midrange. It does this primarily in NOS mode, but in the other two it is also an important component of their sound. LISA GERARD's vocalizations from the Duality album, recorded in 1998 with PETER BOURKE, an Australian drummer, composer and sound engineer, were thus heavier than with the Ayon player. And the latter, after all, is not one of the "light-sounding" players.

That's why the sound is so big with this converter, and instruments have big volume. There is no chiseling of details, instead there is energy, there is power, there is scale. Details are not celebrated not because they are not there in the sound, but because the presentation is so multicolored and so multifaceted that we stop paying attention to them, we listen to the whole, not the individual elements.

This is important because the DAM-1 with the PA-1 REF is a very resolving device. An example? - Reyna Quotrunnada's album is a collection of recordings from different studios. You can tell when they are changing, for example, by the fact that some of the recordings, such as ˻ 3 ˺ For Once or ˻ 5 ˺ My Funny Valentine were recorded with a slight overtone. It's distortion added to the signal, generated by a 50 or 60 Hz power supply that hasn't been fully filtered out. "Buzz" is generated by tube guitar amps and tube equipment. It's easy to miss if the system is not resolving enough or has lean bass. With the DAC we're talking about it was immediately clear.

However, there is something to consider when deciding on this device: it tries to make everything sound pleasant with it. Because the aforementioned albums sounded like that, so did the files played from the Lumin T3 working as a transport. ZOË KEATING in The Path, where the melodic line and backing are played on the cellos, both bowed and pizzicato, thus had as much energy and a similar tonal balance to the Dire Straits and Gerard/Burke duo albums. It was an excellent balance, an excellent sound, to be clear. But similar.

That's why switching a CD player to a file player (both working as transports) was not as pronounced as I've become accustomed to in other tests. This is because the DAM-1 gives the sound a depth and it sticks to it every time. Still, it is a beautiful presentation. That's why the exotic sounds from ˻ 6 ˺ Ride Across The River by Dire Straits as well as the beautiful ˻ ˻ 1 ˺ Autumn Leaves from CANNONBAL EDDERLEY's Somethin' Else, and all the ones that followed, were so saturated, so beautiful in how densely "woven" their matter was, that it was the greatest pleasure to listen to them.

▌ Summary

IT'S TIME TO GET TO IT: the old world is gone. Not yet in the biblical sense, not yet as the apostle John saw it and as he wrote about in Apocalypse (AP 21). But within our world, here and now, it seems that the hierarchy of many things is changing and there is a shift in focus. In the West, we still cling to the paradigm that the center of the audiophile world is in the States and/or Europe. This is no longer the case, we just haven't noticed it focused on ourselves.

The DAM-1 with the company's top-of-the-line power supply shows that for relatively little money, at least as far as high-end is concerned, you can design, build and sell devices offering fantastic sound. Also interesting in this is the direction in which Chinese and Singaporean manufacturers, whose products I've heard in recent years, are moving, They are betting on HDMI II2 connectivity and on NOS techniques and - some - discrete, resistor-based converters.

This gives a certain common denominator to all their products, in which Western manufacturers may see an opportunity to differentiate themselves. The DAM-1 offers dense, full, big sound. It is very resolving. It differentiates sounds within recordings brilliantly. But it also differentiates poorly within the recordings themselves. Whether you play FINNEAS in ˻ 1 ˺ A Concert Six Months From Now, with its rock tendencies, or the electronics of GHOST RIDER from ˻ 18 ˺ Make Us Stronger, or even the processed piano sound from HANIA RANI’s ˻ 13 ˺ At Dawn, each time it will be the same fullness, the same scale, the same tonality.

So there is a beauty you can listen to recordings no matter where they come from or how they were prepared, because they will sound great. They will all be energetic and big, so that the sound will not die out between the speakers, and it will tear the emotional veil between us and the performer. If this is what you are looking for in music, you are home, congratulations!

