ESS ES9008/9018 Sabre dac

[jkeny]

Hi Leo,
Yea, I'm surprised the Tent or Audiocomm PS, connected as close to the XO as possible, didn't show any advantage over the shared 3.3V PH shunt reg! Maybe PH can provide an explanation?

[rolls]

The trannies are the same, 1:10, the dac sees 10 Ohms, is more in current mode. I have listened in voltage mod for more than a month, but found current better.
There is no dc involved. The quality of the trannies is different. I have an Audio Consulting silver for my 300b, I know his quality, I should buy a Lundahl to see if there is a cheaper way, but I doubt.
Interestingly we made an experiment to verify thermal modulation/distorsion, quite a new topic: We cooled the ESS chip with a peltier for a short while and could hear the effect, but then I had to add another and very big battery and condensate could destroy the chip...
I agree with Wildmonkeysects and have a battery for left and right Avcc, buffered with Caps. I should even try without caps.

[leo]

How about some more details on the batteries Rolls? type? how you power this the stuff up as in switches?

[rolls]

How about some more details on the batteries Rolls? type? how you power this the stuff up as in switches?

I have said everything possible about the batteries in post 53. There is a control board with relays, 12 at the moment. 6 relays are for the Buffalo and the Wolfson receiver, the other six for charging. I can listen about 20hrs before charging. Things will improve with the final board. There must be an undervoltage shut off and more. I have yet to find out the current of the 1.2V supply, then I wonder if it is possible to run the receiver with just one battery, because the PLL needs just 1.7mA, if I can not hear a difference I can save a battery.
nice to meet you
regards
Andre

[leo]

Sorry old Rolls, I must have been asleep

Nice to meet you too

Regards,
Leo

[jkeny]

Final questions, Andre (for now anyway),
Did you notice much of a change in the sound while cooling the ESS chip?
How would you rate the various changes you have made to your DAC in terms of score out of 10 for
- change from standard PS to battery PS
- Transformer IV

You never tried other Vregs like Leo, did you?

[rolls]

Final questions, Andre (for now anyway),
Did you notice much of a change in the sound while cooling the ESS chip?
How would you rate the various changes you have made to your DAC in terms of score out of 10 for
- change from standard PS to battery PS
- Transformer IV

You never tried other Vregs like Leo, did you?

It is difficult to answer the way you like it, but I am going to tell you how the batdac evolved.
First was and still is my "mains" buffalo with separate outputs for IVYbal/unbal and direct. Next was
mains Buffalo with S&B transformer, with 10cents I/V resistors.
Mr. Schmidlin was impressed, but tried the batteries.
After the visit we were at work, he winded his transformer and I worked on my second buffalo. Was already a big improvement to the old dac, even if the regs were still there, I was not prepared to remove the chips yet...
Then I got the new transformers, and after a considerable burn in time, more than 20 hours, they were and are much better, even still in copper.
I removed the reg and the opamp and was very nervous..
This was another big step, and finally i replaced the i/v resistors with bulk metals, ooooohh (10 hours later!), I should have done this much earlier.
It is a pity, if you are used to listen to the "mains" with whatever regs you can not imagine that there is still a lot of sh... on it. I can even hear it now on my Accuphase DP-400, which is not a "grainy" player. Now I listen to music even in the afternoon, not just in the night.
I must confess that Mr. Schmidlins equipment was an eye/ear opener, looks very strange all these unused sockets in the wall...
And, by the way, the battery dac modul is just about 22cm X 12cm x 9cm, batteries included. The most important thing is the control board.
I thank you for your interest.
regards
Andre

[jkeny]

Thanks Andre,
Can you try to put numbers that signify marks out of 10 on:
- "mains" buffalo
- "mains" buffalo with Audio Consulting Transformer
- "battery" buffalo with Audio Consulting transformer
- with bulk metal foil IV resistor

It would help me to get some idea of the relative improvements in each step!

What change in sound did you notice when cooling the ESS DAC?

[rolls]

As I have told you, I can't tell it in numbers, please,
but is was always a clear step, cooling the chip was again like
a clearer window. With all the audiences, six up to now, I had always the mains buffalo
with me. Of course I think that better regs will give an improvement as well,
a battery not suited can destroy the sound completely, at first I tried a cheap lead acid, with the regs, but a guy in Germany told me recently, that he uses lead acids parallel, 3 at least.
When I compare with my "reference", the Accuphase, I am quite satisfied.
regards
Andre

[jkeny]

Thanks Andre,
Didn't mean to pressure you!