This is a review and detailed measurements of Geshelli Labs ENOG2 Pro DAC. It is on kind loan from the company. It retails for USD $199 but right now they are on sale for $180 including free shipping to US and Canada.
The ENOG2 Pro DAC comes in different colors and semi-transparent case. I have the black:
The clear sides allows the myriad of colorful LEDs to shine through. If you are a fan of this kind of bling, you are in luck. If not, you may want to put a towel on it when operating.
The ENOG2 Pro distinguishes itself from other budget DACs by leaving out USB input and instead adding balanced output. As you see in the above picture the only inputs are TOSLINK optical and Coax S/PDIF. If the ENOG2 Pro performs and you don't need USB, it would be the cheapest way to get a balanced output DAC.
Back to functionality, the switch to the left of the inputs is dual function. Just pressing it momentarily will toggle from one input to the other. If you hold it in for 3 seconds, it will switch between different levels for both RCA and balanced outputs. If your amplifier has too much gain, this can be useful to dial things down. For my testing, I used the default and highest levels.
I am sure you all want to know how this device measures so let's get into that. All testing is with coax S/PDIF unless noted otherwise.
Measurements
Let's start with our dashboard using unbalanced RCA output:
That's pretty good and very competitive with some our best budget DACs. Let's measure balanced output:
Ah, that is a bit unfortunate. Noise floor rises a bit and our SINAD drops by a couple of dBs. Level at out 4.3 volts is more than we need so I reduced it but it made no improvement. Here is how the ENOG2 Pro ranks against other DAC tested (click on the image for larger size):
Knowing some of you would want to use USB with this, I powered a Topping D10 to use as USB to S/PDIF bridge and measured the RCA output again:
So you lose about 1.5 dB which is not surprising given the fact that the previous measurement was with S/PDIF coming out of my Audio Precision analyzer.
Let's look at intermodulation distortion:
Using RCA output, the ENOG2 Pro is near match for Topping DX3 Pro which uses the same AKM DAC chips. Balanced mode predictably has higher noise (the downward portion of the curve).
Dynamic Range is similar story with RCA output coming out ahead by good bit:
Jitter performance is a bit worse than I expect:
Lots of spikes, some of which rise to -110 dB. For absolute inaudibility I like to see -120 dB for any tones anyway form the main 12 kHz tone.
Linearity shows the noise penalty of balanced output:
Here is the multitone test for both outputs:
Note that the balanced output levels are higher so you noise and distortion is lower than it seems in the graph relative to RCA output.
Attenuation of out of band signal is very good although the slope is gentler than some of the other DACs:
Here is wideband distortion+noise versus frequency at both 48 kHz:
I tried it at 44.1 kHz (not shown) and the two channels performed similarly and naturally at lower levels of THD+N.
I think we know the story.....
Conclusions
The Geshelli Labs ENGO2 Pro has a long name but is a well engineered DAC when used with its unbalanced RCA output. With balanced it is functional and likely transparenta audibly but measurably, but objectively underperforms its unbalanced output and performance of other balanced DACs. If you don't need USB input and are fine with RCA outputs, I can recommend the Geshelli Labs ENOG2 Pro. You could then use the balanced output in case you get in trouble with ground loops.
If you need USB, by the time you add the cost of that, you could get other DACs such as SMSL SU-8 Version 2.
-------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
I am craving some prime rib. Please consider donating some money so that I can afford to get some using:
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/audiosciencereview), or
upgrading your membership here though Paypal (https://audiosciencereview.com/foru...eview-and-measurements.2164/page-3#post-59054).
The ENOG2 Pro DAC comes in different colors and semi-transparent case. I have the black:
The clear sides allows the myriad of colorful LEDs to shine through. If you are a fan of this kind of bling, you are in luck. If not, you may want to put a towel on it when operating.
The ENOG2 Pro distinguishes itself from other budget DACs by leaving out USB input and instead adding balanced output. As you see in the above picture the only inputs are TOSLINK optical and Coax S/PDIF. If the ENOG2 Pro performs and you don't need USB, it would be the cheapest way to get a balanced output DAC.
Back to functionality, the switch to the left of the inputs is dual function. Just pressing it momentarily will toggle from one input to the other. If you hold it in for 3 seconds, it will switch between different levels for both RCA and balanced outputs. If your amplifier has too much gain, this can be useful to dial things down. For my testing, I used the default and highest levels.
I am sure you all want to know how this device measures so let's get into that. All testing is with coax S/PDIF unless noted otherwise.
Measurements
Let's start with our dashboard using unbalanced RCA output:
That's pretty good and very competitive with some our best budget DACs. Let's measure balanced output:
Ah, that is a bit unfortunate. Noise floor rises a bit and our SINAD drops by a couple of dBs. Level at out 4.3 volts is more than we need so I reduced it but it made no improvement. Here is how the ENOG2 Pro ranks against other DAC tested (click on the image for larger size):
Knowing some of you would want to use USB with this, I powered a Topping D10 to use as USB to S/PDIF bridge and measured the RCA output again:
So you lose about 1.5 dB which is not surprising given the fact that the previous measurement was with S/PDIF coming out of my Audio Precision analyzer.
Let's look at intermodulation distortion:
Using RCA output, the ENOG2 Pro is near match for Topping DX3 Pro which uses the same AKM DAC chips. Balanced mode predictably has higher noise (the downward portion of the curve).
Dynamic Range is similar story with RCA output coming out ahead by good bit:
Jitter performance is a bit worse than I expect:
Lots of spikes, some of which rise to -110 dB. For absolute inaudibility I like to see -120 dB for any tones anyway form the main 12 kHz tone.
Linearity shows the noise penalty of balanced output:
Here is the multitone test for both outputs:
Note that the balanced output levels are higher so you noise and distortion is lower than it seems in the graph relative to RCA output.
Attenuation of out of band signal is very good although the slope is gentler than some of the other DACs:
Here is wideband distortion+noise versus frequency at both 48 kHz:
I tried it at 44.1 kHz (not shown) and the two channels performed similarly and naturally at lower levels of THD+N.
I think we know the story.....
Conclusions
The Geshelli Labs ENGO2 Pro has a long name but is a well engineered DAC when used with its unbalanced RCA output. With balanced it is functional and likely transparenta audibly but measurably, but objectively underperforms its unbalanced output and performance of other balanced DACs. If you don't need USB input and are fine with RCA outputs, I can recommend the Geshelli Labs ENOG2 Pro. You could then use the balanced output in case you get in trouble with ground loops.
If you need USB, by the time you add the cost of that, you could get other DACs such as SMSL SU-8 Version 2.
-------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
I am craving some prime rib. Please consider donating some money so that I can afford to get some using:
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/audiosciencereview), or
upgrading your membership here though Paypal (https://audiosciencereview.com/foru...eview-and-measurements.2164/page-3#post-59054).