Chinese DAC shames a few heavy hitters

nc42acc

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Because I told Mike I had heard the designer of the Gustard X20 had collaborated with the ESS engineers on the complete package. This is just hearsay but the source was credible.
 

Blizzard

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Sep 30, 2015
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What makes you think that Gustard is using someone else design? Dustin, Dustin, Dustin...



Marty heard it through the grapevine that the ESS chip engineer had a hand in the design.
 

nc42acc

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I just let the Yggydrasil cook for an hour and switched out the X20. I was second guessing myself but every time I do this exercise the results are always the same.
 

Blizzard

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I just let the Yggydrasil cook for an hour and switched out the X20. I was second guessing myself but every time I do this exercise the results are always the same.

That's because you are comparing dinosaur technology to modern technology. Now try with HQplayer. The biggest compromise with the Sabre chips is the SRC and modulators. HQplayer can bypass those so the sound goes direct to the multibit conversion stage of the chip. The results are drastic.
 

nc42acc

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Can I do this without the NAA and just use a computer at my rack?

That's because you are comparing dinosaur technology to modern technology. Now try with HQplayer. The biggest compromise with the Sabre chips is the SRC and modulators. HQplayer can bypass those so the sound goes direct to the multibit conversion stage of the chip. The results are drastic.
 

wisnon

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Dec 12, 2011
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That's because you are comparing dinosaur technology to modern technology. Now try with HQplayer. The biggest compromise with the Sabre chips is the SRC and modulators. HQplayer can bypass those so the sound goes direct to the multibit conversion stage of the chip. The results are drastic.
You call the closed form filter in the Yggy, dinosauresque? Really?
 

Blizzard

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You call the closed form filter in the Yggy, dinosauresque? Really?

If it doesn't do DSD, it's a dinosaur in my books. Just my opinion. Opinions are allowed in my subforum.
 

wisnon

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Dec 12, 2011
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Hahahahahaha.

Have I ever been able to stop you on a rampage???

Great PCM is NOT to be pooh-poohed...and You know I am a card carrying DSD lover! Hell, I am sure I have more DSD music than you do. Heh.
 

wisnon

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Dec 12, 2011
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Hahahahahaha.

Have I ever been able to stop you on a rampage???

Great PCM is NOT to be pooh-poohed...and You know I am a card carrying DSD lover! Hell, I am sure I have more DSD music than you do. Heh.
 

Rodney Gold

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Jan 29, 2014
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This topic was not generated in "your" subforum , it was moved there and furthermore the forum is not yours to play god and moderator in either.. you are still bound by the TOS.
 

nc42acc

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And I have more DSD than both of you! :p. You know the Yggydrasil couldn't live in my system.

Hahahahahaha.

Have I ever been able to stop you on a rampage???

Great PCM is NOT to be pooh-poohed...and You know I am a card carrying DSD lover! Hell, I am sure I have more DSD music than you do. Heh.
 

Blizzard

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Sep 30, 2015
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This topic was not generated in "your" subforum , it was moved there and furthermore the forum is not yours to play god and moderator in either.. you are still bound by the TOS.

Rodney, even you're welcome here with your 24/96 max compatible system. Don't worry, everything is alright.:)
 

Blizzard

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Hahahahahaha.

Have I ever been able to stop you on a rampage???

Great PCM is NOT to be pooh-poohed...and You know I am a card carrying DSD lover! Hell, I am sure I have more DSD music than you do. Heh.

I agree, PCM sounds wonderful when upsampled to quad DSD :)
 
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Al M.

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Comment deleted.
 
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Lee

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Feb 3, 2011
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My son got the Bitfrost DAC. Isolation from USB was so poor that he could hear the noise from his PC as he played games! I measured it and it had a nasty jitter in addition to that -- the highest I have ever measured on S/PDIF -- on one of its inputs.

He also bought an interconnect from them and it was so poorly soldered that the solder from the center pin broke after a day.

He returned them all and bought the Oppo DAC-1 and has been quite happy other than volume control not keeping the levels the same on both channels as you adjust.

Sorry to hear that Amir, the Oppo is pretty decent but a bit dark sounding.
 

Ric Schultz

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Jun 21, 2013
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According to Ric, the IC opamps are in the digital section.

That is not what I said and you know it. I said "The opamps in the DAC are not even near the discrete stage"...meaning that they could not be part of a hybrid circuit....in fact, if you look closely at the pics you will see the 4 opamps situated between the DAC chips and the discrete output stages....exactly where an I-V converter would be. Now, I do not know that they are the I-V converters but they are on the analog side of the DAC and not the digital side. Mike you are lying.....plain and simple....again I never said the IC opamps were in the digital section. You like to twist things around so you are always "right". Well, you have been caught with your pants down now....you are wrong! You act like a 19 year old who thinks he knows everything.....really immature and silly.
 

Blizzard

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Sep 30, 2015
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That is not what I said and you know it. I said "The opamps in the DAC are not even near the discrete stage"...meaning that they could not be part of a hybrid circuit....in fact, if you look closely at the pics you will see the 4 opamps situated between the DAC chips and the discrete output stage....exactly where an I-V converter would be. Now, I do not know that they are the I-V converters but they are on the analog side of the DAC and not the digital side. Mike you are lying.....plain and simple....again I never said the IC opamps were in the digital section. You like to twist things around so you are always "right" Well, you have your pants down now....you are wrong!

Well I consider everything after the DAC chips the output stage. Before the DAC chips is digital. That's about all there is to it. You said the opamps aren't part of the output stage, so to me that would mean you think they are part of the digital end.

Who says the opamps must be a certain distance away from the discrete circuit to be part of the output stage?
 

Ric Schultz

Well-Known Member
Jun 21, 2013
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I did not say the opamps were not part of the output stage......again you are lying to make yourself look right. My quote was correct....that is what I said.....anyone can read it including you. You are twisting again. I did not say the opamps must be a certain distance away from the discrete stage to be a part of the output stage......where did I say that? You know nothing about output stages......that is for sure. I was trying to point out the opamps were not right next to the discrete stage so they probably were not part of a "hybrid circuit" as you conjecturized after I said that it probably had opamps also in the output stage. Your initial statement was that the output stage was "fully discrete".....so this is why you wanted to argue so your original statement would not look bad (wrong).....I mean really, you must be right about everything you say.....You are all knowing....you cannot be wrong. Please stop this immature behavior....grow up!

By the way, there are several DACs that use op amps for I-V conversion and then use discrete "output stages" that follow. The Vega and the Overdrive are two such DACs. The Overdrive uses a single transistor zero feedback buffer/coupling cap combo on its output.......the Vega probably uses several Class A transistors (potted modules, so you cannot see.....but inspired by old Neve 8078 console amps).
 

Blizzard

Banned
Sep 30, 2015
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I did not say the opamps were not part of the output stage......again you are lying to make yourself look right. My quote was correct....that is what I said.....anyone can read it including you. You are twisting again. I did not say the opamps must be a certain distance away from the discrete stage to be a part of the output stage......where did I say that? You know nothing about output stages......that is for sure. I was trying to point out the opamps were not right next to the discrete stage so they probably were not part of a "hybrid circuit" as you conjecturized after I said that it probably had opamps also in the output stage. Your initial statement was that the output stage was "fully discrete".....so this is why you wanted to argue so your original statement would not look bad (wrong).....I mean really, you must be right about everything you say.....You are all knowing....you cannot be wrong. Please stop this immature behavior....grow up!

Both IC opamps and discrete circuitry in the output stage, making it a hybrid output stage.
 
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