French manufacturer YBA has introduced the Design YM302 streamer-DAC, based on the company’s new Linux-based streaming platform.
The YBA Design YM302 is the first product from the manufacturer to run on its brand-new Linux streaming platform. It has been designed with ease of use, broad streaming compatibility and, of course, hi-fi performance in mind. Tidal Connect and Qobuz Connect, for example, are supported as standard. Apple Music is included as well, although in a somewhat limited form—at least for now—with a maximum sampling rate of 44.1/48 kHz. In addition, the device is Roon Ready.
For local storage, you can either connect a USB drive or make use of the internal M.2 NVMe SSD slot. In both cases, gapless playback of hi-res music is supported. And, almost inevitably, familiar protocols such as DLNA and AirPlay 2 are also included.
The Design YM302 features its own built-in D/A converter, based on the AKM AK4497S DAC chip. This is accompanied by dedicated 45.1584 MHz and 49.152 MHz clocks, designed to provide accurate signal processing while reducing jitter. Maximum supported PCM resolution is an impressive 768 kHz, while DSD playback is supported up to DSD512.
Conveniently, the streamer also supports external USB drives for both music playback and CD ripping. Furthermore, HDMI ARC is provided, along with a choice of several digital outputs. For network connectivity, both Ethernet and SFP connections are available. Alternatively, wireless networking is possible via Wi-Fi.
The YBA Design YM302 supports an extensive range of file formats, including DSD (ISO, DSF and DFF), DXD, FLAC, APE, WAV, DTS, MP3, OGG, ALAC, M4A, and many others.
The official price of the streamer-DAC had not yet been announced at the time of writing. However, we did spot a price of €3,500 on an Italian website.