Burl Audio B80-BDA16 — a 16-channel DAC daughter card from the BURL BLACK line, built for large modular B80 Mothership systems and delivering high channel counts at a lower cost per channel than the BURL GREEN cards. The card is also compatible with the smaller B16 chassis.
The signal path is fully discrete, class-A, built around the BOPA14 NextGen Analog op-amp, with no output transformers. Moving to a smaller-footprint DAC chip made it possible to fit sixteen conversion channels onto a single card without giving up channel density.
Hundreds of channels without sacrificing analog quality
When building a large mix or monitoring system with many channels, engineers usually have to choose between output count and conversion quality. The BDA16 removes that tradeoff by packing sixteen full class-A DAC channels onto one card instead of two 8-channel cards. Eight BDA16 cards in a B80 chassis reach a hundred and twenty-eight DAC channels at 44.1kHz or 48kHz with a BMB2 or BMB3 motherboard, while the same card in a B16 chassis yields thirty-two output channels in a compact format.
Managing multiple cards and Pro Tools compliance
The more AD/DA cards running in a single Mothership system, the harder it gets to track which outputs are active and to keep delay compensation aligned across cards in a Pro Tools HD setup. The BDA16 addresses both: a front-panel signal indicator gives an instant view of activity on each card, and automatic detection of a BMB1 Digilink motherboard triggers Avid delay compensation with no manual setup, even with all ten slots of a B80 chassis fully loaded.
KEY FEATURES
- 16-channel digital-to-analog conversion (DAC)
- Discrete class-A signal path, no output transformers
- BOPA14 NextGen Analog op-amp
- Front-panel signal status indicator
- Automatic Avid delay compensation with a BMB1 motherboard
- Up to 128 DAC channels in a B80 chassis (8 cards, 44.1/48kHz with BMB2 or BMB3)
- Up to 32 DAC channels in a B16 chassis (2 cards)
- MOTHERSHIP 3 compatible
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
- Channel count: 16 (DAC)
- Connector: DB25 (DSUB, Tascam pinout)
- Signal path: discrete, class-A, no capacitors or output transformers
- Op-amp: BOPA14 (NextGen Analog)
- Maximum channels in B80: 128 (8x BDA16 at 44.1/48kHz with BMB2/BMB3)
- Maximum channels in B16: 32 (2x BDA16)
- Card slots in B80: 10
- Signal indicator: front-panel LED
- Delay compensation: automatic with BMB1 Digilink motherboard
- Power: via B80/B16 backplane
- Compatibility: MOTHERSHIP 3
