Burl Audio B80-B22-ALPS – four-channel DAC card with a control room monitoring section for the B80 Mothership chassis, in the ALPS potentiometer version.
The card runs a fully discrete Class-A analog path built around BOPA14 chips, the same design philosophy as the flagship B26 ORCA, with an emphasis on tonal transparency and a wide stereo image without disturbing the source's harmonic balance. The four DAC channels split into two pairs with different jobs: the first pair runs in mix/mastering class with a switchable BX5 output transformer, the second feeds the monitoring section with two stereo speaker outputs and one stereo headphone output. The card addresses a common problem in DAW-only studios - the lack of a full monitoring section that analog consoles used to provide.
Two DAC channel pairs for different jobs
The first two DAC channels, fitted with a switchable BX5 transformer, can feed an external headphone amp, a mix bus, or a mastering chain, or route tracks out to external analog processing - independently of the signal reaching the monitor speakers. That split removes the need to switch a single DAC output between different tasks mid-session, since both functions run on separate, simultaneously active channel pairs.Audiophile-grade analog level control
The ALPS potentiometer adjusts monitor level in the analog domain, without the digital resolution loss typical of volume control handled in software at the interface or operating system level. That matters in control rooms built entirely around a DAW, where the monitor section of an analog console has been replaced by a software volume slider, often at the cost of precision and repeatable listening levels.KEY FEATURES
- 4-channel DAC with a control room monitoring section
- Two mix/mastering channels with a switchable BX5 output transformer
- Two channels feeding two stereo speaker outputs and one headphone output
- Audiophile-grade ALPS potentiometer for monitor level control
- External meter output and a switchable DAC filter
- Avid delay matching
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
- Card type: 4-channel DAC with monitor controller
- Connectivity: 8-channel DB25 (Tascam style)
- Analog path: discrete, Class-A (BOPA14), BX5 transformer
- Frequency response (48 kHz): 10 Hz - 22 kHz, ±0.1 dB
- Frequency response (96 kHz): 10 Hz - 30 kHz, ±0.1 dB, -0.3 dB at 40 kHz
- Frequency response (192 kHz): 10 Hz - 30 kHz, ±0.1 dB, -1.5 dB at 90 kHz
- Dynamic range: 115 dB
- THD+N: -96 dB, full scale output +22 dBu
- Level control: ALPS potentiometer
