ESS ES9008/9018 Sabre dac

[jkeny]

Sorry I'm late getting back John thats good going with the batteries, certainly enough time for most folks, thank you for going to the trouble testing their run time, I'm getting the itch now with buying a Hiface
I like the way you've separated things

Thanks. I reckon that giving the clock an individual clean supply is paramount to low jitter. Giving the I/O banks of the Xilinx CPLD it's own 3.3V feed also proved worthwhile. There are only 2 other improvements that I may get to - removing the final 1.8V dc-dc converter & isolating the I2S out (can't do anything to isolate the USB 2.0 at Hi-Speed 480mBits/s)

With the pics I just upload them on photo bucket rather than uploading them here, then copy and past the image code link

Ah, yes

[Ciu]

Hello Leo

Is there any simple solution to "interrupt" the signal (cut the tracks, or pick-up a resistor ) from Dac Chip 9018 to the I/V, and to connect to another output stage ?
Just to obtain a direct output like the 9008 board had...

Regards
Richard

[leo]

Cutting the tracks on the output of the chip would be the easiest and running wires, I've not tried it yet with B32s

[Dan Giovanni]

Hi Jon and Leo,

Really enjoyed reading of your experiences modding the Hiface and Musiland USB converters. I gather the Hiface is the better sounding unit stock, but is there a reason why one should sound better than the other with both fully modded and using I2S output? All things being equal, I'd prefer to buy the Musiland as a) it's £50 cheaper and b) looks easier to work with. However if the Hiface is fundamentally a better unit ....

Cheers,
Dan

[jkeny]

Hi Jon and Leo,

Really enjoyed reading of your experiences modding the Hiface and Musiland USB converters. I gather the Hiface is the better sounding unit stock, but is there a reason why one should sound better than the other with both fully modded and using I2S output?

The Hiface has 2 low-jitter clocks that it uses directly as the audio clock whereas the Musiland uses a single 25MHz clock from which the audio clocks are synthesised giving higher jitter. The Hiface clocks can be given a separate PS which is a huge leap in SQ & low jitter can be heard.

All things being equal, I'd prefer to buy the Musiland as a) it's £50 cheaper and b) looks easier to work with. However if the Hiface is fundamentally a better unit ....

Cheers,
Dan

[Ali Tait]

I read on diyaudio that the Buffalo II dac will be available for pre-order on the website shortly.

[Themis]

It's just the dac module, isn't it ? Not boxed ?

[Ali Tait]

Yes,but they do other kits for output stages.I was round at a friends recently,and he has the 9008 board.Using a bench supply,he'd knocked up an ouput stage of 6n6p in push-pull with some little Sower output transformers.Sounded stunning!

[leo]

Been thinking of trying a valve output stage with my original ES9008 dac and see how it compares against the modded B32 with ES9018

Whats the valve guys opinion on this circuit ? http://www.lampizator.eu/lampizator/...ja09%20048.jpg anything better? I can build a valve circuit no problem if theres a schematic , I know a lot more about ss than valve stuff

[jkeny]

Why don't you guys try a transformer output stage - anywhere I've tried them on voltage out DACs they have sounded wonderfully natural & I've heard similar opinions about a transformer output on the Sabre DAC. Forget about the THD/SNR numbers - we all know they don't tell what sounds good