ANK DAC5.1 Signature, Construction Manual

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6 - DAC5.1 History & Technical Overview
The DAC5.1 Signature has grown out of over 12 years of DAC research and development at
AudioNote and ANKits.
The DAC1.1, released in 2001, incorporated a solid state power supply and a single 12au7
output tube. Designed using the audio note resistor ladder architecture, this made it a powerful
and cost effective option. The kit business started to gain a lot of traction around 2003 as
ANKits and in 2007, the DAC2.1 was released. The old power supply was retired in favor of the
new M2 Power Supply which was both tube rectified and tube regulated. The line stage was a
dual 6922 output which made for a much lower output impedance than the DAC1.1. IV
transformers were introduced into the kits for the first time and it was a great success!
In 2009, the DAC3.1 was launched where we moved to the transformer coupled output stage.
In 2011, based on customer demand and feedback, the DAC4.1 was launched and it became
ANK’s most successful product to date, also launching the triple C core output transformers.
Since 2011 we have been looking at DAC architectures and trying to track the ever evolving
industry. We settled on architecting and developing the DAC5.1 where we took a fresh look at
not only all the digital aspects of this new DAC, but also the analog aspects as well. The list of
advancements in this DAC is quite extraordinary, as you can see below:
New Shunt Based Power Supply incorporating the WE 274B rectifier (5U4G)
New Digital Board with new on board Power supply for quiet operation
Super Regulator Board introduced using latest regulator technology
New Large Can IV transformers for interface between digital and analog domains
New 12au7 – ECC99 Line stage
Triple C core output transformers
WBT 75Ohm RCA input
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