In an in-store event at Park Avenue Audio in New York on April 2nd in conjunction with distributor 2WA Group, Ideon Audio prepares to launch its new Axiom three-chassis flagship digital-to-analogue converter.
The Axiom DAC encompasses Ideon Audio’s most advanced digital-to-analogue converter technologies, with the company stating its design is the “culmination of decades of expertise in digital design power architecture, precision engineering, and signal integrity”. Axiom has been designed as a combined system for digital playback. According to Ideon Audio, Axiom’s design mandate was to extract as much musical realism, tonal authenticity, spatial coherence, and much more over and above the pursuit of infinitesimal degrees of specifications analysis.
To that end, Axiom’s digital engine features a fully-differential “16-channel hybrid parallel DAC architecture” combined with proprietary firmware developed at Ideon Audio by Chief Designer VP Vasilis Tounas and CEO George Ligerakis. The firmware is said to provide precise transient response and realism that “extends beyond conventional digital reproduction”.
The system is centred around Ideon Audio’s ChronoCore and USBCore technologies, designed to provide multi-stage buffering, re-clocking and incoming digital signal isolation. Said signal is very precisely “re-timed” in order to eliminate timing errors and reduce jitter. All is powered via a large dedicated power supply.
USB, S/PDIF or AES/EBU signals are “processed” by the digital front-end platform. From there, they go through USBCore signal management, multi-layer electrical isolation, and ChronoCore re-clocking. Only then does the signal go through to the conversion stage where it’s handled by Ideon Audio’s Quantum Sync Interface technology. The interfacing between chassis and the various processes is transmitted via a dedicated cable link terminated with high quality LEMO connectors.
The system can be controlled via Ideon Audio’s new bespoke Director app which, at this stage, is exclusive to the Axiom platform. The app provides access to all functions, including filters and a variety of system settings. Ideon Audio teases the implementation of the Director app into future digital products.
Ideon Audio told SoundStage! Australia, “The Axiom DAC has been created with a singular objective: to reproduce music as it exists in nature. Every aspect of its design reflects a commitment to musical authenticity rather than technical spectacle. The goal is not to impress with numbers, but to allow music to breathe, preserving nuance, expression, and emotional depth.”
The Axiom DAC is hand-built in Greece, with a strictly limited production. Ideon Audio products are available via Australian distributor Absolute Hi-End.
Ideon Audio Axiom Digital-to-Analogue Converter
Price: AU$300,000
Australian Distributor: Absolute Hi End
+61 488 777 999
www.absolutehiend.com