[Zelda]

Quote:

I will test this out for you tomorrow my friend I have to get ready for some Thanks giving stuff happening with the family.. 

sure, no rush! thanks

 

[Omnom]

What was that other DAC you were waiting on?
It only cost $20 too right?

 

[Zelda]

Quote:

This is what it should look like on the insides. Very simple unit.

 
then, everything that uses the PCM2704 would sound like that.?

 

[daveyostrow]

sorry to repeat the question, but the Hifimediy Sabre USB dac are a no go?

 

[Spider fan]

Ordered my ELE on the 7th from ebay. It finally arrived to the sorting facility here in florida today. I assume it should be delivered tommorrow. Just trying to give people idea of their wait.

 

[KEP1]

Regarding the SMSL Fort with the PCM2704...has anyone actually ever tried one or found any reviews about it anywhere?

 

[kiteki]

I am listening to it right now just hooked up to my laptop. AMAZING!. Lol! Get yourself a nice upgrade to your lame onboard sound. Seriously I had no idea something this cheap could sound this nice. Plenty of volume coming from my laptop. No need for an amp. Especially since most of you guys just use iems. I am listening to this using my full sized HD595 right now.
 
Seriously if we did a blind test from the AUNE T1 and from this cheapo $18 dac. I bet you guys would have a hard time figuring out which one has the better sound. It is quite astonishing.. Seriously trust a bro. Though I do have a stern warning. This will be your gateway to DACs.. WARNING!!! 
 
This DAC comes with just the box and no usb. And I know we argued a bit about USB cords and such. If you do plan on getting this. Get yourself a nicer cheaper audio USB cable like I did..

 
 
Lol, you are right Dsnuts the PCM270X, in my case the PCM2702, is the gateway drug to DAC's.  I was astonished the first time I heard it, that is, the Hifiman HM-101.  I really loved it with my Sony MDR-V6.  Then after a week or two, I just stopped listening, and rarely returned to it.
 
 
Do you still have the Hifimediy Sabre on the way?

 

[mosshorn]

Quote:

 
 
Lol, you are right Dsnuts the PCM270X, in my case the PCM2702, is the gateway drug to DAC's.  I was astonished the first time I heard it, that is, the Hifiman HM-101.  I really loved it with my Sony MDR-V6.  Then after a week or two, I just stopped listening, and rarely returned to it.
 
 
Do you still have the Hifimediy Sabre on the way?

 
I'm listening to it right now. Nothing to compare it to but from memory, I like the sound of it more than my old Audioengine D1. I know I like it more than the NFB12's DAC.

 

[kiteki]

I've listened to a lot of DAC's, the prize winners in my experience are like this.
 
Divided 1st - AK4396 / CS4398
2nd - ES9023
 
The ES9023 is high performance and quite holographic with speakers, just a little sterile, I found myself using the more 'complete' sounding AK4396 a lot more.  Recently I like the fresher sound of CS4398.
 
I have to give honourable mention to WM8740 and of course NOS (non-oversampling) DAC's, which are theoretically the most analog of them all.
 
There are more I've heard which are good in different ways, especially if you include sound-cards and portable players, which all have DAC's in them too.  Naturally, the amp section in any device, can sometimes completely override the sound of the DAC, the amp section is typically quite coloured, unless it has a transparent chip like AD797.  When I say amp section, that includes the line-out.
 
I was thinking I want the Hifimediy for the office, then I realised I still have Sony Z1070 on the way, and changed my mind. =]

 

[macbug]

Quote:

I currently have the Xonar DG as my pc sound card for music.. Is the Ele a decent/significant upgrade from that Ds?

 
I have the DG as well, the specs are very similar (THD/SN/dynamic range) so i think they're probably the same (though for every day use you should definitely be using dolby headphone)

 

[Alberto01]

Quote:

I've listened to a lot of DAC's, the prize winners in my experience are like this.
 
Divided 1st - AK4396 / CS4398
2nd - ES9023
 
The ES9023 is high performance and quite holographic with speakers, just a little sterile, I found myself using the more 'complete' sounding AK4396 a lot more.  Recently I like the fresher sound of CS4398.
 
I have to give honourable mention to WM8740 and of course NOS (non-oversampling) DAC's, which are theoretically the most analog of them all.
 
There are more I've heard which are good in different ways, especially if you include sound-cards and portable players, which all have DAC's in them too.  Naturally, the amp section in any device, can sometimes completely override the sound of the DAC, the amp section is typically quite coloured, unless it has a transparent chip like AD797.  When I say amp section, that includes the line-out.
 
I was thinking I want the Hifimediy for the office, then I realised I still have Sony Z1070 on the way, and changed my mind. =]

 
What is the CS4392 like?  That is what I have in my E-MU 0202 USB DAC

 

[Dsnuts]

Quote:

sorry to repeat the question, but the Hifimediy Sabre USB dac are a no go?

 
Quote:

 
 
Lol, you are right Dsnuts the PCM270X, in my case the PCM2702, is the gateway drug to DAC's.  I was astonished the first time I heard it, that is, the Hifiman HM-101.  I really loved it with my Sony MDR-V6.  Then after a week or two, I just stopped listening, and rarely returned to it.
 
 
Do you still have the Hifimediy Sabre on the way?

 
Quote:

What was that other DAC you were waiting on?
It only cost $20 too right?

These cost a bit more than double the Ele dac

The Hifimediy Sabre Dac. These are flying off the shelf for these guys that make them with good reason. In theory this should be a nice upgrade to the Ele dac but that is in theory. You guys gotta remember the AUNE T1 @$200 was supposed to be a substantial upgrade to the little Cheapo $18 dac. But that one is packed up ready to be returned. So it will be interesting to hear this little dac.  I ordered this the same time I ordered the Ele so it is taking a bit longer to get to me I hope to see it soon to see how good this is. This costs $45 with $$7 for shipping. Considering how great the little Ele dac sounds, even if this is an upgrade to the sounds I still plan on using the ELE for certain. Item description.
 
With this DAC we combined the Sabre DAC chip with the quality Tenor TE7022 USB receiver. It accepts up to 96khz/24bit input signals from USB, and it will upsample lower input signals to feed the ES9023 dac chip with 96/khz/24bit signal. This makes it possible to get a great dynamic range of 112db. (in case a 16 bit receiver like pcm2706 were used it would have been limited to 96dB.) It responds to changes in system volume control (on MAC with volume hotkeys).
No drivers required for Windows, Mac and Linux.

 

[daveyostrow]

Ill patiently await your review, though the ELE looking real good. price, size, build... i think ill wait to use some ebay bucks. 

 

[kiteki]

 

 
What is the CS4392 like?  That is what I have in my E-MU 0202 USB DAC

 
As for Cirrus Logic, in any real DAC I've only heard the CS4398, their flagship, which was also designed for DVD-Audio and SACD, which Cirrus supports in a couple essays I've read.
 
 
 

 

These cost a bit more than double the Ele dac

The Hifimediy Sabre Dac. These are flying off the shelf for these guys that make them with good reason. In theory this should be a nice upgrade to the Ele dac but that is in theory.

 
More than double the ELE, it's also half the cost of the ODAC, and a quarter the cost of the Calyx Coffee, AckoDac AKD-23S, and Dragonfly.

 

[kong]

Hi, I was looking for a DAC for my laptop then I stumbled upon this thread. The ELE DAC looks very promising, however, I was on the verge of buying the Creative USB sound card ($19.99 on Amazon) so I have a question:

How would you compare the ELE to a USB sound card like Creative X-Fi Go Pro or Asus Sonar U3?

TIA