ESS ES9008/9018 Sabre dac

[leo]

Hi Alex,

I'll probably try the valve output stage last mainly because it will be the most expensive thing regarding parts, especially the transformers .

First will be IVYIII, next will be Legato probably followed by other various idea's etc.

I've been lisening to the dac tonight, sound wise so far it seems to offer a lot of potential , tbh I expect a definite gain in performance after fitting the PH regs on dacs board for the AVCC L&R, XO, VD and core

[leo]

BTW so far I feel its not as good as the modified B32, hopefully that will soon change

[squeezethatbuffalo]

Hi Leo,

Don't worry, the PH shunts will work their magic

I hope it's not too much to ask, but can you please compare your PH against the "stock" mini shunt? I'm really curious about the TPA shunt's performance, as Russ claims that it has been fine tuned for this particular application.

To be honest, I've been having second thoughts about the valve output stage. Cost is one factor, but my main concern is due to my listening habits; I normally leaving my system on/mute when I'm away, and I don't think tube equipment likes that. :P

Cheers,

[leo]

Hi Alex,

I intend to compare the PH regs against TP's shunt, I'm more than aware of the claims but I know at least one person already who has compared them of course I prefer to try these things myself before saying anything.
Its going to be fiddly because I've fitted the PH shunts very close to the pads on the B32, I have to be careful not to damage anything removing them from the B32, one of the advantages of BII is the sockets to allow simpler swapping about. Once removed I have to replace the legs on the PH shunts too because they are currently cut short (too short for the sockets )

[squeezethatbuffalo]

Hi Leo,

I know exactly what you mean by "fiddly". Did I mention that I used to own a 32s? Well, now it's just another broken piece of PCB

Don't be too harsh on the Buffalo II I remember that the 32s sounded funny at first but improved significantly after a little (okay, more like alot) run in.

[leo]

Legato is ordered, being impatient I've also knocked one up on matrix board , I've not tried it yet, also instead of using a dual op-amp for the differential to line for both channels I added a separate single op-amp on each channel.

I'll mainly be using differential output but the chips are added for convenience so I can have both balanced and unbalanced

[squeezethatbuffalo]

Hi Leo,

Do you plan on changing the output coupling caps? Have you considered about using transformers instead?

Cheers,

[leo]

Just running in Legato output stage, they use discrete for the differential and op-amp for the differential to line, of course you can easily run it discrete out for balanced and run it into say a transformer converting it to SE if you don't want to use the op-amp.
I've already briefly tried Legato I knocked up on vero but will run in the proper one before commenting on the sound

[squeezethatbuffalo]

Very looking forward to the battle between Legato and IVYIII

I can't help but notice that your Legato looks quite different from stock. Do you mind discussing the mods with us?

[leo]

Hi Alex,

After some run in I still wasn't liking BII + IVYIII as much as highly modified B32, I don't know the circuit for the IVY on B32, maybe its different to IVYIII

Initial impressions of Legato are good, so far I like it a lot better than IVYIII , in comparison IVY sounds mechanical

I've added sockets for the coupling caps to allow comparisons and also sockets for the output filter, I've been trying lower values.
I've never been a huge fan of Wima caps so those 15nf's was the first to go