Digital Drive

Upsamplers, DACs, jitter, shakes and analogue withdrawals, this is it.

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RE: Then there's the Gustard X30

Posted by Reindane on March 9, 2025 at 23:28:48:
The 3000$ pricetag was above my limit, but I'm sure it would sound incredible in my setup.

I have been avoiding ESS Sabre DACs since I owned OPPO D95 and D105 SACD players and Sonica DAC. These earlier ESS Sabre models had a kind of digital sounding etched treble that was very analytical but also very tiring to the ears.

When I moved to the Cambridge 851N streamer/DAC and later the Eversolo A8 I got rid of the "ESS glare".

In light of my experience it is very positive that the Gustard implementation of the new ESS9039 DAC marks a new direction or development towards more musical ESS DACS.