I have been looking for such a product for many years. I am very excited.
Given that this project will cost $1000 - $1500, I don't want to make a hasty decision. I would prefer to wait and make sure I get the best. Any idea when 9038 might be available?
Are there any capacitors in the signal path? Or is it DC coupled? If so what is the common mode DC measured at the outputs?
Also do you have on board low noise regulators? or your supply has has very low levels of noise?
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Thank you! We'll get in touch.
dviswa:
We're working on a cabinet right now
It will include OLED, volume control (both rotary encoder and remote) and together with isolated USB input board it will be our first complete unit. The price is going to be around €1000.We would like to switch to ES9038PRO in a first half of the next year, but I cannot predict when exactly. It might be as a part of a different product.
Outputs of DAC8 are DC-coupled and the common-mode voltage is nominally 0V (in reality +-5mV max/min).
On-board regulators are 4x LT3045 (0.8uVrms 10Hz-100kHz).
pos:
I took a look at Motu 8A and I don't think they use a Sabre chip from the PRO line in it - their claimed performance is -110dB THD+N and 123dB-A dynamic range (MOTU.com - Tech Specs), which seems to point towards the mobile Sabre line.
In terms of analog performance, AFAIK there is not much competition for DAC8 among multichannel D/A interfaces. Apogee Symphony I/O Mk.2 is one of them (but of course we aren't going to be able to compete in terms of input connectivity anytime soon
).ESS Sabre32 DAC - Apogee Electronics
Pavel, Okto Research
www.oktoresearch.com
info@oktoresearch.com
Well, if the assembled unit is too expensive I can always go with the modules, if the prices do not change
If you implement your own USB adapter please make is linux compatible, and possibly also include an spdif input. The USBstreamer is a proven solution...
Hi pos
any chance that (LINK: https://docs.khadas.com/toneboard/UserManual.html) will bring a next generation XMOS interface and mayby be 32bit deep, i know that board is also a good consumer two channel DAC in itself but into link its claimed USB interface supports diy 8 channel DAC and cost for board is in same class what miniDSP ask for, by the way guess board should be quality engineered in that ASR also reviewed that board not so long ago (LINK: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...ents-of-wesiontek-khadas-tone-board-dac.4823/)Hello everyone,
we've been very busy lately with finishing mechanical design and firmware of our upcoming product, but I'm happy to report that we are done with the former and nearly done with the latter.
pos: Our USB input will be UAC2 compatible, thus it will work with Linux, Windows and Mac.
I would like to explain why DAC8 and our future products will not feature RCA outputs (which we are frequently asked for).
With unbalanced, single-ended connections (like RCA is), there is no way to stop real-world interference from invading the signal. They will always create current (and voltage drop) on the ground conductor, which in case of unbalanced wiring also happens to be a signal conductor, and thus inject the interference components right into the signal itself.
When using balanced interconnects, the shield is not a signal conductor, so interference-induced currents are safely carried away through the chassis to the PE conductor. If some interference still manage to inject themselves into + and - signal conductors (with equal impedance relative to ground), they get decreased by a ratio of common-mode rejection. Apart from RFI immunity, differential signalling also offers twice the dynamic range of the single-ended signalling for a given signal voltage.
We would probably sell more DAC8s with RCA out, but it just wouldn't make sense to use PRO series Sabre DAC, which has differential outputs by itself and then convert the signal to single ended (vulnerable to RFI) to be transported out of the chassis.
While balanced, differential signal connections have been adopted in professional audio long time ago for the reasons above, in high-end audio, RCA connections unfortunately still remain to be the standard.
Here is an excerpt from "Electromagnetic compatibility engineering" by Henry W. Ott, a book I highly recommend:
Pavel Krasensky, Okto Research
Okto Research
info@oktoresearch.com
we've been very busy lately with finishing mechanical design and firmware of our upcoming product, but I'm happy to report that we are done with the former and nearly done with the latter.
pos: Our USB input will be UAC2 compatible, thus it will work with Linux, Windows and Mac.
I would like to explain why DAC8 and our future products will not feature RCA outputs (which we are frequently asked for).
With unbalanced, single-ended connections (like RCA is), there is no way to stop real-world interference from invading the signal. They will always create current (and voltage drop) on the ground conductor, which in case of unbalanced wiring also happens to be a signal conductor, and thus inject the interference components right into the signal itself.
When using balanced interconnects, the shield is not a signal conductor, so interference-induced currents are safely carried away through the chassis to the PE conductor. If some interference still manage to inject themselves into + and - signal conductors (with equal impedance relative to ground), they get decreased by a ratio of common-mode rejection. Apart from RFI immunity, differential signalling also offers twice the dynamic range of the single-ended signalling for a given signal voltage.
We would probably sell more DAC8s with RCA out, but it just wouldn't make sense to use PRO series Sabre DAC, which has differential outputs by itself and then convert the signal to single ended (vulnerable to RFI) to be transported out of the chassis.
While balanced, differential signal connections have been adopted in professional audio long time ago for the reasons above, in high-end audio, RCA connections unfortunately still remain to be the standard.
Here is an excerpt from "Electromagnetic compatibility engineering" by Henry W. Ott, a book I highly recommend:
Pavel Krasensky, Okto Research
Okto Research
info@oktoresearch.com
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Hello, thank you for your reply... apart from the problem of RFI, I would like to understand if the balanced circuit is completely/entirely used, or not, if one would use RCA output. Is there any sonic advantages between ES9038 with RCA or 8 channels ES9016 DAC ?
In Rane's site there is a guide to assemble unbalanced cable from balanced output.
Oh I see...
I was thinking about a spdif/aes input for the USB module, in order to use this device as a 2in/8out soundcard.
Kreisky:
Not sure if I understand your question. A balanced, differential signal path is a one which has two conductors with equal impedance relative to the ground, where the signal is what remains after subtraction of the two at the receiver end. Interference get subtracted too, because they are (in theory) equal on both conductors. Third conductor - ground - just connects the ground potentials.
Technically, there is no problem in carrying a balanced, differential signal through RCA connections, you just need two of them - one for +/hot, one for -/cold and then connect the conductor shields to the case at both ends if that was your question.
Indeed, you can connect a balanced output to an unbalanced input as well as unbalanced output to a balanced input, but the result is an unbalanced connection.
Pos:
Sorry for misunderstanding. I presume we might consider adding this in the future. Could you describe some cases in which you would find it useful?
Not sure if I understand your question. A balanced, differential signal path is a one which has two conductors with equal impedance relative to the ground, where the signal is what remains after subtraction of the two at the receiver end. Interference get subtracted too, because they are (in theory) equal on both conductors. Third conductor - ground - just connects the ground potentials.
Technically, there is no problem in carrying a balanced, differential signal through RCA connections, you just need two of them - one for +/hot, one for -/cold and then connect the conductor shields to the case at both ends if that was your question.
Indeed, you can connect a balanced output to an unbalanced input as well as unbalanced output to a balanced input, but the result is an unbalanced connection.
Pos:
Sorry for misunderstanding. I presume we might consider adding this in the future. Could you describe some cases in which you would find it useful?
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