Anyhow....... way back a few people discovered a new chip from a company called ESS - the 9018sabre DAC. Essentially this was an 8 channel chip made for DVD players and the like. However, a few DIYers copped on to the superb specs and possibilities of the chip. I went on to make a DAC from this chip myself - and another for one of the guys here. So a few years have passed since then, and most of the attention has focussed on the ESS9022 chip - which is an upgraded, higher spec version of the older 9018, now discontinued I think.
However, ESS have also released other DAC chips - and our own John Kenny has discovered that one of them is quite remarkably good sounding! This is a supposedly much lower end mass market kind of chip, generally inexpensive to buy (except that you have to buy in bulk! - minimum order quantities in the thousands) with built in IV output stages. It shouldn't sound as good as the others......... but it does, and maybe even better than the others.
John posted some of the information over on DIYaudio and only one or 2 people have picked up on it. I decided to give these new chips a go (at Johns urging) and bought the parts needed for one, and with some other parts supplied by John. I also had discussions with one particular fella over on DIYaudio, who makes a really neat version by hand with very small parts. So I ordered one of those from him as well (there was a long lead time) and in the meantime built and cased up the first.
Again, at John's urging, I decided to run both of these from some quite special batteries. These are LiFePO batteries - capable of big current supply, very low output impedance and a rock steady voltage til exhausted. They are the ones that John uses in his modified Hiface USB-SPDIF adaptor and DAC.
More than a month ago myself and John did a comparison in Brian's house (Wadia CDP, airtight amp, audioplan Kontrast speakers) and the signs were encouraging..... so I did the last couple of bits and pieces to finish up that DAC. This one has been living very happily in my system for the last month or more and is very satisfying in use........
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Neat - very nice sounding, no big hassles with power supplies. The mains is only used through a cheap SMPS wallwart as all it does is charge the batteries, and is disconnected when the dac is turned on.
More later on the second version.....