@plutos I haven't had a chance to do a lot of critical listening with the Sonica DAC yet, but my first impression is that it retains the same basic SABRE sound character but might be slightly faster at transients and thus have slightly more separation between notes than the OPPO HA-1. But the degree is very small, if any, so I could just be imagining things. I need more time to be able to form a more concrete opinion.
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nekoaudio, I`m actually considering your DAC also. But I`m bit tempted of the $500 Denafrips ARES or DAC-64. It`s discrete R2R (0,01). The technology is same as in the very top MSB, DCS etc. I need a small DAC for my Smart TV (8 series Philips optical out) it will probably put out PCM in stereo mode). P.S. I`m 99% sure that none of these DAC`s better the d/a in my SA-1, but shootout will be a fun anyway! |
I'd like to comment on this "sound of DACs". ESS DAC chips have a sound. Everything does. However, it is not what is normally talked about. What you are hearing when you hear any DAC is the whole shebang. You are not hearing an ESS or Wolfson or AKM or TI or R2R or whatever.....you are hearing the entire implementation of literally thousands of things that can change and effect the sound. I am not exaggerating. I have been modding players/DACs and manufacturing DACs since the first Philips CD player came out (mid 80s). The game is infinite. Above, Nekoaudio says the ESS DACs are distorted. No, they are not. The Oppos are distorted because they have no idea how to make something sound great....hence my modding them......every Oppo sounds not good stock no matter what DAC chip is in them. But I can fix it. Mahler123 says his Manhattan DAC (uses last generation ESS DAC chip) sounds much better than his Bryston DAC (uses AKM chips). This is completely contradictory to what Nekoaudio stated. There are several people who have A/Bed the stock and modded Gustard (ESS based) with the Yggy (R2R based) and the modded one kills the Yggy and the stock one is in the same league. What? It is all in the implementation.....really! However, DAC chips are getting better. The new ESS 9028/9038s are a whole nuther world more informative on every level than the old 9018s. Way less noise and distortion. Does that mean the new Oppo Sonica will sound good? No...it is still an Oppo. It won't sound that great.....the Bryston would kill it. However, modded the Oppo will probably kill the Bryston. There is a new Manhattan II. It has a bunch of enhancements including the new ESS top of the line 9038 DAC. I bet it is way, way better than the older Manhattan. If I had the old one I would be sending it off the get it upgraded yesterday....overnight! I bet it would blow your mind. Every DAC system/chip has a limitation. What is it? Certainly buying an Oppo won't show you the limitation of an ESS chip.....you are hearing the limitations of the people who designed it and also the price point they are playing at. It is understandable that people want simple answers to make their purchasing more easy. However, there is nothing simple about audio sound. For instance, discrete circuits are not the cure all. The Bryston has discrete output stages but the Manhattan uses op amps......oh no....another myth gone out the window. It is everything you do. Every single part and resonance and power supply and solder joint (yes, all brands of solder sound different) has a sound.....everything has a sound. My job, as tweaker, is to lower the distortion and noise of a component by choosing the best parts and implementation.....all by listening. You cannot do it by the book...you have to listen. This game is infinite....just like life, just like Love. |
Agree agree with all of the above, Rice. it's hard to imagine the Mytek sounding any better....suspect the Manhatten II adds MQA and USB from a Mac, neither of which Icare much about. However, I will contact Mytek about an upgrade, I can always use the Bryston as a pinch hitter. one question for you--do you have any idea why I only get the DSD over pcm signal when my Oppo 105 says it is outputting DSD from SACD over HDMI? |
To clarify, in my first post, I said the specific SABRE DAC I was comparing against sounded a particular way. I did not mean to imply all SABRE DACs will sound the same. I would be the first person to say it's all about the implementation, as that's exactly why the Neko Audio DAC doesn't sound like other PCM1794 DACs. I was a bit remiss in referring to the OPPO HA-1 and Sonica DAC sound as the SABRE sound. However I do find many SABRE DACs sound similar, and was trying to convey that in my description. |