Would love to try it. I am a noob and has decided this over the Soekris r2r based on the reviews and feedback.
A lot of us is reading and watching. But the costs adds up quite fast. Based on feedback, no doubt it is very very good DAC.
My initial thought is DAC+shield+Front panel. But the front panel will not work without the preamp. With the preamp, I am already way over my budget.
So i may just go the route of DAC+shield and hope Sonnya gets the front panel to work with the DAC only.
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A lot of us is reading and watching. But the costs adds up quite fast. Based on feedback, no doubt it is very very good DAC.
My initial thought is DAC+shield+Front panel. But the front panel will not work without the preamp. With the preamp, I am already way over my budget.
So i may just go the route of DAC+shield and hope Sonnya gets the front panel to work with the DAC only.
Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk
Are you sure ?
I thought the frontpanel was introduced ahead of Pre Amp (although might technically be done together by Sonny)
And it was mentioned that it is compatible with DAC directly.
Some fellow members did use the DAC without a frontpanel any way.
So you can start without a panel and get it later and connect to the DAC directly.
if you are talking about the costs, you will need PSUs as well, are you going to build them or buy them.
Heard that Sonny has good 15v PSUs very curious about their cost too 🙂
if im not wrong frontpanel can be used with the DAC but you cant control the volume without the preamp.
You are right about it.
The xmos firmware is not the easiest thing to modify. There is a lot og difficulties in implementing volume control through the frontpanel . So much that i gave up on it.
There will be silence from me the next Day or two.. I have to test all the kits i will send out using DHL
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thanks for the clarification. can someone point me towards a thread where I can find out more on the Front panel function? cant seem to find it using the search engine
sebbyp + 1
Most of us are buying these products based on the reviews.
I bought mine based on the few reviews I could find.
Because of reviewers personal taste or perhaps subjectivity it's rather a gamble for buyers.
So more attention (reviews) for this DAC would give potential buyers more insight in what they're dealing with.
I bought one because I'm very curious and like to know if It's superior to my Bufallo II + Wave IO.
Perhaps my DAC is with this batch sonnya is testing, if so you can read my review soon 😀
Most of us are buying these products based on the reviews.
I bought mine based on the few reviews I could find.
Because of reviewers personal taste or perhaps subjectivity it's rather a gamble for buyers.
So more attention (reviews) for this DAC would give potential buyers more insight in what they're dealing with.
I bought one because I'm very curious and like to know if It's superior to my Bufallo II + Wave IO.
Perhaps my DAC is with this batch sonnya is testing, if so you can read my review soon 😀
I will bet that it will dust the Buffalo II rather easily. The AK chips are quickly distancing themselves from the ESS stuff. Add to that Sonny's ability to create a beautiful surrounding circuit, and you have a top level DAC.
If you already had a viable pre-amp, I would suggest you just get the DAC+Shield to begin with.
Later down the line as more money becomes available you can make a decision on the front panel.
There are a lot of AKM based kits at the moment. Sonny's implementation is top level, very fine engineering and magnificent execution. I would not buy anything before trying that one, it is indeed a rare bargain, not just because it is priced well but more like a device that sounds really great.
Hi Guys,
I'd like to share my thoughts on this DAC with discrete output shield. I won't get into details, but the sound I'm getting from PCM upsampled to 24/384 via HQplayer, is the best PCM I've heard yet in my system. My reference DAC is the Resonessence Lab's Mirus. I'll say with confidence that I'm getting better sounding PCM than with that DAC. I'm not ready to share my opinion on DSD performance yet because I am running amp direct with no volume control. And the HQplayer DSD volume control requires disabling DirectSDM. I'm not getting as good of sound with that setting disabled on the Mirus, so I think I'm going to need an analog volume control to get the best out of DSD. However I'm going to play around with more settings and see what I can come up with.
I'll also add that HQplayer upsampled to 24/384 is far better than Jriver. I can't wait for the Roon integration so we can have a great mobile GUI with HQplayer back end.
I'd like to share my thoughts on this DAC with discrete output shield. I won't get into details, but the sound I'm getting from PCM upsampled to 24/384 via HQplayer, is the best PCM I've heard yet in my system. My reference DAC is the Resonessence Lab's Mirus. I'll say with confidence that I'm getting better sounding PCM than with that DAC. I'm not ready to share my opinion on DSD performance yet because I am running amp direct with no volume control. And the HQplayer DSD volume control requires disabling DirectSDM. I'm not getting as good of sound with that setting disabled on the Mirus, so I think I'm going to need an analog volume control to get the best out of DSD. However I'm going to play around with more settings and see what I can come up with.
I'll also add that HQplayer upsampled to 24/384 is far better than Jriver. I can't wait for the Roon integration so we can have a great mobile GUI with HQplayer back end.
I have had friends bring over a few reference ess 9018 dac's and I'd be inclined to agree with you.
I'd suggest you jump in on the pre-amp, my tests put it ahead of digital dithering through the pc and you should certainly see another step in improvement.
The preamp would be a solution, but overkill for my needs. I don't require multiple inputs. I really just want more gain and volume control.
What I would love to see on the discrete output board is a DIP8 socket to plug in an optional discrete opamp for more gain. Also another socket to plug on a volume control board. This would be perfect for those who just want more gain and volume control.
I'm using the SMPS.
Bavmike considering the price of the pre-amp (including a screen) even though it has multiple inputs, its still excellent value and will perform better than just adding an additional discrete op-amp.
The use case you are explaining is basically the pre-amp. You can change from +12, +6 or 0db with little effort, but you get a screen thrown in which will be able to control the DAC with later updates.
Bavmike considering the price of the pre-amp (including a screen) even though it has multiple inputs, its still excellent value and will perform better than just adding an additional discrete op-amp.
The use case you are explaining is basically the pre-amp. You can change from +12, +6 or 0db with little effort, but you get a screen thrown in which will be able to control the DAC with later updates.
There's no doubt that the preamp is a good deal. But for my needs, plugging in the same discrete opamps that the preamp has onto the main output board, would be better. I'm also using both the diff and SE outputs for powered sub ATM.
It could just be a 3rd shield that stacks on top of the other 2 boards with 6 or 12db gain, plus volume control. That would be perfect, and would have the same footprint, just a bit taller.