NuPrime Dac-9X – Xtreme?

Intro

NuPrime is an American company that specializes mainly in Class D amplifiers and d/a converters. Big boss Jason Lim has led NuPrime since 2014 and is very committed to innovation. The company has its own look and sound, and in this way tries to distinguish itself from the competition. After our last multitest, we were triggered enough to take the NuPrime Dac-9X home and test it a bit longer. This little box certainly deserves as much. Let’s get started because there’s a lot to say about this NuPrime Dac-9X. Let’s check it out!

The NuPrime Dac-9X is a small device (half width) with a width of 23.5 cm and depth of 28 cm. Together with its modest height of 6 cm, this unit seems ideally suited as a desktop d/a converter. Its built-in headphone amplifier only confirms that idea. If you want a unit with regular dimensions, there is the even better-specified DAC 2 from the Evolution series.

At the front right side, we see a small volume control that doubles as a mute button. Next to it is a small switch to either use the dac as variable or fixed. On the left side, we see an identical rotary knob that in turn serves to select the inputs. Pressing the knob activates or deactivates the device. Next to it is the 6.3 mm headphone output. The NuPrime and MQA logo complete the front.

At the back, it’s very crowded. Lots of inputs and outputs. There are both balanced and rca outputs and there is also an optical output. There are five digital inputs including two different I2S inputs, one optical, one coaxial and one usb input. And, rather uncommon, an analog input. So you can use this dac/preamp in a lot of situations. A trigger-out and an extension port complete the rear panel.

Innovative

As we stated earlier, this is a very versatile device and so it is packed inside with lots of different circuitry. A dual-mono circuit for high-precision digital volume control. A dual-mono dac based on the 32 bit ESS Sabre 9028Q2M dac chip. And a low-noise power supply with anti-vibration treatment. The dac also decodes Native MQA files, DSD streams up to DSD256 and PCM streams up to 384k via USB and I2S.

The NuPrime Dac-9X is a good looking unit that is solidly built. It is available in black and silver and looks very good on our hifi rack. A little screen with blue LEDs shows the selected input and/or volume, clearly visible, from the listening chair. We cannot get rid of the impression that this unit is built to be used on the desk next to a computer, but we used the NuPrime Dac-9X in our reference system. We didn’t need the small but nice remote control very often because we only briefly used the preamp.