HifiMeDiy Sabre USB DAC

porfido ha scritto:
Direi che urgerebbe un pò di tweaking, ma mi sa che lo ordino...

LakyV ha scritto:Se questo sabre suona come dicono...e visto il prezzo... è un affarone
Ho solo paura della dogana... Il mio smsl 2020,me l'hanno bloccato,giusto oggi ho mandato tutto l'occorrente via fax!!!
Speriamo bene!!!

LakyV ha scritto:

gizmo1900 ha scritto:

Preso! Grazie per la segnalazione, al cambio attuale fanno 39 euro spedito. Sono curioso di sentire come suona il Sabre...

Lo prendo anche io.. Attualmente sono senza DAC...
È tu che sei di Torino.... Saresti potuto venire all' "incontro da pierpabass"
!!!
Quando arriva ... Vacci sapere come lo trovi!!!

gizmo1900 ha scritto:

LakyV ha scritto:
Lo prendo anche io.. Attualmente sono senza DAC...
È tu che sei di Torino.... Saresti potuto venire all' "incontro da pierpabass"
!!!
Quando arriva ... Vacci sapere come lo trovi!!!

Mannaggia, quel giorno ero a Milano!

LakyV ha scritto:

gizmo1900 ha scritto:

Mannaggia, quel giorno ero a Milano!

Penso che ci sarà modo di ripetere!!

wincenzo ha scritto:
P.S: aggiungo altra carne al fuoco (micro usb DAC sabre)

http://stoneracoustics.blogspot.it/

ed in questa review anche il tizio dice che questo microdac suona assai simile all'Odac

http://www.inearmatters.net/2012/09/tiny-dac-big-sound-impression-of-stoner.html

quindi anche se due indizi non fanno una prova ....

porfido ha scritto:
Devi sentire l'Odac prima!

Gets its power from the USB bus and it has a noisy reg....when you change that it could be a very good DAC but then it is not cheap anymore. You see only a few design choices can make a vast difference. ODAC is no comparison as it was designed with quality as the most important parameter (not cost).

LakyV ha scritto:Se questo sabre suona come dicono...e visto il prezzo... è un affarone
Ho solo paura della dogana... Il mio smsl 2020,me l'hanno bloccato,giusto oggi ho mandato tutto l'occorrente via fax!!!
Speriamo bene!!!

EMU0204 has an AKM4396 dac, which has excellent reputation as well. Some call it "the Miracle dac".
They sound slightly different. I must confess a slight preference for ES9023 because of the perceived clarity and dynamics. Sabre must be doing something with the bass which I find very pleasant EMU0204 is smoother. Combination of both would be perfect

I have various dacs collected over the last years. Among others : TDA1543, CS4398, AD1955, WM8741, AKM4396 and ES9023. Until now, EMU0204 (AKM4396) was my preferred. It's headphone amp is really good as well. For 100Euros, its the best USB soundcard bargain for the moment.

After spending some time with the ODAC and HifiMeDiy 7022/9023 I have noticed that there are more differences than meet the ear at first listen.

ODAC is less fatiguing and more balanced overall. Everything is at the right place at all times, and the DAC isn't fazed by complex music. ODAC is very consistent. The HifiMediy sounds laidback at first, but there is a shrillness to rock music with heavily distorted guitars/bass (Muse as an example) that isn't there on the ODAC. This makes the ODAC more pleasant on complex music with fast drum segments and "dirty" guitars.

So in conclusion HifiMeDiy has:
- About same overall sound signature as ODAC
- About same stage
- somewhat less micro detail
- a shrillness/nasality that isn't obvious at first

Result: 90% of the ODAC sound, but becomes slightly fatiguing over time, at least with my setup.

Update:

After cleaning the PCB thoroughly with electronics cleaner (alcohol based) the HifiMeDiy has lost some of the top-end harshness. It certainly had a bigger effect than switching USB cable. I saw some white residue on the solders of the ES9023 and the small Atmel chip next to it.

Rubbed it all down with copious amounts of cleansing agent, rubbed with a Q-tip and finished off with more cleanser. I then dried it off with a dry Q-tip and let it sit for 2 hours to dry.

Mods I'd recommend:
1) Clean the PCB! (maybe yours is OK as-is, but it doesn't hurt and it helped mine)
2) Longer USB cable + ferrites (convenience)

I tried putting it into an all-aluminium housing, but i discovered no effects (negative or positive).

