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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. 
128x128daledeee1
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
daledeee1 OP
The Denafrips would have been good except it is out of stock for 10 weeks.

The Denafrips Terminator and the Holo Spring Level 2 or 3 are very close, the Holo can also be switched to NOS (none upsampling) which I preferred, and it can do DSD if you ever need to listen to it.
https://www.stereophile.com/content/holoaudio-spring-kitsun%C3%A9-tuned-edition-level-3-da-processor

https://kitsunehifi.com/product/holo-audio-spring2-dac-kitsune-tuned-edition/
Holo now have the "even better" May Dac   https://kitsunehifi.com/product/holo-audio-may-dac/

This is a good paragraph from the Stereophile review to give an insight to it’s sound.

The Schiit, Mytek, and HoloAudio are all elite, music-friendly DACs. I enjoy each in its own way, but my comparisons suggest that staunch audio objectivists—those who already favor DACs with newfangled sigma-delta chips (like the ESS ES9028Pro will undoubtedly prefer the Mytek products.

Meanwhile, old-school audio reactionaries—those who favor the purity of single-ended triode amps and the musicality of all those discontinued R-2R DACs—will find the chipless Spring a refreshingly clear and unusually natural-sounding alternative to both sigma-delta and all those discontinued and "obsolete" DAC chips.

What most separated the HoloAudio from the Schiit and Mytek DACs was the Spring’s astonishing transparency, which seemed to reach deeper into the digital quiet—especially with DSD recordings.



Cheers George
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creditingkarma
102 posts
 
Sorry, but this is complete rubbish.

Some of the best dacs out there use ESS chips - Ayre, Brinkmann, Lumin, Mytek.

I've owned a "good" R2R dac - a Metrum Pavane - and the Ayre QX5, Mytek Manhattan II and Lumin X1 with their ESS chips walk all over it. And, yes, I've owned all of them.

The idea that R2R dacs have "unmatched bounce" or are more detailed is just ridiculous. The current generation of ESS chips are outstanding which is why they are used in many
very high end dacs
.
I am really sorry but I would have to say that you might be off on some points. I used to own a metrum onyx and then the Hugo TT2. The TT2 did sound better than the metrum. The metrum is a great dac. I have also hear the mytek and ayre that you were talking about. They are good but they are not some of the beat dacs out there by any means. The MSB line up are R2R based dacs and blow the mytek and ayre out of the water by a good margain.

I recently bought the dCS Bartok and imo it is head and shoulders above the dacs that you mention as well. It is not a traditional r2r but a version of on developed by dCS. They call it the ring dac which is fed by FPGAS. 
djones51
4,947 posts
 
I've  seen the same type of discussions over cartridges and tone arms etc.. in analog. I think the Topping with the AK4499 chip will work well for you. I liked their older chip the 4490  I had in an integrated amp  and I like the ESS 9028 Pro I had in a Benchmark DAC3B. If anything the AK chip has a more laid back presentation but to me it's  really hard to tell good measuring dacs apart. 
djones51
4,947 posts
 
The dCS Bartok is a great DAC. It measures well , has digital filters,   up samples is not NOS and costs $13,500. 
daledeee1's avatar
daledeee1 OP
586 posts
 
From what I read, the new AK chip addresses the laid back, dark, murky(whatever people call it)  It is more dynamic and open. 
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