New Wyred DACs with ESS 90xxPro
 

I just saw the new Wyred DAC v2 series with the ESS 90xxPro chips on their website. Anyone know if we will be able to upgrade our original DAC-2s using ESS 9018S chips to the ESS 90xxPro? Any speculation on improved sonics with the ESS Pro?

Nice. Can't wait to learn more once it's reviewed. I would hunch upgrading chips in our old DAC-2's is not possible, but that's a pure guess.

As you know, I really like Wyred 4 Sound products and the company is outstanding. Tony and EJ are second to none in customer service and standing behind their products.

If you get a chance of trying their v2 versions (the new ones with the new ESS PRO DAC chips) I would highly advise it. It is a very nice improvement!

The chips are pin compatible, but replacement of surface mount components isn't recommended - due to potential reliability issues, so my guess (hope) is that they'll offer to upgrade the DAC pcb module, which is relatively easy to do.

I noticed that the Wyred website removed reference to the 9038PRO for the DAC 2V2 SE and seems to imply it will use the 9028PRO for the SE version. I wonder if they ran into technical issues with the 9038PRO or maybe availability issues?

Oh no, I hope they find a way to make the flagship chip work. Good catch on seeing the updated wording.

I've got the DAC1v2 with the Fento clock on order. Pro 9026 chip which according to ESS lacks volume capabilities but otherwise identical to 9028 minus less SNR and dynamic range which I doubt these ears could hear. Should have in 2 weeks according to Tony. Will report on it after 200 hours.

It was also initially listed as being available for pre-orders with the 9038PRO when they first announced the V2 DACs on their Black Friday sale, and was then changed to coming soon.

It is seriously looking like there may be an issue with the ESS9038PRO. Searching and I could not find any that are actually available to purchase....:dunno:

I do know, however, that the ESS9028PRO is amazing!

That was one of the only ones that I could find that appears to be coming to market with the ESS9038PRO chip in the near future. I could not find information on when it was actually being released, so thank you.

Not sure of how many other with the ESS9028PRO are available for sale now. I do know that the Benchmark DAC3 HGC is a huge upgrade from the DAC2 HGC and the only real difference is the new ESS chip and a slightly improved anti-jitter filter.

I know the Wyred ones will be fantastic when they start shipping!!!

The Ayre QX-5 Twenty was released a couple of months ago and is reportedly the first product to use the ES9038PRO DAC. It's apparently an exceptional DAC with ethernet streaming but at a higher price of $8950 and has already been reviewed by AudioStream.

Hi jrsub,

We originally were talking about using the 9038PRO and indeed, thinking we would for a time. But cost and implementation ended up being greater than what we had foreseen and anticipated. We will offer the 9038PRO as an option for those who want it, however. Pricing TBD.

Honest answer from an honest company, that's why I like purchasing from them.

There isn't a problem with 9038 PRO other than cost. According to ESS the cost of the 9038 is much higher than anticipated. Thus if you do the math the following cost to middlemen and their suppliers then to final construction of units using 9038 will be much higher than originally thought. It will be interesting to see where pricing for new OPPO comes in.

Exactly.... great people...

All, happy to announce that we've decided that the DAC-2v2SE model will come standard with the ESS Sabre 9038PRO.

Here is a link to the DAC-2v2 page. If you have a Wyred DAC already, you can also send it to us for upgrade.

Wyred4Sound.......So a DAC2 owner can ship it to you for the full DAC-2v2SE upgrade? Cost? Lead time?

Hi Dan,

Yes indeed. Cost varies depending on which level DAC you have and what level you'd like to upgrade to. Here is the 2v2 series upgrade page. We also offer upgrades for owners of the DAC-1 or DAC-1 LE to a DAC-1v2.Typically we can turn things around pretty quickly, a few days at most.

Dan, not sure about lead time but upgrade costs and options are detailed here.

Thank you, gentlemen. I guess if I had just looked around a bit I would have found it. Appreciate the help.

Too much time spent with the K01X... Not as sharp as you were [emoji41]

John49.......I'll admit I have been preoccupied with the K-01X. The excitement has been tempered the last two day with a damn cold I picked up somewhere. I ran 101.8 fever last night, down this evening to 100. Sneezing, coughing, stuffed up nose, crappy sleep, and aching have all contributed to a less than ideal mood. I need to whip this bug to regain my mental sharpness.

Get well Dan! I prescribe lots of fluids and rest in your studio!

Yes, get well Dan.

Get well!

Yes, get well soon.

I sent my DAC-2 DSDse in to be upgraded to a DAC-2v2SE and turn around was very fast. I think it was a couple of days. I received it last night. I listened to it for a few hours last night.

It seems that even though it was an upgrade, I still have to go through the recommended 200 hour burn in. The bass is exaggerated and some of the mids are bit recessed and there is a spittiness (please replace with appropriate word) to female voices.

On the positive side, there seems to be more clarity to instruments and sounds seem to linger longer such as piano cords, etc. The decay of instruments seems to be more natural instead of just quickly going to silence.

Once I get a chance to break the DAC in, I will post more impressions because I think it is unfair to talk about the sound right now.

