GeerFab Audio D.BOB (Digital BreakOut Box, Demo)

The GeerFab Audio Digital BreakOut Box (D.BOB) extracts DSD64 and up to 24-bit/192kHz PCM from discs to an external digital audio converter. Unlock the DSD64 and hi-res PCM from your SACDs and Blu-ray Audio discs, then output the data stream to an external DAC for D/A conversion with full HD copy protection.

"I loaded the Oppo [UDP-105 universal player] with a recent SACD of pianist Romain Nosbaum playing a selection of 'Saudades' by Spanish and Latin-American composers (SACD, ARS 38 287). It's a delightful hour of charming, witty music, played with panache and nicely recorded. I had been enjoying this recording in multichannel via a ripped file on my server; played in stereo direct from disc, via the D.BOB and my Mytek Brooklyn DAC, it lost a little ambiance (relative to multichannel) and gained a little focus. When I compared the stereo DSD file with the D.BOB disc playback, there was little to choose between. With more complex music, such as the spritely and elegant Sextet Op.142 by Ferdinand Ries, performed by the Franz Ensemble (SACD, MDG 903 2136-6), the stereo-file-to-D.BOB comparison was still a draw.

Why didn't someone do this before? GeerFab's Eric Geer says it hasn't happened before because it's complicated. He had to solve three problems at once: extracting hi-rez audio, keeping HDCP copy protection intact, and outputting DoP over Coax and TosLink. It took him three years to solve it. Some readers will have no use for the D.BOB. Some may find it expensive, a shade under $1000. A few may be intimidated by lingering concerns over the legality of such a device. Many, though, will pounce, knowing that the D.BOB can assure continued access, into the indefinite future, to the SACDs in their collection via the DAC of their choice. You know which group you're in." - Kalman Rubinson, Stereophile, May 2020

"The D.BOB is the first product that can extract DSD from SACD discs, as well as high-res PCM, for conversion with an outboard DAC. If you have a large collection of high-resolution discs, you want to have a future-proof way to continue to enjoy those discs into the forseeable future. The D.BOB frees you from being tethered to one manufacturer's, perhaps discontinued, disc player. You can use any manufacturer's universal player with the D.BOB, so if that laser mechanism on your disc-spinner finally performs its last scan, you can replace the player with a modestly-priced alternative and get happily back to listening... While I don't expect the price of Oppo BDP-205 to plummet soon, I do think that many prospective Oppo-chasers would be better served by a D.BOB coupled to one of the latest univeral players from Sony, Marantz, Panasonic, or Pioneer. So, when that little ol' Oppo dies, or you just want some insurance, the D.BOB could be an elegant addition to your digital playback system." - Steven Stone, The Absolute Sound, October 2020

Wouldn't it be nice if we could play our SACDs with the DAC of our choice? Enter GeerFab's D.BOB.

The D.BOB does what it claims to do.

The D.BOB fills a void that desperately needed filling. It not only simplifies source selection when playing higher-resolution discs, but also delivers consistently high-quality audio when attached to a current-generation DAC or DAC/preamplifier.