I take the position that too much worrying gets put into converters. I've heard low end converters that sound respectable despite their shortcomings and high end converters that sound like plastic. The one area that my ears tell me matters more than anything is the digital to analog conversion.

In digital recording, digital to analog conversion is not the same as in a CD player. A hard disk recording system will create problems for the digital to analog converters. Problem No. 1 is jitter. Jitter causes distortion in the high frequencies. Have you heard anyone complaining about a need to warm up a recording? It's probably jitter.

Problem No. 2 is aliasing artifacts in the low mids. Do your tracks sound a little beefy before you ever begin tweaking them? It might be the aliasing artifacts being put out by your digital to analog converters.

With these problems in mind, I checked out the Lucid DA9624. It's a stereo digital to analog converter. As the name implies it maxes out at a sample rate of 96 kHz and a bit depth of 24 bits. However, it supports sample rates of 96 kHz, 88.2 kHz, 48 kHz, 44.1 kHz, and 32 kHz.

The Lucid DA9624 is a 1U piece of gear in a half-width chassis. Translation: Get out the universal rack tray or order the optional Lucid RM-4 rackmount tray.

On the front, the Lucid DA9624 features an LED dB meter, a headphone jack with volume control, and an output level control. The front of the unit also features an input selection switch with choices of inputs from AES/EBU, S/PDIF coaxial, and S/PDIF TOS-LINK. The rear of the DA9624 features corresponding digital inputs as well as XLR and 1/4 inch output connectors.

I liked the output level control on the front of the DA9624. In today's world of powered monitors, I like the ability to be able to control output at the digital to analog converters.

I listened to a variety of sources through the DA9624 over a 60 day period. I found some surprisingly good sounding recordings made with even some basic low cost audio cards. The DA9624 did not present a false picture of the low mids. They did not come across as beefy but fairly close to how they sounded when originally recorded.

The highs came across without distortion. I didn't feel a need to warm up any recordings. I felt confident in applying EQ to the high end.

The Lucid DA9624 performed as a digital to analog converter should. It gave a fairly accurate representation from the low to high frequencies. Nothing seemed accentuated.

I'd recommend that anyone seeking to upgrade converters look to digital to analog converters as the first upgrade. Then, you can assess your analog to digital converters.

The Bottom Line: The Lucid DA9624 provides an unhyped digital to analog conversion at a reasonable price. Street price is under $700. Highly recommended.

Link relating to this review: Lucid