[Ultrainferno]

Today we are taking a look at the E1DA 9038D on Headfonia. Article by @Aerosphere
https://www.headfonia.com/e1da-9038d-review/

 

[Infoseeker]

Today we are taking a look at the E1DA 9038D on Headfonia. Article by @Aerosphere
https://www.headfonia.com/e1da-9038d-review/

Does the different opamp implementation, make a significant presentation difference between the 9038D & 9038S ?

 

[YAGIZ]

Does the different opamp implementation, make a significant presentation difference between the 9038D & 9038S ?

According to the E1DA's website and my research, no.

 

[SoundJedi]

Do you guys believe in burn-in for the E1DA 9038SG3? And if yes how is sound supposed to evolve?
Thanks!

 

[darmanastartes]

Do you guys believe in burn-in for the E1DA 9038SG3? And if yes how is sound supposed to evolve?
Thanks!

Nope. Sounded great out of the box, wouldn't say it sounds any different now (flashable filters aside).

 

[Vijay74]

Am thoroughly impressed with 9038D and PDV21 .. and now becoming greedy!

Any chance to have 9038 Pro model with ESS Sabre 9038 pro chip anytime soon? Or with AKM AK4497 or 4499? Better still.. fully balanced with dual chips. Eagerly awaiting. The greed just doesn't end! Would like to have all such combinations from E1DA!

Some consolation may also work that at least the plan, for anyone at least, is in place!

 

[SoundJedi]

Brand new E1DA balanced for sale of anyone wants to save time and £. UK but can be shipped anywhere.

https://www.head-fi.org/classifieds/e1da-9038sg3-susum-3000-edition.11327/

 

[baskingshark]

Am thoroughly impressed with 9038D and PDV21 .. and now becoming greedy!

Any chance to have 9038 Pro model with ESS Sabre 9038 pro chip anytime soon? Or with AKM AK4497 or 4499? Better still.. fully balanced with dual chips. Eagerly awaiting. The greed just doesn't end! Would like to have all such combinations from E1DA!

Some consolation may also work that at least the plan, for anyone at least, is in place!

The implementation and tuning of a DAC as a whole is more important than the DAC chip IMHO. Similar concept to how tuning in IEMs is more important than driver count/type/brand.

FWIW, AKM had a factory fire end of last year: https://www.converge.com/resources/news/supply-chain-disruption-news-akm-factory-fire/
So there might be a shortage and delays of their chips for some time (or maybe AKM chip prices may be even increased due to backlog/demand).

 

[davehutch]

Am thoroughly impressed with 9038D and PDV21 .. and now becoming greedy!

Any chance to have 9038 Pro model with ESS Sabre 9038 pro chip anytime soon? Or with AKM AK4497 or 4499? Better still.. fully balanced with dual chips. Eagerly awaiting. The greed just doesn't end! Would like to have all such combinations from E1DA!

Some consolation may also work that at least the plan, for anyone at least, is in place!

My understanding was (is) that the E1DA units don't have a DAC in them at all in the traditional sense. It's something called PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) instead.
The width of the digital pulse is varied to represent the 'curve' of the analogue waveform and then this digital signal is amplified enough to drive headphones.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulse-width_modulation

That's the beauty of these units. So I'd guess it's highly unlikely they'll switch to using traditional DACs ever.

 

[digititus]

My understanding was (is) that the E1DA units don't have a DAC in them at all in the traditional sense. It's something called PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) instead.
The width of the digital pulse is varied to represent the 'curve' of the analogue waveform and then this digital signal is amplified enough to drive headphones.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulse-width_modulation

That's the beauty of these units. So I'd guess it's highly unlikely they'll switch to using traditional DACs ever.

E1DA contains single ESS 9038QM DAC

 

[Ezumin]

My understanding was (is) that the E1DA units don't have a DAC in them at all in the traditional sense. It's something called PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) instead.
The width of the digital pulse is varied to represent the 'curve' of the analogue waveform and then this digital signal is amplified enough to drive headphones.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulse-width_modulation

That's the beauty of these units. So I'd guess it's highly unlikely they'll switch to using traditional DACs ever.

Pulse Density Modulation is the binary language of a delta sigma chip. The E1DA's ESS chip uses this, and maybe this is what you were referring to.

