Hard to say what is best , it seems ESS and AK chips are used a lot now. Wolfson is now made by Cirrus Logic. I would try to listen to a few different DAC's and see what I like.
I agree with mahler123. Judge the entire implementation, not just the chip.
For example, the ESS chips are produced in great quantity and are therefore less expensive than some others. Its basic technology is used in DACs costing $100 and others justifiably costing several thousands of dollars.
A smart designer goes far beyond the spec design in the tech manual, manual that specifies the given build out of the chip's implementation.
That manual spec, makes the chip work and work well for a long time. It says nothing about sound quality, in the vast number of cases.
It is there so that people can implement the chip properly and it is also there so that if the chips fail often in the given finished design, that the chip maker can justifiably point to the 'proper' implementation rules not being followed.
99% or more of consumer gear follows these rules (to the letter!) laid out in the tech manuals for all the chips in gear.
That's a notable part of why mainstream audio gear sucks.
In the older generations, BB was my favorite. In some modern implementations as well. One thing to listen for, the best modern DAC's are TERRIFIC with Redbook playback. The mediocre one's only sound great with 96/24 or better.
@tparr I have an experience similar to yours I own an older Onkyo CDP that uses the Wolfson 8742 chip and a new Benchmark DAC3B that uses the ESS 9028PRO and I find the Benchmark presets more detail especially in classical and Jazz than my old Onkyo . Some may prefer the sound character of the onboard Wolfson and the Onkyo , I certainly enjoyed it for years until it came time to try something new and noticed what I had not been hearing. In my opinion, if at all possible, it's good to try different implementations of the DAC chip as you said there are no cut and dried answers to which is better it might be more of a which do I prefer question.
Nesto I’ve never heard the Marantz, but I own the Oppo 203. The Marantz retails for about 10 times the price of the Oppo so it should have a better DAC, but why don’t you connect the Oppo to the Marantz and let us know what you think?
to the comments on ladders vs chips - they are in fact all chips (with very few, expensive exceptions). Cheapest R2R used semiconducor resistors in ladder; best use(d) hybrid film resistors. Many modern ones used discrete resistors at very high cost, mostly because you cannot buy R2R chips any longer (yes, i know about AD's chip, and its PITA to use due to inherent glitches) Just keeping the discussion from having red herrings
I would advise to look up one of the recent "Pints with Ayre" in which they discuss with one of the Sabre chip developers in depth; but only if you are interested in listening to people who might know what they are talking about.
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