Which DAC measurements do you like to see next?

[vitalii427]

surperrprised that we haven't test Apogee sym io yet, in es9018pro era it's the best measurement ess gear, rumor they changed the board into es9028pro.

gen1 Mac only but working fine with external usb-interface through spdif/aes
gen2 true Mac slave

output level pretty high, pro gear is pro gear

Specs looks good, but the price, size and no USB.

THD+N of -118dB @ 22dBu (0.00013%) unweighted
Dynamic range: 131dB (A) dynamic range

 

[bravomail]

it could have been promising if they made it external. EMI will kill it. Plus, for ~100 I can get a whole new motherboard with built-in (so-so, 100dB SNR) sound but with SPDIF optical. Then there's software suit. Why-o-why? I can only imagine what kind of buggy software that will be. Just give me driver.
Then this cornucopia of resistors, chips, pcb lanes - my gut tells me u don't need such a complex solution, unless u wanna end up like Yggdrazil. Simpler solutions tend to work and perform better.
Would I still want this thingy measured - you bet!

This evga nu audio sound card https://www.evga.com/articles/01281/evga-nu-audio/

Weirdly, the specs don't mention it, but it has a lme49600 headphone buffer like the jdslabs atom. A little worried that they did however, mention that it has "audio grade resistors". It is also unusual in that it is a usb dac, using a pci express to usb adapter.

 

[Veri]

surperrprised that we haven't test Apogee sym io yet, in es9018pro era it's the best measurement ess gear, rumor they changed the board into es9028pro.

gen1 Mac only but working fine with external usb-interface through spdif/aes
gen2 true Mac slave

output level pretty high, pro gear is pro gear

Wow it's like a much more expensive ADI-2. anyway, it's MAC-only like their other studio stuff right? I don't think @amirm can even test it then, and heavily downplays its favourability when it comes to compatibility.... silly apogee.

 

[m8o]

I've seen a number of requests to test the NAD M51. I have one. Any interest in putting it thru your wringer? Could that come with a commitment to compare results from USB Audio, S/PDIF, and HDMI?

 

[vitalii427]

I've seen a number of requests to test the NAD M51. I have one. Any interest in putting it thru your wringer? Could that come with a commitment to compare results from USB Audio, S/PDIF, and HDMI?

Sure, I’m interested

 

[amirm]

I've seen a number of requests to test the NAD M51. I have one. Any interest in putting it thru your wringer? Could that come with a commitment to compare results from USB Audio, S/PDIF, and HDMI?

Thanks. One is here already courtesy of a local member. Add sure, I can compare the different inputs.

 

[m8o]

Thanks. One is here already courtesy of a local member. Add sure, I can compare the different inputs.

Much thanx! Looking forward to it.

I guess also that USB vs. S/PDIF (either optical of coax) to be comparable. It's really the 'quality' of HDMI in that piques the interest.

 

[ryanmh1]

The SoundblasterX G6 should be top of list. It's $150 and potentially stomps everything else in price and value. Check this out:

https://reference-audio-analyzer.pro/en/report/dac/creative-g6-uapp.php

This is showing the results of a SBX G6 fed with a a digital input off of a Xiaomi cell phone, and then measured with RAA's heavily modified 1616m. .00016% at -3dBFS is nuts for a product like this, and I believe below the level usually used here, but even at 0dBFS for a full 2V, this thing still pulls off a .000296. Wow. This is a $150 soundcard that includes a headphone amp, an ADC (which unfortunately is not as good), a microphone input, a surround sound decoder, DSD decoding, and presumably some decent drivers and software with good reliability. At -3dBFS, it would top the SINAD chart at 116dB, and even with a full 2V signal, still pull a more than respectable 109dB. And for what it's worth, the IMD performance is also exemplary. The headphone amp is some sort of discreet design.

Just thought I would point it out, since this product has received all of three mentions here, ever, according to Google. It could well be the ultimate jack-of-all-trades. Well, actually that might be the SB X7. I have one of those one the way, primarily for the 1W power output. It should also be audibly transparent, but it doesn't do crazy stuff in the measurement wars like the G6.

 

[Veri]

The SoundblasterX G6 should be top of list. It's $150 and potentially stomps everything else in price and value. Check this out:

https://reference-audio-analyzer.pro/en/report/dac/creative-g6-uapp.php

This is showing the results of a SBX G6 fed with a a digital input off of a Xiaomi cell phone, and then measured with RAA's heavily modified 1616m. .00016% at -3dBFS is nuts for a product like this, and I believe below the level usually used here, but even at 0dBFS for a full 2V, this thing still pulls off a .000296. Wow. This is a $150 soundcard that includes a headphone amp, an ADC (which unfortunately is not as good), a microphone input, a surround sound decoder, DSD decoding, and presumably some decent drivers and software with good reliability. At -3dBFS, it would top the SINAD chart at 116dB, and even with a full 2V signal, still pull a more than respectable 109dB. And for what it's worth, the IMD performance is also exemplary. The headphone amp is some sort of discreet design.

