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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. 
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georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 

Really! this once again because you missed it, as I posted way back.

" When a PCM file is played on a native DSD single-bit converter, the single-bit DS DAC chip has to convert the PCM to DSD in real-time.
This is one of the major reasons people claim DSD sounds better than PCM, when in fact, it is just that the DS chip in most modern single-bit DACs do a poor job of decoding PCM."

rossb
185 posts
 
George, all of your quotes are about recording in DSD. They say literally nothing about DACs. They certainly don't support your conjecture that delta sigma chips "do a poor job of decoding PCM". You will need to come up with something else.
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
If you can take in what the recording people are saying and work it out, there's no hope, over and out. 
rossb
185 posts
 
The "recording people" are not saying what you think they are saying. 

I think you have read that Mojo Audio web page without fully understanding it. 
djones51
4,947 posts
 
Uh, yes most recordings are n PCM, what type of modulator do you think they use when they are making these recordings?  For example what do you think a TI PCM Audio ADC uses? They use delta sigma modulators. 
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