ESS Sabre Reference DAC (8-channel)

[nagaesan]

ES9018

Tonight we met ESS people for hearing ES9018.

 

[nagaesan]

ES9018 EVA-Board

This is ES9008 EVA-Board.

We compair with ES9008S(I/V=AD797) and ES9018(I/V=AD797).
They are big difference sound, ES9018 is very smooth and low distortion.

ES9018 Digital Filter
64-bit accumulator/32-bit internal data word length

NPC SM5847 Digital Filter
32-bit accumulator/25-bit internal data word length

 

[nagaesan]

ESS People

Dustin Forman and Calto Wang

 

[nagaesan]

Japanese people

Hisashi Hasumi, he is Master of Audio Shop IKEON

Takahito Miura, he is Audio Critic "STEREO SOUND" Magazine

 

[nagaesan]

3 DACs

ES9008S (naked board)
ES9018(naked board)
AD825 version ES9008S(Silver chassis)

 

[Variac]

Discussions of the Sabre Buffalo DAC are here:
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=128137&perpage=25&pagenumber=1

 

[dusfor99]

Thanks for the Master Clock confirmation.

Additionally....

On the SPDIF input of the demo board, there is a note on the applications note on the ESS website stating that the SPDIF input has a 75 OHM in series with the input and that this shows an incorrect input impedance to the SPDIF input.

However, it does not specify how this should be remedied. Any ideas anyone, as I have a demo board ready to go and would like to get it setup correctly before I start.

cheers
D.

Hi Furious,

Yes this was a total goofup on my part on rev1 of the boards. This has been changed over a year ago. The 75 ohm should go to ground instead of in series. I cant beleive what I was thinking. Obviously I was not.

Dustin

 

[NeoY2k]

Hi,
This is more or less a copy of an email I sent to a friend. I just woke up so I hope there's no stupid mistake.

A 20µV RMS noise regulator is around -90dBu noise.

Sabre32 in stereo is 133dB dynamic, with a max differential output of 3V - so an output of 1.5, a level of 5.7dbU on each pin. This is the peak level.

So Sabre's noise floor is around -128dBu. That's damn mad.

That said, it means that if I use 20µV RMS regulators (-90dBu) I need at least around 40dB of PSRR over the full bandwith.

That can be achieved. With a >70PSRR announced for the THS4131, it does the trick and I can trust it will remain >40db over all the audio freq range.

However, I can't suppose any real PSRR from the AVCC pins of the ESS - these are more like reference voltage than power supplies.

To be sure to not compromise the chip's performance, you'd have to find a way to reduce AVCC noise at least 40dB after that 20µV regulator.

Existing boards show good dynamic without having to offer such mad power regulation. So what's wrong with what I wrote?

Thanks,
Nicolas

 

[glt]

Sabre Data Sheet

Where to get the datasheet that shows the software interface?

 

[Telstar]

Re: 3 DACs

ES9008S (naked board)
ES9018(naked board)
AD825 version ES9008S(Silver chassis)

Thank you very much! I'm waiting for your report.

 

[JC951t]

Hi Russ,
Sent you an email. a waiting for your reply.

Thanks

 

[alboran]

hi to everybody
me to ask a suggestion
me to look for dac with ess es9018.... but
buffalo dac to be out production.....
evaluation kit to be good for audio?
your experience, thing to suggest.
done go out with transformers?
done go out to valves (Lampizator)?
done go out with Ivy?
thanks

 

[georgehifi]

Re: 3 DACs

ES9008S (naked board)
ES9018(naked board)
AD825 version ES9008S(Silver chassis)

Hi nagaesan, I noticed you have one linear supply and one smp on those naked boards, which supply do you prefer and for what sound reasons?

Cheers George

 

[nagaesan]

power supply units

Hello georgehifi,

When I heared ES9018, ES9008 and mod'ES9008 board,these power supply units are attached by ESS eva-board one.

ES9018 eva-board's and silver chassis's psu is same one.
This is very low ripple noise and good voltage stability than my LM350/LM333 regulator with super ring troidal core transformer.
I made black chassis ES9008S unit with this troidal transformer, but I must make new regulator pcb.

 

[alboran]

.............me to ask a suggestion
me to look for dac with ess es9018.... but
buffalo dac to be out production.....
evaluation kit to be good for audio?
your experience, thing to suggest.
done go out with transformers?
done go out to valves (Lampizator)?
done go out with Ivy? ............

 

[glt]

Message for Dustin of ESSTech

Hi Dustin,

Is there anyway to get the spec sheet for Sabre32?. I checked the website but I can't find it. I am mainly interested in the software interface (volume control, etc). I am planning on using an Arduino board to program the registers through I2C (when the TPA board is available). Some info on what I'm doing can be found here: www.hifiduino.blogspot.com

Thanks.

 

[dusfor99]

Re: Message for Dustin of ESSTech

Hi Dustin,

Is there anyway to get the spec sheet for Sabre32?. I checked the website but I can't find it. I am mainly interested in the software interface (volume control, etc). I am planning on using an Arduino board to program the registers through I2C (when the TPA board is available). Some info on what I'm doing can be found here: www.hifiduino.blogspot.com

Thanks.

Hi glt,

I was looking at the website and it wasn't obvious to me how someone who has interest in the DAC would go about finding out where/how to get the chip and the datasheet for it. ill look into it.

Dustin

 

[NeoY2k]

Well, at least, don't try to contact the french representatives. They really just don't care about diyers.

 

[NeoY2k]

Well, at least, don't try to contact the french representatives. They really just don't care about diyers.

 

[glt]

Re: Re: Message for Dustin of ESSTech

Hi glt,

I was looking at the website and it wasn't obvious to me how someone who has interest in the DAC would go about finding out where/how to get the chip and the datasheet for it. ill look into it.

Dustin

Dustin,

Thank you very much. I was just able to interface to the WM8741 by reading the spec, so I'm pretty sure I will be able to interface with the Sabre given the register specification.