Maybe this will sound "commercial", maybe it is just good to know for people in search for a DAC and bump into this ... but here is another kind of "review".
Spread over two days, a session of 15 hours was spent on a comparison between a DAC based on the ESS Sabre, and my own Phasure NOS1.
The ESS Sabre based DAC this time makes use of the original Evaluation Board, though modded to a high(est ?) degree. The bass output therefore (?) is better compared to the Buffalo DAC. Sound character otherwise was the same, to my ears.
The NOS1 was used with SPDIF connection only for more honest comparison, and it was used in NOS mode as well as in OS mode, and either with and without filter.
Software was XXHighEnd, and only 16/44.1 files were used in a normal fashion (not upsampled or anything).
A kind of interesting twist was that various persons came with different presumptions :
a. The owner of the ESS Sabre DAC being there right from the start of the Sabre, working on it in a fashion of creating the best DAC existing. This is visitor A.
b. Visitor B looking for the best DAC in the world (maybe not regardless price
) in a most serious fashion I would dedicate to myself only.
c. Me, indeed looking for the best as well, and with a search behind me similar to visitor B, and means similar to vistor A (DIY).
d. Some person D without real interests, apart from the ability to bear the noises day in day out, my wife.
Important to know is that we did not use any music for testing that would put the NOS DAC in the advantage explicitly. In other words, only candle light music was used, much piano, and some toucher of classical here and there.
For those not knowing "my" merits on this one : nothing "square like" music, hence nothing the NOS DAC would do better because of that (remaining squares as they are).
The reason for this kind of music actually was visitor B; He already knew the DAC from visitor A, recognized the virtues, but without being able to describe it, felt "something was missing". You could say that it was the stupid idea to possibly find the missing parts in my own DAC, which is a highly pretentious idea to start with, nobody knowing in advance what would come out. On this matter, I did not know the visitors besides some dozens of emails, and about the seriousness ... they came by airplane.
To get used to my system and how it sounds, we started with the Sabre for some 90 minutes. Where I was behaving the most objective, visitor A got used to his own DAC again, while visitor B again came to the conclusion that technically everything sounded well, but something was missing.
At that stage I knew what that was, but said nothing.
In those cases where objectivity was not needed, I certainly spoke up;
On a side note, I did not know any of the music we listened to.
At one stage, I asked visitor A what instrument was playing. If you followed this topic, I of course internally referred to my notification of the Sabre (in Buffalo appearance) did not do that, and here it was the same. The innocent answer of visitor A was "trumpet. ehh, sax. ehh no ... ?".
Of course this was a kind of mean from me, but was nevertheless related to possibly "something missing", where I experienced that myself and did not recognize it immediately. For the visitors of course this was more difficult because of a lacking reference.
Already at this stage of listening to the Sabre only, I recognized the most strange violins, which were indeed so strange to my ears, that I later (at trying the same track on the NOS1) promised a recognizeable synthesizer at hopping over to the NOS1.
It was really a pure coincidence that my "promise" turned out the most untrue; Instead of a synthesizer a normal violin came out.
Well, with this as the very first thing happening, nobody was really objective anymore, because a violing sounding as an unrecognizeable thing can't be standed.
Not once you have the reference. I was ok with it before when the instrument sounded like a combination of a violin with a handsaw and a bag pipe. Of course, the latter was placeboed by the Keltish music (which it was), but still. So, if you hear this back as a normal violin, your brains won't allow to like the non-violin DAC better, no matter for what other reason.
Btw, of course this is similar to what I told a few posts back about Little Feat and the strange noise which just appeared to be a guitar.
In an earlier stage we where kind of always talking about the realism of the music. Somehow it never sounded right, although I must admit we were nitpicks to a high degree. I am not sure whether visitor A would really come up which such messages, but he sure agreed once things were pointed out.
Person D could point out that all was too fuzzy, which was independant of my own stating that things "buzzed" too much. So, I myself recognized the uneven notes on a piano, but since this appeared to be throughout the spectrum, it kind of annoyed throughout. Or at least with my that was so, and apparantly with person D the same. But remember, we (me and D) had a reference.
At a certain stage we at last found a beautiful piano piece of which we could all agree that the Sabre was performing very well on it. So, to be as honest and open as possible, it was my idea to switch the cables for the first time. And to make it a bit pretentious from my side, I had a prediction as detailed as possible on how that piano would change. Remember, that piano (a large wing) that was sounding 100% good to begin with.
I predicted a zillion additional harmonics, a more fresh piano (it sounded late late late night dull), hammers to be heard (they did not at all), and interhamonic "reverbaration", which I later explained by pionting out the 3 strings forming 1 tone on the higher piano notes.
