E203: Evolution
——Preface: Naming of Gen2 Audio Motherboard
Before we begin, let me quickly explain the naming for the Gen2 Audio Motherboard in the N6iii.
I know some of you might be wondering: "Wait, why is it E203? We haven’t seen E201 yet!"
Unlike the first generation N6ii Audio Motherboards, the Gen2 models have a three-digit naming system.
·The first digit, “2,” indicates it’s the
Gen2 Audio Motherboard, whereas the first-generation boards are named E(1)01, with the “1” being omitted at the beginning.
·The last two digits represent the
count number of implementations of
a particular brand’s decoding chip. For instance, the first implementation of Cirrus Logic’s decoding is marked as “01,” thus it has the name C2 (2 Gen) 01 (CS’ first implementation).
If there were the 99th application, then it’d be C299
——Well, hopefully we’ll get a C299 one day hah
Now back to the E203, the "03" indicates it’s the third implementation of ESS DAC chip in Audio Motherboard form factor, with E(1)01 and E(1)02 preceding it.
History Class: E01 and E02
Before we dive into the E203 Audio Motherboard, let’s take a brief look back at the E01 and E02 Audio Motherboards introduced during the N6ii era.
Among the six audio motherboards of the N6ii, the E01 and E02 stood out as particularly unique.
Picture: E01 Audio Motherboard on N6ii
The E01 offered only a single-ended 3.5mm PO output, while the E02 featured just a 4.4mm PO output. Despite their specialized design with limited features, both Audio Motherboards are
well-received* by users and the market for their distinctive characteristics, and we can briefly summarized the feedback we collected over the years.
*Hey! I know some of you are big fans of the E01 and E02—don’t be shy! Give this a like to show your love for them, will ya!
The E01, with a single-ended circuit design is smooth, focused and delicate, but it had an inevitable bottleneck in its performance as reported by some of our users. It deliver relatively weaker output power, some users might find it with slightly reduced impact on transient response. The E02 is kind of reversed this characteristic, offers its own set of advantages in output power and dynamics, yet some users find it less refined compared to the E01.
Anyway, both Audio Motherboards have their own strengths and constraints, and ultimately, sound preference is subjective, there is no definitive right or wrong, its a matter of personal choice. And those were the glory days when E01 and E02 shined.
E203——The Next Level of ESS SABRE
Five years have passed, the E203 is right around the corner. It maintained our original design philosophy—“We can't please everyone, but those who are happy with it will become even happier.“
Ooops, sorry not this one
“Focusing on fewer functions, focusing on ultimate excellence”
What does 'Focus' refers to?
——We focused on headphone output functionality of E203, so it
only provides Phone Out (PO).
And the ultimate excellence, refers to optimize that limited function to the highest level.
In the past, both of the E series Audio Motherboards were renowned for their excellent headphone amplification capability and each Audio Motherboard only had one phone output socket. In this round, although we are still focused on headphone amplification,
E203 comes with two output sockets, namely, 3.5mm and 4.4mm PO.
Picture: E203 Audio Motherboard
And quiz time——take a guess how
(Hint: Andykong has mentioned this before)
. We brought the C9ii to the Guangzhou show as well, you should have give it a try there!
all focus on PO, no lineout