Added Feb 24th:

I just want to add that I want to thank Wyred 4 Sound for their great products which can actually be upgraded! There are a number of audio products out there touting that they are future proof, etc. However, many of them have never had an upgrade at least not to the extent that Wyred 4 Sound has upgraded the DAC-2 to DAC-2 DSD to DAC-2 DSDse and now to DAC-2v2SE. I think Wyred 4 Sound should get a lot of praise for this.

I forgot to mention that at the moment I am using the 'Slow rolloff, linear phase' filter recommended by W4S and IIR Bandwidth of 50k. I did have 'Jitter Eliminator' set to LOWEST but this did not work well as I was getting pops and crackles even with the W4S RUR. I raised it to '***' for now. I will play with all of the above after burn in.

I received my upgraded DAC-2v2 SE on Thursday and it has been burning in since. I too am using the default settings for now until it settles in. My initial experience is that I am hearing more clarity and detail with greater dynamics. I had a similar result as birdland with the Jitter eliminator setting on the lower setting causing noise and dropouts with DSD. I look at this as having a wider range of adjustments available for source material rather than an issue. No problem using the default setting of 3 asterisks with DSD.

Hi Jrsub:

I do agree that there is more clarity and detail. Did you find that the bass was exaggerated as well?

I did not notice that the bass was exaggerated.

DSD256 files will not play cleanly
 

OK. I listened again today. The unit had around 36 hours on it. The bass seemed more integrated. However, there is a problem. I don't know if it my particular DAC or a firmware issue, etc.

I cannot play DSD256 files cleanly. The files play but there is hissing and noise and when I stop playing the file, the hissing remains and then there is a whistling sound that is high pitched and slowly goes lower in volume and frequency. If I turn off the DAC and then back on (NOT the power button on the back), the hissing comes back. The only way to get rid of it is to play another file which is NOT a DSD256 file. This problem occurs if I play DSD256 file or if I upsample from DSD64 to DSD256 using foobar2000. All other files, either PCM at any sample rate all the way up to 352kHz and DSD64 and DSD128, do not have this problem.

This did not occur before I sent in my DAC for the upgrade.

Jrsub - have you tried DSD256 files?

I have similar, though not exact, problem. I can play the files fine most of the time. Hiss comes on randomly. Goes away and music continues. I sent email to support late Friday. Also received mine on Thursday with 9038 chip upgrade.

Overall I feel it is smoother, more detailed, and more analog sounding. Back to back lp then file or cd and lp is still ahead in my system.

Unfortunately, I am running Mac OS X and haven't had any success running DSD256 files natively before or after the 9038 upgrade. I get an error saying format is not supported. I did a Google search and found a comment from Wyred saying that it should work with with on OS X with no bit streaming options enabled, but I have had no success doing so with Jriver without enabling DoP in Jriver DSP studio. When I enabled basic DoP, DSD 256 files show on DAC display as DSD 64 so I am not sure what is really happening. The 4xDSD DoP option gives me an error.

LovingMusic - I'm glad I'm not the only one having this problem. This means that it is a generic issue most likely with firmware but just guessing here. Please keep us updated on what they say. I will submit an email as well.

Jrsub - from my understanding, DAC-2 DSDse and DAC-2v2SE only support DSD256 via native mode even on Windows. I do not believe you can send DSD256 natively to unless the DAC support DSD512 such as the iFi micro iDSD. See the following:

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f1...ack-mac-26375/

Wyred has said that it will play DSD256 natively using the ASIO drivers, but I believe that is for Windows only. I know Exasound has developed an ASIO driver for quad DSD for OS X, but I do not believe Wyred has yet.

Sorry what I meant to say was that for W4S:

- OSX DSD native and Dop only up to dsd128
- Windows native DSD256 with ASIO
- Windows Dop only up to DSD128

It would be nice if we could go to DSD256 or even DSD512.

From W4S today:

We wanted to address a couple of reports from customers of sporadic and strange issues involving DSD playback. Specifically, while playing a DSD track (DSD256 may be the worst offender) a phenomenon of hissing/low level crackling during playback or pause can be heard. There may also be a sort of white noise and/or other strange artifacts. PCM files seem to be unaffected.

What could be complicating things are a couple of apparent issues with the recent release of Roon 1.3, where some people have experienced very similar issues with DSD playback. This certainly makes it a bit tougher to isolate the cause! However, we have already reached out to the lead designer of the 9038PRO chip at ESS and are working actively with him on looking into this. It is worth noting that not everyone has experienced this issue that we know of, so at this point we’re not sure how isolated it is and if there is a *‘magic’ combination of factors (or factor) causing this. One of our employees took a newly upgraded 2v2SE DAC home for the weekend and played DSD64 as well as up sampled DSD128 files (via Roon) without incident.

*

For now, we recommend playing PCM files until we can learn more about this and come to a resolution.

*

We apologize in advance for any unintended inconvenience, and as always we appreciate your support. We will update you as soon as we have more news.

Yes, I got a similar email as well. I have already responded to Tony of W4S. I do not use Roon. I am using the exact same setup as I did before the upgrade with no issues other than the expected ones due to an older version of firmware and an under powered laptop. I am still investigating whether I want to purchase a music server or build one.