R!ck ha scritto:Alla fine credo che alle persone normali non serve molto di più di quei 16 bit...se si utilizza un controllo del volume hardware (pre) mentre diventano indispensabili in caso di utilizzo del volume software o altri tipi di elaborazioni...NvAvGuy ne parla espressamente

Sollecitato ulteriormente su quale dac fosse migliore Alkasar cioè chi ha fatto le prove ha risposto così:

EMU0204 has an AKM4396 dac, which has excellent reputation as well. Some call it "the Miracle dac".
They sound slightly different. I must confess a slight preference for ES9023 because of the perceived clarity and dynamics. Sabre must be doing something with the bass which I find very pleasant EMU0204 is smoother. Combination of both would be perfect

I have various dacs collected over the last years. Among others : TDA1543, CS4398, AD1955, WM8741, AKM4396 and ES9023. Until now, EMU0204 (AKM4396) was my preferred. It's headphone amp is really good as well. For 100Euros, its the best USB soundcard bargain for the moment.

E si capisce in parte la vicinanza con l'ODAC

After spending some time with the ODAC and HifiMeDiy 7022/9023 I have noticed that there are more differences than meet the ear at first listen.

ODAC is less fatiguing and more balanced overall. Everything is at the right place at all times, and the DAC isn't fazed by complex music. ODAC is very consistent. The HifiMediy sounds laidback at first, but there is a shrillness to rock music with heavily distorted guitars/bass (Muse as an example) that isn't there on the ODAC. This makes the ODAC more pleasant on complex music with fast drum segments and "dirty" guitars.

So in conclusion HifiMeDiy has:
- About same overall sound signature as ODAC
- About same stage
- somewhat less micro detail
- a shrillness/nasality that isn't obvious at first

Result: 90% of the ODAC sound, but becomes slightly fatiguing over time, at least with my setup.

Mentre questo IMO rientra un po' nella psicoacustica

Update:

After cleaning the PCB thoroughly with electronics cleaner (alcohol based) the HifiMeDiy has lost some of the top-end harshness. It certainly had a bigger effect than switching USB cable. I saw some white residue on the solders of the ES9023 and the small Atmel chip next to it.

Rubbed it all down with copious amounts of cleansing agent, rubbed with a Q-tip and finished off with more cleanser. I then dried it off with a dry Q-tip and let it sit for 2 hours to dry.

Mods I'd recommend:
1) Clean the PCB! (maybe yours is OK as-is, but it doesn't hurt and it helped mine)
2) Longer USB cable + ferrites (convenience)

I tried putting it into an all-aluminium housing, but i discovered no effects (negative or positive).

microsoul ha scritto:Per chi vuole usare il saldatore:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/SABRE-ES9023-DAC-PCB-ES9023-DAC-CHIP-HCMOS-CRYSTAL-/320976063878?pt=US_Home_Audio_Amplifiers_Preamps&hash=item4abbaa0d86

R!ck ha scritto:Oltre all'alimentazione il layout generale è più curato...tieni presente che arriva a 111db su 112 db che sono il limite fisico imposto dal dac...

I initially connected the ES9023+TE7022 between the laptop and amp. The sound had promise but the noise floor was very high and there was a noticeable harshness to the sound. Pretty much what I would have expected given my previous experiences of ground connections from laptop to stereo.

To isolate the laptop from my playback kit, I introduced a cheap ebay ADUM4160 USB isolator (USB protection /ADUM4160 Evaluation Board /USB Isolator | eBay) and separate linear DC supply connected to the relatively clean mains supply used for my playback kit. This entirely dealt with the noise issue and removed the harshness I'd experienced previously. All sounding very nice with more dynamics and deeper, better defined bass than my usual USB interface and dac. Probably not quite the same silky smoothness although this is probably just due to the removal of the 'nicely' coloured Tamura transformers.

The next step will be to mount the USB isolator and ES9023+TE7022 dac PC inside a single chassis with external connections for USB in, DC in and line level out.

I'd heartily recommend the USB isolator for this dac.

gizmo1900 ha scritto:ho controllato con il numero di tracking... lo da come arrivato oggi a milano ros.

speriamo che non ci metta un altro mese per il tragitto Milano - Torino