Just thought I would point it out, since this product has received all of three mentions here, ever, according to Google. It could well be the ultimate jack-of-all-trades. Well, actually that might be the SB X7. I have one of those one the way, primarily for the 1W power output. It should also be audible transparent, but it doesn't do crazy stuff in the measurement wars like the G6.

That performance does look pretty insane... (insanely good). Just a little spray of harmonics at -130 dBFS??

 

[thecity2]

Are there measurements available of the Peachtree Dac it x somewhere? I'm wondering how it measures up (no pun) with more recent DACs.

 

[amirm]

Are there measurements available of the Peachtree Dac it x somewhere? I'm wondering how it measures up (no pun) with more recent DACs.

I have not tested one. My son has one of their other units though and I can ask him to bring it over to test.

 

[amirm]

That performance does look pretty insane... (insanely good). Just a little spray of harmonics at -130 dBFS??

They use -3 dBFS in their testing which avoids the distortion that sets in at max level as I test.

 

[amirm]

The SoundblasterX G6 should be top of list. It's $150 and potentially stomps everything else in price and value. Check this out:

OK, I ordered one.

 

[ryanmh1]

OK, I ordered one.

It will be interesting see how this thing stacks up. It's worthwhile reading this iXBT review: https://translate.google.com/transl...ive-sound-blasterx-g6-review.html&prev=search. They claim that the headphone amp is a discreet one capable of putting out a full watt of power, but that it has a current limiter on it. You can see the action of the limiter kicking in in the RAA test suite. It would require a time-limited burst test in order to determine whether it actually can do a full watt. If it can, that would be pretty incredible.

The other interesting thing here is whether the ADC measures up. If it really can pull of the .0005% THD+N on the ADC that is claimed, it would be a huge value for use as a cheap test platform. People could feed their DAC output or headphone amp output into it (at low enough voltage), and measure them up to 105db SINAD, PLUS a 115dB dynamic range measurement. There is nothing else close to this price that can pull that off, but whether it actually can is debatable until its proven by someone who does (in the one published RMAA test), run the loopback off the headphone jack.

 

[Johnb]

I never trusted Creative because of their need to provide "value" by enhancing sound through signal processing. This one has a direct mode, so one can hope for better.

 

[Veri]

They use -3 dBFS in their testing which avoids the distortion that sets in at max level as I test.

I missed the little clickable buttons on the website. At 0 dBFS it looks similar in distortion to DX3-Pro. I don't expect any miracles will be an awesome item for you to look at in the future though!

 

[bennetng]

That performance does look pretty insane... (insanely good). Just a little spray of harmonics at -130 dBFS??

View attachment 21185

But it seems that jitter is worse than their 2005 product.
https://reference-audio-analyzer.pro/en/report/dac/creative-g6-uapp.php#srw24
https://reference-audio-analyzer.pro/en/report/dac/creative-x-fi-creation-mode-44.php#srw24

I have a nearly identical card (X-Fi XtremeMusic), the main difference is the Fatal1ty version has more RAM and it is irrelevant to non-gaming audio performance.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_Blaster_X-Fi#History

Here are my J-Tests played by X-Fi XtremeMusic and recorded by X-Fi Titanium HD (PCIE):

Stereophile style (16/44):

ASR style (24/48):

Creative is special in a way that they develop their own DSP and controller chips, also the G6 uses CS43131 which Amir has never tested before.

 

[Veri]

But it seems that jitter is worse than their 2005 product.
https://reference-audio-analyzer.pro/en/report/dac/creative-g6-uapp.php#srw24
https://reference-audio-analyzer.pro/en/report/dac/creative-x-fi-creation-mode-44.php#srw24

I have a nearly identical card (X-Fi XtremeMusic), the main difference is the Fatal1ty version has more RAM and it is irrelevant to non-gaming audio performance.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_Blaster_X-Fi#History

Here are my J-Tests played by X-Fi XtremeMusic and recorded by X-Fi Titanium HD (PCIE):

Stereophile style (16/44):
View attachment 21231


ASR style (24/48):
View attachment 21232

Creative is special in a way that they develop their own DSP and controller chips, also the G6 uses CS43131 which Amir has never tested before.

Jep I saw the jitter not being ideal, has some modulation going on. On the other hand it is -130dBFS down and arguably not an audible issue.
If the harmonic distortion performance is verified to be so great it might be a good option for the price for sure

Also these other 2005/2006 cards are hard to purchase nowadays! Thanks for your measurements though. Jitter does look better on yours.

 

[bennetng]

Jep I saw the jitter not being ideal, has some modulation going on. On the other hand it is -130dBFS down and arguably not an audible issue.
If the harmonic distortion performance is verified to be so great it might be a good option for the price for sure

Also these other 2005/2006 cards are hard to purchase nowadays! Thanks for your measurements though. Jitter does look better on yours.

And the importance of measuring a new Cirrus Logic chip!!

 

[Veri]

And the importance of measuring a new Cirrus Logic chip!!

I do agree with that. I wonder why most audiophile products go for AKM/Sabre. It's like Cirrus is not "cool" enough lol.