In Reply to: Are`DACs with the ESS Sabre the best DACs? posted by jseverino50 on March 17, 2012 at 08:49:25:
You will get many different answers which might start the usually war, but the honest answer IMO is clearly yes.
If you look at many of the good major and minor DAC manufactures out there the to chip of choice seems to be the ESS. There must be a reason...
People can spin things, and add lots of superfluous info, but the simple answer to you question again is yes.
People love to talk, but often say very little of substance. Of course you need a good output stage and a good power supply, this is a given. But you really do not need 144 xyz regulators to get good sound.
Will you get bad sound from a DAC if the associated circuitry is poor, of course. As with any equipment. But this is a moot point. Manufactures are not going out of their way to build bad products! There is always something better out there, and more costly. But there are a number of really good choices too.
I built the Buffalo which is very good, but at this point I would not recommend going that route. I own a Mini Max Plus which is a very good DAC. With a bit of upgrading IMO it is a killer. The W4S is also a great DAC! TAS gave it a super review. Lots of inmates own it and love it.
The Mytek 192 look like it might even be better from what people are starting to say. The I/O and feature set is really amazing, and it has been reported to sound really great. You did not mention price, but theses are all well under $2,000.
You then go up in price... Plenty of DACS out there! There is allot of really good stuff IMO and probably more coming out as we speak.
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Follow Ups
- RE: Are`DACs with the ESS Sabre the best DACs? - Bob_C 22:06:39 03/17/12 (27)
- RE: Are`DACs with the ESS Sabre the best DACs? - thebordas 06:04:22 03/21/12 (2)
- RE: Are`DACs with the ESS Sabre the best DACs? - Bob_C 12:48:26 03/21/12 (1)
- RE: Are`DACs with the ESS Sabre the best DACs? - thebordas 14:46:53 03/21/12 (0)
- RE: Are`DACs with the ESS Sabre the best DACs? - audio39 16:22:45 03/18/12 (16)
- RE: Are`DACs with the ESS Sabre the best DACs? - Rob Bertrando 13:27:46 03/20/12 (1)
- Actually the PCM1704 will do 24-192 - slider 20:48:23 03/20/12 (0)
- What about Ladder DACS ??? - EmailTim 21:07:31 03/19/12 (1)
- RE: What about Ladder DACS ??? - audio39 07:26:37 03/20/12 (0)
- RE: Are`DACs with the ESS Sabre the best DACs? - Bob_C 17:23:05 03/18/12 (9)
- RE: Are`DACs with the ESS Sabre the best DACs? - knewton 06:17:32 03/20/12 (6)
- RE: Are`DACs with the ESS Sabre the best DACs? - Bob_C 08:49:18 03/20/12 (5)
- RE: Are`DACs with the ESS Sabre the best DACs? - knewton 09:46:30 03/20/12 (4)
- And what have you added? Maybe your childern are smarter than you think! nt - Bob_C 09:52:17 03/20/12 (3)
- RE: And what have you added? Maybe your childern are smarter than you think! nt - knewton 10:43:42 03/20/12 (2)
- RE: And what have you added? Maybe your childern are smarter than you think! nt - Bob_C 12:08:03 03/20/12 (1)
- Your ridiculous retort is actually quite disturbing... - audio39 05:58:27 03/21/12 (0)
- RE: Are`DACs with the ESS Sabre the best DACs? - audio39 05:09:43 03/19/12 (1)
- RE: Are`DACs with the ESS Sabre the best DACs? - Bob_C 13:47:29 03/19/12 (0)
- RE: Are`DACs with the ESS Sabre the best DACs? - mrjdub33@aol.com 17:04:09 03/18/12 (0)
- RE: Are`DACs with the ESS Sabre the best DACs? - Jwm 16:31:21 03/18/12 (0)
- Apt description - fmak 22:46:57 03/17/12 (6)
- RE: Apt description - Bob_C 22:53:00 03/17/12 (5)
- RE: Apt description-Typical - fmak 00:34:40 03/18/12 (4)
- RE: Apt description-Typical - Bob_C 01:03:44 03/18/12 (3)
- RE: Apt description-Typical - guitardave 05:31:00 03/18/12 (2)
- Weiss use the ESS9018 (nt) - Rob Bertrando 20:00:29 03/22/12 (0)
- Burr Brown Rules Baby!!!! - Dynobot 06:58:05 03/18/12 (0)