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Post by Slinger on Aug 30, 2019 14:30:42 GMT
Here's the thing: I'm looking around, idly contemplating a new DAC for my second system. Current DAC duties are served by the very able SMSL M8 which, to the best of my knowledge, has a single ES 9018 chip inside. I could upgrade to the M8A v3, which runs an ES 9038Q2M but the idea of dual chips interests me more. It seems far more logical to have individual chips for individual channels, although that may well be the logic of idiots as it's my logic, but anywho... I don't want to spend the earth, so my choices are quite limited. Dual ES9038Q2M such as the SMSL SU-8 V2 or the Topping D50, or dual AK4497 which probably means " going Chinese" if I want to keep the price down to under three-hundred quid, which is the absolute maximum I want to spend, and I'd prefer it was two-hundred-and-fifty. Comments like "...but if you spent another fifty..." will be treated with the total contempt that they deserve.  All of this is hypothetical to some degree. If I spot the "right" DAC I'll buy it, but I'm in no rush whatsoever. So, opinions on dual ES9038Q2M and dual AK4497 DACs please. |
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Post by John on Aug 30, 2019 14:38:31 GMT
I am not sure you can get a duel 4497 for under £300
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Post by Slinger on Aug 30, 2019 14:50:25 GMT
There are a few on AliExpress, like this one for ￡264.09 and I'd be quite happy with good a used DAC via eBay. |
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Post by John on Aug 30, 2019 15:23:38 GMT
I think implemention is the key
All I can say with regards to harshness I did not have any issues but to get to a similar level of resolution as Martin LKS I still have a bit of a way to go
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Post by Slinger on Aug 30, 2019 15:28:29 GMT
Thanks for your thoughts, John. As I said, it's for my second system so I'm not expecting anything like the quality that you and Martin are aiming for.
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Post by MartinT on Aug 30, 2019 15:36:57 GMT
As we said in the other thread, Paul, it's more about the implementation than the chipset selection. Are you going to purchase blind? I would go for dual DACs as paralleling them internally has noise and error cancelling benefits.
Which model you go for is down to the vendor. Is there one that has a house sound you prefer? The designers will all have preferences and they tune their DACs accordingly.
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Post by Slinger on Aug 30, 2019 16:05:56 GMT
Unless I end up with an SMSL, who have never let me down, I'll probably end up buying Chinese, which will mean buying completely blind. I nearly bought a SEG on eBay earlier, but the "upgraded" power supply turned out to be something Stan had suggested rather than spending out on a Dorado. Had it been a Dorado we probably wouldn't have been having this conversation.  |
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Post by MartinT on Aug 30, 2019 16:18:44 GMT
Do you like the SMSL sound? If so, and you're buying blind, they may be the safest bet.
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Post by Slinger on Aug 30, 2019 16:32:28 GMT
I may well end up going the "safety first" route, but I'm wondering whether to take a chance on getting more "bang for my buck... or Yen" by taking a chance on one of their dual AK4497 devices. I'm hoping, that as the "new flagship" AK4499, which is 4-channel as opposed to 2-channel, gets picked up by more manufacturers the price of the AK4497 DACs will drop. [EDIT] There's a comparison between the two chips here... |
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Post by MartinT on Aug 30, 2019 16:47:17 GMT
Those numbers are likely to tell you the square root of FA as to how they sound comparatively.
It could be like the ES9038 being massively parallel when used as a stereo DAC, but I'll go back to implementation...
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Post by Slinger on Aug 30, 2019 17:09:04 GMT
What the numbers tell me is that the chips are similar enough in the most part, other than cost, to not make a great deal of difference to me.
