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Description: The Skylla is a powerful machine and as impressive as the simultaneously introduced CD-5 player. The only thing the Skylla subtracts is the transport mechanism but it benefits from a better power supply as one of the transformers no longer has to run the transport mechanism. The Skylla chassis is far bigger than the CD-1 or CD-2, even larger than the DP-700 Accuphase and matched to the dimensions of the firm’s Polaris II preamplifier. The back panel in fact looks like a well-equipped preamplifier. There are two analogue outputs (RCA and XLR) at either side and a little switch turns one of them off. There is another switch to choose between max 4, 6 or 9V RMS output where the CD-5 only offers 4 and 9. In the middle of the back panel sit the analog and digital inputs and digital outputs. There are two pairs of analog inputs with an internal A/D converter and an analog input can be tapped from the digital output.
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An incoming digital signal first encounters the Burr-Brown PCM4202, a very good 24/216 chip with great parameters. The PCM4202 architecture utilizes a 1-bit delta-sigma modulator per channel and supports 24-bit linear PCM output data with sampling frequencies up to 216kHz. There are several digital inputs: twin S/PDIF (RCA), TOSLINK, AES/EBU (XLR), I²S carried on Ethernet like the North Star Design products and type B USB. There are also two digital outputs on S/PDIF (RCA) and AES/EBU (XLR). A red LED next to the IEC confirms proper AC polarity.
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The front carries a rather large red dot-matrix display which shows selected input or volume level. Unfortunately volume info requires pressing a button. I think it should be displayed at all times like the Ancient Audio players. I would also be happy to see information on whether the digital input signal is 16/44 or 24/96. This is important when a PC’s operating system enforces a sampling rate which we can't easily verify. Next to the display is a red 24/192 LED to show whether upsampling is engaged. The metal remote control looks very nice but it is utterly impractical with 32 buttons of the same shape and size. Its main advantage is as a system remote which operates Ayon’s CD players, preamplifier, integrated amplifier and Skylla converter.
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Inside we find plenty of tubes. In the output stage each channel gets two 6H30 ‘super triodes’ which some time ago were exclusive to the Ministry of Defense in the Soviet Union and later employed by the American Balanced Audio Technology company. Now this tube is available to all interested parties and manufactured by Sovtek. The Skylla places all its tubes on one big PCB where one finds high-quality parts like metalized precision resistors and fantastic coupling capacitors. The latter have a tremendous influence on the final result. I took part in many auditions that compared different types of capacitors from various suppliers and the differences were not just significant, they sometimes were decisive about whether the machine was great or no good at all. In the Skylla and CD-5 we get something special as both the output stage and power supply run high-value 3.3uF expensive Mundorf MCap Supreme capacitors.
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There are four Chinese NOS 6X4 rectifiers to form a full-wave rectifier for the output tubes’ anodes. In the complex power supply we find three Japanese R-core transformers from Kitamura Kiden. Both Mundorf capacitors and Kiden transformers are made 'exclusively for Ayon Audio' and carry the Ayon logo. In any case, the power supply is surely overbuilt, featuring dedicated transformers for analog (both channels), digital and probably the input stage. The first stage employs large polypropylene capacitors like Conrad-Johnson. There is dual choke AC filtering.
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The D/A converters are a different story. There are commonly praised chips like the Philips TDA1543 or Burr-Brown PCM1704. The latter was a multi-bit BiCMOS converter that hit the market precisely on July 25th 1998 and is already out of production. These are the real kings of NOS DACs. Gerhard pulled off something crazier by securing a batch of PCM1704K, specially selected chips with the highest performance parameters. Those accept up to 24/96 signal. The CD-5 and Skylla both run a 24/192 upsampler which gets applied to the CD data. The same occurs with all signals presented at the digital inputs. The interesting thing is that the PCM1704K works up to 96kHz but obviously the eightfold oversampling can be defeated to accept higher-frequency input signal. Here we have four chips, two per channel.
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Before the signal enters the PCM1704K, it is received by Burr-Brown's SRC4193 and afterwards proceeds to a programmable modern Seiko NPC SM5847 DSP chip which controls volume and acts as digital filter since the PCM1704 DACs lack their own. As mentioned earlier, both Skylla DAC and CD-5 sport two analog inputs which are buffered by Burr-Brown opamps before being digitized by a 24/216 PCM4202 A/D converter. The USB input is handled by the inferior BB PCM2704 and thus limited to 16/48, what a pity! All Ayon had to do was use a FireWire input as did Weiss from Switzerland with their Minerva. FireWire sockets are commonly used in most modern laptops.
One other important goal of the Ayon designer was proper vibration damping and his chassis is made in China of beautifully crafted, brushed and black anodized high-grade 12mm aluminum. There is another company on the market—Chinese Raysonic Audio—which uses almost identical chassis. It's a brand which in fact was created by the OEM supplier of Ayon's chassis. The Skylla is supported on solid aluminum absorber feet with superior damping characteristics.
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opinia @ highfidelity.pl |
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