AKM makes the best DACs

D70S user here and in my system it performs well. I had a previous dac which used dual ESS chips and I liked it as well.  Prefer the D70S for music but either works well for soundtracks. 

My Hegel h160 uses an AKM chip in its' dac section which sounds great as well. In comparison to the D70S, the D70S has more bass/midbass emphasis and a bit less instrument separation and yields a bit warmer sound. The Hegel is a bit cooler, emphasizes instruments a bit more in sharpness and has a bit more treble extension. I found myself preferring one or the other depending on music. 

They are fairly close to performance but those are the differences I noticed.

The D70S is hooked up to a Keces E40 which together drive Focal 807W speakers. Also drove many other combos well including MA Silver 100s 6th Ed.

Not bad for a budget system.

PS I once had a Marantz CD 5000 which used the Philips TDA 1549 DAC.  While the stage size was smaller, the tone was just so nice. Wish I never sold it.

If there was a "best" dac....or a "best" speaker...or a "best" amplifier......what a boring hobby this would be. The word BEST should never be used in Hi-Fi discussions. :>)

Have an older AVA multibit dac and a few AKM  chip based dacs.  They are all well designed and sound nice. Dac chips are like ice cream flavors.  Sometimes you want one flavor sometimes you want another.  It's just nice to have the options.  🙂

I agree w/the poster...and disagree w/anyone who says that different chips from different manufacturers don't have their own sound.  AKM is the clear leader [pun intended], closely followed by the Burr Brown 17 series, esp the 1795.

I've got the Hegel top-of-their-line DAC.  Guess which chip they used? To say that it is "highly resolving" is to make an understatement...detail upon detail, which is what I like ~ but not necessarily what everyone is looking for, obviously.

And so, I get why some folks favor the ESS, for their more subtle/somewhat smoother sound ~ not as in your face.  It's about preference, and how it sounds w/your setup, in your room.  What can we not make this statement about?  

AKM all the way vs ESS Sabre’s. I have multiple daps and the AKM’s sound better to my ear vs the “brighter” ess chips. I’ve experienced this in multiple Astel n Kern daps….