EarMen Donald DAC Review

[wwenze]

Looks at Cirrus Logic still kickin' it behind the scenes, just fantastic. It's a shame that CR doesn't market their chips as well as AKM and ESS. At least Earmen are sexin' it up for them. Great stuff, I plan to eyeball the rest of their line now.

Thanks Amir!

Maybe it's like one of those things that are unknown in consumer market but high revenue in industrial markets

 

[amirm]

I don't suppose you have the Sparrow as well

No, I don't.

 

[Xyrium]

Maybe it's like one of those things that are unknown in consumer market but high revenue in industrial markets

Indeed, this could be the case. I can't recall if Crystal Semi was bought by Cirrus Logic or some other consolidation, but both did fairly well back in the 80's-90's.

That said, I perused the rest of the Earmen line. Apparently their little DACs are the gateway drug to their headamps....

 

[Tup3x]

I think the name given is indeed very funny...even when English turns out not to be your mother tongue.

It's pretty funny. That being said, I didn't instantly notice and to be honest, the first thing that came to my mind was different Donald. They do have a product named TR-amp so...

By the way, in Finland Donald Duck is named Aku Ankka.

English is pretty funny language... It's weird that "dac" and "duck" sound (more or less) the same. For Finnish person "dac" would be "d-a-k" and "duck" would be "d-u-k" (without zero error correction, so to speak). c, q, w, x, z do not really exist so their pronunciation varies; although w=v, c=s or k. In other words, they do not sound the same which makes sense, since the letters are different... My English pronunciation sucks because it just doesn't make sense to me at all. I often just read it how it's written. It sounds horrible but what ever... Just put "kokoa koko kokko kokoon" in Google translate and let it read it in Finnish and then in English and you'll see what I mean.

 

[F1308]

It's pretty funny. That being said, I didn't instantly notice and to be honest, the first thing that came to my mind was different Donald. They do have a product named TR-amp so...

By the way, in Finland Donald Duck is named Aku Ankka.

English is pretty funny language... It's weird that "dac" and "duck" sound (more or less) the same. For Finnish person "dac" would be "d-a-k" and "duck" would be "d-u-k" (without zero error correction, so to speak). c, q, w, x, z do not really exist so their pronunciation varies; although w=v, c=s or k. In other words, they do not sound the same which makes sense, since the letters are different... My English pronunciation sucks because it just doesn't make sense to me at all. I often just read it how it's written. It sounds horrible but what ever... Just put "kokoa koko kokko kokoon" in Google translate and let it read it in Finnish and then in English and you'll see what I mean.

We like Finland a lot...Turku and Naantali are paid a visit almost every August, and it turns out my AHB2 is coming from Helsinki.
Did your uncle smile my cooking abilities...?

 

[Jimster480]

There seem to be so many incredible options for low price points at this point in time....

 

[taner]

I really don't get that why we don't see seaprate oscillators for new Cirrus Logic devices even though they are based on XMOS interface? Is there a design constraint or cost saving strategies that make designers follow this way? And outputs.. they are directly going to rca sockets. Does it allowed to use CS43198 without buffer/opamp? DC blocking caps don't exist which is a good thing on single ended outputs..if there really is no DC on outputs when they are ground referenced.

 

[Jimster480]

I really don't get that why we don't see seaprate oscillators for new Cirrus Logic devices even though they are based on XMOS interface? Is there a design constraint or cost saving strategies that make designers follow this way? And outputs.. they are directly going to rca sockets. Does it allowed to use CS43198 without buffer/opamp? DC blocking caps don't exist which is a good thing on single ended outputs..if there really is no DC on outputs when they are ground referenced.
View attachment 68912

What product is this?

 

[Zek]

What product is this?

Donald Dac.

 

[Veri]

I really don't get that why we don't see seaprate oscillators for new Cirrus Logic devices even though they are based on XMOS interface? Is there a design constraint or cost saving strategies that make designers follow this way? And outputs.. they are directly going to rca sockets. Does it allowed to use CS43198 without buffer/opamp? DC blocking caps don't exist which is a good thing on single ended outputs..if there really is no DC on outputs when they are ground referenced.
View attachment 68912

From the datasheet, yes it is "allowed" to use CS43198 without buffer/opamp. It's made to function as a direct driver. Some might add a buffer though, see meizu usb-c dongle versus meizu pro usb-c dongle for example.

 

[taner]

From the datasheet, yes it is "allowed" to use CS43198 without buffer/opamp. It's made to function as a direct driver. Some might add a buffer though, see meizu usb-c dongle versus meizu pro usb-c dongle for example.

But that's for CS43131 which has headphone drivers in it. But there is no such reference in CS43198 datasheet, especially regarding output impedance.

 

[Zek]

But there is no such reference in CS43198 datasheet

Donald Dac is not intended to drive headphones, but to be connected to an amplifier.

 

[taner]

Donald Dac is not intended to drive headphones, but to be connected to an amplifier.

Since we are talking about rca sockets, it is quite obvious. If it can drive 1K to 100K passive preamps (potentiometers) directly connected to its output, nothing to worry about. Otherwise low frequency performance will be compromised. If datasheet specs say anything about CS43198's output impedance and drive capability I even wouldn't bother ask about it.

Btw, my intent was about getting info on digital section especially rather than direct analog outputs.

 

[Aperiodic]

So Amir, given the choice between this and the Modi3, and assuming no need for DSD or MQA, which would you choose?

 

[Raindog123]

I checked on their website and two out of three products (branded EarMen at least...) have silly names.

The Sparrow has a normal name, but...

...as for Sparrow's "normal name", I've seen online reviews suggesting the name originating from "Sparrows devouring Dragonflies" in the food chain... Dragonfly's of multiple colors, that is.

Personally, I am a Sparrow owner for about a month now (as well as Cobalt's) and find Sparrow's sound very decent (through my Grado's 325i's).

 

[AnalogSteph]

As good as Donald DAC is for a $99 DAC, it apparently still falls short of chip specs for dynamic range (130 dB(A)) by almost 20 dB. Any clue why that might be?

 

[gvl]

As good as Donald DAC is for a $99 DAC, it apparently still falls short of chip specs for dynamic range (130 dB(A)) by almost 20 dB. Any clue why that might be?

The same can be said about all top performing DACs. It's the circuitry after the DAC chip that adds noise and distortion, not that it is something one need to worry about at these levels.

 

[amirm]

As good as Donald DAC is for a $99 DAC, it apparently still falls short of chip specs for dynamic range (130 dB(A)) by almost 20 dB. Any clue why that might be?

Chip specs often including filtering and such that may not be in my measurements.

 

[Taddpole]

Tramp?

So they have a Donald and Tramp, hmmm.

 

[AnalogSteph]

Chip specs often including filtering and such that may not be in my measurements.

You're already measuring dynamic range according to AES17, which is A-weighted (and A-weighting by definition is not valid >20 kHz). I have a hard time imagining what kind of further filtering that would be. It's not like the AP would be terribly likely to be upset by out-of-band noise.