Hey Guys,
For what its worth.. I picked up an Essence One yesterday, put it throught it's paces and here is my "review" .. more like just my own observations in my system .
So, I just thought I would share with you my experience with the E1.
I only had a general sense of what this unit could do because of the somewhat limited reviews available on the net, but I knew that it was likely very good, especially for its price point, it would offer great value.
The main theme from the available reviews seam to indicate that the over all sound was smooth and bass heavy, with highs that were good but slightly recessed in details. My personal observations were quite contrary to all that I had read and I will expand it this.
The Xonar Essence One was used as a DAC for a Sonos Zone Player 80 connected to an Anthem AVM-20 Pre-processor and powered by an Anthem MC-20 stereo amplifier. The speakers were the wonderful Acoustic Zen Addagios towers.
The music was stored on a Seagate Black Armor NAS 440 connected to a router which the Sonos is also connected to the same router via RJ-45 Ethernet. All music was lossless, either Flac or WAV format.
As a comparison, a Pioneer BD player was used to play redbook CD version of the same songs being audition. The 4 DACs in the audition were the Sonos DACs, the Anthem AVM-20 AKM DACs, the internal Pioneer BD player DACs and the Asus Xonar Essence One DAC.
By far the inferior sound came from the Sonos Zone Player 80 built-in DACs, the Sonos is a great wireless multi room system, but the internal DACs are less than stellar. The next best was the Anthem AVM-20 AKM DACs. The AVM-20 is a really good pre-processor of high quality, but it is also almost 10 years old and showing it’s age in the digital processing area. In fact, the Pioneer BD player which costs $300 versus the $5000 of the Anthem, but that is only 2 years old, has better DACs or, I should say, sounds better to my ears than that Anthem.
So the main comparison was between the Pioneer BD player and the Essence One.
The redbook CDs played on the BD player sounded good with low end extension, or was it inflated bass ? , good mids and high but nothing spectacular, just overall a good sound.
The Essence One really brought it to another level, especially with mids and highs. I could clearly distinguish every instruments place in a 3d soundstage, yet none were stepping on others toes. It was like the music could breath vs the BD player which by comparison sounded congested and muddy. The E1 really injected some fresh air into the mix, creating a wide stereo image and allowing each instrument to shine on it’s own but remaining a cohesive ensemble of music that did not sound detached in any way. The E1 is very linear in that nothing is over emphasized or diminished to a point that is noticeable. Engaging the Upsampling on the E1 brought even more details. Piano notes had longer sustain and decay before fading, cymbals were so clear I could hear the drum stick hitting the metal cymbals !
The one area which surprised me was the Bass. All the reviews that I had read praised the bass flavor of the E1, stating that "Bass Heads" were going to be very happy with this unit. Well, I certainly qualify as a Bass Head and I’ve been playing Bass Guitar for close to 30 years, so I really know my Bass. Yes, I love bass, but not at the detriment of the overall sound, it has to be balanced and I do not like overemphasized, loose or boomy bass at all. I do like to feel the visceral punch to the gut of Bass when appropriate material is played, such as DeadMau5 and other techno / trance music.
Unfortunately, in my system, the Bass fell short of expectations. The difference between the Anthem and Pioneer DACs vs the E1 on bass was significantly noticeable. They both had considerably more bass, especially in terms of volume. The E1 had tighter bass, but it sounded very thin in comparison, which again really surprised me since other reviews said that bass was it’s strength. In my system, that was simply not the case. The bass left me wanting for more, more impact, more volume, more slam as it where and took away from the otherwise excellent sound that the E1 delivers.
It’s to bad because everything else was stellar, the stereo image, the amazing details and accuracy in the mid and high frequencies, the placement of each instrument all contributed to a very enjoyable listening experience. It is very strange indeed, as others said that the bass was the best part of this DAC and that the high end was lacking, but could be improved by swapping out the OP-AMPS to get better high end. In my opinion, the high end is just great, it is the Bass that is lacking and needs to be improved, again this is my specific system, which is pretty good, but by no means as high end as others.
As I am a bonafide Bass Head, with my gear, the E1 falls a bit short of my expectations in that regards, however it is definitively worth auditioning in your own system and you be the judge. I have not tried the USB or the Headphone amp section as this is not a requirement for me. I have professional studio recording equipment connected to my computer and have no need for a USB DAC.
Sound perception is extremely subjective and my impressions are just that, mine, your might be very different. Definitely give it a try and see for yourself as this unit is worth a shot. Having auditioned the Sim Audio MOON D100, the Musical Fidelity M1DAC and the Cambridge Audio DAC Magic I would say that the Asus E1 is definitively in the same league and in some respects, better than the aforementioned DACs.
One LME49720 has left signal for headphones and the other has right.
