ESS Sabre Reference DAC (8-channel)

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And previously I was told from a probably reasonably reliable source that the ES9018 due to its sampling structure should generate some listening fatique over time, i.e. when listening for longer periods of time ...

Greetings Jesper,

Certainly, listing 'fatigue' is a matter of opinion; it can have multiple causes and be perceived differently in our various systems and by different people. The 9018 chip's (re)sampling behavior can be controlled (as well as the output filtration) via I2C. I haven't read the 9038 data sheet, but it seems there are even more control options programmed into it. My conclusion is that it is not wise to accept a blanket comparison statement about fatigue without direct testing using various control options. ...and by the way, one advantage to having older ears is that DAC 'fatigue' seems less an issue! ;)
 
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Hi & greetings to you as well ;-)

... Hmmm ... although I basically agree with what you are saying here the person who told me about this was one of the (main) designers of one of the very well reviewed/perceived and utterly expensive DACs based on the ES9018.

On the other hand, having designed DACs myself and worked with the intricacies involved in really tuning such a circuit, my experience is that even small changes may have quite a say in how a DAC is perceived subjectively. Thus actually saying "something" about how the DAC itself (i.e. the IC) sounds can be quite challenging IMHO ... That said it is my guess, and intuitive understanding, that if there is something in a circuitry (whichever it is) that causes listening fatique (to normal & sensitive persons) such a "trait" may not be easy to work around software-wise or otherwise - and might be perceived by more people ... Which is the reason for my question ...

Well, just my thoughts on this ...

and by the way, one advantage to having older ears is that DAC 'fatigue' seems less an issue!

... smiling at your comment here ... ;):p

Cheers,

Jesper
 
I am a self-certified “fanboy” of ES9038PRO DAC chip.

For two and a half year, my friend Tetu and I always making their efforts in improving their own DIY ES9038PRO DACs respectively by exchanging information frequently. Our common opinion is “ES9038PRO is the best commercial DAC chip currently available. However, not so much DAC devices that have fully exploited the potential supreme sound quality built in the chip are in the market. Fortunately, both of us can recognize the excellence by improving continuously power supplies, master clocks, I/V stages and so on. Whenever we listen to music played by their DAC and perceive amazing information retrieved from 44.1kHz/16bit sources, we spontaneously feel our sincere gratitude to designers and manufacturers of the DAC chip.

Attached is the photo of my current system.
On a two storied wood board, SD memory card player, SDTrans384 and Chiaki’s ES9038PRO Dual Mono DAC are assembled without any IV stage. Most of the weight of the system is from power supply units. As a master clock source, NDK OCXO DuCULoN is adopted. Most of the rectifiers are GaN E-mode HEMTs.
 

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I am a self-certified “fanboy” of ES9038PRO DAC chip.

For two and a half year, my friend Tetu and I always making their efforts in improving their own DIY ES9038PRO DACs respectively by exchanging information frequently. Our common opinion is “ES9038PRO is the best commercial DAC chip currently available. However, not so much DAC devices that have fully exploited the potential supreme sound quality built in the chip are in the market. Fortunately, both of us can recognize the excellence by improving continuously power supplies, master clocks, I/V stages and so on. Whenever we listen to music played by their DAC and perceive amazing information retrieved from 44.1kHz/16bit sources, we spontaneously feel our sincere gratitude to designers and manufacturers of the DAC chip.

Attached is the photo of my current system.
On a two storied wood board, SD memory card player, SDTrans384 and Chiaki’s ES9038PRO Dual Mono DAC are assembled without any IV stage. Most of the weight of the system is from power supply units. As a master clock source, NDK OCXO DuCULoN is adopted. Most of the rectifiers are GaN E-mode HEMTs.

Can't even imagine the cost of this whole system!

The small boxes are line transformers?
 
In my system shown above, a master clock on the transport side is synchronous to a master in a DAC side. Therefore, the master clock in the DAC side and the incomming I2S/DSD-raw signals are synchronous. I set the DPLL bandwidth, “OFF”. I think it is equivalent to “No Bandwidth” in “ES9018S”.
 
I have not recorded costs for the system. I guess the total cost is more than 5,000 USD and less than 10,000 USD.

