Audio Video News

Hong Kong-based Nativ today announced the launch of its Nativ Vita high-resolution wireless touchscreen music player and Nativ Wave DAC on the crowd funding site Indiegogo. As of today, the company has 50 backers and has reached 53 percent of its $100,000 goal with 60 days to go.

The Nativ Vita—featuring an 11.6-inch touch screen, a 4-terabyte hard drive, and built-in support for Apple Music, Spotify, and Tidal—is designed to stream music over Wi-Fi (802.11ac) from smartphones, computers, and NAS drives to any wireless headphone or speaker, including systems from Sonos and Bose SoundTouch, according to the company.

The player is also said to deliver music in “bit-perfect quality” to an AV receiver or DAC, such as the Nativ Wave headphone amp/DAC it is also introducing, and can be connected to a TV via HDMI or wirelessly via Google Cast. The system also supports Apple Airplay, Spotify Connect, and Bluetooth aptX.

The Nativ Wave is said to support all major formats, including DSD, DXD, and Meridian’s MQA technology.

The company said all of its products are hand-built in small production lots and crafted from premium-grade aluminum, Japanese-made Asahi glass, and solid American Oak or Walnut. An optional wall-mount is also being offered.

The Nativ Vita player and the Nativ Wave headphone amp/DAC are each being offered at the limited-quantity introductory price of $699. Estimated delivery is October.

More information is available at Indiegogo.com. From the press release:

Audiophiles will appreciate the high-end digital output stage with independent ultra-low noise power regulators, galvanic isolation and a special in-line filter to eliminate jitter and noise from the audio signal. All music is delivered in bit perfect quality to your A/V receiver or DAC via the asynchronous USB interface or four high-quality outputs for SPDIF and AES/EBU. Nativ Vita is designed for High-Resolution Audio and supports playback of DSD up to 11.2896 MHz (Quad-DSD), DXD and PCM files up to 32-bit/384 kHz.

Nativ Vita is also the world’s first high-end music player to come with a built-in multidirectional microphone and innovative voice control. Simply tell it what to play, adjust the volume or skip to the next track. Another industry first is Nativ’s open platform allowing developers to take advantage of its state-of-the-art technology and build interesting new features that go beyond pure audio applications…

Fully Balanced DAC and Headphone Amp< br> The 2nd pillar of Nativ’s new high-resolution music system is Nativ Wave, a high-performance DAC and headphone amplifier. Nativ Wave connects Nativ Vita—or other digital sources like your Mac, PC and TV—to your amplifier or A/V receiver to deliver audio in breathtaking clarity and detail. Inputs include a cutting-edge asynchronous USB 2.0 interface with a 16-CORE DSP from XMOS, and four high-quality terminals for S/PDIF (RCA, TosLink, BNC) and AES/EBU (XLR). Audio is processed in bit-perfect quality or upsampled to DSD (128x Fs).

Nativ Wave’s fully balanced DAC design is based on two Burr-Brown 24-bit/192kHz DSD1792A for outstanding musical accuracy with exceptional resolution and dynamic range. It features entirely separated left and right channels, each with its own dedicated linear power supply, analog circuitry and master clock. The sophisticated audio clock features two of the world’s best ultra-low phase noise oscillators by Crystek. Analog processing is done through high-performance operational amplifier modules, with German-made WIMA FP Polypropylene Capacitors delivering superior clarity and dynamic ability.

Nativ Wave™ supports all major High-Resolution Audio formats including DSD up to 11.2896 MHz (Quad-DSD), DXD, PCM files sampled at up to 32-bit/384 kHz and Meridian’s new MQA format.

To address the growing popularity of headphones Nativ Wave incorporates a high-end headphone amplifier that is based on the same sophisticated dual-mono DAC design. It features an advanced 100% solid-state topology and delivers high output power of up to 1.75W over various loads, driving even the most demanding headphones. The amp’s high-speed buffer with a slew rate above 2000 V/ms prevents odd order distortion anomalies. Volume control is performed purely in the analog domain and delivers perfect resolution and dynamics at any volume level.

Clean power to the DAC is delivered by Nativ Pulse, a high-precision linear power supply with dedicated supplies for the analog and digital sections, 25 separate ultralow noise linear regulators and a multi-rail toroidal transformer to suppress power line disturbance and keep noise contamination to a minimum. With more than 50,000-Farad of storage capacitance Nativ Pulse delivers virtually unlimited impulse current and an excellent transient and bass response, allowing Nativ Wave to go from absolute silence to explosive dynamics in the blink of an eye. Design