Pulse-Array Conversion
The Pulse-Array is a development of the standard multi-bit Delta-Sigma typology and is the proprietary technology in our DACs and ADCs.
Advantages to our Pulse-Array conversion:
No component mismatch issues
No measurable noise-floor modulation
Negligible sensitivity to clock jitter
Standard Delta-Sigma conversion utilises a single pulse element with varying pulse density.
Pulse-Array converstion utilises a large number of pulses distributed amungst multiple pulse elements to produce a pulse-density modulated signal clocked at very high oversampling rates. Each element shares the same current, negating component mismatch issues.
The main issues of Delta-Sigma conversion include the poor rejection of clock jitter and noise-floor modulation. Noise-floor modulation is caused when switching noise is correlated to the signal, which is inevitable when using only one switching element.
With Pulse-Array conversion, only one element can be switched at one time, giving a very low level, constant switching noise. This gives no measureable noise-floor modulation and greatly reduces sensitivity to clock timing errors caused by jitter.
This gives significant improvements upon the conventional multi-bit Delta-Sigma, giving the large perceptual improvements in transient response, detail, and depth perception seen in our DACs and ADCs.
WTA Filter
WTA (Watts Transient Aligned) is our proprietary digital filtering technology, designed to reconstruct the original analogue waveform with exceptional temporal accuracy.
Advantages to our WTA filtering:
Exceptional transient timing accuracy
Highly accurate reconstruction of the original waveform
Improved preservation of low-level detail and spatial information
Conventional digital filters reconstruct the analogue waveform using a relatively short set of coefficients, which necessarily limits their ability to accurately model the behaviour of the original signal between samples.
WTA utilises a very large number of filter coefficients to more accurately reconstruct the waveform between each sample. The coefficients are optimised specifically for transient accuracy, allowing the filter to better reproduce the timing and shape of fast-changing signals.
The main limitation of conventional digital filtering is that an audio signal is not simply a sequence of independent samples. The waveform between samples must be reconstructed, and inaccuracies in this reconstruction can introduce temporal errors, particularly around transients. These errors can manifest as pre- and post-ringing and deviations from the original waveform.
WTA greatly increases the precision with which the waveform is reconstructed, while carefully controlling the filter's impulse response. This allows transient information to be reproduced with significantly greater temporal accuracy, preserving the timing relationships within the recording.
This gives significant improvements over conventional digital filtering, with the increased temporal accuracy contributing to the improved transient response, detail retrieval, separation, and depth perception experienced with our DACs and ADCs.