Dustin on the radio
This is my first post, but I've been reading this thread since April.
Goto the Ess web site, www.esstech.com, to hear Dustin in a short radio interview. You can download the interview with Martin Mallinson and Dustin Forman discussing the Sabre chip.
I have to admit that I've have been lucky enough to get a demo of the Sabre DAC at ESS headquarters in Fremont CA. It was one of those things where words can't describe how amazing the DAC sounded. But the experience has stuck with me ever since.
We were hosted by Bob Blair, the President of ESS, and we spent 2 hours in their official demo room. We played a number of CDs that myself and a friend brought, I've never heard my disks sound so good. But when Bob played Rebecca Pidgeon's Spanish Harlem....the sound was so amazing. It was like she was standing on a wide stage and I was just a few feet from her. The sound from the double bass is remarkably clear. Breathtaking.
At ESS they did an A/B comparison in real time of the music through the Sabre vs. another high-end DAC. The most obvious thing about the "sound" of the Sabre is that it lifts the fog and the fuzziness from the music. This distortion is the jitter that the Sabre chip eliminates. Ever since the demo, I distinctly hear the jitter distortion in every (non-Sabre) digital audio system I've listened to, it really is bothersome when you know what to listen for.
I've been into hi-end audio since the 80's, I've run the sound systems in performing art theaters, outdoor concerts, and live recording sessions. So I've heard a few good systems from time to time. (not bragging, just describing my audio experience)
At ESS, Bob showed us a comparison of the Sabre DAC against the two best DAC competitor chips available, performed by an independent consultant. In every chart, the Sabre was significantly better in comparison to the other DACs.
I have to say, anyone serious about sound and music has to get this DAC.
Ross G.
This is my first post, but I've been reading this thread since April.
Goto the Ess web site, www.esstech.com, to hear Dustin in a short radio interview. You can download the interview with Martin Mallinson and Dustin Forman discussing the Sabre chip.
I have to admit that I've have been lucky enough to get a demo of the Sabre DAC at ESS headquarters in Fremont CA. It was one of those things where words can't describe how amazing the DAC sounded. But the experience has stuck with me ever since.
We were hosted by Bob Blair, the President of ESS, and we spent 2 hours in their official demo room. We played a number of CDs that myself and a friend brought, I've never heard my disks sound so good. But when Bob played Rebecca Pidgeon's Spanish Harlem....the sound was so amazing. It was like she was standing on a wide stage and I was just a few feet from her. The sound from the double bass is remarkably clear. Breathtaking.
At ESS they did an A/B comparison in real time of the music through the Sabre vs. another high-end DAC. The most obvious thing about the "sound" of the Sabre is that it lifts the fog and the fuzziness from the music. This distortion is the jitter that the Sabre chip eliminates. Ever since the demo, I distinctly hear the jitter distortion in every (non-Sabre) digital audio system I've listened to, it really is bothersome when you know what to listen for.
I've been into hi-end audio since the 80's, I've run the sound systems in performing art theaters, outdoor concerts, and live recording sessions. So I've heard a few good systems from time to time. (not bragging, just describing my audio experience)
At ESS, Bob showed us a comparison of the Sabre DAC against the two best DAC competitor chips available, performed by an independent consultant. In every chart, the Sabre was significantly better in comparison to the other DACs.
I have to say, anyone serious about sound and music has to get this DAC.
Ross G.
Russ White said:
I designed this just for the occasion.The reason we used the CS8416 is because you can't use the WM8805 as a MUX in hardware mode, which stinks...
Cheers!
Russ
Sorry Russ, this unit simply copy the in to the out or the spdif pass through the 8416 pll to have a first step of jitter reduction?
Maybe i have to read the ds ...
ciao
andrea
Hi Russ,
I think I read somewhere that you recommend 7-9 V for both the VDA and the VDC- is that correct? And do you think it is worth to upgrade the Ivy to Haiku (if it is an upgrade)?I must say I really like the the Buffalo, sounds really close to actual instruments and voices, very emotional, but I find the stage a little small, so if anyone can give an advice on how to try and improve things in that direction it will be much appreciated.
