New exaSound e32 and e38 DACs with DSD 256 at TAVES Show This Weekend

Ric Schultz

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Jun 21, 2013
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Its interesting to note the pricing differences between the Chinese great sounding DSD256 DACs, etc. and things like Exasound. Oppo will have a DAC in Dec. that will have the even better ESS9038 chip in it and wireless streaming and usb hard drive inputs for $800. Now they don't use very good power supply caps and resistors, etc. so it might not sound quite as good stock as this $3500 thing but imagine what modding it will bring! Gustard currently has a DAC that has two ESS 9018 DACs ($869) and stock has outgunned the Iggy and Vega. Now, in late Nov. they are releasing the Pro version of the 20U with two ESS9028 DACs in it.....twice as many as this Exasound. Oh my, they are raising the price to $899.....a big $30 increase....me no can afford...he he. Modified it will spin heads around! Digital is changing so fast I don't know why anyone would spend a lot of money on stuff that will be obsolete in 1 year or less. The current Gustard is mind-blowingly good and this new one modified.....oh my, I am salivating. I hope the modded Oppo is close as it has more flexibility. Fun stuff ahead for pennies compared to the "standard overpriced stuff".
 

Kal Rubinson

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May 4, 2010
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Its interesting to note the pricing differences between the Chinese great sounding DSD256 DACs, etc. and things like Exasound. Oppo will have a DAC in Dec. that will have the even better ESS9038 chip in it and wireless streaming and usb hard drive inputs for $800. Now they don't use very good power supply caps and resistors, etc. so it might not sound quite as good stock as this $3500 thing but imagine what modding it will bring! Gustard currently has a DAC that has two ESS 9018 DACs ($869) and stock has outgunned the Iggy and Vega. Now, in late Nov. they are releasing the Pro version of the 20U with two ESS9028 DACs in it.....twice as many as this Exasound. Oh my, they are raising the price to $899.....a big $30 increase....me no can afford...he he. Modified it will spin heads around! Digital is changing so fast I don't know why anyone would spend a lot of money on stuff that will be obsolete in 1 year or less. The current Gustard is mind-blowingly good and this new one modified.....oh my, I am salivating. I hope the modded Oppo is close as it has more flexibility. Fun stuff ahead for pennies compared to the "standard overpriced stuff".

I will be sympathetic when Oppo or Gustard offer a multichannel DAC.
 

Ric Schultz

Well-Known Member
Jun 21, 2013
227
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333
Soquel, CA
The amount of serious audiophiles into multichannel classical music is very, very small. You two are super fans, I know. I personally, only know a handful out of hundreds of customers/friends over the years. However, you can get a board for the Oppo player that will output multichannel over several coax digital outs....then you could run 3 Gustards and only cost you $2700......this is less than the other multichannel (not as good sounding?) DACs out there. This would give you a mono ESS9028 DAC for every channel (eight DACs in parallel per channel). The other guys (Exasound and Merging) give you one 8 channel DAC chip.....this way you have 6 mono eight channel DACs.....way better. No comparison between one DAC per channel sharing all 6 channels and a having a mono eight channel DAC per channel. With the more expensive DACs that use less DACs per channel you will never see anyone mod them to optimize the sound (just to expensive and will be obsolete in a year). Merging and Exasound use simple op amp output stages and small power supplies. I plan to put one or two 130 Watt transformers in a separate box on my best Oppo Sonica mod. I can use the new $400 clock from Italy that is suppose to sound way better than the $30 Crystek "Femto clock" that is the industry standard. I can put in discrete output stages or transformer based output stages with no active stages at all on the output.....etc. etc. Stock is no fun! Tweaking is fun! he he. I am sure I would "like" a stock Merging or Exasound. They are fine sounding. But after an hour of tweaking, I could make them sound way, way better. Never saw a product I could not improve.
 

YashN

New Member
Jun 28, 2015
951
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Canada
exaSound has announced that they will be showing their new e32 Stereo and e38 Multichannel DACs with DSD 256 this weekend at the TAVES Consumer Electronics Show in Canada. Both feature the new ESS ES 9028Pro DAC chips.

