[seedubchris]

Its a great chip to my ears. I have two Saber 9018 Implementations (Mytek Brooklys/Grace 920) and while they are very revealing and flat neutral they can also be pretty glassy sounding compared to the AKM 4490 which seems more analog sounding. The filters are excellent and are a big part of the sound. AKM have taken a big chunk out of the dominance of the first gen Saber implementations. For that reason alone it can be said that they are on to something. My Astell & Kern 320 has dual 4490's and its the best sounding dac transport I have ever heard. The AK 380 does true DSD rendering with the help of a cmos chip. It adds $1.5K to the price tag.

 

[Blackground]

For what it’s worth not sure if this thread is still alive, but I believe the Questyle CMA400i is using the 4490 dac chip as well..

From all the great things I’ve heard I found one for a pretty good deal. Depending on the sound I think this might become my new reference.

What do you guys think? Any one have any experience?

 

[les24preludes]

I bought a AK4490 board a year or two ago and never connected it up. Well, I finished a PSU today and connected it up. I really like it. Audibly better than the ES9023 which preceded it. altogether more musical, and the piano sound is much improved. Good tone and detail. I recommend iit now that it's cheap and available.

Newer generations are the AK4493, AK4497, AK4499. I'd be interested to see what improvements have been made. Availability of DIY boards is sparse and some are buggy. The AK4490 was easy to connect up. Just needed 12-0-12v AC and 9v AC and the USB connector was on board. .

 

[mocenigo]

I bought a AK4490 board a year or two ago and never connected it up. Well, I finished a PSU today and connected it up. I really like it. Audibly better than the ES9023 which preceded it. altogether more musical, and the piano sound is much improved. Good tone and detail. I recommend iit now that it's cheap and available.

Newer generations are the AK4493, AK4497, AK4499. I'd be interested to see what improvements have been made. Availability of DIY boards is sparse and some are buggy. The AK4490 was easy to connect up. Just needed 12-0-12v AC and 9v AC and the USB connector was on board. .

Which board was it?

 

[les24preludes]

I can't see the board currently available, I'm sorry to say. There are plenty of AK4490 implementations cheaply available from China, maybe even improved over mine. As a result of hearing this DAC chip I'll be staying with AKM DACs rather than the ES models.

 

[yawg]

How about the Qualcomm DACs? The WHS94XX compared to the AKM Verita?

 

[HiFan]

Dont scratch your head too much on the chip used. Analog stage affects sound way more than the chip does. When properlly implemented, you won't be able to tell apart most chip. I have first hand experience on ak4355 and 4490.

 

[PitCook]

also like to test:

iBasso DC01 AK4493EQ (2,5 mm Klinke)
iBasso DC02 AK4490EQ (3,5 mm Klinke)