So....I bought THIS tonight.........

Really well, the little Schiit multi bit was affordable and definitely an improvement over the chip in my old CD player, thanks for asking. Looking forward to hearing about your upcoming adventures with your new dac. Have a great Sunday!

 

You might be right, but I did put in over 250 hours on it, leaving it playing 24/7, and realistically I just might go back to it, it’s a great dac for sure, or maybe if this Soncoz doesn’t work out and I sell one of the OPPO’S I have up on eBay I might go for the next model up from the Ares! That would be interesting wouldn’t it?!
Beave

 

Well I just went through the latest issue of Audio Advisor and looking at their dac’s, $3000, $4500, $6500, crazy overpriced gear, and nothing offered from Denafrips, Topping or Schidt. Boy their missing the boat on what we here are locked into. And no wonder I’m having so much fun, dac’s of every seasoning and affordable to boot, and it’s totally under the radar of the big resellers like Audio Advisor and Music Direct.
We truly are at the epicenter of this dac thing going on!
Beave

 

I just reached out to Amir, he runs the site Audiosciencereviw.com, he’s local here in the Seattle area so I’m hoping he’ll agree to put the Soncoz on the test bench so we can get some measurements on the thing!
I know he has his detractors but his site is fun and he seems like an amiable fellow so we’ll see how this goes!
Beave

 

Great! Hope Amir does test it. I can't for the life of me comprehend why he has detractors. He puts the measurements out there. If folks think his measurements don't fully capture the sonic comparisons of the equipment, or if they think some of his measurements are irrelevant (for example does it really matter if one DAC has a noise floor of -116dB while another is "only" 107db?), they are free to ignore some of his measurements or to ignore his recommendations. But the claims that he is biased or that the measurements themselves are flawed - those criticisms are utterly without merit.

On a more cheerful note, if you are into affordable Chinese-made gear, Amir's site has measurements on tons of affordable DACs, and at the very least they allow you to rule out the ones whose designs are clearly flawed/broken.

 

The first thing I did after reading your thread was check to see if it had been reviewed on Audioscience site. I'm currently playing with a Topping DS70 as well as a SMSL SU-8 v.2 dac. Both bought used for half of the new price. A friend recommended the Topping and while researching it I read the AS review on the SMSL, couldn't resist when I found a two-month-old unit for $130.
I'm still not sure which dac I prefer, so far I like them both.

 

The issue I run into with DACs at this performance level is the differences are not profound, especially when volume matched. It's nothing like comparing speakers.

My NOS, filterless DAC does sound very different, but I'm now convinced that's because it probably measures like Schiit. I can understand why some find these types of DACs sound "analog," as there is certainly something appealing with some aspects of their sound. I think "analog" is just the easy-button term to describe it. In reality, they're full of even-order distortion and low in resolution.

 

That's approximately what I tell my wife, however, in the list of 'instead ofs', I include hookers, opiods, crack or an airplane!

 

i just can't buy any of these products with names where Chinese guys just chose English syllables at random. soncoz. denafrips. loxjie. gustard. etc. worse than car names imo. no offense meant to the Chinese of course.

 

Anyone else completely fed up with click bait thread titles?

 

ever heard a mytek brooklyn? easily the sweetest DAC to my ears. their sound somehow shines through seemingly regardless of amplification or speakers. excellent analog section that often eclipses the type of chipset for impact on sound quality.

 

For close to 10 years I had been using the dac input on a Resolution Audio Opus 21 for digital playback. It had the "analog" sound you're talking about; smooth, smooth, smooth. After a month with the inexpensive SMSL dac, I sold the Opus 21. Haven't missed it.

 

The Sabaj D5, balanced, with the ES3908pro seems to be the flavor of the day for those wanting cheap, balanced Chinese DS dacs. What prompted you to go with the SGD?

 

Well it’s like Beatles threads here, it’s amazing some of the posts I’ve seen with such vitriol, but it just shows you the passion which is on both sides of the fence. We have to remember there are a lot of “experts” on the internet that are nothing more than lonely people looking for interaction, problem is they are pretty much anonymous so they get to stir things up with pretty much impunity. But that’s the price we pay for free speech. The mods here really do a great job at keeping things civil, a thankless task if you ask me.

But thanks for the good post,
Beave

 

Ah, that’s the other thing! Finding deals always rocks my world. I’m always looking on eBay and Amazon (third party sellers, where the warehouse deals are) to find deals and they are out there! Good score on your part! Rock on!
Beave

 

And that’s the beauty of it isn’t it? If it works FOR YOU, that’s ALL that matters. Tubes are huge right now, absolutely huge. A lot of people think tubes color the sound, so what?
If a person likes what’s coming out of their speakers that’s all that matters.
Beave

 

I’ve heard of the dac but never heard one, I’ll keep this in mind!
Beave

 

Classic!
Beave

 

Meant for me or someone else?
Beave
And what is SGD?

 

Certainly.

 

Sorry that the Ares II didn’t work out for you @The Beave but best of luck with this new one. Will be interesting to read your impressions of it.

 

Thanks but I might come back to it, you never know until you jump into the river right?

Funny thing happened today as I’ve been burning in the filter called “Optimal Transient XD” ON THE Audiolab and popping in a couple of cds this afternoon I’ll be damned if it didn’t open up after 48 hours, literally bloomed soundwise, and sounding wonderful.
I’ve been using since I’ve had the Audiolab the “Minimal Phase” filter and it’s been nothing special, so this is quite a revelation, but I’ll have to keep going with the other 5 filters over the next couple of weeks and see what we have. I was hoping Audiolab’s implementing of the ESS 9018 chip would come close to the 9038, but up until it hasn’t,
So with the new dac coming, this whole thing is getting very interesting indeed.
And I just saw the Amazon van a few minutes ago, you thing they would surprise me......just drove right past, damn!

Seakawks game coming up at 530,
Hope we win,
Beave

 

I’m not UncleFred, but I’m thinking it’s probably the SGD1 you linked to in your first post..

“SGD1 Hi-Res Audio Digital to Analog Converter Balance HiFi DAC Dual Chip ES9038Q2M ES9311 32bit/768kHz DSD512 W Bluetooth 5.0 Preamplifier Remote Control”

 

My "been there, done that" trip through DAC exploration had me try a variety of DACs including a LH Labs Geek Pulse XFi DAC that uses two of the ESS9018K2M chips. The XFi version has several different filters. A minimum phase, a linear phase slow roll-off, and a femto clock optimized filter. I still have the LH Labs DAC but I don't use it much. That exploration was something I needed to do. Because how else will you know. Just be mindful of the churn.

 

I just post the review of this DAC. It is almost, almost perfect!

Amir
Audio Science Review