Wyred 4 Sound (ESS Sabre) DAC

[atothex]

Wow, interesting comments for the zodiac +, very disapointed because it was on my short list.

How the fuck does something make your "short list" despite your having pretty much no useful information about it?

[luvdunhill]

How the fuck does something make your "short list" despite your having pretty much no useful information about it?

Listening vicariously through reading reviews?

[tprince]

Full review Zodiac + : 6moons audio reviews: Antelope Audio Zodiac+

by Srajan Ebaen.

Happy readings.

[Eric5676]

Full review Zodiac + : 6moons audio reviews: Antelope Audio Zodiac+

by Srajan Ebaen.

Happy readings.

Wrong product thread but thanks for the heads up.

http://www.head-case.org/forums/home-source-components/6148-antelope-audio-dacs-5.html Maybe some mod can work some magic here.

Relevant to this thread:

...Where in this middle-of-the-range model I still suspect certain limitations—deliberate perhaps due to price—are the output stage and power supply. There an earlier inspection of the $1.500 Wyred4Sound DAC2 scored higher.

Good enough for me.

[tprince]

How the fuck does something make your "short list" despite your having pretty much no useful information about it?

I was answering to this !

[atothex]

The part about adding jitter for better sound made me throw up in my mouth a little bit.

I soldiered on through the whole thing, though, and I can fairly safely say that this product will be lumped in with Mr. Ebaen's ALO Audio recables and Wireworld Starlight USB cables: things that I don't even want to try, let alone buy.

[Eric5676]

This made me throw up in my mouth a little bit:

A YouTube interview with Antelope Audio founder Igor Levin in parts

&

covers his views on how the randomization of jitter helps create a more analog sound; and how adding strategic jitter does, similar to dither, break up modulation patterns to increase the linearity of D/A conversion chips.

I soldiered on through the whole thing, though, and I can fairly safely say that this product will be lumped in with Mr. Ebaen's ALO Audio recables and Wireworld Starlight USB cables: things that I don't even want to try, let alone buy.

My head was spinning on several parts of it myself, but then again, this IS Six Moons we're talking about and by now I think Ebaen is a well known quantity. You know what you're going to get when you read something from him.

Mr. Levin is known as a genius and I wouldn't dare try to argue tech points with someone like him but...ADDING jitter? *grimaces*

[manaox2]

Judging from the review pics, I'm starting to wonder if antelope audio actually used the edition 8 to voice the internal headphone amplifier.

sent via Droid X

[Dusty Chalk]

So the Absolute Sound reviewed this in its current issue, and I gleaned a rather interesting piece of information from it (!) -- the asynchronousness isn't really asynchronous, it is -- at the same time -- both better and worse. What they do is figure out where the leading and tailing edge of the (digital!) signal is, then sample it "in the middle", then reclock what they get. (Oversimplification, but I hope it's understandable. And by "signal", I mean the peak associated with a single bit of information.) They've obviously done a lot of research into exactly what kind of problems they're going to get on the input, and tried to come up with a solution that solves most if not all of them. Even better: does not need a proprietary driver on the computer or transport side.

I have to say -- my interest is now beyond "piqued" and well into "intrigued".

Oh, also: volume control.

And they did confirm that the modular design was intended to future proof it.

[cclragnarok]

So the Absolute Sound reviewed this in its current issue, and I gleaned a rather interesting piece of information from it (!) -- the asynchronousness isn't really asynchronous, it is -- at the same time -- both better and worse. What they do is figure out where the leading and tailing edge of the (digital!) signal is, then sample it "in the middle", then reclock what they get. (Oversimplification, but I hope it's understandable. And by "signal", I mean the peak associated with a single bit of information.) They've obviously done a lot of research into exactly what kind of problems they're going to get on the input, and tried to come up with a solution that solves most if not all of them. Even better: does not need a proprietary driver on the computer or transport side.

I have to say -- my interest is now beyond "piqued" and well into "intrigued".

Oh, also: volume control.

And they did confirm that the modular design was intended to future proof it.

Are you talking about the Wyred 4 Sound DAC-2? The feature list of the DAC-2 says:

"24-bit 192kHz Asynchronous USB input"

I'm not sure I understand what you are describing, but it doesn't sound like asynchronous USB. It sounds like a reclocking scheme.

[Dusty Chalk]

Yes, it's the DAC-2 that's covered in this month's Absolute Sound.

And yes, I read it the same way -- that at its core, it's a reclocking scheme, but:

Technically, this is an asynchronous system, since the data flow is controlled by the DAC, not the computer. But this is not the same asynchronous methodology used by Wavelength, which focuses on the interface between the computer and the DAC.

So I guess the point is arguable.

Technically, this is arguable, since the argument is controlled by the arguer, not the second party. But this is not the same argument methodology used by debaters, which focuses on achieving an agreement between the two parties.

[cclragnarok]

If it's a reclocking scheme, and the USB connection is not pull-based, then "24-bit 192kHz Asynchronous USB input" is misleading in my opinion.

[Eric5676]

All I know is it sounds really friggin' good. I've never looked back since getting mine.

[cclragnarok]

So the Absolute Sound reviewed this in its current issue, and I gleaned a rather interesting piece of information from it (!) -- the asynchronousness isn't really asynchronous, it is -- at the same time -- both better and worse. What they do is figure out where the leading and tailing edge of the (digital!) signal is, then sample it "in the middle", then reclock what they get. (Oversimplification, but I hope it's understandable. And by "signal", I mean the peak associated with a single bit of information.) They've obviously done a lot of research into exactly what kind of problems they're going to get on the input, and tried to come up with a solution that solves most if not all of them. Even better: does not need a proprietary driver on the computer or transport side.

I just checked the feature list again, and right under "24-bit 192kHz Asynchronous USB input" is this:

"Proprietary drivers for 32/64 bit Windows XP, Vista, 7 and Mac OS 10.4, 10.5 ,10.6"

[Dusty Chalk]

Oh.

I guess I need to read more carefully, that was my interpretation of their description.

I wonder what they need proprietary drivers for?

[Iron_Dreamer]

Being that Wyred is not far from me in Central Cali, I'm going to effort a demo of one of these units. I did find talking to their reps at RMAF to be very encouraging, as they were some of the very few who actually seemed to understand DAC design, and had no problems answering detailed technical questions about their products.