Sabaj D4 Review (DAC & Amp)

[Garrincha]

as long as they can get it. what is wrong with that. As far as i know they are a "for profit" company.
Kudo's to them for pulling the wool over peoples eyes. Buyers do not have a gun stuck to their heads. It is by choice (at least in the US)

While it may be legal, it is still a rip-off and demonstrates that Chord cannot be considered a serious company (like unfortunately so many in the audio business). But ASR is here to expose them!

 

[Garrincha]

Maybe it say about Chord that they feel these few extra dBs of SINAD don't make their product any better?

It's funny though that the behaviour at -300db seems to make a huge audible difference!

 

[PeteL]

It's funny though that the behaviour at -300db seems to make a huge audible difference!

? Sorry you must be having insight thatI don’t have. Anyway, this thread isn’t about Chord.

 

[Jimster480]

@amirm
Any chance you could measure new version of good old FiiO E10K? They made E10K-TC based on XMOS XUF208 + PCM5102

That sounds cool.

Again tough, and I am not saying that to defend the Dave, but define "Better Engineering" For a product made to listen to audio content, is focusing your engineering intelligence and money on something nobody can hear good engineering? In my book, good engineering is problem solving.

Depends on if it is audible or not. It is hard to say one way or the other, technically it could be audible upto -120db. After that it is scientifically proven to not be audible.

Yes I was not talking price.Which dongle?

That new Moondrop one with 118 SINAD....

Moondrop Earphones: Moondrop Kanas Pro, A8, VX and Moondrop Crescent

We stock different models of MoonDrop Hifi Earphones, such as: Moondrop Kanas Pro , A8 , VX and Moondrop Crescent headphones and earphones! You will find great deals at HiFiGo

hifigo.com

The THX Onyx gets close though for 1/100th of the price lol

 

[lawk]

I have been running this little dac amp for many years.

It doesnt look too bad turned on with blue ambient light bar.

The filter settings are audible to me.

It also powers 600ohm beyers fine for my pain threshold.

It sounds fine to me.

Maybe at some stage i might upgrade to one of those a 2022 series from sabaj.

I still think it measures pretty good for what it is.

 

[welsh]

At this price level, it's a "candidate" for a rather low-to mid-end PC/TV setup, and for this it's good enough IMHO.
What would put me off is the odd design, and the lack of remote control(?)

Is it just me, or is the slightly-trapezeoid design some sort of tribute to that French triumph, the superb and affordable TotalDac?

 

[respice finem]

Is it just me, or is the slightly-trapezeoid design some sort of tribute to that French triumph, the superb and affordable TotalDac?

Haha, yes, a certain similarity is there

Review and Measurements of Totaldac d1-six DAC

This is a review of the Totaldac d1-six DAC and headphone amplifier. It was kindly shipped from europe to me for testing by a member at a high shipping cost of over 200 euros. The d1-six costs 13,500 euros including VAT in Europe and $12,400 for export. The latter translates into US $13,816...

www.audiosciencereview.com

however, tributes to epic fails are not widespread

 

[Jimster480]

Haha, yes, a certain similarity is there

Review and Measurements of Totaldac d1-six DAC

This is a review of the Totaldac d1-six DAC and headphone amplifier. It was kindly shipped from europe to me for testing by a member at a high shipping cost of over 200 euros. The d1-six costs 13,500 euros including VAT in Europe and $12,400 for export. The latter translates into US $13,816...

www.audiosciencereview.com

however, tributes to epic fails are not widespread

I doubt that sabaj knew anything about how bad it was.

 

[respice finem]

I doubt that sabaj knew anything about how bad it was.

But they could advertise: "ours is better and 140 times cheaper"

 

[Jimster480]

But they could advertise: "ours is better and 140 times cheaper"

Haha especially now they could!

 

[dananski]

Well, the Shanling was first of all a remeasurement and furthermore is a dongle and not a desktop DAC, a different category. The age does not count if the item is still for sale as the actual flagship, which is the case for the Chord DAVE. If you are saying it is obvious that any cheap chinese DAC beats the Chord flagship, what does this say about Chord?

I think it says more about consumers. Wealth disparity drives many purchases that we see as utterly ridiculous. Brand and marketing direct those purchases, along with what 'experts' have influence on you. Perhaps the vendors should be held accountable somehow, but I think I'm personally okay with a little rich-bait, unless I'm missing some real harm in this.

Oh and for anyone wanting a good SINAD db/$ laugh from this Sabaj, it genuinely outperforms the listed distortion spec of the Nagra HD DAC X, yours for $65,000

 

[Jimster480]

I think it says more about consumers. Wealth disparity drives many purchases that we see as utterly ridiculous. Brand and marketing direct those purchases, along with what 'experts' have influence on you. Perhaps the vendors should be held accountable somehow, but I think I'm personally okay with a little rich-bait, unless I'm missing some real harm in this.

Oh and for anyone wanting a good SINAD db/$ laugh from this Sabaj, it genuinely outperforms the listed distortion spec of the Nagra HD DAC X, yours for $65,000

65k? Haha what a literal joke!

 

[WondrousHippo]

I used this thing in my TV setup for a while, and it was definitely fine though the headphone output left a lot to be desired. Glad to see it was certainly a passable DAC, but you can definitely do better now.

 

[dananski]

65k? Haha what a literal joke!

Yup! They really give you value with the 37 separate internal power supplies. The thing takes more power than many amplifiers...

 

[peterwen]

Sabaj D4 HIFI DSD512 Protable DAC And Headphone Amp AK4452 freeshipping - HiFi-express

DSD Sampling Frequencies: 2.8224 MHz (DSD64),22.5792 MHz (DSD512),11.2896 MHz (DSD256),5.6448 MHz (DSD128) Inputs: Coaxial,Optical (SPDIF),USB Type-B USB Compatibility: OSX,Windows 8,Windows...

hifi-express.com

Have a big discount on the Sabaj D4, more than 50% off sale. Don't missed.

 

[Achim1812]

Just tried this D4 with the WiiM Pro. We are looking for an affordable first streaming solution for my grand-daughter.
My son connected the WiiM with a. the Sabaj and b. with the digital option of my Accuphase E4000 and the Klipsch Forte IV.
I didn't see which one he choosed and tried for hours with a wide range of music from Qobuz and from files on my NAS. What shall I say? My old ears could not hear any difference between the cheap D4 and the quite expensive Accuphase solution.
A big difference popped up when we used the RCA outs from the WiiM, but that was exakt what I expected. They are really not that good, but in no case they will hurt any ears.
The HPA part from the Sabaj will also fit the needs of the young lady. She will get an old NAD 316beeV2 and my beloved Sony MDR-1AM2 and that setup, together with 2 Dali Oberon 2, the WiiM and the Sabaj seems to be a very good entry in HiFi.
So, what I will finally say: This (indeed very solid built) Sabaj is for me best buy for bucks. For less than 90 Euros it will be very difficult to beat for every contender.
(BTW, I confess I never, in over 50 years, have decided by graphs only.)