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Post by Chuck Elliot on Feb 5, 2014 11:34:42 GMT -5
This may have been covered someplace else, but I don't find anything sticking out on a search.
My question is on the quality of the DAC for 2 channel usage via Dirac.
It seems senseless to have a outboard DAC to only convert back to digital as the first step in the XMC-1.
I am doing this now with my Onkyo and it works with a XDA-1 front end, but I find I need the Onkyo's DSP for bass management. Therefore, I will need the base management of the XMC-1 too.
So, How does the XMC-1 DAC rate compared to the XDA-2 or DC-1 for 2 channel???
Chuck
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Post by rogersch on Feb 5, 2014 11:36:57 GMT -5
You need to wait until the XMC-1 will be available for testing...
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Post by Chuck Elliot on Feb 5, 2014 11:42:48 GMT -5
You need to wait until the XMC-1 will be available for testing... I know, but sometime little glimmers escape from Lonnie or Dan. |
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Post by gravi on Feb 5, 2014 12:19:23 GMT -5
Shouldn't the specs for the electronic components (chipsets, etc.) be available by now? I thought I saw several threads discussing that. From what I remember it was a top of the line DAC chip.
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Post by Chuck Elliot on Feb 5, 2014 13:18:26 GMT -5
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Post by wiskers on Feb 5, 2014 13:21:43 GMT -5
I think it uses burr-brown dac chip, and I believe oppo uses them also so it should sound something like the oppo?
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Post by rogersch on Feb 5, 2014 14:51:57 GMT -5
Imho it is not directly the DAC which defines the sound(quality) but the analogue circuit after the DAC.
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Post by autiger on Feb 5, 2014 19:16:49 GMT -5
Thank you for posting this question. I've wondered the same thing. I'm getting the XMC and would love to spend the $$ on something else if the XMC is close to the DC-1. Someone at EMO is bound to have done a comparison. Keith or Andrew or Lonnie, now would be a great time to chime in. Thanks
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Post by Cory Cooper on Feb 6, 2014 10:20:10 GMT -5
I think it uses burr-brown dac chip, and I believe oppo uses them also so it should sound something like the oppo? The specs on the website list the XMC-1 as having Burr-Brown 24/192 DSD1793 main zone DACs. The OPPO BDP-95/105 use the ESS ES9018 SABRE32 Reference 32-bit 8-Channel Audio DAC. They are very different DACs, but as we all know, it's the complete circuit design that makes the difference. My personal feeling is that the XMC-1 will be better than the XDA-2, and even with the DC-1. As for pure analog audio, it should be as good as the XSP-1. C |
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Lsc
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Posts: 3,434
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Post by Lsc on Feb 6, 2014 12:09:47 GMT -5
I think it uses burr-brown dac chip, and I believe oppo uses them also so it should sound something like the oppo? The specs on the website list the XMC-1 as having Burr-Brown 24/192 DSD1793 main zone DACs. The OPPO BDP-95/105 use the ESS ES9018 SABRE32 Reference 32-bit 8-Channel Audio DAC. They are very different DACs, but as we all know, it's the complete circuit design that makes the difference. My personal feeling is that the XMC-1 will be better than the XDA-2, and even with the DC-1. As for pure analog audio, it should be as good as the XSP-1. C That would be ideal. I thought Oppo used two sets of DACs. I wonder if the XMC-1 is going to be the same considering only the main 2 channels are balanced. |
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Post by Cory Cooper on Feb 6, 2014 12:59:13 GMT -5
Yes, the OPPO BDP-95/105 use two ESS Sabre DACs. Each DAC has eight channels. Their designs are slightly different in the DAC channel configurations. One DAC drives the 7.1 outputs on both models. The second DAC drives the analog outputs as follows:
BDP-95
-Four channels stacked for L/R outputs - assigned depending on output via analog/XLR/headphone
BDP-105
-Two channels for analog RCA outputs
-Two channels for XLR outputs
-Four channels stacked two per channel for headphone output
At least this is my understanding from information on OPPO's site, the OPPOwiki, and various reviews from TAS and others.
