Legendary audio brand will soon ship two new compact, precision DACs that can play high-resolution audio files up to 384k from Macs and PCs

FRANKLIN, TN, June 9, 2015—Emotiva Audio Corporation, the company whose passion for immaculate sound and design has remade high-end audio for the masses, strikes another blow against the earbud empire with the introduction of the Big Ego and Little Ego USB digital-to-analog converters. These compact and affordable devices rewrite the rules on sonic expectations from digital audio sources like laptops.

“An entire generation of music lovers have very little understanding of how full and rich music should really sound,” says Dan Laufman, President of Emotiva. “Earbuds and digital compression are useful tools, but they have drastically lowered the bar for audio. Big Ego and Little Ego are designed to restore sonics to their full potential, returning detail, texture, harmonics and other highly desirable “analog” characteristics to digital audio sources. It’s a very big step.”

Big Ego
The Big Ego Precision 32/384 USB Digital to Analog Converter (SRP: $229) measures a mere 5-3/8” long x 2” wide x 3/4” high (thick), but it transforms digital files into full range, high resolution audio with performance rivaling a full-size component.

Windows® and Mac® computers treat Big Ego as they would a sound card. It connects easily to any computer with an external USB audio source, playing any audio file that can be played on the PC, and will provide superb sound quality with its internal headphones amplifier, or its dedicated Toslink and line level outputs.

Most Apple computers already have the drivers to support outputs up to 384kHz. Microsoft Windows drivers natively support sample rates up to 96k. To let Big Ego play higher-resolution audio files up to 384k, users simply need to install Emotiva Big Ego drivers for Windows. Drivers are available as free downloads at www.emotiva.com.

To optimize the listening experience, Big Ego features three different digital interpolation filters. The nuanced “unsampling” function effectively recreates a higher sample rate than the digital audio source for demonstrably improved sonics. Big Ego’s interpolation filters include:

  • The Symmetrical filter – a classical design combining equal amounts of pre-ringing and post-ringing. This is common to most DACs.
  • The Asymmetrical Low Damping filter – virtually no pre-ringing, but several cycles of post-ringing. Many listeners find this combination to sound lively and natural.
  • The Asymmetrical High Damping filter – Listeners describe this filter as “mellow sounding,” preserving tonal qualities like resonance and warmth.

The high-quality, low-impedance, direct coupled headphone output on Big Ego will drive all standard headphones, delivering stellar audio purity. The dedicated line output on the Big Ego can be connected to virtually any audio system. Big Ego also features a Toslink digital output carrying a S/PDIF version of the digital audio at the input, which can be routed to another DAC or a digital input on a pre/pro or AVR.

Little Ego
Emotiva’s Little Ego DAC (SRP: $169.00) is another small miracle, with pocket-sized dimensions of only 4-3/4” long x 1-3/4” wide x 5/8” high (thick). The Little Ego features a headphone / line output (no dedicated analog line output or Toslink output), due to its extraordinary portable size. But its power as a DAC is not in question. Little Ego has the same essential signal processing muscle as its big brother, Big Ego.

Big Ego and Little Ego are available exclusively at www.emotiva.com.

Emotiva Takes High PerformanceAbout Emotiva Audio Corporation
Emotiva Audio Corporation is a designer, manufacturer and marketer of high performance audio and video products. Outstanding performance and impeccable customer service has helped build a strong, dedicated following among the most demanding music and movie lovers.