Some square boxes are choke coils and line transformers. However,so far, the line transformers are not used. The eight channel output signals in one DAC chip are tied together for both + and - respectively and the summed + and - are connected to Hot and Cold of XLR input of ADAM A7X active studio monitor speaker. No GND is interconnected.
 
Bunpei,
Are you tested your DAC in the high-end environment? I'm talking about the blind test.
I am living in Brisbane and working on my project more 3 years.
My final target create a solution ”PC + DAC” will produce better sound than whole CD player in the world :). People are saying that this is not possible, but I believe ”pc + DAC” have bigger potential compare to CD.
In Brisbane, we have only one shop with good stuff and demo room.
I spend a lot of time listen to their config ”McIntosh C52 preamplifier, the couple's McIntosh MC601 amplifiers, room correction McIntosh MEN220, and in the final McIntosh MCT450 SACD/CD transport. Speakers ”Sonus faber II Cremonese”
IMHO this is very good setup for blind testing.

I am planning to compare sound quality in this system McIntosh CD transport vs my PC +DAC.
I believe it will be very interesting and fair.

What I'm using in my system,
PC working under Linux with my fully custom kernel, this system connected to
ARM processor with my custom firmware.
ARM chip connected to es9018s DAC, fully sync connect.
I have removed all bottleneck in this setup and ready to compare for sound quality with any CD player.
I do not believe es9038s improve the sound in my system. Maybe, just for the test will try this later.
The blind test will be in next couple months.
I’ll write later about the result.
 
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What clock frequencies are you using on your DAC shown in the photographs.
45.1584 MHz and 49.152 MHz. (Just one of them is in the photograph)
I have also tested 90.3168 MHz and 98.304 MHz before. I think "45.1584 MHz and 49.152 MHz" is a sweet spot within my limited actual experiences.

Are you tested your DAC in the high-end environment? I'm talking about the blind test.
As for "a blind test", I have done none at all. My system is too big to be blinded.

It was demonstrated in "MJ Audio Festival 2017" in Tokyo.

I have not compared it with any high-end CD-players other than EMM Labs TSDX CD/SACD Transport + DAC2X of friend of mine and my dCS Verdi + SONY PCM-1630.
Possible DIY modification for vintage SONY PCM-1630?

My interest is not on neither "PC-Audio" nor "CD-player". Rather, on "Professional audio".
Therefore, I have compared it with Merging Technologies, Pyramix/HAPI.

but I believe ”pc + DAC” have bigger potential compare to CD.
My policy excludes any USB involvements. Only AES67 is acceptable for me.

ARM chip connected to es9018s DAC, fully sync connect.
ES9018S can't realize "No Bandwidth" for DPLL setting. DPLL "OFF" on ES9038PRO is far better.

I do not believe es9038s improve the sound in my system.
I agree with you as long as your "es9038s" is not typo. The product type "es9038s" you indicated is never likely to emerge in our market.
If your "es9038s" is a typo of "ES9038PRO", I strongly recommend you try it.
However, everybody has his/her own idea, policy, value and budget. I respect your own approach as far as you are satisfied with yours.
 
Do you have a DCS DA coverter that you have compared the Sabre 9038 Pro too.
No. I am not high-end orienting. But, I have ever listened dCS Vivaldi before and was deeply impressed. The impression of Vivaldi then was very superior.

With the DPLL switched off is this synchronous mode connection where is the clock refernce derived from for the Audio. (sorry for stupid quetion).
A master clock of NDK DuCULoN OCXO is input to DAC board at first and the DAC board forward the clock to SD memory card transport. The transport sends I2S/DSD-raw signals that are synchronous to the master clock back to the DAC.

What are the speakers you use for listening tests.
ADAM A7X Active Studio Monitor Speaker with an XLR input.

how you connect your dac with PC?
I never connect my DAC to a PC/Mac/RaspberryPi online according to my policy. My transport is a tiny SD memory card player, SDTrans384 by Chiaki.
I copy audio sources from my PC to a SD memory card and the card is transferred to the player off-line.
I don't want to connect any PC/Mac/RaspberryPi which are an enormous source of digital noises ranging from 1 Hz to several GHz to my DAC.