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Post by John on Aug 30, 2019 17:48:52 GMT
You might want to move the DAC if you go for either duel chip arrangement
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Post by Slinger on Aug 30, 2019 19:06:34 GMT
This post may just have become even more academic than I intended. Do you ever want to just give up and go to bed? My AV amp has just coughed, and died. Pulled the telly table out, which is not easy with a bum knee and did all of the usual unplug, make a wish, plug it back in routine. Nothing. Unplugged it again and got my multi-meter out to check the plug fuse. Multi meter dead, must be the battery. Got screwdrivers out to take the multi-meter apart to change the battery. There are only two screws, the first one came out easily, the second one stripped the head. It is immovable, and down a hole the length of the Dartford tunnel. "Broke" the multi meter apart to find out it's the one type of battery that I don't have charged up and ready to go. So, at the moment I don't know whether I'm going to have to buy a new AV amp, or a new fuse, plus a new multi-meter whatever the outcome. From the way things are going to though I can take a pretty good guess as to which it's going to be.  |
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Post by Slinger on Aug 30, 2019 20:11:07 GMT
OK, how am I supposed to resist a brand new Yamaha AV amp that's only twenty quid more than I paid for my Onkyo over 2 years ago, does everything the Onkyo does/did and more plus it has 3 Burr-Brown 384 kHz / 32-bit DAC chips inside, and is Alexa compatible?
The answer to that question is "with great difficulty" in case you were actually wondering.
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Post by MartinT on Aug 30, 2019 20:26:05 GMT
Silver linings, etc.
If you weren't so bloody far away I'd come round with a working multimeter!
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Post by Slinger on Aug 30, 2019 20:43:41 GMT
I will have a working multi-meter by tomorrow, courtesy of Amazon. I picked up one of these for a tenner less than the list price. It's nothing special, but for the amount of use it's likely to get it's perfectly adequate for my needs. And yes, I ordered the AV amp too. If I do get the old one working at least I'll have a spare. [EDIT] It looks like there might be another little bonus attached to the Yamaha AV amp. There's a firmware update on the Yamaha site that says... ...so it looks like I may be able to hook up my free Spotify account to the amp and then spend a few months trying to work out how to get Alexa to control it. |
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Post by Firebottle on Aug 31, 2019 6:48:33 GMT
Back to dacs, I can heartily recommend the D50. It has 7 filter settings so I am sure one would suit your ear.
I use filter setting 4, it is the most natural sounding dac I have had.
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Post by MikeMusic on Aug 31, 2019 9:29:33 GMT
This post may just have become even more academic than I intended. Do you ever want to just give up and go to bed? My AV amp has just coughed, and died. Pulled the telly table out, which is not easy with a bum knee and did all of the usual unplug, make a wish, plug it back in routine. Nothing. Unplugged it again and got my multi-meter out to check the plug fuse. Multi meter dead, must be the battery. Got screwdrivers out to take the multi-meter apart to change the battery. There are only two screws, the first one came out easily, the second one stripped the head. It is immovable, and down a hole the length of the Dartford tunnel. "Broke" the multi meter apart to find out it's the one type of battery that I don't have charged up and ready to go. So, at the moment I don't know whether I'm going to have to buy a new AV amp, or a new fuse, plus a new multi-meter whatever the outcome. From the way things are going to though I can take a pretty good guess as to which it's going to be. PITA Thought this only happened to me ! |
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Post by MartinT on Aug 31, 2019 10:09:15 GMT
We're going to expect a full review of the Yamaha now, no getting away with it...
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Post by Slinger on Aug 31, 2019 11:35:58 GMT
This post may just have become even more academic than I intended. Do you ever want to just give up and go to bed? My AV amp has just coughed, and died. Pulled the telly table out, which is not easy with a bum knee and did all of the usual unplug, make a wish, plug it back in routine. Nothing. Unplugged it again and got my multi-meter out to check the plug fuse. Multi meter dead, must be the battery. Got screwdrivers out to take the multi-meter apart to change the battery. There are only two screws, the first one came out easily, the second one stripped the head. It is immovable, and down a hole the length of the Dartford tunnel. "Broke" the multi meter apart to find out it's the one type of battery that I don't have charged up and ready to go. So, at the moment I don't know whether I'm going to have to buy a new AV amp, or a new fuse, plus a new multi-meter whatever the outcome. From the way things are going to though I can take a pretty good guess as to which it's going to be. PITA Thought this only happened to me ! If it's any consolation, Mike, I've also had a water leak and a gas leak in the last 6 months. Both, happily, outside the property, but the gas leak entailed new piping from the external meter all the way to the cooker and boiler. I've got a man coming in on Thursday to give my electrics a thorough testing. I'm half-dreading the end result of that already. |
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