Luxman's 22.4kg, ~$17,000, D-10x SACD/CD player uses ROHM Semiconductor MUS-IC BD34301EKV . A 768kHz sampling, 32bit ⊿Σ Stereo Audio D/A Converter.
ROHM Musical Device: MUS-IC
This may be their first step into high-end audio dacs, tho' the Japanese company has been around since 1958. Rohm - Wikipedia
No price or datasheet info seems to avail, but a shorty summary pages is on Mouser.
BD34301EKV High-Performance Audio-DAC - ROHM | Mouser
ROHM Musical Device: MUS-IC
This may be their first step into high-end audio dacs, tho' the Japanese company has been around since 1958. Rohm - Wikipedia
No price or datasheet info seems to avail, but a shorty summary pages is on Mouser.
BD34301EKV High-Performance Audio-DAC - ROHM | Mouser
Spec seems inferior to both ESS9038Pro and AKM4999EQ so not ground breaking in that sense?
BD34301EKV was presented in August 2018 (two years ago) and till now you can't buy it in small quantities.
WWW page ROHM Musical Device: MUS-IC it has not been modified for a very long time.
WWW page ROHM Musical Device: MUS-IC it has not been modified for a very long time.
The BD34301EKV is certainly not a copy cat design of either ESS or AKM's latest DAC's. It has true CCS OP architecture instead of resistors which will
result in a very high OP Z and most likely a greater linear voltage compliance range. This probably doesn't mean much to people such as yourself but for
those here that like to experiment with different and novel OP stages / I-V's it can be a good thing. It also can play native DSD up to 8x, bypassing
most of the DAC's front end. So there are some nice features for DIY'er's.
I'm not sure why the parts are taking so long to reach full production and availability, maybe they are doing revisions?
TCD
It looks very similar to any of the random modern Analog Devices, TI, or OnSemi parts, though? I mean, it's decent, but 5.5V max input voltage and no compelling reason to use it other than they wrote "for audio" on the datasheet.
Fine, the back-end is different, but it ultimately does not matter. If you want to call it a more modern PCM1792A clone, maybe that's more accurate. Output current is very high and will probably behave quite similarly to PCM1792/4 (also current segment) which was not a very high Z output like older DACs. The additional compliance would seem to be unnecessary given the superlative performance of all these devices with "poor" current sources.
Either way, I am amazed that someone thinks there is enough of a market remaining to fab an IC and enter a new product category. Especially when that chip doesn't even exceed the performance of its competitors on paper.
Smells like marketing to me, just like MUSES op-amps.
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True but 3.3 µV is still better than the regs most keep using. 5.5V max. input voltage is not uncommon at other manufacturers too.
The package is unfit for DIY use so you are probably right that there is no compelling reason to use it (just like the DAC chip which does not attract much attention either). It takes a lot of R&D to compete with ESS/TI etc. Still some competition is good!
The package is unfit for DIY use so you are probably right that there is no compelling reason to use it (just like the DAC chip which does not attract much attention either). It takes a lot of R&D to compete with ESS/TI etc. Still some competition is good!
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Agreed, competition is good. I actually hate QFN even more than BGA for manual assembly without an oven and stencil. With BGA, you just need a flat finish and a lot of flux and the surface tension pulls the part right into place with hot air. QFN and other LGA packages require you to apply paste or tin the pads and it is much harder to get it right with the center exposed pad.
Yes!
I made eval board by myself and run it a few weeks ago.
It is too early to say something, but it works, at least PCM.
Last week I was very busy at my main job, also the next week will be the same. But after I will try to run also DSD.
Myself, I'm happy there is an alternative to ess, even if it gives up a few dB in measured performance. Maybe they won't be so hostile towards users that won't be purchasing 1000 chips.
Their new regulator part is what amazes me. They are selling it for $20Aud each and it loses to the LT304X in every metric.
Their new regulator part is what amazes me. They are selling it for $20Aud each and it loses to the LT304X in every metric.