Audiophilepure

I’ll be perfectly frank: I’m not a big fan of ESS Sabre delta-sigma DACs. That said, there are a number of aspects of DAC design that come into play in the overall sound quality of any given unit that can lift it above the constraints of a less-than-perfect chipset. And while I might have preferred to see an AKM, or perhaps a TI (Burr-Brown) chipset implemented in the DS07, there are plenty of high profile manufacturers at every demographic of the high end that are in love with ESS Sabre chipsets. In terms of audiophile acceptance, it’s the smart choice, and depending on the talent of the designer, ESS chips can obviously provide superb results. I can easily say that despite my reservations, the ESS 9068AS implementation used in FX-Audio’s DS07 is definitely among the very best I’ve ever heard. I didn’t know what to expect, but found the sound of this new DAC to be musical and accurate with a timbre that approached that of my own rig. That said, I’ve always been less than thrilled about digital volume control implementations in delta-sigma DACs, and with this one, there’s no clear way in the menu to defeat the volume control function. The best alternative is to simply turn the volume all the way up on the DAC, and control the output level from the L07 integrated amp. I heard no negatives in my listening through this approach.

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