dynamics
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Apr 7, 2009
- Posts
- 175
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- 18
I'll leave some feedback here on my opinion of the One vs STX once I get to listen to it.
Anybody tried some swapping a few opamps? the first thing i plan on doing will be to swap out the hedphone IV opamps with the opa827.
The sound of the essence one is a very good sound specially under windows (vista seven).
It 's close to the stx, I even think the sound seems to be better.(44K/16bits)
if you upsample , you may have a little bit less treble.
But with the essence one, under windows, you can choose your sound, 4K/16bits, bitperfect, upsample with pc or with the essence,
it will depend on your musical tastes...
A friend of mine made a test with a 44K/16bits file upsampled to 192K/24bits ,with a grado RS2i headphone, and we could hear
details in the sound that we never heard before.
Also worth noting the more traditional audio brands are not slacking, they are also following this trend for mid-tier multi input dac units. Both the TEAC UD-H01 and A-H01 are similar products in the same price range, and I would think the Cambridge Audio DacMagic Plus would also be a fair contender although I am not sure how price point compairs. I would love to see a comparison of all 3 DAC units to see which comes out on top.
I have been watching the ASUS for a long time but now I can buy it I am concerned the competition may offer similar if not better value for money, the wallet wont hold out much longer I am suffering sever upgraditus.
The nice thing is that the opamps in the One are all swappable, in the Teac they've used hard soldered NJM dual opamps:
http://174.120.226.97/~leoyeh1/vbb/showpost.php?p=150038&postcount=23
http://www.cn.njr.com/PDF/MUSES8920_E.pdf
and tbh, NJM aren't exactly famous for a stunning SQ. The first reviews of the Teac are rather bland: http://www.whathifi.com/review/teac-ud-h01