I saw this in the video Steve just released of his new Silver 8 speakers. It is definitely in the loop and looks to be a tube DAC with gain control. Something new?



John

The fact that it is on top of the Cambridge DAC tells me that it’s prolly a ZBIT. To take advantage of the DAC’s balanced connections, to the SE84UFO25.

I think the cables next to it must just be sitting there and not connected to anything.

Yes, it is a ZBIT and it's how you make that or any DAC sound like it cost twice as much.  In this example, I have created a gain structure between the preamp volume controls and the amplifier controls as well as got the room balance where I want it and would hate to loose the setting since it takes some time to fine.  The ZBIT them becomes the master volume for the whole ball of wax which is why you saw me turn it up on one of the electronic music videos.

I think as far as DACs Steve is "once bitten, twice shy." He created a great one for the price and the Chinese company he contracted with. . . ripped it off. After that he built a very intriguing one for himself (you could blend tube and solid state output!) but I don't know if he ever made others, perhaps, but it did not become a catalog item.