New ESS Sabre32 (ES9018) based DAC from Audio-gd....the NFB-1 - Page 41

Additional components (like an amp) influence the sound, of course. But thats not the point.

I'd like to find aut the specific contribution of the -1ES to the sound (according to "garbage in, garbage out") before I order one and probably be disappointed.

And i don't want to focus on detail in general as we seem to know that's massive with the 9018.

I'd like to focus on soundstage and 3D-imaging. Does the level of detail improve that as well? Or isn't it depending so much on detail but something else that the 9018/-1ES eventually really delivers? Or are the 8741s (or rather: A-gd's implementation of them) better in that regard?

Once you meet the optimal power requirements for your particular headphone, that would be up to the synergy of all the components in the chain as well as your individual psychoacoustics/HRTFs. No matter how much research you do beforehand, ultimately your ears will provide the best answer for your unique needs.

OK, thats a helpful hint towards the thesis that the 9018's soundstage ist probably not surprisingly narrow or kind of "congested".

And the -1ES is most likely not worse than the -10ES since the former is a dedicated DAC while the latter is a compromise between DAC and preamp.

I'm currently doing my soundchecking with Beyer DT880/250, but I will eventually listen through floorstanding speakers and the KT88-tubeamp. Nevertheless and regardless of synergy effects I'd like to collect all possible opinions or - even better - experience conderning soundstage3D-imaging with A-gd's 9018 implementaion.

Has anyone had success with playing 192khz files?

edit: never mind, my computer was misconfigured - I actually have no problems playing any bit rate now.

wow this thread died.