Custom low center of gravity gel suspension disc drive mechanism

The Origo's optical disc drive mechanism is a highly customized in-house design. The key design feature is the low center of gravity suspension. This concept is commonly used in turntable design, but is rarely seen in digital disc players.

The heavy-duty machined aluminum chassis is suspended below the geometrical pivot points, sitting right at the mechanical stable equilibrium position. This provides the highest immunity against shaking or swinging. Critically damped alpha gel couplers are installed in the suspension system to isolate any external vibration and absorb any unwanted resonance.

The result is an optical disc drive system that is designed for the best possible sound quality.

Ultra-high speed 768kHz internal sampling rate

The Origo operates at the highest possible sampling rate of 768kHz. This is far ahead of the 192kHz digital audio master, or even the extreme 352.8kHz used in the most advanced recording studios. Operating at such a high sampling rate ensures that all digital artifacts are pushed further away from the audio frequency band, allowing the use of a gentle slope passive analog low-pass filter to preserve the high frequency phase response. It also makes the Origo compatible with future high-resolution audio formats.

Cross-coupled multiple balanced PCM1704K R2R DAC

The legendary PCM1704K DAC is still the choice for the Origo II. The PCM1704K is the only DAC that belongs entirely to the analog domain because there is no digital processor or modulator inside. Its pure ladder architecture also does not produce any high-energy pulses that are inevitable in the common delta-sigma DACs.

Four of these selected grade PCM1704K DAC chips are used in each channel in a parallel balanced configuration. Two DACs for the positive phase and two DACs for the negative phase. The true balanced configuration, with the reference voltages in each of the positive and negative DACs cross-coupled together, functionally eliminates all common mode interference. The parallel DAC configuration further minimizes the residue noise floor to a whole new low level.

Dual differential high slew-rate current to voltage converters

The critical current to voltage converter has been vastly improved. New differential mode current to voltage amplifiers with twice the bandwidth and three times the slew-rate have been used. These new high-speed, low-noise I to V amplifiers handle the high sampling rate staircase shape analog waveform perfectly. And there are not only one, but two sets of these differential I to V amplifiers connected in parallel configuration to reduce the noise and distortion to below the measurement limit.

Femtosecond jitter oven-controlled crystal oscillator with low interference differential interface

The audio master clock used in the Origo is a custom oven-controlled crystal oscillator (OCXO). It is a sophisticated SC-cut quartz crystal oscillator protected inside a temperature-regulated chamber, isolating it from any fluctuation in ambient conditions. This OCXO is not only as good as the atomic clock in terms of aging and long-term stability, but is also superior in phase noise and exhibits the state-of-the-art sub-100fs jitter performance.

Having the most precise clock in a CD player is crucial, but bringing the clock signal to the DAC accurately is equally important. The Origo has adopted the same high-speed matched load differential transmission line technology used in 8K HDMI video interfaces, which is capable of extremely high data rate transmission with effectively zero added jitter. The differential architecture of this high-speed clock interface prevents interference between the master clock and the data buses, and also prevents any digital noise from leaking into the analog circuit.

Motorized shield chamber for total noise isolation

The housing of the Origo is divided into four separate compartments to enable total isolation between every functional block, both mechanically, electrically, and magnetically. 10mm thick solid aluminum motorized doors provide airtight shielding against outside noise. Machined aluminum partitions and ferromagnetic shielding panels are used between each compartment, such as the power supply, disc loader, microcontroller, DSP, and the DAC. Communications between the non-audio related circuits are galvanically isolated by capacitive barrier interface. This is practically several independent equipment pieced together seamlessly, yet without any harmful interference.

Tri-axial mechanical suspension

The Origo features a strategically arranged tri-axial mechanical suspension that provides superior mechanical isolation in both the vertical and horizontal directions. This suspension system is composed of twelve high-damping rubber springs that are oriented to minimize vibration and resonance. The suspension stiffness between the x-y-z axes has been carefully matched to ensure that the Origo is isolated from vibrations in all directions.

USB and network audio input

In addition to the traditional coaxial and balanced AES-EBU inputs, the Origo also features an asynchronous USB audio input and a network streamer input. Both of these inputs support the latest high-resolution audio formats, including 24bit 192kHz PCM and 11.2896MHz DSD256.

Digital inputs:

1 symmetrical

1 asymmetrical

USB 2.0 high speed compliant

Network

Input impedance:

Input impedance:

Minimium input level:

110 Ohm

75 Ohm

0.2V pk-pk

Digital outputs:

1 symmetrical

1 asymmetrical

Output Impedance:

Output level:

Output Impedance:

Output level:

110 Ohm

1.6V pk-pk

75 Ohm

1.2V pk-pk

Input resolution:

Up to 24bit -192KHz

Core sampling rate:

768KHz internal

Frequency response:

20 Hz to 40 kHz (+0 / -1.0 dB)

THD+N:

<0.001%

Noise floor:

<-160dBr

Channel separation:

>130dB

Analogue outputs:

1 symmetrical

1 asymmetrical

Full scale output voltage:

Output impedance:

Output impedance:

3.9Vrms

150 Ohm

75 Ohm

Power consumption:

50W

Weight:

40kg net

Dimension:

485 mm x 509 mm x 194 mm (W x D x H)