An update on my amp journey. I was going to get a Chord Mojo 2, until I realized what I really want is an audio interface so that I can get direct monitoring for all the calls I'm on during the day. So then I ordered an Motu M4, but it doesn't have the strongest amp. I'm actually curious what folks think in terms of how well it will drive the ST.
Then, I came across the RME Babyface Pro FS, which also has an ESS DAC like the Mojo 2, but measures better and has a much more powerful amp.
So... My question is, am I going to be disappointed with Sabre DACs? I've heard all kinds of things about them, and maybe it'll just come down to preference, but I'm curious what thoughts are. Also, anyone have experience w/ the Babyface Pro? It's way above my price range, but I started considering Mojo 2 -> Motu M4 -> Some decent amp, and that gets be pretty close to the Babyface, which would be AIO. Thoughts?
This is an age old question regarding DAC's and sonics.
Yes, DAC's can have a sonic profile, but this is usually down to how the DAC performs its duties and noise shapes a digital signal into an analogue one (not going into detailed specfics as that's a gargantuan topic too much to talk about here).
However, how a DAC is implemented is fundamentally more important and vital for the final say in sonic signature. This is the most important element, and it's the implementation that contributes to sonic quality.
Chord Audio, alongside brands such as dCS, MSB, and Playback Designs, use FPGA (field-programmable gate arrays), specialised chips that, using hardware device language, can be powerful to write instructions to enact the entire decoding of a digital signal using hardware-based logic gates. This is one of the top engineering solutions for digital-to-analogue conversation.
R2R (resistor-to-resistor) is the other, using very closely matched resistor values, and many of them, to convert digital to audio. This is similar to FPGA, but uses physical resistors versus user-changeable resistor logic gates.
Most brands prefer to use off-the shelf DAC chips, which use integrated circuits to do conversions. These chips these are mostly cost effective and can be exceedingly well designed. The top four players are: ESS Sabre, AKM, RoHM, and now NOS or vintage Burr-Brown. Each have their own filters, noise shaping implementation, and both how loud they can produce music and how low they can lower noise issues.
I strongly suggest to read up about DAC implementations and quality before making a decision on what gear you would like, as this may help better inform you on what may work for you.
Some articles here to get you started!
Types of DAC: Basics on Digital to Analog Converter ICS
Computer Audio Basics: DAC Types