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Ultra Desktop DAC

post #1 of 48
3/21/09 at 1:32pm
Thread Starter 
I couldn't find another thread discussing this new product.

At a glance this looks like it will have some exceptional performance. It seems to me that the DAC chip from ESS raises the bar on distortion performance. And does so at a very low power consumption. The white-paper on their site was interesting reading.

Here's to hoping that the Ultra Desktop will get out all the performance potential

I'm really looking forward to some measurements on this one. I was considering the DAC3 from Bel Canto, but if this one keeps its promises at half the price, I might change my mind
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post #2 of 48
3/21/09 at 2:30pm
Because it was only posted today?

HeadRoom Ultra Desktop DAC @ HeadRoom - Right Between Your Ears

By the way, have a look at the pictures, and take a close look at the one with it stacked on top of a somewhat unusual amp...
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post #3 of 48
3/21/09 at 2:32pm
In the pictures for the Ultra Desktop DAC, I couldn't help but notice a little something called the "Headroom Balanced Ultra Desktop Amp" as well. Verrrrry Eeeeenteresting.
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post #4 of 48
3/21/09 at 4:11pm
What the heck is going on here!

Quote:
Originally Posted by jonjungel
It seems to me that the DAC chip from ESS raises the bar on distortion performance. And does so at a very low power consumption. The white-paper on their site was interesting reading.
Man, you ought to read the patent. That's the most off the hook dac I've ever read about.

I'm not sure when/if we'll be publishing measurements; I'll look into that a bit for you. I do know that when I saw the measurements of the prototype the distortion and noise measurements were astonishingly low.

I can tell you I'm digging what's on my desk.



It's very natural sounding to me.
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post #5 of 48
3/21/09 at 6:27pm
Are those some balanced Denon's I spy? 5000 or 7000? How do they do balanced?
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post #6 of 48
3/21/09 at 6:50pm
Will you be posting pictures of the insides soon? Call me crazy, but those are my favorite pictures.
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post #7 of 48
3/21/09 at 8:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mkozlows View Post
Will you be posting pictures of the insides soon? Call me crazy, but those are my favorite pictures.
Yeah, mine too!
Kevin
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post #8 of 48
3/21/09 at 8:53pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tyll Hertsens View Post
I'm not sure when/if we'll be publishing measurements; I'll look into that a bit for you. I do know that when I saw the measurements of the prototype the distortion and noise measurements were astonishingly low.
I didn't necessarily mean that you should post measurements, though that would be great ofcourse. I was thinking more of reviews with measurements, like they do at stereophile or soundstage.

I guess what I meant was that I can't wait to see a thorough review. ..
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post #9 of 48
3/22/09 at 12:54pm
I am not a technical person so I apologize if my question is well ... silly. How about upsampling or oversampling? I mean if my transport or pc puts out 16/44 will the Ultra Desktop DAC be able to upsample or oversample? Thanks.
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post #10 of 48
3/22/09 at 2:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mkozlows View Post
Will you be posting pictures of the insides soon? Call me crazy, but those are my favorite pictures.
They'll come along sometime relatively soon; the pictures shown are of the prototypes and the boards have a few jumpers on them. Production boards are due in shortly, and we'll photo them as soon as we can.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jonjungel View Post
I didn't necessarily mean that you should post measurements, though that would be great ofcourse. I was thinking more of reviews with measurements, like they do at stereophile or soundstage.

I guess what I meant was that I can't wait to see a thorough review. ..
Me neither. That will take quite a while though. It's sometime a year between the time we send Stereophile gear and when a review comes out. And sometimes, of course, we don't even get a review. SoundStage is a bit quicker as they don't have to buy paper and wait for a press and mail.

Quote:
Originally Posted by mrarroyo View Post
How about upsampling or oversampling? I mean if my transport or pc puts out 16/44 will the Ultra Desktop DAC be able to upsample or oversample? Thanks.
Oh the ESS DAC is an up/over sampling beast. It's also amazingly complex and I have to admit it's somewhat over my head what's going on inside that chip. That's, at least in part, due to the fact that ESS doesn't want people to really know what they're doing in there. It's quite unusual.

Here's the spec sheet.
Here's a more in depth description of the part ... good luck understanding it.
And here's the patent for the internal digital signal upsampling/processing patent ... not a chance of understanding it unless you're a cryptographer/DSPengineer.
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post #11 of 48
3/22/09 at 2:29pm
This looks interesting

Tyll Hertsens: Can you compare SQ on USB vs the other inputs?
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post #12 of 48
3/25/09 at 12:06am
C'mon Headroom, you now have to release a complimentary Transport for this Dac, otherwise all is lost.
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post #13 of 48
3/25/09 at 9:35am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cecala View Post
C'mon Headroom, you now have to release a complimentary Transport for this Dac, otherwise all is lost.
Transport? What's that? Those silver discs are just to transport music to a computer right?
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post #14 of 48
3/25/09 at 11:56am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tyll Hertsens View Post
And here's the patent for the internal digital signal upsampling/processing patent ... not a chance of understanding it unless you're a cryptographer/DSPengineer.
Did someone say DSP-engineer with a hobby study in cryptography?
Tried it - the patent is really cool but much of it is just written in a very confusing way Something along the lines of using DSP to suppress the noise and such introduced by the specific process used which all in all total a very sweet DAC. I'll check back in 2 years when I'm done with all my DSP and audio courses and tell you the details
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post #15 of 48
3/26/09 at 11:15am
price is pretty good falling in the low end of the upper echelon of DACs. hopefully specs come up soon along with some impressions. Wonder how it stacks up to the BDA-1.
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