ESS & AKM DAC lineups, what specs matter?

[JuliaCoder]

Below are links to both company's DAC lineups. Why would I want 8 channels for stereo? 32 bits ? -124 DB THD ? 128 DB S/N ?
Do you get what you pay for or is this just specs for specs sake?

AKM DACs , ESS DACs

 

[Roland68]

You will find some of your questions answered in the datasheets, e.g. ES9038Pro.
It is like in many technical areas, for the last 3% an effort has to be made that is 10-100 times as high as for the previous 97%.
Everyone has to know for themselves whether these remaining 3% are worth the effort or the additional money.

 

[Jimbob54]

Something of an irrelevance as no one can get new AKM chips for the foreseeable once stocks dry up (which apparently they are, quickly)

 

[Jimbob54]

You will find some of your questions answered in the datasheets, e.g. ES9038Pro.
It is like in many technical areas, for the last 3% an effort has to be made that is 10-100 times as high as for the previous 97%.
Everyone has to know for themselves whether these remaining 3% are worth the effort or the additional money.

And if , like the vast majority of us, you are buying already in a device, the implementation is far more important for PCM use than the capabilities and spec of the chip. See the SMSL M500 strange third harmonic thread with the 9030 Pro in use.

 

[toddverrone]

And if , like the vast majority of us, you are buying already in a device, the implementation is far more important for PCM use than the capabilities and spec of the chip. See the SMSL M500 strange third harmonic thread with the 9030 Pro in use.

Or the specs of the Soncoz SDG1.. it's in the top 5 of all DACs tested and uses the ESS 9038Q2M, not the 9039PRO. Good engineering gets you that last bit of performance... or makes your product a bit of a bother.

The details like devilled eggs. Or something like that...