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R2R next? Don't like ESS

Can you recommend a good 'starter' R2R dac?  I've been through a number of ESS Sabre dacs and they're not for me.  IMO, they lack a certain transparency that I'm after.  Point of reference:   The *only* dac that I've heard that is decent to my ears is a 10yr old Maverick Audio D3 w/ Sparkos OpAmp swap.  *This* was great.  Alas, I sold it because I thought I could do better with something newer.  

Geshelli's offerings have piqued my interest - the J3 in particular - but it's an ESS chip.  Wondering if I should make the jump to something R2R - Denafrips, Broder Patrol..  thoughts?

martinman

Showing 3 responses by iseland

iseland's avatar
iseland
172 posts
 

@sls883 mine aswell! I think it's magic involved in the 4 ess chip solution 😁

iseland's avatar
iseland
172 posts
 

Don't purchase cheap DACs. 😉

Chip or resistor ladder does not make that much difference .

I learned it after many many many moneys spent .

iseland's avatar
iseland
172 posts
 

As I have repeatedly said in several posts on many forums,  IT IS NOT THE CHIP IT IS THE OUTPUT STAGE and implementation and power supply that makes the biggest difference in sound . My current dac converting one's and zeros to music by ess 9038 pro and I haven't heard any denafrips doing it better yet...

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