If the Vaughn is really based on the ESS 9018, might want to check out the Resonessence Labs Invicta DAC. The Invicta appears to offer a lot more bang for the buck. I just ordered one to audition.
If the Vaughn is really based on the ESS 9018, might want to check out the Resonessence Labs Invicta DAC.
The Vaughan does NOT use an ESS Sabre chipset, it uses Burr Brown PCM 1795 x 8 and 'used in a custom way'.
See here: http://www.wickeddigital.com.au/ind...-centre/dac-buying-guide/dac-comparison-chart
You're welcome - I'm currently developing dac designs of my own, and the best sounding chips for the buck have turned out to be the oldest ones (thinking particularly here of TDA1545 and its relatives). But then I use them non-oversampling as 99% of my music is redbook format. At higher sample rates, my designs are still at the planning stage.
What are your requirements? If its 44k1 I'd suggest at least auditioning a TDA1541A based design.
From here And it seems that the signal is oversampled to 768KHzThe underlying DAC chip used in the Young is a TI Burr Brown PCM1795. To get the DAC to work at 384kHz, the guys at M2Tech bypasses Burr Brown's internal digital filter function and opt for a separate Xilinx Spartan DSP chip to to perform digital filtering and upsampling function.
Haven't seen anyone max out USB 2.0 High Speed (480Mb/s) in an audio application yet. What relevance would Thunderbolt have to audio?
Plenty.
"Confession. At the present time I hadn’t felt a real need to ditch my CEC transport and delve fully into computer audio. If it ain’t broke why fix it? Besides I’m not sure computers are quite there sonically. Furthermore due to the high-speed transitory nature of the computer industry I’d recommend exercising some fiscal restraint on any potential USB DAC purchase. Already USB is fading in favor of interfaces like Thunderbolt. Who knows how long USB will be supported? What I’d like to see from DAC manufacturers are modular units where owners can purchase upgrade cards as new connectivity options become available."
Plenty.
"Confession. At the present time I hadn’t felt a real need to ditch my CEC transport and delve fully into computer audio. If it ain’t broke why fix it? Besides I’m not sure computers are quite there sonically. Furthermore due to the high-speed transitory nature of the computer industry I’d recommend exercising some fiscal restraint on any potential USB DAC purchase. Already USB is fading in favor of interfaces like Thunderbolt. Who knows how long USB will be supported? What I’d like to see from DAC manufacturers are modular units where owners can purchase upgrade cards as new connectivity options become available."
Already USB is fading in favor of interfaces like Thunderbolt
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