I think I read somewhere that you recommend 7-9 V for both the VDA and the VDC- is that correct? And do you think it is worth to upgrade the Ivy to Haiku (if it is an upgrade)?I must say I really like the the Buffalo, sounds really close to actual instruments and voices, very emotional, but I find the stage a little small, so if anyone can give an advice on how to try and improve things in that direction it will be much appreciated.
Nikola Krivorov said:
1) Correct. I use 7.5V at each.
2) I have actually shelved Haiku for now in favor of "Counterpoint" which is very similar, but more symmetrical, and it requires no coupling caps. I have yet to thoroughly test it. I am not sure its fair to call one or the other an upgrade. They are simply different. Different folks will like each better.
3) Thanks.
I am not sure what advice to give here, almost everyone will have different setup down stream from the DAC which is very likely to impact your experience. You might try raising or lowering the corner frequency of the IVY filter. To raise the frequency lower the cap value, to lower the frequency raise the cap value, you can go all the way from no cap to around 12nf or so. There is a lot of room to tweak the sound to your liking.Cheers!
Russ
wobbly said:
I am not sure. Check the datasheet/documentation, or ask the person who sold it. I don't own one. The CDPro documentation I have seen shows 48fs bitclock.
As for volume control. We have a solution in the works, but its still a couple weeks out at best. If you can do any microcontroller programming I have already posted code to configure the DAC and control the volume.
Cheers!
Russ
Hi Russ,
I wil soon be one of the proud owners of the buffalo dac with ivy. I have a Denon 1920 into which I hope to install the dac. A couple of questions for you if you don't mind.
1) Do you have a manual for installing the dac into the denon?
2) Will the dac cope with whatever disc I put into the denon (DVD A, SCAD or CD)?
cheers
Aidan
I wil soon be one of the proud owners of the buffalo dac with ivy. I have a Denon 1920 into which I hope to install the dac. A couple of questions for you if you don't mind.
1) Do you have a manual for installing the dac into the denon?
2) Will the dac cope with whatever disc I put into the denon (DVD A, SCAD or CD)?
cheers
Aidan
Thanks for the pointers Russ but I must admitt straight up Im reaching a little on the tech comfort zone here.
Ive searched all over and can find no mention of the I2S clock of the CD PRO2 LF, but when I purchased it ( yes I have emailed Daisy) I also got a TentLabs XO3.
This replaces the internal clock of the CD PRO and can also can reclock the EBU/Spdiff ( not required using I2S).
As well it generates a stable clock for an "external DAC" thus at the end here my question is, can I disable the Buffalo on board clock and use this to commonise everything.
Thanks
wayne
Ive searched all over and can find no mention of the I2S clock of the CD PRO2 LF, but when I purchased it ( yes I have emailed Daisy) I also got a TentLabs XO3.
This replaces the internal clock of the CD PRO and can also can reclock the EBU/Spdiff ( not required using I2S).
As well it generates a stable clock for an "external DAC" thus at the end here my question is, can I disable the Buffalo on board clock and use this to commonise everything.
Thanks
wayne
This would be very, very cool:
- A digital X-over
- 2 or more Buffulos, which as well do the volume control and which basically work for all buffulos in sync
- And output stage which swings enough voltage to drive a PAss F4, so no further gain stages needed (I believe that needs in balanced mode ( I believe this requires 16v in balanced mode p-p)
- All balanced mode.
That would be simply a dream. How far are we away from that ?
- A digital X-over
- 2 or more Buffulos, which as well do the volume control and which basically work for all buffulos in sync
- And output stage which swings enough voltage to drive a PAss F4, so no further gain stages needed (I believe that needs in balanced mode ( I believe this requires 16v in balanced mode p-p)
- All balanced mode.
That would be simply a dream. How far are we away from that ?
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