Which DAC measurements do you like to see next?

[scibry]

I hear a lot about Jotunheim so like to measure it at some point. On the DAC portion, it seems to be the same as Modi 2, no? I have all three versions of Modi 2 (regular, uber and multibit) and plan to measure them soon.

My understanding is that it is different in two ways: 1) It is fully balanced (whatever that means) and 2) It has a different USB controller implementation which is supposed to be much better.

For #2: http://www.schiit.com/news/news/usb-solved-introducing-gen-5-and-eitr discusses this. I guess upon re-reading though it does say "upgradable DACs" and by that I included Jotunheim, but as I read more, I realize it's talking Bifrost and higher. It's too bad Schiit doesn't extend their 'USB Gen5' to all of their digital products, as it seems their normal USB input is complete Schiit.

So perhaps it would have better performance from using onboard power, but probably nothing amazing, except it does have two DACs, one for each polarity of the balanced output, I believe.

 

[amirm]

Yeh, they charge a lot for the Gen 5 USB so I don't think it would be in Jotunheim or they would advertise for it. I have done some preliminary measurements of Modi 2 Multibit and let's say it follows the same route as its more expensive brothers.

 

[scibry]

Yeh, they charge a lot for the Gen 5 USB so I don't think it would be in Jotunheim or they would advertise for it. I have done some preliminary measurements of Modi 2 Multibit and let's say it follows the same route as its more expensive brothers.

I'm not shocked! Thanks for all you do for the community!

 

[alzawada]

it will be nice to see measurements of Holo Audio Spring including combination of inputs from Matrix x-spdif 2. Im wonder if there is a really differece betwean inputs: i2s vs usb vs spdif

 

[amirm]

At $2,500, I won't be in a position to purchase it to measure. If you know someone who is willing to loan it to me, I would be happy to measure theirs.

And oh, welcome aboard.

 

[Martin]

I'd love to see measurements of the DACs on Stereophile's recommended components list (https://www.stereophile.com/content/recommended-components-2017-edition-digital-processors) but most of those are way outside your means.

One of Cambridge Audio's DACs would be interesting to see: DACmagic XS ($74.99), DACmagic 100 ($199.99) and DACmagic Plus ($349.99). They are inexpensive and well liked in the audiophile community. Musical Fidelity's V90-DAC ($299.99) is similarly liked.

I have a PS Audio Digital Link III I'd be willing to send you to see how it measures. It was reasonably priced, something their PerfectWave DAC is not.

Martin

 

[amirm]

Yes, I like to test the DACmagic stuff at some point.

FYI I measured one of the older Musical Fidelity V-DACs and it did well: https://audiosciencereview.com/foru...idelity-v-dac-ii-measurement-and-review.1942/

And sure, I can measure the Digital Link. Please contact me in a couple of weeks and we can coordinate it.

 

[jauncy]

id be interested in seeing the jds el dac and any of Soekris R2R DAC (the 1541, 1421 and 1321)

 

[amirm]

Welcome to the forum Jancy. The Soekris was promised for review by the designer but when I followed up as requested, there has been no answer. I was told there is a newer version and maybe they are waiting on that.

On EL DAC, it is getting a lot of requests. I thought someone was going to offer one for test but my memory is hazy. If no one comes through with in a few weeks, I might go ahead and purchase it.

 

[Blumlein 88]

Anybody mentioned the Miyo DAC. Current pricing is $199. AD and DA converter with some very spiffy specs claimed for the DAC.

https://gomiyo.com/pages/specifications

https://gomiyo.com/

Very small form factor.

 

[amirm]

Cute little box. Who wants to buy it and loan it to me for review?

 

[Dana reed]

Yeh, they charge a lot for the Gen 5 USB so I don't think it would be in Jotunheim or they would advertise for it. I have done some preliminary measurements of Modi 2 Multibit and let's say it follows the same route as its more expensive brothers.

I just ordered a Jotunheim with the balanced AK4490 DAC card. The cards for the Jotunheim (and for the new Lyr3) don't have their Gen5 USB (they have said the isolation transformers they use won't fit in the card slot). It would be interesting to see how the isolation of this compares to the Modi, and to the Gen5 that you can get on the more expensive current DACs. I've had good experience with just putting a powered hub (like their Wyrd) or other hub in between the source and DAC. The hub also allows me to plug iOS devices without getting too much power draw error.
From measurements here, I've gotten interested in the DX7, but it seems those are hard to find now. Would be interesting to see the Jotunheim with AK4490 DAC compared to the DX7.

 

[Deleted member 1514]

I received my Melonkin DA9.1 on Monday. I didn't order it with the USB board, but I have a much cheaper USB board coming from China to put in

Initial impressions:
+ Design/look of the unit.
+ Volume knob is nice
+ Amp is pretty powerful. It drives my AKG K7XX to very loud volumes at less than 1/4 of a turn of the volume knob.
+ Sound is good to my ears.

I haven't taken it apart to look at the jumpers inside yet.

I'll likely be selling my Schiit stack and keeping this.

Thanks to the ebay 20% off deal making this a super affordable ESS 9038Pro with a low output impedence.

 

[bunkbail]

$ for $ has tube gear ever measured better than SS?

There's a Taiwan-made Non-OS R2R tube DAC that costs ~$800 on ebay, the MDHT Labs Canary. Don't know if its any good though.
EDIT: Apparently it is available at $700 on this site.

 

[punkriot]

Anyone tested that one: https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/dac-with-volume/audiophonics-usb-balanced-dac-es9038-pro-xlr-32bit384khz-dsd-128-amanero-tcxo-p-12449.htm? Ess9038 pro, balanced, under 500 EUR. Interesting.

 

[sejarzo]

I dunno about one of those claims. To me, "first rate sound on a tight budget" sounds a lot more like a Topping D10 to me. Or a D30...or an SDAC.

 

[amirm]

I dunno about one of those claims. To me, "first rate sound on a tight budget" sounds a lot more like a Topping D10 to me. Or a D30...or an SDAC.

Me too. 469,00 € is not remotely budget-friendly.

 

[Sylafari]

Any ETA on the RME measurements?

 

[amirm]

Any ETA on the RME measurements?

It is coming next. I have most of the data but was investigating something with RME folks before writing the review. Should be out in the next day or two.

 

[Stump909]

Topping MX3!