Enermax DreamBass Genie Dac & Amp Review

[dfuller]

Failing water coolers at that. They're the brand that uses cooling liquid that reacts with their copper plate resulting in gunk precipitating out of the solution. Their air coolers aren't much better, mine ended up with a bad bearing causing the fan to fail after just a year.

Yes, I seem to recall that - Can't for the life of me remember what the cause ended up actually being.

 

[infinitesymphony]

Their Envy24 PCI audio controller was widely used on many well-measured soundcards in early 2000, including ESI and M-Audio.
Measurements from @restorer-john :
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...u-m4-loopback-measurements.10890/#post-305179
View attachment 86737

Juli@ review:
https://www.ixbt.com/multimedia/[email protected]
View attachment 86738

For sure. 15 years ago there was no better $30 sound card than the Chaintech AV-710 PCI, which also had the Envy24HT-S chipset with a Wolfson WM8728 DAC on one of the stereo outputs.

But this VIA chipset does not seem too good. VIA and Realtek were kind of in the same boat in my mind; some winners in a sea of low-cost components.

 

[pozz]

Can you expound or explain that comment please?

He was making a joke. AVRs have tended not to perform very well when measured.

 

[bennetng]

this VIA chipset

Envy24 series or the USB codec in this review? A codec contains all things: USB interface, ADC/DAC... as mentioned in their website. Envy24 is just the PCI interface itself. Basically, except Creative/EMU or special studio interfaces with their own programmed chips (e.g. Lynx, RME and perhaps Echo?), Envy24 chips were widely used on many other soundcards, more or less like XMOS nowadays.

 

[infinitesymphony]

Envy24 series or the USB codec in this review? A codec contains all things: USB interface, ADC/DAC... as mentioned in their website. Envy24 is just the PCI interface itself. Basically, except Creative/EMU or special studio interfaces with their own programmed chips (e.g. Lynx, RME and perhaps Echo?), Envy24 chips were widely used on many other soundcards, more or less like XMOS nowadays.

I guess my point was that while VIA had a hand in the creation of good audio equipment at the time, especially with their controllers (including the first consumer sound card implementation of 8-channel surround sound), seeing a VIA audio chip now is an indicator that the device is already obsolete. Their website says they don't even sell audio codecs anymore.

 

[bennetng]

I guess my point was that while VIA had a hand in the creation of good audio equipment at the time, especially with their controllers (including the first consumer sound card implementation of 8-channel surround sound), seeing a VIA audio chip now is an indicator that the device is already obsolete. Their website says they don't even sell audio codecs anymore.

Yes, even the website link indicates these are legacy products. Nowadays crabs everywhere...
BTW, here are some measurements I made in the past:
X-Fi Titanium HD recording a 2010 motherboard with VIA VT1718S vs RME Multiface II recording a Denon CD player:
https://hydrogenaud.io/index.php/topic,104390.msg856574.html#msg856574
The measurement link in the post above is broken due to forum software upgrade, here is the working link:
https://hydrogenaud.io/index.php/topic,104406.0.html

 

[martijn86]

First I thought it is a "nasty" joke until I realized 160ml cup is one of its 7in1 "functions"

I didn't think anyone would get it !

 

[milosz]

What an odd product. It's looks goofy and doesn't work very well. But it DOES work (sort of.) For $10 it's amazing you can buy anything aside from a Big Mac and fries. But I question the wisdom of this product having been brought to market at all! Can you imagine a number of people sitting around a conference table looking at this gizmo and all approving this thing to go to production? Too much baijiu the previous night, perhaps.

 

[Blumlein 88]

With just a little change in shape it could have looked like R2D2. Of course Disney would have asked for a fee or said no.

 

[wwenze]

This looks like another one of those USB sound cards except with a different PCB and chassis. All of these consistently perform worse than a typical onboard sound, but are good to have when the onboard sound is broken or the mic is too hard to reach.

I mean, we all know why they made the enclosure look like... that... "Oh I have a tube DAC"

I would say it performs like how it should. A $2 sound card plus a $8 chassis.

But even for $2 I would get this because ooo it has buttons.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Mini-USB-2...621527?hash=item5b49d37fd7:g:rGkAAOSwzlFbRAS6

 

[bobbooo]

This looks like another one of those USB sound cards except with a different PCB and chassis. All of these consistently perform worse than a typical onboard sound, but are good to have when the onboard sound is broken or the mic is too hard to reach.

I mean, we all know why they made the enclosure look like... that... "Oh I have a tube DAC"

I would say it performs like how it should. A $2 sound card plus a $8 chassis.

But even for $2 I would get this because ooo it has buttons.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Mini-USB-2...621527?hash=item5b49d37fd7:g:rGkAAOSwzlFbRAS6

Ha, I actually have something very similar to that eBay item, but from DeLock: https://www.delock.com/produkt/61961/merkmale.html

I just bought it for the optical SPDIF output (not sure if that eBay one has that), so I could play anything not available through the HEOS app from my phone or PC losslessly to my Denon AVR via toslink. Up to 24/96 optical digital output for around $10 I think it was, not bad at all. Never even tried the analogue output or ADC though.

 

[Dmitri]

That’s an insult to Steve Buscemi. With respects to marketing such a thing, for those of us who stuff stockings every year, I could see why it might sell. Still, not going on my Amazon Wish list....

 

[Pietro]

Looks like a vacuum tube.. distorts like a vacuum tube

 

[fieldcar]

This beauty is on sale for Free after MIR.

https://slickdeals.net/f/14522186-e...er-10-rebate-free-shipping-more?src=frontpage

 

[Yearofthegoat]

Ha, I actually have something very similar to that eBay item, but from DeLock: https://www.delock.com/produkt/61961/merkmale.html

I just bought it for the optical SPDIF output (not sure if that eBay one has that), so I could play anything not available through the HEOS app from my phone or PC losslessly to my Denon AVR via toslink. Up to 24/96 optical digital output for around $10 I think it was, not bad at all. Never even tried the analogue output or ADC though.

(Holy necro post!)

I got 4 months Apple Music free, but their lossless audio is Apple-only, apart from the Android app (more or less), and I'm a PC user.

So I dug around in my laptop bag and fished out my Delock 61961, and sent optical into my RME Digiface and from there to studio monitors.

Doesn't sound too bad - certainly not awful by any means, and noticeably better than the dowdy iTunes app from the Microsoft Store.

Next job is to look for something better...