Review and Measurements of Geshelli ENOG2 Pro DAC

[Jimster480]

There are many reasons why have not added USB to our products.

Geno (my other half) worked from the early through mid-2000’s on embedded USB designs. His main job at the time was working on boxes to give folks with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) a voice. He was solely responsible for this function and has a vast amount of experience in USB design and requirements.

When we set out to design our first DAC, we had to consider that USB audio requires a strong support infrastructure to handle drivers, upgrades, OS issues, Windows/MAC operating system issues, etc. At this time, we simply do not have the staff to support the level of effort required for this.

With our current form factor, we do not have the room on our boards for a separate USB audio chip set.

We do listen to what people want to see in our products. We talk about the demand for USB. In a future designs and growth, we may be able to conquer the above concerns and still maintain the level of customer support and service that we have set for ourselves.

Why not consider just licensing XMOS?

 

[confucius_zero]

Could this little device remedy the Enog2Pro's lack of usb?
https://www.fiio.com/k3

 

[confucius_zero]

EL DAC seems to showcase similar SINAD numbers as ENOG2PRO on SPDIF

EL DAC

ENOG2PRO

 

[Jimster480]

Could this little device remedy the Enog2Pro's lack of usb?
https://www.fiio.com/k3

Yes it could, and then you could take that with you.
But we don't know the performance of that device specifically.

Maybe if you want to buy it and send it to Amir, then we will know

 

[confucius_zero]

@Geshelli Can you manually change the "filters" of the akm chip by playing with the board of the ENOG2Pro?

 

[zephyros]

To be frank I don't think this device is competitive in the market right now. It's a bit worse than the SU-8 save for the IMD if you want to use balance. It's a bit better than the DX3pro if you don't use balance, but it doesn't have an amp and bluetooth or an IR remote. And most importantly, having no USB will be a big dealbreaker for many. The only plus side I can give it is the US based and the supposedly better QC and support. There's potential here, so I hope next version will fix these issues.

 

[bequietjk]

Excited for the future of Geshelli Labs. Enjoying my purple ENOG2 at this moment.

 

[rajapruk]

Close, but no cigar.
Better performance on balanced out, then count me in.
The hunt for the flawless cheap balanced dac continues...
All in all, the balanced Massdrop Grace SDAC is still on top of my list. But I hope something better turns up this year.

 

[graz_lag]

Could this little device remedy the Enog2Pro's lack of usb?
https://www.fiio.com/k3

The FiiO K3 looks very nice, indeed, but for the same budget I would probably buy the Topping D10.
However, if your task is to provide the USB feature to the ENOG2 Pro DAC, you can look at much cheaper solutions IMHO, like an USB S/PDIF bridge based on the CM6631A chip (2013), which can be found on eBay for $30 or so ...
I bought it on the basis of the following Archimago's review, and keep it in the drawer as back up unit just in case ...
The case is quite compact : 95mm x 65mm x 30mm H
http://archimago.blogspot.com/2013/03/measurements-adaptive-aune-x1.html?m=1

 

[graz_lag]

Close, but no cigar.
Better performance on balanced out, then count me in.
The hunt for the flawless cheap balanced dac continues...
All in all, the balanced Massdrop Grace SDAC is still on top of my list. But I hope something better turns up this year.

I am with you for the balanced out performance ...
It is a pity @amirm cannot get any KORG DS-DAC100 to test, I have it but it does not make any sense to ship it to him from France ...
I bought it for $200 on Amazon (2017), but can be found in the second-hand market for 150 EUR or so at least here in France.
(If 150 EUR meets your definition of cheap.)
I am using it especially for the DSD-native payback feature, would like to recommend it to you but there are not objective measurements available on the net, unfortunately ...

 

[Geshelli]

@Geshelli Can you manually change the "filters" of the akm chip by playing with the board of the ENOG2Pro?

It's all done in software. We do mods for people on a case by case basis. They would have to email with details and we would work with them individually.

 

[Legion1capone]

Z reviews just posted his review.

 

[gvl]

There are many reasons why have not added USB to our products.

Have you considered to offer an I2S input instead?

 

[gvl]

Z reviews just posted his review.

Thanks, but I'm not in a puke mood today.

 

[NDRQ]

Nowadays most PC have Toslink output, so the lack of usb is not that big problem.
Can we get some Toslink measurement?

 

[VintageFlanker]

Nowadays most PC have Toslink output, so the lack of usb is not that big problem.

I don't know. Considering the "not so great" jitter performance, maybe a regular PC motherboard is not the best way to go.

 

[NDRQ]

Nowadays we have very good psu-s and mobos, so i dont think that we still have that much issue with jitter.
Also many people using the Ps4 optical out.
And i think a good dac can do stg with the jitter, there are some filtering.
Anyway it would be good to know how this thing performs through toslink.

 

[lastexile]

I am with you for the balanced out performance ...
It is a pity @amirm cannot get any KORG DS-DAC100 to test, I have it but it does not make any sense to ship it to him from France ...
I bought it for $200 on Amazon (2017), but can be found in the second-hand market for 150 EUR or so at least here in France.
(If 150 EUR meets your definition of cheap.)
I am using it especially for the DSD-native payback feature, would like to recommend it to you but there are not objective measurements available on the net, unfortunately ...

I own 2 of them and live in Oregon. Love the balanced output and DSD on the fly upconverting.

 

[pos]

@amirm, if you still have the unit would it be possible that you measure the output impedance of the RCA and XLR outputs, please?

 

[dragonspit4]

There are many reasons why have not added USB to our products.

Geno (my other half) worked from the early through mid-2000’s on embedded USB designs. His main job at the time was working on boxes to give folks with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) a voice. He was solely responsible for this function and has a vast amount of experience in USB design and requirements.

When we set out to design our first DAC, we had to consider that USB audio requires a strong support infrastructure to handle drivers, upgrades, OS issues, Windows/MAC operating system issues, etc. At this time, we simply do not have the staff to support the level of effort required for this.

With our current form factor, we do not have the room on our boards for a separate USB audio chip set.

We do listen to what people want to see in our products. We talk about the demand for USB. In a future designs and growth, we may be able to conquer the above concerns and still maintain the level of customer support and service that we have set for ourselves.

What is the warranty on your products?