C
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Post by Tarzan on Feb 6, 2014 21:51:01 GMT -5
Great question Chuck, thanks for asking. Will be watching this. Great DIY stuff too mate, thanks for sharing.
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Post by SticknStones on Feb 28, 2014 19:59:45 GMT -5
One thing I really like about my XDA-2 is I can plug the USB into my laptop and plug my headphone into the XDA-2 HP Jack and listen to Mog and such while I have the UMC Playing the music my wife likes to study to in the evening. I will be hard pressed to give that up as she likes this instrumental music and if I hear one more orchestration of a Beatle song it will be too soon.  |
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Post by eliwankenobi on Jun 3, 2014 8:19:32 GMT -5
The specs on the website list the XMC-1 as having Burr-Brown 24/192 DSD1793 main zone DACs. The OPPO BDP-95/105 use the ESS ES9018 SABRE32 Reference 32-bit 8-Channel Audio DAC. They are very different DACs, but as we all know, it's the complete circuit design that makes the difference. My personal feeling is that the XMC-1 will be better than the XDA-2, and even with the DC-1. As for pure analog audio, it should be as good as the XSP-1. C That would be ideal. I thought Oppo used two sets of DACs. I wonder if the XMC-1 is going to be the same considering only the main 2 channels are balanced. The DSD1793 DAC chip is a stereo chip. I believe they use one chip per channel, whichbis great. Spec's wise, its not as good as the AD1955 used on the dc-1 or erc-3. Lower SNR from the chip (113db) so its noise floor is not as low. Doesn't mean it will sound good, but you only have so much to work with on your analog stage. Speaking of analog, in previous threads, Lonnie mentioned that the analog inputs and the analog stage on the xmc-1 is not as good as the xsp-1. That makes sense given the price point and the fact that they expect to sell you the xmc-1 and the xsp-1 to work together. Another thing, for a while now and thanks to another member who asked the question on at an EmoFest years ago, the usb input on the xmc-1 is just for stereo and does not support DSD. To me this is a missed opportunity. They could have a nice high end multichannel DAC that would be the envy of everybody else who paid way more for just the DaC |
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Lsc
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Post by Lsc on Jun 3, 2014 10:03:21 GMT -5
That would be ideal. I thought Oppo used two sets of DACs. I wonder if the XMC-1 is going to be the same considering only the main 2 channels are balanced. The DSD1793 DAC chip is a stereo chip. I believe they use one chip per channel, whichbis great. Spec's wise, its not as good as the AD1955 used on the dc-1 or erc-3. Lower SNR from the chip (113db) so its noise floor is not as low. Doesn't mean it will sound good, but you only have so much to work with on your analog stage. Speaking of analog, in previous threads, Lonnie mentioned that the analog inputs and the analog stage on the xmc-1 is not as good as the xsp-1. That makes sense given the price point and the fact that they expect to sell you the xmc-1 and the xsp-1 to work together. Another thing, for a while now and thanks to another member who asked the question on at an EmoFest years ago, the usb input on the xmc-1 is just for stereo and does not support DSD. To me this is a missed opportunity. They could have a nice high end multichannel DAC that would be the envy of everybody else who paid way more for just the DaC That would make sense that the analog on the xsp-1 be a little better but I wonder which one will win as far as the overall sound is concerned. XSP-1 or XMC-1 with Dirac. I'm hoping it's the XMC-1 with Dirac so when it comes time for me to replace my UMC-200, I don't need to keep my XDA-2. |
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Post by BassThatHz on Jun 24, 2014 20:35:13 GMT -5
The XMC-1 is a digital processor. The XSP-1 is designed to be the worlds best 2 channel volume-knob.
So I think the XSP-1 would still win (if whatever DAC is up to the task!), but the XMC-1 is probably gonna be very-very close to the next-best thing.
It certainly won't be no slouch; and 99.999% of the population probably wouldn't care enough to find out either. (Too much money, too many boxes, time/effort, them not caring enough about 2-ch music, among other reasons the list goes on and on...)
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Post by GreenKiwi on Jun 24, 2014 22:10:22 GMT -5
My hope is that the Dacs are good enough that with rc, I won't need an external Dac.
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