ESS Sabre Reference DAC (8-channel)

[BrianDonegan]

We have been going back and forth on it, and I think we have solidified behind doing a new board for the new chip. We are probably not going to make any more with the ES9008. We only have so much time to put into it, and would rather go with the new chip and not support both.

[HaLo6]

cool , so no feb batch of buffalo's? , so it looks like I will wait until the new boards with the 9018 come out no biggie... you guys are doing great things! (well my wife isnt to happy with you guys though )

[nagaesan]

This consideration was written by BBJ ( I supporse Mr.Kawai ).
http://focus.tij.co.jp/jp/lit/an/jaj...06.pdf#search='I/V‹AŠÒ’ï�R PCM1702'

And I added several OP-Amps.

This is my hobby of the lunch time breaks.

[kevino]

Originally posted by kevino
Hi,

there's a company called ismosys.com that has the chips and the
evaluation kits for sale:

http://ecommerce.ismosys.com/orderin...acturers_id=34

Can't tell whether they are 'actually' available.
The kits are quite expensive too.

ismosys.com say that they have the eval kits in stock and expect the chips in the
next week or so

[ccschua]

I can see the eva board uses the AD797 quite close to the recommended AD797 IV stage as well as the buffer.

I wonder how u find the difference between AD797 and OPA627. Is it better ?

[krgaunt]

I recently got a demo of the ES9018 (Sabre-32) at ESS HQ in Fremont, CA. Bob Blair was very generous in giving up about 3.5 hours of his evening to host the demo.

What can I say, yes the 9018 IS better than the 9008. No question. But whereas the 9008 was a jump in sound quality over other DACs, the 9018 more of a polish or refinement over the 9018. I won't go into the new features that it has over the 9008, you've all read about that. The features do make it a cool chip.

Through my middle-aged ears, I found the 9018 has a smoother sound. Everything is as clear, or more so, than the 9008, but there seemed to be, uh, less edginess--I suppose you could say. Or it's doesn't sound as transistory. It has all the detail but with more polish, smoother sounding. It sounds like you are hearing more harmonics. Female vocals were crisp, not shrill, and a pleasure to listen to. The music was warmer, compared to the 9008. Going back and forth you might say the 9018 took the high-frequency bite out of the 9008. Low freqency bass parts were clear and never covered-over by other instruments--but the 9008 does this very well also.

I know that's all quite subjective. Describing the sound is like describing the taste of a fine bootle of vintage wine.

The thing about the Sabre chips is when something is recorded well, the chips will make the music really awesome. But poor recordings or ones with lots of DSP processing stick out like a sore thumb. At home I put my CD player through the Buffalo and my normal analog preamp. I can switch between two XLR stereo inputs on my power amp. It's like you need the lower quality system to cover over the problems of the bad recordings.

RossG

[nagaesan]

Sound focus
No1. ES9008S+AD825
No2.ES9008S+OPA627
No3.ES9008S+AD797
No4.YM3623B+SM5803+PCM1704+OPA627+BUF634

Sound clarity
No1.ES9008S+OPA627
No2.ES9008S+AD825
No3.YM3623B+SM5803+PCM1704+OPA627+BUF634
No4.ES9008S+AD797

Dynamics
No1. YM3623B+SM5803+PCM1704+OPA627+BUF634
No2. ES9008S+AD825
No3.ES9008S+OPA627
No4.ES9008S+AD797

[nagaesan]

No1. YM3623B+SM5803+PCM1704+OPA627+BUF634
|
No1. YM3623B+SM5843+PCM1704+OPA627+BUF634

http://www.teddigital.com/COPS1708z201.htm

[EUVL]

Nagae-san,

So the winner would be ES9008 + AD825 + BUF634 ??


Patrick

[audioman54]

nagae-san,

You need to try the new National LME series of opamps. The CFB LME49713HA or VFB LME49710HA (HA=metal cans). They are much better than the ADI parts.

audioman54 / Mark