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Review and Measurements of Sabaj D5 DAC & Amp

RickSanchez

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Thanks, I definitely prefer performance over features…

Well, take a close look at both of Amir's reviews:
You'll be hard pressed to find any meaningful differences in performance, certainly not audible ones. On the headphone amp side of things you'll want to look at output impedance and power output to see if those differences matter to you based on the headphones you're using.

I think this is a case where you definitely would want to look at feature differences when deciding between the two:
  • Price
  • Display
  • EX5 has a Bluetooth input
  • EX5 has MQA support
  • etc.
 

Warrant

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Wow Rick, thank you for your analysis! I plan to pair the D50 or the EX5 with a 62ohm AKG G712 PRO (single ended). Now my setup has a 1st edition RME ADI 2 as a DAC and a SPL 2Control acting as headphone amp/active speaker preamp.
 
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officialsm

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Comparing D5 versus SMSL SU-9?
Who has better performance?
 

Malis

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I think that these discussions are coming to an absurd. Regarding performance - You will not hear any audible difference between two well made DAC`s, like Sabaj D5 or SMSM SU-9. What you all should look into is price and additional features. In this case - Sabaj has headphone amp as well, but SMSL, has Bluetooth.

Discussions about how the sound will change and which one is ''better'' are not relevant at this level of DAC performance.

For example: I have bought two DAC`s that @amirm has recommended - Sabaj D5 and Hidizs S8. As you can see by their looks and features, they are two very different devices. But with my mid level sound system I was not able to distinguish them in a blind test. I think this will be true for almost all of the users on ASR forum.
 

dza

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ESS IMD Hump, can this be solved by a firmware update? Or is it a hardware design issue?

Is it audible?
 

mocenigo

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I think that these discussions are coming to an absurd. Regarding performance - You will not hear any audible difference between two well made DAC`s, like Sabaj D5 or SMSM SU-9. What you all should look into is price and additional features. In this case - Sabaj has headphone amp as well, but SMSL, has Bluetooth.

Discussions about how the sound will change and which one is ''better'' are not relevant at this level of DAC performance.

For example: I have bought two DAC`s that @amirm has recommended - Sabaj D5 and Hidizs S8. As you can see by their looks and features, they are two very different devices. But with my mid level sound system I was not able to distinguish them in a blind test. I think this will be true for almost all of the users on ASR forum.

It depends. They measure very closely to each other and it is clear that if they are driving an amplifier that is an easy load for both of them the result should be sonically indistinguishable. However, there may be differences with a different amp that is more difficult for one of them.

The problem is that a lot of subjective folks hear differences – and audible differences may be there – and derive from these an assessment of the quality (rather than "versatility" or "compatibility") of the DAC, which is not correct.
 

Maxon

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Hello everyone, there was a case, I wrote a review with a measurement on the M200 DAC. Where I was confused by the decline of 0.5 dB at 20kHz.
Now I am the owner of ABAJ D5. And yes , I took measurements again . I am interested primarily in the frequency response. Question to Amirm, can such a decline be considered the norm? Specially compare with other DACs (old 0404 and portable ibasso 03). I am even more confused by 0.63 dB at 20kHz for D5, but more concerned about the early decline from as much as 5kHz. and this is with a 4 filter, I hear it as the most worthy, which does not have such an early decline as the others. Slide 1.I don't understand why engineers do this? Sorry for my English, I used Google translator
P.S.
for completeness, I will add my own measurements of filters. They look different ! perhaps because of the selected scale. Slide 2
 

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Jarlaxle

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Comparing D5 versus SMSL SU-9?
Who has better performance?
I would like a comment on this too, also add M500 into the mixture, considering all of the 3rd Harmonic distortion on stereo problem etc. Quality of the power supply can be another concern.
 

xaviescacs

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Hi guys. Sorry for asking this in all threads, but, does this device remembers the volume independently for line and headphone outputs?
 

Patrick1958

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i just dont know what to do . I noticed when i opened fuse and put it back i saw red light on the button for split second . and nothing
Did you activate the remote by pressing 3 sec on the know labeled A/B or C. Can't remember exactly.
 
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