I have the Fiio M15 with two AK4499 chips. It is better than my Fiio M11 pro was. I don't think either are better than My Chord Qutest. The M15 is less bright.
Comparison of latest DAC chips
I own a Bluesound Node 2i which greatly improved sound after I added the Cat 6 cable. I do not own a separate DAC but am told it would be the next step improvement. I have done enough reading that it appears the two latest chips are the Sabre or ESS
ES9038PRO
and the AK4499. The brands I have looked at are Sabaj d5($469) and a Topping D90($699). I saw a great review on Audiocircle of the Sabaj D5 which is now a year old. The Topping D90 is newer and I hear the build quality of the Topping as well as customer service are both better. Other brands cost more and most don't use these new chips.
Is there a difference in how these chips sound? I would appreciate any comments.
Is there a difference in how these chips sound? I would appreciate any comments.
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daledeee1 As for the Deafrips, when I mentioned the "better hi-end R2R dacs" as the ones that will convert PCM better than DS based chips, it was the the Denafrips Terminator I was referring to. And also from Asia the Holo Spring level 2 or level 3 are also very good, especially in NOS (none over-sampling) mode Cheers George |
The Lumin X1 interests me because of that fibre optical network connection. I believe it is the only DAC that has it. Another external DAC I am interested in is the Denafrips Terminator. I am looking forward to someone doing a comparison with the Lumin X1. With regards to ESS chips, I have not heard the Lumin.X1, but have a lot of listens to the older Mirrus DAC from these guys. https://www.resonessencelabs.com/ The Mirrus was an incredible sounding DAC. They currently do not have the latest ESS chip (not sure why) and they are dragging their feet getting ROON READY support. However, they may feel the ESS9028PRO chips is more than adequate compared to the latest ESS9038PRO chip. Benchmark Media told me that the difference between their DAC2 (ESS9028PRO) and DAC3 (ESS9038PRO) was negligible. I ended up upgrading from the DAC2 to the DAC3 but I could not tell a difference. The key point for me with regards to resonessencelabs is that they know the ESS DAC architecture better than anyone in the world. The engineers at resonessencelabs were formerly with ESS and designed the ESS DACs. Darko.com mentions this in one of their reviews. I met the resonessencelabs guys at an audio show and they played the Mirrus DAC with a 20 year old $500 eBay speaker. Just to prove how amazing their DAC implementation was. A highlight for me at that audio show. I would be surprised if the Lumin X1 was better than the latest top end resonessencelabs DAC just because of the ESS engineering background of the DAC designers. Saying all of this the DAC I am currently thinking of getting is the Mola Mola Makua with internal DAC option. It is supposed to be even better than the external Mola Mola Tambaqui mentioned a few posts above. It also has RJ45 streaming and ROON READY support. |
Another external DAC I am interested in is the Denafrips Terminator. I am looking forward to someone doing a comparison with the Lumin X1. Just a review on the Holo, it’s good, so are the bench tests, with questions on the NOS mode, which I thought sounded the best on the Alexia 2 and Gryphon Antillion, so big and open and effortless, with no rolling off at the extremities or any dynamic compression. https://www.stereophile.com/content/holoaudio-spring-kitsun%C3%A9-tuned-edition-level-3-da-processor Cheers George |
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