Practically all music that is recorded, stored and used commercially is in a binary language called PCM (Pulse Control Modulation) format. Imagine a piece of graph paper will be used to draw an electrical signal for the speakers. The X axis is time and the Y axis is the amplitude. In PCM, ones are filled to chart the sine wave's placement at a given time. So in binary terms, sixteen zeros would be the bottom of the sine wave, and sixteen 1's would be the top of the sine wave. (In a 16 bit file format.) DACs that use this file format are R2R/Ladder and Multibit.

Sigma Delta DACs use a different binary language to construct the electrical sine wave that speakers use. Instead of visualizing a piece of graph paper, imagine that PDM (Pulse Density Modulation) is more like a two dimensional topographic map. When binary 1's are primarily used, it is mapping the top half of the sine wave. The more times zeros interupt the 1's, the steeper the sine waves curve (in the positive Y axis). A whole bunch of uninterupted 1's map the curve of the top of the sine wave. When binary 0's are primarily used, it is mapping the bottom half of the sine wave. The more times 1's interupt the 0's the steeper the sine wave curve (in the negative Y axis). A bunch of uninterupted 0's map the bottom of the curve. (At least that is my understanding of it.)

Here is another example of the PDM language that sigma delta dacs use:
0101101111111111111101101010010000000000000100010011011101111111111111011010100100000000000000100101

 

[Vijay74]

FWIW, AKM had a factory fire end of last year: https://www.converge.com/resources/news/supply-chain-disruption-news-akm-factory-fire/
So there might be a shortage and delays of their chips for some time (or maybe AKM chip prices may be even increased due to backlog/demand).

Yes I know. They do not expect AKM factory to open before May 22 but that doesn't seem too far. For now 1 or 2 chips should be good enough for designing, tuning and for specs publishing. Mass production may start when factory starts production and dac chips become available in bulk.

 

[0RF30]

My understanding was (is) that the E1DA units don't have a DAC in them at all in the traditional sense. It's something called PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) instead.
The width of the digital pulse is varied to represent the 'curve' of the analogue waveform and then this digital signal is amplified enough to drive headphones.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulse-width_modulation

That's the beauty of these units. So I'd guess it's highly unlikely they'll switch to using traditional DACs ever.

You're mixing things. What you're saying is true for E1DA Powerdac which use FDA (full digital amplifier) chip (Ti TAS5558). 9038D and 9038S use DAC (ES9038Q2M) + Amp architecture.

[EDIT] Unless I missed something, E1DA Powerdac is the first headphones dedicated FDA - the first I hear about anyway. I own two speaker amps using this tech (IAMD V200 and D.Sound D310) which are pretty amazing considering the price. Same goes for PDV2.

 

[davehutch]

Pulse Density Modulation is the binary language of a delta sigma chip. The E1DA's ESS chip uses this, and maybe this is what you were referring to.

Practically all music that is recorded, stored and used commercially is in a binary language called PCM (Pulse Control Modulation) format. Imagine a piece of graph paper will be used to draw an electrical signal for the speakers. The X axis is time and the Y axis is the amplitude. In PCM, ones are filled to chart the sine wave's placement at a given time. So in binary terms, sixteen zeros would be the bottom of the sine wave, and sixteen 1's would be the top of the sine wave. (In a 16 bit file format.) DACs that use this file format are R2R/Ladder and Multibit.


Sigma Delta DACs use a different binary language to construct the electrical sine wave that speakers use. Instead of visualizing a piece of graph paper, imagine that PDM (Pulse Density Modulation) is more like a two dimensional topographic map. When binary 1's are primarily used, it is mapping the top half of the sine wave. The more times zeros interupt the 1's, the steeper the sine waves curve (in the positive Y axis). A whole bunch of uninterupted 1's map the curve of the top of the sine wave. When binary 0's are primarily used, it is mapping the bottom half of the sine wave. The more times 1's interupt the 0's the steeper the sine wave curve (in the negative Y axis). A bunch of uninterupted 0's map the bottom of the curve. (At least that is my understanding of it.)

Here is another example of the PDM language that sigma delta dacs use:
0101101111111111111101101010010000000000000100010011011101111111111111011010100100000000000000100101

I took my info from the E1DA page where it says "PowerDAC V2 uses the same or similar Ti digital PWM modulator chip TAS5558 but of course different output stage for headphone"

 

[davehutch]

E1DA contains single ESS 9038QM DAC

Ah, does it. I must admit, I only have the PD v2.1