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UPDATES : 32bit dac fight AK4397 v/s ESS9018

I eventually could buy two 32bit dacs which are scarce , expensive and hard to locate.
Both were found second hand in France, which was great for my budget.
I don't think you need presentation for the 2nd one which is the famous Twisted pair audio buffalo II featuring the not-less-famous ESS Sabre 9018 where-are-you dac. This chip seems to be the hardest to locate on the planet and I really can't understand why. Usually , once a chip is invented, it costs nothing to make a million of them ,as it just a photocopy on carbon waffers. But in this case, it's just like somebody makes them one by one in a small workshop. For example, Oppo dvd players which suppose to use this chip are always discontinued or not yet available. And Twisted Pair audio is constantly putting people on waiting lists, while other dacs are available by kilos. Great mistery.
The other one is a masterpiece crafted by small chinese hifi factory Xindak for their 20th anniversary. Quite expensive but made on very high standard as you will see. Let's start the fight !

That is some circuitry....you can see the dac, AKM ak4397 in the center with proprietary caps and full great job....but wait :

Selectable tube output with an incredible array of electronics and ....

....incredible again power supply featuring one transformer for each use I suppose...because Xindak litterature is much poorer than their electronics.
They talk about upsampling but I can't find which chip is in use for this..maybe the one with no marking...
This monster cannot sound bad and I really enjoyed it from the 1st minute, with its always musical silky precision .

In regard the buffalo really looks like nothing : a small circuit just like 25$ generic dac kit from china. It seems well implemented and has no output section so as it is you hear what comes out from the DAC---not visible on the picture, its under the improved analog supply according to Twisted pair.
They say the DAC is I out but works great like this....nothing to do with classic I out dacs like the tda1541 where there's not sound at all direct out.

My power supply comes from the lampucera maker and gives a very good 5v for the buffalo and a nice 12v for the led and maybe for the addition of mykonos in the future. Transformer is an european 12v x 2 , very classic but efficient.

SOUND BATTLE

Well I'm sorry to say the buffalo beats the Xindak. Sorry because it costed me more money. The sabre dac circuit does not feature upsampling but straight ot of an old philips player ( with cdm 4/19 of course , you should know my drive taste by now ) it really brings CD sound to something I have never heard before. Of course the Xindak sounds great , silky, analytic but the sabre, plugged crudely from its ouptput to my amp, is 10 times more analytic... and it was really what I looked for.

2 years in searching a super-precise source for my super-precise Elipson 4140 speakers and it's done at last.

Funny how 40 years separate those speakers with their electronic companion.

Sorry again because to improve my system I should buy another pair of big 70's Elipson monsters.

And again because those buffaloes are as hard to buy as a real buffalo from USA....

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