West of Florence you will find the traditional Italian HiFi manufacturer Audio Analogue. They originated in 1995, and have tended to name their electronics by major Italian composers.

PureAA

In 2016, Audio Analogue launched a new series called PureAA. Or rather - it was the AAcento integrated amplifier that was launched in 2016, and then the RIAA AAphono came in 2018. And while AAcento is a full-fledged amplifier, AAphono is a half-width product. Perhaps a little surprising, and even more surprising that they prioritized a phono-stage when the integrated amplifier already had turntable input for both MM and MC.

Audio Analogue AAdac

So Audio Analogue now launch a pure DAC, and also it is a compact half-width component. And although this DAC according to the manufacturer follows Audio Analogue's product philosophy with simplicity, there are a lot of configuration options in the setup menu. Some would appreciate that the diodes can be dimmed, while there is also the possibility of adjusting the channel balance. Perhaps the most interesting feature is that the user can choose from 7 different filters. And you can also choose between a fixed or variable level output mode.

On the front panel we also find a headphone output. Audio Analogue claims that this is a high quality output.

Digital features

The DAC chip used in AAdac is the ESS Saber ES9038. It can handle signals up to 32bit / 768kHz via ordinary digital inputs, and 32bit / 384kHz via Amanero USB converter. Also DSD up to 512 can be played. And a Bluetooth antenna serves incoming aptX-signals.

There are two coax and one optical input, as well as an AES / EBU and a USB-B. AAdac has a fully balanced output stage and is equipped with both XLR and RCA terminals.

Read more about AAdac at Audio Analogue