Pardon my ignorance. Why is it neither native nor bit-perfect?
With Ess dac chips you canāt bypass itās modulator. No matter what you send the ess chip it always processes it in the end. Search this thread for ess and youāll find more info and a diagram showing the audio path.
Iāve asked the Exasound designer for comments on this. However, my inclination is that youāre not correct. ESS is very secretive about their technology and the block diagram is an oversimplification.
Hereās a comment from the Mytek designer:
Most of inner details are not in the data sheetā¦Sabre DAC works in purely DSD mode, the signal path in this mode is 1 bit input >32 bit fader> DSD filter performed in DSD domain > 6 bit DSD (DS PWM) DAC > analog
The fact that the DAC is 6 bit DOES NOT mean itās not DSD. Basic DSD is 1 bit but it can be any number of bits, in the case 6 if it helps the performance.
Number 1 is a subset of 6 - a 6 bit DSD offers better D/A performance than 1 bit , thatās why itās there. Itās still DSD though. Sabre in DSD mode DOES NOT use interpolation filters or any other PCM processing ā¦In fact Sabre DAC sounds better in DSD mode because signal path is simpler.
And Martin Mallinson, the CTO of Sabre said
Sabre uses internal 32-bit data pipeline and DSD is also expanded to this same internal format, without sampling rate conversion. For PCM inputs itās the rate after the oversampling filter, and for DSD it is the native DSD rate. But it is always 32-bit. It then goes to their HyperStream modulator to output 6 bits (not parallel, but in time)
Iāll bow out and let @jussi_laako or others to comment if he/they wish.
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This isnāt a religious viewpoint mind youā¦
BTW love that you have the magnificent Spendors
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Thanks, the Spendors are really nice for blues, folk, electronic.
I have a few dacs, one does have an ess chip. It sounds fine with HQPlayer.
Jussi has written something about this. In my opinion, the ESS block diagram clearly shows that no bypass is possible.
However, ESS doesnāt have such option. It will always process both PCM and DSD through itās DSP. DSD gets less processing though (bypasses oversampling), but thereās no direct path available.
HQ Player - Page 1057 - Software - Audiophile Style
Not so with AKM. There you can see that all internal processing can be bypassed. The DSD bitstream goes directly to the analog filter: SCF - Switched-Capacitor-Filter.
It is not bit-perfect access straight to the actual D/A section. You cannot bypass the ESSā modulator. Thus it doesnāt count as native DSD DAC.
On some AKM and Cirrus Logic DAC chips you can bypass the modulator and have direct access to the actual D/A section (analog filter). On all TI/BB chips this is always the case.
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Ok I understand what you and others are saying. Even though the signal continues to be in the DSD domain without any rate conversion etc, but because itās converted to 32 bits for their pipeline, itās not bit-perfect.
Seems kinda six of one and half a dozen of the other. But I get it.
Iāve worked on hardware pipeline architectures. These kinds of considerations are made all the time for performance reasons.
Man my favorite audio forum line of 2023 wasā¦.
āUsb/i2s audio no longer interests meā
-dabassgoesboomboom
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Hilarious
Well it has been mostly nothing but disappointment from all the flagship AKM 4499EX based DACs this year
I think I counted 8 in total just from SMSL and Topping
Especially comparing performance to the cheap SMSL D-6 running in DSD Direct mode
Iāll take excellent USB over āokā NAA input DACs
I guess when I made that comment Iād assumed weād have a selection of excellent AKM based DACs and it didnāt work out that way
The Gustard A26 performance is not even better than the SMSL D-6 and look at the price difference
Maybe this time next year will be better 
Hilo.
What is wrong with Cyan 2?
Nothing yet
Nobody has one yet 
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USB/I2S and Holo didnāt put the Red inside it.
Well, we cannot have everything great in one box for cheap.
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That would be a $2000 -$2500 box Iād be thrilled to buy!
Already did with the R26 and A26 lol.
Missing galvanic isolation and higher rate capabilities tho.
No, for me itās really better to have separated systems.
On my May together with the Red, Iāve:
- HQPlayer (controlled from Roon) ā Red USB out ā May
- Roon (without HQPlayer) ā Red I2S out ā May
- SACD player ā HDMI audio extracter I2S out ā May
- CDP coax out ā May
All playing with only switching on the May and Ropieee installed on the Red.
inconceivable
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would never happen at this price of Cyan2
Gustard use a chip for D to A
Holo use discrete design, more expensive
Maybe Spring 4 or May 2 will have eth input. More budget and more physical space
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