Oppo Sonica DAC (an affordable ES9038PRO Sabre DAC)
Sep 20, 2016 at 5:04 PM Post #17 of 520
Thanks for the pictures.  Gotta love Oppo for doing what they doing.   High performance  to price ratio product.
 
Sep 20, 2016 at 5:16 PM Post #18 of 520
Would love to know what the LAN capabilities will be compared to the USB port.  The 105D optimized the DAC for use with USB B inputs, would be great to see this have full capabilities with Ethernet as well. 
 
Sep 21, 2016 at 4:08 AM Post #19 of 520
  Would love to know what the LAN capabilities will be compared to the USB port

 
Yes that's the big question. I hope it's not only the usual suspects like DLNA/UPNP etc. Roon would be good, but HQPlayer NAA even nicer although I guess unlikely.
 
Sep 23, 2016 at 9:04 AM Post #20 of 520
Here's another overview with some additional details for your reference:
 
Behind its brushed aluminium front panel which houses an extremely clear OLED display sits the latest DAC from ESS Technology, the ES9038PRO. It features the critically acclaimed ESS patented 32-bit HyperStream™ DAC architecture and Time Domain Jitter Eliminator. The power supply is designed with a toroidal transformer.
 
The Sonica DAC supports high-resolution PCM and DSD audio. The DAC has a theoretical SNR of 140 dB and total harmonic distortion of -122 dB. Connections provided are Asynchronous USB, coaxial and optical inputs, as well as AirPlay, Bluetooth, and Ethernet. You can stream your favorite digital tunes from your NAS or your smart device. The Sonica DAC will decode the files directly from your USB or NAS drive. This DAC also has a pair of RCA inputs so you can hook up your turntable or tape player in the loop and send audio out to any of your networked Sonica speakers.
 
Sep 25, 2016 at 4:50 PM Post #21 of 520
Was hoping it would be smaller since it's just a DAC or at least shorter in length.  It looks to be the same dimensions as the HA-1.  The HA-1 is a little too long in length for my liking.
 
Oct 2, 2016 at 2:30 PM Post #23 of 520
I really only have two questions:
1. There's a volume control, so is this also a preamp? If so, that's a huge selling point cause in a couple of music-only rooms, I only need the one analog input for my turntable.
2. ROON?! If this is Roon-ready and could be an endpoint, I'm 100% on board on launch day. In fact, at this price I'd probably go to Mountain View and buy two.
 
Oct 3, 2016 at 12:22 AM Post #24 of 520
I really only have two questions:
1. There's a volume control, so is this also a preamp? If so, that's a huge selling point cause in a couple of music-only rooms, I only need the one analog input for my turntable.
2. ROON?! If this is Roon-ready and could be an endpoint, I'm 100% on board on launch day. In fact, at this price I'd probably go to Mountain View and buy two.

Yeah it's a preamp.  Not sure what the other thing is lol.
 
Oct 7, 2016 at 5:58 PM Post #25 of 520
It does have an analog input but we don't yet know if the volume control is normal or they are just digitizing the analog input and sending it to the DAC and using the 32 bit digital volume control built into the DAC (which is my guess).
 
I doubt this will have native 512DSD......so far someone has said 256 max.  Maybe there will be more info at the RMAF where it is being displayed today through Sunday.
 
Oct 7, 2016 at 11:13 PM Post #26 of 520
Loved the 105 using XLR into a preamp that has a PGA 2310.

The deal breaker for me in the preamp of this unit is the volume control. In the last model they used a motorised pot! if they do it to this model, I think I'll just stick to the standard 105.
 
Oct 10, 2016 at 2:14 AM Post #27 of 520
So RMAF has come and gone and it seems we don't know any more... anyone seen any reports of the Sonica from RMAF? Did they exhibit it?
 
Oct 10, 2016 at 4:09 AM Post #28 of 520
So RMAF has come and gone and it seems we don't know any more... anyone seen any reports of the Sonica from RMAF? Did they exhibit it?


Yeah they said it was gonna be there.  We need some more info
triportsad.gif

 
Oct 14, 2016 at 1:54 PM Post #29 of 520
I emailed OPPO to get a few questions answered now that the RMAF is over.

"Our upcoming products are still, unfortunately, deep in development, which is why we have not updated the Sonica Grand, Sonica DAC, and UDP-203 websites. Once we are closer to release, we will be updating our website to contain all the features and specifications of these products.

- Availability date and price?
1. The Sonica DAC will be released ideally in December. The price should be $799.00.

- Will it indeed stream DSD files gapless over ethernet from a networked PC/NAS?
2. The Sonic DAC will not support gapless playback out of box. This is something that we hope we can add in a future firmware release in the future.

- Capability with Tidal, Pandora, MQA, other?
3. The unit will support Tidal through the Sonica application and Airplay for any other streaming services. Additional services will be added to the Sonica application in the future. MQA may be added to future firmware, but we are only in the discussion phase with Meridian at the moment.

- Will it be Roon ready?
4. Roon may be added in the future but is not a part of the product at launch.

- Is the volume control mechanical (pot) or digital?
5. The control is purely digital.

- Will the balanced XLR and unbalanced RCA outputs work simultaneously?
6. Yes, just like the HA-1, all outputs are available simultaneously.

- Is the internal power supply switching or linear?
7. The internal power supply is switching.

Best Regards,

Customer Service
OPPO Digital, Inc."
 

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