As you have guessed, of course this came out exactly. What I could not have guessed though, is that those harmonics are so much of importance, that the highest notes appeared an octave higher. I never knew that (but never made such extensive comparisons in this area of good music), but at the highest notes the "base tone" seems to be created from harmonics only. They are louder than the actual base tone. In the end I know because I have a wing myself, but it never occurred to me really.
Right. So the nice thing happening (nice for comparing in general) was that while nobody lacked anything on that piano piece, everyone agreed within one second that it was *totally* different. And better. And real.
We were switching a lot, and at some stage a request of visitor B came for a certain track we listened to before over the Sabre, and first we listened to the Sabre again. So, this was the second time;
Try to imagine, me hopping around with cables, your wish is my command at the volumes and everything (all perceivement had to be of a volume as the gentlemen were used to), and as a nice dog I listened again to this track.
Now the track had to be run on the NOS1, and after forfilling my job again, of course the waiting came to listen out that stupid track once more. Life is hard sometimes.
But wait a minute, this time I got something from it, and it sucked me in. With the danger of person D seeing it, I had to wipe my eyes. I saw person B doing the same, and person A had dropped is head down on the bar he was behind. No idea what that meant, but he didn't do it before.
Well, anyway visitor B was done with it. He now knew what he had been missing on the Sabre DAC. Emotion.
I too was confronted with that again (a kind of a hard way to do it), and in the end this too is just the same as what I said before : the ESS Sabre sings like a dead bird. It just is so. No matter all the detail, too many things are - or go wrong at heavy oversampling.
Since everybody now was able to watch out for differences and where they could be, we found many more tracks, particular in the classical regions, where things just did not work at all. I can tell (we all could) that the recordings were the best existing, but on the Sabre violins easily became a flute. Yes, I'm serious. A flute.
Visitor A came to the conclusion that something must be wrong with his DAC. He did not recognize these "errors" from his home. But what visitor A probably forgets is that
a. I asked him before about what instrument he heard through is DAC, with the just innocent answer "don't know", but with the flair of "who actually cares, as long as I like it !"
b. He did not have the reference before.
Besides that I just recognized the Sabre sound.
A little less relevant for the whole exhercition, was that I let the two visitors decide in what mode the NOS1 sounded best to their ears. Or actually is was visitor B wanting to find out, with the notion that visitor B is not NOS minded at all. He knew how I think about that, but never found it relevant for his choice of a DAC. Also visitor B has good theories (confirmed by, say, the books) that oversampling to a certain extend is good.
The unanimous result was NOS/Filterless. No matter I told filterless is wrong and measures wrong, no matter I told I played with filter for the last couple of weeks, filterless came out of it. And indeed, if your measure "the right" things, that may come out of measuring just the same.
As an anecdote, I come near the end with this :
Visitor A, who told that he had some nice hours of good sleep (
) woke up with the solution;
His DAC received a 50 Ohm internal SPDIF cable at some last mod, and this really should be 75 Ohms. So, let's change that cable !
We did, and it did not make a difference. Then of course what visitor A did not know, is that I myself have an internal 50 Ohms cable.
Indeed wrong of course, but to my ears that 25 or so cm did not make an audible difference with a 75 Ohms coax, and at this moment I don't own a 75 Ohm very flexible cable which really needs to be flexible at pulling off the cover and the PCB where the SPDIF is connected to is mounted on the cover.
Anyway, I told visitor A to forget about the reference he now has, and most probably back at home things will be allright again. His fine tube amp may mask the anomalies my amps reveil, and I really hope this is just so (for him).
On a last note, and a kind of relevant to not only myself, but also to you listening to my brabbling about "my fine system with the best sound in the world and blahblahblah", I really worship the ears and the paying of attention to everything of vistor B. Not that vistor A is less on this, but visitor B is the critical complaining and "nagging" user. Only the best will do for him;
He told me that in my system he heard one of the best systems he ever heard, but not "the" best. Well, that is enough compliment for me, and I must say that I wasn't all that confident in advance. Remember, I know visitor B as searching for a DAC and all for many years, which may not exactly be avarage. If you are so much into things, you know you merits, and for me this was a kind of scary.
Dear visitors, thank you for a great experience on my side and lending your ears. I'm sure at some stage you will be reading this, and maybe you want to add something, or disagree with things I just said. Don't hesitate to jump in in that case, or do not if you just don't like to write something here. A small hint for visitor B might be to create another nickname just because of this. In the case you don't want to show who you really are on the internet. Do as you please.
Thanks you both,
Peter
