manisandher
Addicted to Fun and Learning
With the Christmas break, I finally managed to find some time to compare the analogue outputs of some DACs playing real music (as opposed to sine waves), using @pkane 's excellent DeltaWave nulling software.
In the next post I’ll outline the equipment and method I’ve used. But I’d like to reserve this OP for a ‘league table’ of DACs.
Here are the results to date (10 samples each):
I find the charts in DeltaWave to be more insightful.
Wadia 15 (4x PCM63-K)
SMSL SU-10 – no filter (2x ES9038Pro)
SMSL SU-10 - fast linear
Chord DAVE (custom FPGA)
The Chord DAVE actually performs the best in these tests, even though it falls far short of the SMSL SU-10 in THD+N (see https://audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/smsl-su-10-dac-review.38415/ and https://audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/chord-dave-review-dac-hp-amp.35974/).
Due to the requirement to synchronise clocks (to obtain accurate nulls), I’m restricted to DACs with spdif inputs. Other DACs that I have here that I’ll get around to testing eventually include:
In the next post I’ll outline the equipment and method I’ve used. But I’d like to reserve this OP for a ‘league table’ of DACs.
Here are the results to date (10 samples each):
I find the charts in DeltaWave to be more insightful.
Wadia 15 (4x PCM63-K)
SMSL SU-10 – no filter (2x ES9038Pro)
SMSL SU-10 - fast linear
Chord DAVE (custom FPGA)
The Chord DAVE actually performs the best in these tests, even though it falls far short of the SMSL SU-10 in THD+N (see https://audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/smsl-su-10-dac-review.38415/ and https://audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/chord-dave-review-dac-hp-amp.35974/).
Due to the requirement to synchronise clocks (to obtain accurate nulls), I’m restricted to DACs with spdif inputs. Other DACs that I have here that I’ll get around to testing eventually include:
- Gustard X30 (4x ES9039Pro)
- SMSL DL200 (ES90392QM)
- Audio Synthesis DAX (2x PCM63-K)
- Audio Synthesis DSM (UltraAnalog D20400A)