AK4499EQ - Best DAC ever

[Evenharmonics]

I see that this thread has continued to thrive as a boxing court for the subjectivists vs objectivists crowds, and lately it turned its focus on the bland character of audiophile music...

Meanwhile, has anyone done listening tests, tweaking etc. with any of the commercial AK4499 dacs out there? Tht topping got a lot of attention, but is there any new info/experience with the other more elaborate designs like Gustard, Singxer etc...?

Have Topping D90, Benchmark DAC-3 (ES9028PRO), and my AK4499 eval board setup. Don't have a high end ladder dac.

Basically, D90 sounds better than DAC-3 in multiple perceptual dimensions. The AK4499 eval board setup is preferred by listeners over both the foregoing commercial dacs. However, the eval board is no longer in stock form.

The above having been said, the dacs vary in more ways than just dac chips.

Don't forget the mod's warning shown below.

To be clear: This thread was split to keep discussion of subjective testing separate.

Suggested thread for such discussion - If it's purely an engineering challenge why bother designing yet another DAC?

 

[Joseph K]

Now this is above all limits

You have the courage to enforce yourself & your bloody trolling on us here, and even more you dare to try to send US to that Animal Farm place over there?!

I'm out of words

 

[andrea_mori]

Don't forget the mod's warning shown below.

"Every level matched double blind listening test I've read about show no audible difference between expensive and cheap contemporary DACs"

They are all the same, you are all losing time.

And I'm losing a lot of money and time playing with stupid matter like the timing of the DAC.
It is even more foolish to losing money and time to separate the time domains.

 

[Extreme_Boky]

Have Topping D90, Benchmark DAC-3 (ES9028PRO), and my AK4499 eval board setup. Don't have a high end ladder dac.

Basically, D90 sounds better than DAC-3 in multiple perceptual dimensions. The AK4499 eval board setup is preferred by listeners over both the foregoing commercial dacs. However, the eval board is no longer in stock form.

The above having been said, the dacs vary in more ways than just dac chips.

See if you can get a Holo May DAC to audition. It would be interesting to see your opinion, comparing it to other DAC's you have...

 

[chris719]

Well, considering there is a chance that the AK4499 will never be manufactured again, this thread is probably not that useful any longer. Amazing what one fire can do.

 

[billshurv]

We could rename the thread 'lucky ones who got AK4499 in time'?

 

[chris719]

This practically guarantees it'll be a legendary DAC and attain mythical status.

 

[billshurv]

Topping must have had significant stock of the chips. Suprised they haven't completely sold out of the D90...

 

[rfbrw]

You can still buy the AKD4499 evaluation board.

 

[billshurv]

You can, but as it's more than the D90 I assume the appeal is limited?


I'm not in the market for this as I need 4 channels and no glomming time but interested time/value trade off?

 

[Joseph K]

Topping must have had significant stock of the chips. Suprised they haven't completely sold out of the D90...

Even more sorprising, that Loxjie had just popped up with their 4499 version.. Many months after the disaster.

(before You would ask, that is just an SMSL m400 in disguise.. Like the Toyota top model vs Lexus)

https://m.it.aliexpress.com/item/10...MkHYjOA2IgpR8VSB190aArasEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

[Markw4]

There were some chips that AKM was holding in preparation for shipment when the fire occurred. The chips suffered some cosmetic damage to their outside packaging but the inner vacuum packaging was still intact. AKM later replaced the outside packaging and sold the chips as-is, without warranty. Don't know how many were AK4499, but the biggest customers got some of what they wanted from those remaining stocks. The biggest users of AK4499 at that point clearly seem to be some of the Chinese manufacturers.

They still appear to have AK4137 for sale in China too, although prices are going up a bit.

 

[Markw4]

See if you can get a Holo May DAC to audition. It would be interesting to see your opinion, comparing it to other DAC's you have...

Exactly the same though here some months ago. So far the only way my friends and or I have to compare a Holo May would be to buy one from the US distributor. Some thought was given to that option, but in the end nobody wanted to pay for it. Also, discussions with the Holo May dealer gave the impression that the dac probably sounds best with DSD1024, potentially an expensive proposition to do well.

The above said, would still love to audition one but no volunteers have offered one on loan, not even for a few days.

 

[nicoch58]

 

[Joseph K]

5 oscillators in 1"^2. ...
What happens there?!
Independent oscillators for DSD/ Pcm?

 

[chris719]

Two VCXO (implying PLL) and two small cheap XO that look to be the same frequency. All surrounding an Altera CPLD. Probably not up to the standards of the Jitterati.

 

[Joseph K]

Ha You are right. They are the same frequency. By myself would have never thought that even those NDK-s could be readable.. Good camera!

 

[chris719]

I could only read one but I assume if one was 45.1584 then the other was the 49.152.

 

[5th element]

The jitterati! I love this phrase!

I must be one of the few that have the AK4499. Two of them for 8 channels. I better make sure none of them break!

 

[Extreme_Boky]

Exactly the same though here some months ago. So far the only way my friends and or I have to compare a Holo May would be to buy one from the US distributor. Some thought was given to that option, but in the end nobody wanted to pay for it. Also, discussions with the Holo May dealer gave the impression that the dac probably sounds best with DSD1024, potentially an expensive proposition to do well.

The above said, would still love to audition one but no volunteers have offered one on loan, not even for a few days.

I think you'd really like that DAC. In fact, it sounds best with raw PCM unprocessed files - no oversampling of any kind (May set to NOS; JRiver "Output Format" unticked). Distributors had a 10-day trial period, but not any more...