Looks like George and Team haven't stopped working.

I read a bit of the marketing material, but I see all kind of new (TM) labels for certain concepts. It's a bit cheesy, but no doubt the DACs will be wonderful anyway.

Anyone reporting on TAVES?
 

Kal Rubinson

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May 4, 2010
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The amount of serious audiophiles into multichannel classical music is very, very small.
Granted.

However, you can get a board for the Oppo player that will output multichannel over several coax digital outs....then you could run 3 Gustards and only cost you $2700......this is less than the other multichannel (not as good sounding?) DACs out there.
I have done this in the past but I no longer play discs, only files and the Oppo players are unacceptably clunky in this role. (Is there a comparable PC board or outboard device?)

The Mytek approach is more appealing. Put clock in/out on the stereo DAC and we can link three of them via a USB hub.

Never saw a product I could not improve.
I do not doubt that but tweaks do not a commercial product make.........imho.
 

bmoura

Well-Known Member
Sep 6, 2013
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I do not doubt that but tweaks do not a commercial product make.........imho.

Tweaks like these can provide a nice sonic enhancement to the stock product (disc player, DAC, etc.). But it only takes you so far in my listening experience.
Playback Designs, Merging and exaSound have nothing to fear from the tweaks. :)
 

YashN

New Member
Jun 28, 2015
951
5
0
Canada
I do not doubt that but tweaks do not a commercial product make.........imho.

Depends on the extent of the improvements.

Actually, Lukasz Ficus started by doing mods on existing equipment for his own listening, ripping out whole solid-state I/V sections of existing CD-players and tapping the DAC outputs directly into his own Tube stage...

These experiments form a good part of the basis of what Lampizator products are today.

You can find still find his old articles online.
 

Kal Rubinson

Well-Known Member
May 4, 2010
2,360
697
1,700
NYC
www.stereophile.com
Depends on the extent of the improvements.

Actually, Lukasz Ficus started by doing mods on existing equipment for his own listening, ripping out whole solid-state I/V sections of existing CD-players and tapping the DAC outputs directly into his own Tube stage...

These experiments form a good part of the basis of what Lampizator products are today.

You can find still find his old articles online.
Yup. Not in conflict with my position.
 

Ric Schultz

Well-Known Member
Jun 21, 2013
227
56
333
Soquel, CA
Tweaks like these can provide a nice sonic enhancement to the stock product (disc player, DAC, etc.). But it only takes you so far in my listening experience.
Playback Designs, Merging and exaSound have nothing to fear from the tweaks. :)

The tweaks I do are not what you have heard. I don't just swap op amps and caps and resistors. Some of what I do is not done by any commercial manufacturer. The output stages and power supplies in the Exasound and Merging are no where near as good as I do. I use WA Quantum chips on caps and semiconductors, I damp heatsinks and other parts, I remove the steel bolts and plates from power transformers and lift the transformers off the chassis, I twist wires, I use audiophile fuses and in some case remove them, I have several types of exotic power supply filters, shunt regulators, pure transformer output stages, hand made hook up wire using solid core PCOCC cryoed copper in cotton and twisted and used in the direction it sounds best, hand modified Wima bypass caps using 6N wiring and marked for outside foil polarity, better clocks than Crystek, etc. etc. Every single thing I do improves the sound. These are not theoretical mods. I listen to every thing I do.

I have no doubt that serious mods to the Oppo Sonica and new Gustard X20U Pro will be way better sonically than a stock Merging or Exasound. Now you could do these same mods to those products but then you would be paying thousands of dollars more for the basic DAC and have reduced resale value. By modding inexpensive but seriously capable DACs (once modded) then you have super serious sound for little investment.

More than likely I will have a fully modded Oppo and maybe a Gustard to send to reviewers, etc. to hear the incredible sound themselves in their own home/system. Hearing is believing.
 

YashN

New Member
Jun 28, 2015
951
5
0
Canada
By modding inexpensive but seriously capable DACs (once modded) then you have super serious sound for little investment.

I like this approach.
 

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