Prism Sound CALLIA USB Audiophile DAC and Pre-amplifier

Description

Designed and manufactured exclusively in the United Kingdom, the Prism Sound CALLIA USB Digital to Analogue Converter (DAC) and digital audio preamplifier is tailored for listening to music.

CALLIA is simply the best way to experience digital music. Coupled with high quality analogue power amplification and loudspeakers, CALLIA will deliver your music exactly as the recording producer intended. Whether it is early music, symphonic, choral, easy listening, elevator music, jazz, pop, hip-hop, EDM, garage, hard rock or something else, the clarity and neutrality of CALLIA will amaze you with its flexibility in the face of such different genres.

Using the acclaimed Prism Sound signal path, clock circuitry, ARM Cortex processor & USB platform of the Prism Sound professional range, CALLIA supports USB and S/P-DIF players.

No-compromise, full Prism Sound audio quality

The design goal for CALLIA was to provide Prism Sound audio quality in a sophisticated but easy to use package for listening to music at home. CALLIA makes no compromises on audio quality. CALLIA delivers the standard of audio performance demanded by top recording professionals at sampling rates from 44.1kHz to 384kHz^**** or in DSD64 or DSD128.

CALLIA has the same no-compromise analogue circuitry as its professional cousins, with the same fully-balanced-throughout architecture and the same isolation barriers protecting the analogue from digital and computer interference.

CALLIA draws on Prism Sound’s years of experience in developing digital audio products, including its range of audio measurement equipment, adopted by a wide variety of clients across the audio industry from pro-audio to consumer electronics. This experience means that CALLIA is well-behaved both as a computer peripheral and an audio processor.

Reliability is vitally important in professional recording. Prism Sound has always made extensive use of precise software calibration techniques in its converters – pots and tweaks are always unreliable, so there are none.

The design team has gone to great lengths to minimise noise and interference, in particular hum. All of the analogue circuits have galvanic isolation, while the unit’s electronically balanced I/O allows it to handle common mode interference sources as well as enabling trouble-free connection to unbalanced equipment.

It is often said that THD+N figures do not always correlate well with the perception of sound quality and this is true – partly because the traditional measures of THD+N or SINAD expressed as RMS figures are rather a broad measure. With this in mind, we have taken great care to make sure that not only is the RMS THD+N figure very good, but the CALLIA noise and distortion spectrum is beyond reproach and that CALLIA provides the most transparent listening experience.

New high-current, low-impedance headphone output

The CALLIA headphone output is a brand new design, different from that of the professional audio range. The CALLIA headphone output is a high-current, low impedance design optimized for the best possible performance. CALLIA handles the wide range of headphone sensitivities and impedances by providing several operating ranges, selected by switch presets on the rear panel of the unit. In this way, CALLIA can easily handle headphones from a few ohms to more than 250 ohms and will deliver a smooth, well-balanced and transparent sound.

Easy connectivity to your computer, tablet* or transport

In CALLIA, we have created a unit compatible with the widest range of computer hardware using a USB2 interface supporting UAC2 audio. CALLIA also supports S/P-DIF digital audio inputs.

Audio formats

CALLIA supports linear PCM in 2’s complement binary coding and, using the “DSD over PCM” (DOP) protocol, DSD at the original bit-rate (DSD64) and also at 2 x the original rate (DSD128). DSD Files encoded as “DOP” may be played with both ASIO and WDM drivers.

Learn more about DSD and the CALLIA implementation: CALLIA DSD Technology

Balanced and unbalanced outputs

CALLIA offers balanced and unbalanced output formats at +14dBu and 2Vrms respectively. The balanced output is presented on professional XLR male pin connectors and the unbalanced (consumer) output is on industry-standard “Phono” co-axial connectors.

Unsurpassed Jitter Rejection

CALLIA uses the same “CleverClox” hybrid digital phase-locked loop (DPLL) circuitry as Prism Sound professional products. Prism Sound digital audio products re-generate ultra-stable clocks for best quality conversion.

In the 1990s following initial work by Prism Sound principals Ian Dennis and Graham Boswell, Prism Sound went on to pioneer investigation of the effects of timing jitter on analogue to digital (A/D) and digital to analogue (D/A) conversion. The company produced numerous technical papers many of which are now regarded as standard reading by todays audio engineering professionals. The company developed special test stimuli such as the “JTEST” signal for S/P-DIF and AES3 interconnections and also developed special measurement capabilities in its range of audio test & measurement equipment.

Support

Over the years, Prism Sound’s reputation for audio quality has been matched by its reputation for after-sales support and technical advice. CALLIA has the benefit of that support and customers have access to one of the best technical teams in the business.