Fusion 8100 and DAC

[eveningsky]

Hello Emotiva Community,

I am also considering the Fusion 8100 as a next purchase. I see very little mention and discussion about the DAC.

What is it?
How is it?
What does it compare to in quality relative to the other Emotiva or non-Emotiva products?

Also, how good is the headphone amp.

These are both important issues for me.

Thank you much.

ES

[garbulky]

You should expect the Fusion to be similar though not necessarily identical to a UMC-200 DAC.
The amp section should be similar
Note: I haven't heard either. Emotiva's best 2 channel DAC is the DC-1. It has a very nice headphone amplifier and is the best one that emo currently has. It competes with standalone headphone amps in the $150 range. It also has a low output impedance and is able to drive high impedance headphones like the HD600 adequately. It's even done pretty well when stacked against a $400 tube amp I tried. Hope that's helped.

Depending on what kind of use you want (i.e. 2 channel only use in a small room with modest volume), a DC-1 coupled to an airmotiv 4 may be an excellent all in one setup for a good price.
If you want more - surround sound, larger rooms, lots of bass this may not be an ideal setup.

IMO for surround sound the Fusion is a good choice and is priced very attractively. I'd pick it over any reciever in that price range. In fact, I wouldn't even go for a reciever other than the fusion. The next step in price would be a pre-pro and a power amp for me.

[Trentster5172]

I was told when I ordered my Fusion 8100 by emo tech support that the DAC is the Cirrus 42528. I have an Oppo BDP-83SE with the Sabre Premier (ES9006) DAC chip for its 7.1 multi-channel output and I can't tell the difference over the Cirrus 42528 (I have it connected both ways to my fusion via HDMI and analog). The Fusion does have far superior sub control/sound. For two channel listening I use the dedicated stereo output 8-channel Sabre32 Ultra (ES9016) DAC chip that stacks 4 DACs for each of the Left and Right channels and it does sound a little better. But I can still control the sub very well with the Fusion.

[Boomzilla]

I have a Cirrus (Oppo BDP-105) and a Sabre (Audioquest Dragonfly 1.2). I find them both equally excellent. DACs are getting uniformly so meritorious that I just don't see the difference (that there used to be). I predict that you'll be happy with any DAC that's in the Fusion.

There's but one DAC that I've heard that I wasn't impressed with (and we won't go there), but it's within the realm of taste, so no further complaints.

[garbulky]

Jun 29, 2014 5:55:05 GMT -5 Boomzilla said:

I have a Cirrus (Oppo BDP-105) and a Sabre (Audioquest Dragonfly 1.2). I find them both equally excellent. DACs are getting uniformly so meritorious that I just don't see the difference (that there used to be). I predict that you'll be happy with any DAC that's in the Fusion.

There's but one DAC that I've heard that I wasn't impressed with (and we won't go there), but it's within the realm of taste, so no further complaints.

The oppo 105 uses dual Sabre DACs. One Sabre is used for 2 channel music, the other one for multichannel. And I agree the 105 sounds really nice to my ears

[Boomzilla]

I stand corrected! Thanks.