burr-brown vs. sabre vs. ?


just curious if any people here have experience-based impressions the differences various converter chips make, assuming they're roughly the same vintage. I'm looking to buy a digital interface for digitizing LPs; it's a more mass, consumer-driven (not high end) type of market, so features are pretty uniform at any given price point, which makes me wonder if the different chips have a 'sound'. put another way: if you were choosing an interface for audiophile purposes (my preference in 'neutral', when it comes to component choice), would you gravitate towards any particular manufacturer?
musicslug
agree with Georgelofi - Burr-Brown vs Sabre is the wrong way to approach the issue.
As posted already, you should hear whether you like a multi-bit DAC (Philips, Burr-Brown) or a single-bit DAC (Sabre, Wolfson, Analog-Devices & some Burr-Brown).
Different strokes for different folks - you might sonically like the 1-bit DACs? Need to listen to find out.
Personally, I prefer a multi-bit DAC including a non-oversampling DAC. YMMV.
Implementation is everything. I had a BB PCM1704 based DAC then built a tube-output Sabre (Buffalo IIISE based) that blows the BB away in every way. Power supply and output stage count at least as much as the DAC chip.
Could you guys give some examples of NOS R2R DACS. Who makes the chip or is it a proprietary non-chip design (like Metrum or Chord, I guess). Which DAC manufacturers implement R2R?
thanks for the responses. as I mentioned, I'm actually looking for an 'interface' (musicians use them to convert their audio signals into digital for use with 'digital audio workstations' (like protools). in other words, this ain't 'high end'. I can't imagine any mass-market interface will use the R2R chips... the one I'm leaning towards (audient id14) uses burr-brown, and a very popular one (apogee duet) uses sabre. interestingly, some people don't like the way the apogee boosts highs and lows, which fits what Coli wrote.
I have heard that Lynx HILO makes a very good Hifi Dac as well as ADC. If I were you I would splurge for one of these used. I have no idea what brand(s) of chip it uses, but as others have said it's not the brand of chip that is of primary importance.