▌ DESIGN

BOTH SOUNDAWARE devices, the D/A converter DAM-1 and the power supply PA-1 REF, use the same enclosures. They differ only in the front and rear panels. This gives considerable savings, as has been practiced before by the British company Cyrus, for example. These are rigid aluminum plate structures, additionally stiffened with heat sinks. They are black and are placed on two sides. I mentioned heat sinks at the beginning. As it turns out, the active components in the power supply are screwed to the bottom of the case, not to them. So they are only part of the chassis.

The housings are finished by sandblasting, not - as we are used to in the US or Europe - by machining that looks like "scratching" with a brush. From the very beginning, as soon as the first devices from China intended for the audiophile market arrived this was one of their distinguishing features. The converter stands on feet molded into spikes, to which the manufacturer adds (I assume) pads. The power supply stands on classic feet.

˻ DAM-1 REF ˺ The front panel of the DAC features a small display and seven buttons, which allow user to select the input, mode or filter. There is a micro LED above the power button, and another of the same kind symmetrically on the other side of the front. On the back, there are a number of sockets with gold-plated contacts - the XLRs are from Neutrik. There's also a four-pin screw-in socket for the power supply and a ground terminal. Next to the HDMI jack we find four DIP switches, which allow us to set the "format" of data transfer. In turn, above the USB socket there is a button that separately activates this section.

The electronics were assembled on a single, small PCB. Almost all the components were surface-mounted, except for a few capacitors. Apparently, it was deemed worthwhile to do so in just these places - these are voltage stabilization circuits. These are ERO and Wima capacitors, as well as long-lost Elna Silmic II (with silk clad spacers).

Attention is drawn primarily to three, sizable chips, covered by gold-plated screens. One reads "PA1 Reference Module Inside," the second, largest, reads "Jinling DSP Reference Version," and the third reads "NOS, 1 bit DSD & Sigma-Deta Module." These designate the three main modules of the device. Between the first two there is still a DSP chip. Next to the DSP module are two, excellent-looking, temperature-compensated clocks, separately for each of the 44.1 and 48 kHz frequency families.

We should add that the board with the control of the display and the entire device, located at the front panel, has been separated from the rest of the circuit by a thick screen.

˻ PA-1 REF ˺ The interior of the power supply is also only partially filled. A quite large toroidal power transformer is placed in the front corner. It is shielded and flooded with vibration-reducing resin. It was screwed to the bottom not directly, but through some kind of flexible material. The AC supply from the EIC socket is filtered in front of it in a large choke and several capacitors.

From the transformer, power runs to a board bolted to the side, into which a large integrated rectifier bridge and an equally large voltage stabilizing circuit are soldered. A large 39,000 μF capacitor works with them. But it gets even more interesting further on - for right next to it we find two capacitors called D Cell. This is a technology belonging to their manufacturer, Maxwell Technologies. Each of these capacitors offers an incredible capacity of 370 Farads (!). Admittedly at 2.7 volts, but still. They are separated from the bottom of the enclosure by soft micro-rubber. From here, thick cables ( marked for directionality) go to the board on the rear panel, where there are circuits re-clocking the USB signal.

They are superbly prepared devices, both on the mechanical and electrical side. Both bring proprietary high-end technologies at a price that the rest of the world can only dream of. ●

▌ Technical specifications (according to the manufacturer)

Digital inputs:
• USB: PCM 32 bits, 384 kHz, DSD256
• optical: PCM 32 bits,192 kHz, DSD(DOP) 64
• AES/EBU: PCM 32 bits, 384 kHz, DSD(DOP) 128
• RCA: PCM 32 bits, 384 kHz, DSD(DOP) 128
• HDMI IIS input: PCM 32 bits, 384 kHz, DSD256

Maximum output signal (switchable):
• RCA: 1,7 V/2 V
• XLR: 3,4 V/4 V
S/N: 129 dB
Dynamics: 129 dB
THD+N: 0,0001%
Power consumption: ~10 W
Dimensions (W x H x D): 320 x 223 x 60 mm
Weight: 4,3 kg