Latest Thread Images

Matrix X-Sabre DAC review and impression thread
Jan 7, 2015 at 8:59 AM Post #1,085 of 1,273
^ But it's CONUS only 
rolleyes.gif

 
Jan 12, 2015 at 8:08 AM Post #1,086 of 1,273
i am selling mine as well, also Free DHL Express Shipping to any place ^^ 

not that the X-Sabre isn't good, but i have Chord Hugo as a DAC now so i don't need the X-Sabre :p

 
 
Jan 12, 2015 at 1:39 PM Post #1,087 of 1,273
shini44 said:
  i am selling mine as well, also Free DHL Express Shipping to any place ^^ 

not that the X-Sabre isn't good, but i have Chord Hugo as a DAC now so i don't need the X-Sabre :p

 
Click to expand...

 
Can you speak to how the two compare?  I heard the Hugo at CES and I was pretty impressed.  I'm looking for a desktop DAC with comparable performance.  According to Purrin's thread, that shouldn't be too hard to find.  
 
Jan 12, 2015 at 2:40 PM Post #1,088 of 1,273
stillhart said:
   
Can you speak to how the two compare?  I heard the Hugo at CES and I was pretty impressed.  I'm looking for a desktop DAC with comparable performance.  According to Purrin's thread, that shouldn't be too hard to find.  
Click to expand...

Value wise the best one out there is the X-Sabre , in case you want Neutral with detail ofc, and we are talking about Neutral DACs here with Details cause that what the Hugo and X-Sabre are aiming for the same sound sig. 
 
 
the difference between both, that the Hugo got more details (treble,mids,bass), cleaner, still we are talking about X-Sabre here, so don't think for a sec than X-Sabre is bad lol. X-Sabre is the 2nd best DAC i ever had, ( for me i like Neutral DACs) i don't like DACs that make the sound musical and mellow  with sacrificing the details, sadly a lot does that.

dont get me wrong i am a sucker for musical mids, 

btw the ulitimate difference between the X-Sabre and the Hugo is one thing, lets say that a lot of detailed DACs tend to lose musicality or give dry warmth,  X-Sabre weakest point is this one,  ofc this won't be noticeable if your rig had warm cans like HD650 per say or some warm pre amp, in the end the rig does matter,

but yes i can say that the X-Sabre have this dry warmth, some other X-Sabre user here also agree with me on this part, not sure about the others, specially those who paid it with WA7, were it will be really hard for them to notice this thing with WA7 being the amp here.

another one that agree with me on that is this Dan, he is a head-fier on this site
 
 
"Don’t get scared because of this. Many dacs  that are very detailed tend to become analytically, loosing from the musicality, but this is not the case. The details come very natural and it reminds me of Analog Dac."
 
source: http://headmania.org/2014/02/19/chord-hugo-review/
 
TL,DR: the Hugo beat the X-Sabre in everything, but hey the X-Sabre worth 1100$ were Hugo worth nearly 2500$ , which is quite big difference here. 
 
 
PS: sorry about my weak English and grammar, i am from Dubai :p 
 
Jan 12, 2015 at 2:52 PM Post #1,089 of 1,273
shini44 said:
  Value wise the best one out there is the X-Sabre , in case you want Neutral with detail ofc, and we are talking about Neutral DACs here with Details cause that what the Hugo and X-Sabre are aiming for the same sound sig. 
 
 
the difference between both, that the Hugo got more details (treble,mids,bass), cleaner, still we are talking about X-Sabre here, so don't think for a sec than X-Sabre is bad lol. X-Sabre is the 2nd best DAC i ever had, ( for me i like Neutral DACs) i don't like DACs that make the sound musical and mellow  with sacrificing the details, sadly a lot does that.

dont get me wrong i am a sucker for musical mids, 

btw the ulitimate difference between the X-Sabre and the Hugo is one thing, lets say that a lot of detailed DACs tend to lose musicality or give dry warmth,  X-Sabre weakest point is this one,  ofc this won't be noticeable if your rig had warm cans like HD650 per say or some warm pre amp, in the end the rig does matter,

but yes i can say that the X-Sabre have this dry warmth, some other X-Sabre user here also agree with me on this part, not sure about the others, specially those who paid it with WA7, were it will be really hard for them to notice this thing with WA7 being the amp here.

another one that agree with me on that is this Dan, he is a head-fier on this site
 
 
"Don’t get scared because of this. Many dacs  that are very detailed tend to become analytically, loosing from the musicality, but this is not the case. The details come very natural and it reminds me of Analog Dac."
 
source: http://headmania.org/2014/02/19/chord-hugo-review/
 
TL,DR: the Hugo beat the X-Sabre in everything, but hey the X-Sabre worth 1100$ were Hugo worth nearly 2500$ , which is quite big difference here. 
 
 
PS: sorry about my weak English and grammar, i am from Dubai :p 
Click to expand...

 
Thanks for the thorough reply.  I am definitely looking for something on the neutral and detailed side of the spectrum.  I have a Wolfson DAC right now and it's too warm for my current tastes.  Also, since I have a tube amp now, I prefer to keep the DAC as neutral as possible so I can use the amp to shape the sound if needed.
 
It sounds like the X-Sabre is pretty close to what I'm looking for.  And for the price, it's hard to complain.  Does anyone know how the X-Sabre compares to the Gungnir? 
 
PS - Your English is much better than my Arabic.  Shucran! :)
 
Jan 13, 2015 at 2:41 AM Post #1,090 of 1,273
X-Sabre + Gustard U12 give very detailed smooth and warm sound. Also Makes sense what headphones and acoustics you use. 
 
Jan 13, 2015 at 5:15 AM Post #1,091 of 1,273
gibalok said:
  X-Sabre + Gustard U12 give very detailed smooth and warm sound. Also Makes sense what headphones and acoustics you use. 
Click to expand...

I believe the X-Sabre uses the older xmos chip same as the Gustard U10. I am not surprised that there would be some improvement with the new chip. The Gustard also has a better power supply for the xmos/usb.
 
Jan 13, 2015 at 5:33 AM Post #1,092 of 1,273
chodi said:
I believe the X-Sabre uses the older xmos chip same as the Gustard U10. I am not surprised that there would be some improvement with the new chip. The Gustard also has a better power supply for the xmos/usb.
Click to expand...


The reason i installed Gustard U12 to the system is a USB computer noise which wasnt processed well by X-Sabre directly.

But Gustard U12 does the job very well. So the sound become more smooth and analouge with no any computer HF noise at any level of volume.
 
Jan 14, 2015 at 9:36 AM Post #1,094 of 1,273
Feb 13, 2015 at 11:24 AM Post #1,095 of 1,273
As an X-Sabre owner, I think it's safe to say that the Yellowtec Puc 2 makes a big difference. First thing that comes to mind is "warmth", you tend to forget that it's a SABRE dac. Second, the detail while great to start with, gets even better. 
 
Despite the USB interface being quite good, it would seem that it's hard to beat AES/EBU (similarly to the M51). Not even using a half-decent AES/EBU cable (yet).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Back
Top