Where can I buy a USB Sabre DAC?

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It's great to hear.
What board is that?

The Subbu DAC is a DIY board using an ES9023 with lots of attention to power supplies. However its S/PDIF input, via WM8804.

There's another DIY ES9023 DAC worth looking at, that's the curryman. I mean 'worth looking at' in the sense of learning about the main ingredients required for a decent implementation. Not sure that anyone's making them any more though but these two are about the best that the ES9023 can do - well attended-to power supplies in the case of the Subbu and an output buffer-filter in the case of the curryman.

Maybe there's some manufacturer that does it?
Creates DACs for a relatively reasonable price, that perform like much more than their cost

(if not, then that's a business potential :))
It would lack credibility if its price was too far beneath its performance level :)
 
Understood. I said 192 should be plenty high. Doesn't mean 96 might not be high enough in most cases. However, some very carefully researched and designed dacs are now upsampling to 211kHz. I have no doubt those particular dacs measure and sound better there than at 96, but those may be an exception to the general rule.

I doubt the Benchmark and ES9028 actually measure better at 211 kHz. ESS doesn't even publish full distortion vs sample rate tables in their datasheet that I have, but their quoted headline numbers are all measured at 44.1 kHz. Sigma Delta converters perform better at lower sample rates. You can check the datasheet of any to see it. It is possible the ESS doesn't change much, but Benchmark's choice was probably to allow 192 kHz content without doing something like downsampling 192 kHz input with the SRC4392.

It's all academic though. I doubt it sounds any worse at high sample rates.
 
Why upsampling to 211kHz?

Sorry for dragging this thread off topic.

Benchmark uses a non audio rate crystal to clock their ASRC. I'm not sure there is a really good reason other than trying to avoid a 1:1 conversion ratio, which was problematic with the first gen Cirrus ASRC. They may know something about the implementation of the ES9028 filters that is not common knowledge. I think their claim is they just want to give headroom between the passband and transition band of the digital filter.
 
Sigma Delta converters perform better at lower sample rates. You can check the datasheet of any to see it.

I did just that - checked the DS of AD1955 (it shows FFTs of 48k,96k and 192k) and couldn't notice anything but seemingly inconsequential differences between rates (spurs all being beneath 120dB). Did I pick the wrong part?

I can't see a reason lower rates should be better for S-D DACs given they all tend to run the modulator at the same rate anyway and upsample to something like 8*fs internally before doing a ZOH or somesuchlike. So faster rates just bypass internal stages of FIR upsampling filters.
 
I did just that - checked the DS of AD1955 (it shows FFTs of 48k,96k and 192k) and couldn't notice anything but seemingly inconsequential differences between rates (spurs all being beneath 120dB). Did I pick the wrong part?

I can't see a reason lower rates should be better for S-D DACs given they all tend to run the modulator at the same rate anyway and upsample to something like 8*fs internally before doing a ZOH or somesuchlike. So faster rates just bypass internal stages of FIR upsampling filters.

You're right that with a cap on the oversampling ratio there doesn't seem to be a reason. I don't know about the AD1955, but the PCM1792, and all the AKM parts show better THD+N at lower sample rates in what appears to be the same measurement bandwidth. I think I've seen the same in Cirrus datasheets but not sure. It may not be significant, but I think there is a reason the evaluation measurements are almost always at 44.1 or 48.

I may have been a bit general saying "all", at least as it applies to audio converters.
 
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This is a strong part :)
It should be put on every product page of a DAC that is over 192KHz..
(tho no manufacturer/seller would want that on his product page, since it will decrease sales)


BTW,
mentioning not just the chip used in a DAC but also the implementation,
what do you guys think about the implementations of hifimediy.com?

For example:
HiFimeDIY UAE23 USB DAC (ESS Sabre ES9023+Savitech SA9023)


From the product's description, I liked this part:
Seems that they indeed try to make it better than the average board that uses a 1117


I am considering buying this one, as my ES9023..
Even tho it's 3 times the 16$ board in ebay that also has SA9023+ES9023 :)
I wonder how much difference there would really be, but I hope it will be worth it

That is the one I got for my son, easy plug and play, sounded much better than the laptop alone. Good for the money with no fuss. But if you want to dig into diy, listen to the other advice, just be aware of the time, effort, and money it will entail.

PJN
 
It is not the dac chip that makes the dac so much as it is the particular implementation.

Just thought someone responding to this thread probably ought to point that out.

So true. The Chinese are known for bragging about chip used but then the parts and circuit used are not that great. That being said I have used the ones from Ready made and for their price sound pretty nice, not best but not bad for money spent.
 
I have used the ones from Ready made and for their price sound pretty nice, not best but not bad for money spent.
Good to hear, it gives comfort for this purchase :)


Just because I am a curious person,
I might also order the 16$ one from ebay,
and then listen to both and see if there's a difference:

s-l500.jpg


SA9023+ES9023 24BIT/96KHZ asynchronous USB DAC / HIFI Sound Card Decoder board | eBay
 
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OK I ordered 2 DACs based on SA9023+ES9023.


The first is HiFimeDIY UAE23:
HiFimeDIY UAE23 USB DAC (ESS Sabre ES9023+Savitech SA9023)

The second is one from AliExpress (a different model than the one in the picture in the last post):
SA9023 ES9023 HIFI Audio DAC Decoder Sound Card for Power Amplifier Support 24bit 96K-in Amplifier from Consumer Electronics on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group


I am curious to see what the difference between them will be.
I will use them both for several days, to let them "break in", before trying to conclude anything about their sound quality.


After that, I will also try ES9018K2M..


Thank you all for all the tips
 
Thank you

What an extremely detailed report..
Way more than I can understand at this stage..

Have you heard it? Would you recommend it?


BTW,
the maker of that board is called Breeze Audio?

They have another board, for ES9018K2M, that's the one I plan to buy after the current one arrives..

Here it is:
Lusya HIFI ES9018K2M SA9023 USB DAC Decoder board External Sound Card Support 24Bit 92k for Amplifier-in Amplifier from Consumer Electronics on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group
 
OK I ordered the Breeze Audio ES9018K2M board now too :)..


It's hard to resist, when something costs 16-17$.


In the past week I ordered 6 different DACs, due to curiosity about sound "taste" coming from them,
and due to really comfortable prices, as you can see.


I will post my impressions after all arrive and after I listen to each one for about a week..
 
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I will post my impressions after all arrive and after I listen to each one for about a week..

Hi, would it be possible to post anything on it? I'm equally tempted by the pricing but would hate to buy real rubbish... Of particular interest would be whether any significant improvement is to be expected with any of those you tried vs a standard sound card in my 12-year old laptop. Thanks in advance )
 
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