QUESTYLE CMA TWELVE DAC + HEADPHONE AMP

Digital-to-analogue converters — DACs — are ubiquitous these days, taking the signals from our modern digital sources and computers, converting them to analogue before amplification. But like everything else in home entertainment technology, their quality varies. At one end of the scale there is that little white dongle to go between your iPhone 7 (or later) and your wired headphones of choice. At the other end are high-quality units like the Questyle CMA Twelve, which is one of the breed designed to operate both as a versatile DAC, and as a high-quality headphone amplifier.

Equipment

So the Questyle CMA Twelve is a versatile slab of electronics. As a DAC you can use it for all likely forms of digital audio, since it’s equipped (see back panel, opposite) with one input each for optical digital audio, coaxial digital audio, AES/EBU digital audio (this is the standard used in studios) and for computer audio delivered via a USB-B input.

The unit has no analogue inputs at all. And you wouldn’t expect any on a normal DAC, but you might on a headphone amplifier, so just note that you cannot use the Questyle CMA Twelve