Lindemann Limetree USB DAC & Headphone Amplifier

The Limetree USB-DAC is a complete digital front end and headphone amplifier in a palm-sized 107 x 40 x 107 mm case, 292 grams, made to sit between a computer and a good pair of headphones — or a computer and a bigger system — and do the conversion properly.

At its heart is an ES9038 Sabre converter with Hyperstream II architecture, timed by an ultra-low-jitter MEMS femto clock and running a minimum-phase slow-roll-off filter. It resolves 24-bit PCM to 768 kHz and DSD to DSD512, with a dynamic range above 120 dB and distortion below 0.003 percent. A USB-B input takes a PC or Mac over USB Audio Class II, two S/PDIF inputs bring in a source such as a CD transport or television, and the signal leaves on an analogue RCA output at 2 volts or through the built-in headphone amplifier.

That headphone stage drives headphones from 16 to 300 ohms, with volume in 1 dB steps across an 80 dB range, so quiet passages stay clean and loud ones stay composed. Powered over 5 volts and drawing three watts in use, it is a small, low-consumption device that brings genuine converter and headphone engineering to a desk — the front end for a system built around a computer.

• Converter: ES9038 Sabre, Hyperstream II architecture; minimum-phase slow-roll-off filter
• Resolution: 24-bit PCM to 768 kHz, DSD to DSD512; dynamic range > 120 dB; THD+N < 0.003%
• Clock: ultra-low-jitter MEMS femto clock
• Inputs: USB-B (USB Audio Class II), two S/PDIF
• Outputs: analogue RCA (2 V), 3.5 mm headphone (16 – 300 Ohm); volume 80 dB in 1 dB steps
• Dimensions / weight: 107 x 40 x 107 mm / 292 g; 5 V DC, 3 W in use