The battle of the DACs, comparison of sound quality between some DACs

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Deleted member 537459

Hi guys!
given the cancellation of the last open threat without any explanation. I state that the material I was lucky enough to be able to bring is available on this site.
I also state that I have no interest in speaking well or someone might say promoting the following products.
I bought a lot of material from ian, ryanj, bisesik and of course also from andrea mori so I talk about my experience as most people do in every forum.
We did a listening day to compare various dacs, all with the same source,
usb-i2s andrea's fifo notebook.
we were 5 people one hifi enthusiast for years and a great listener of live music, two have come from over 40 years of DIY in hifi, I from 5, the last one also for a long time in DIY.
we all agreed on what I wrote below.

7) SABER the first of the participants - ES9038PRO sigma-delta driven in true sync. The worst we heard that day, flattened, lack of dynamics, grainy and veiled midrange, tight and shallow soundstage, lack of focus

6) Twisted Pear Buffalo III SE - ES9038PRO sigma-delta still true sync. slightly better, same defects, but far from what we were looking for

5) TWSDAC-AD5791 - AD5791 20-bit R2R dual mono sign magnitude. slightly better, but perhaps less dynamic than the saber.

4) DDDAC1794 - Doede Duma PCM1794A 24 bit sigma-delta dual mono sync NOS. Here the situation improves, nice musical to listen to but a too relaxed sound, lack of energy, the midrange remains a bit flattened, quite detailed but still narrow and shallow soundstage

3) TWSDAC-1862 - AD1862 20 bit multibit R2R dual mono sign magnitude NOS. At this point the qualitative leap starts to be significant, regular midrange, very detailed but never harsh high frequencies, deep and articulate solid bass, sufficient dynamics, bigger and more focused soundstage

2) TWSDAC-1541 - TDA1541A 16 bit mutibit R2R dual mono sign magnitude NOS. Further improvement compared to the previous one, one of the best medium ranges ever listened to, less wide but clear and soft high frequency, even more solid and extended bass, excellent dynamics, wider and deeper soundstage. the sonic planes begin to come into focus. definitely the best dac chip ever made.

1) TWSDAC-LT-DAC Lite. 24 bit multibit R2R NOS with digital calibration. The best we've heard, impressive dynamics, but never broken down, even smoother midrange, open, detailed, crisp and never harsh high frequency, deeper and more articulate bass, much wider and deeper soundstage than all DACs, no confusion between the floors and between the tools. here the result is truly incredible on every aspect. seeing is believing.


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Deleted member 537459

I don't think one of the listeners owns a 9038pro as a dac. the discourse is one of objectivity, not of tastes. a sigma delta is simpler and less expensive, unfortunately my ears (and others) do not consider it up to par. end
 
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Hey, I recognize my split pcb layout idea for the Gnds pins of the TDA1541A to isolate Agnd ref pin from the i2s "noisy" close I2S, and also to let see the dem caps agnd pin first, I have proposed long time ago to fix the bad Distinction v1 board, lol. Well done Andréa. Happy you use it :)
The Amtrans at I/V... not liked with a virtual oap ground in the voltage feedback loop of an AD1862 but dunno here in that particular layout.
Well done :)
 
thanks ilgavro for reporting your experience. That would be a fun day. Glad you brought us along.
Sounds like Andrea delivered on his goal.
As a biased 1541a fan boy, I remain amazed that this 40 year old chip still competes albeit not SOTA.
 
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