Our Secret

The fact that dCS has remained at the forefront of the digital audio world is testament to the skill and commitment of everyone who has ever been involved with dCS: customers and employees alike.

We are passionate about the electronics we produce and we know this is a passion shared by our enthusiastic owners. These owners always ask what our secret is and the truth is that the amazing performance of our products is down to a combination of our unique technology and our drive for excellence.

Get The Science Right...Then Listen

First we get the science right. Then we design a product not constrained by conventional design approaches. This means that we avoid the weaknesses of semiconductor manufacturers' stock solutions and can focus on building a product that delivers optimum performance.

Once we have achieved this we listen and listen again as we do not just build to numbers! Sure, empirical data has an important role to play in the design process but it doesn't end there. An example of this is that we were the first company to develop a consumer upsampler and although we couldn't rationalise it using scientific data we knew for certain it sounded better.
Obviously to adopt this type of approach you need a total command of the science, and that's why we employ the smartest and most creative folks in the digital audio domain.

Never Compromise

It's easy to add new features and make cost savings in electronic products but our focus first and foremost is on performance. If we cannot build a product that is best in its class then we will not give it the dCS name. That's why (unlike every other high end audio manufacturer) we do not use commercial off-the-shelf DAC chips. Every element of a dCS unit has been designed with performance in mind and this attention to detail means that every component in our units makes a contribution to the sonic performance.

We Test and Test and Test Again

Our measurement techniques were born out of our leading edge work in military avionics. Every unit we produce is rigorously tested using our unique dCS converter technology before it ships. Performance is our number one requirement and for this reason we cannot rely on generic testing hardware and software to measure our products as they exceed the capability of standard test equipment. All of our test stations, hardware and software are still designed, built and maintained in-house.

Made in the UK

We source the best components from around the world but all design, assembly, testing and manufacturing is done in the UK to exact specifications that are the result of 21 years of experience in the digital audio arena. A typical dCS product takes approximately one week to build including assembly, 48 hour soak test, further bench testing and comprehensive sound checks.

Our People

At dCS our entire reputation depends on our people and we try to provide an environment where they can grow and flourish. We encourage learning, development and experimentation to help us create new and exciting products.

Anticipating the Future

We encourage ground-breaking development and experimentation at dCS. Our product ranges are modular which means audiophiles can build and expand their dCS system over time. Data formats change, as do customer requirements and that is why we are one of very few manufacturers that develop products with flexible architectures. This allows us to continually improve our products and extend their lifetime in the face of changing technologies.

Unique Technology

Our digital processing circuitry is based around Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) chips, Digital Signal Processing (DSP) chips and a microcontroller system, all of which runs code developed and maintained by dCS. Our PCM interface and Phase Locked Loop (PLL) circuitry are essentially discrete. This means our hardware is completely controlled and reconfigurable by software - making it the softest hardware on the market.

We have progressively developed this design over the last 21 years and it is one of the key concepts that has allowed dCS to drive the high sample rate revolution. The current version is still at the cutting edge of digital audio, delivering unmatched sonic performance and getting closer to the original analogue signal than any other product.

Our latest product ranges push the boundaries of what is possible with digital audio even further and is testament to our unique approach to digital audio.