exaSound e18 - e20 - e28 - Info and Experiences Post All Here

[Pocobear]

HQPlayer 3 beta8 for OSX and I believe the Windows version both can use ASIO with exaSound DAC's now. Slowly but surely

ASIO is starting to appear in more software.

[Miska]

HQPlayer 3 beta8 for OSX and I believe the Windows version both can use ASIO with exaSound DAC's now. Slowly but surely

ASIO is starting to appear in more software.

 

Yes, ASIO (PCM & DSD) support on OS X version was added recently. On Windows ASIO DSD has been supported since Feb 2011 and ASIO PCM since the beginning...

[sdolezalek]

From computer to e28 to amplifiers is pretty straightforward for surround sound. But a big reason for having surround is also to enjoy movies and that makes things more complicated. Would a configuration that has an Oppo BDP-105D acting as the source for blu-ray, SACD, DVD and (through its HDMI input) cable-fed HD video, all feeding the audio into a NuForce MCP-18 (as preamplifier) via one set of its 7.1 analog inputs (with all video going straight from the Oppo to the display); and then using the Exasound e28 as the source for all computer fed music (using the 7.1 RCS outputs of the Exasound e28 fed into the second set of 7.1 analog inputs on the NuForce) and then feeding the balanced outputs of the MCP-18 into the amplifiers make sense?

 

I'd love to also run the audio stream from my movie/video sources through the Exasound, but I don't know of any standalone product that strips the audio off the HDMI (pre-pro's like the Bryston SP-3 do it) so those sources will be forced to use the Oppo as their DAC.

 

Is there any other products like the NuForce MCP-18 worth considering? I have looked at the Parasound P-7 and the Emotiva units but the NuForce seems to get better reviews and the Emotiva units only have a single 7.1 set of inputs.

 

Appreciate your thoughts.

[Pocobear]

Sounds like it should work fine. I have a similar setup, except computer music is just stereo, e22 DAC. I tried the NuForce MCP-18 and it was very good, much better than most AVR's, then I tried the Parasound P7, outstanding sound, much better than the NuForce, sent it back. I send the output of the Oppo via RCA connectors to the P7 for surround sound, using the Oppo's de-coders, and the video straight to the TV from the Oppo 105D. The P7 gives you much better options for stereo and surround sound, like two setups, one for video, and one for movies, bass management, HT pass thru if you ever want to add a pre-pro later. Really good setup used that way.

[astrotoy]

I am doing exactly that. The E28 feeds one input of the MCP-18 and the Oppo feeds the other 7.1 input (I actually use 5.1 in both cases). My understanding on the MCP-18 is that if you are using only one mch input, you need to use the #1 input. However, I have two (the reason I got the MCP-18) so that is not an issue. Works great. There are relatively few mc Preamps that take two mc inputs. The MCP has replaced my CJ MET-1 which also has two mch inputs, but was a bit noisy from its tubes for my needs.

 

Larry

[Hiro]

Yes, ASIO (PCM & DSD) support on OS X version was added recently. On Windows ASIO DSD has been supported since Feb 2011 and ASIO PCM since the beginning...

 

Neat. BTW, is the exaSound the only DAC at the moment that can take advantage of the Mac ASIO DSD playback?

[elcorso]

Neat. BTW, is the exaSound the only DAC at the moment that can take advantage of the Mac ASIO DSD playback?

 

The only music player (at the moment) that profit Mac ASIO drivers is Decibel on his last version.

 

I don't know if HQ Player.

 

Roch

[Miska]

Neat. BTW, is the exaSound the only DAC at the moment that can take advantage of the Mac ASIO DSD playback?

 

Yes, as far as I'm aware. It is the traditional chicken-egg problem. Of course more players support it, more incentive hardware manufacturers will see in supporting it, and more DACs support it, more incentive player developers have to support it. Since ASIO was already supported on Windows, adding the support to Mac version too wasn't such a big effort. I had to buy e28 to test it, but I anyway wanted to have e28 for multichannel DSD...

[elf]

E22 review: exaSound Audio Design e22 DAC | AudioStream

[elcorso]

E22 review: exaSound Audio Design e22 DAC | AudioStream

 

From the AudioStream review, "Resolution, focus and definition from top to bottom were excellent. Most users will find this to be a very revealing DAC that can dig down to expose the smallest details of the music. Now some of you might think that this level of detail comes at a price; hardness and a lack of warmth."

 

This hardness and a lack of warmth doesn't come from the DAC , but from the recording itself...!

 

Roch

[Mercman]

From the AudioStream review, "Resolution, focus and definition from top to bottom were excellent. Most users will find this to be a very revealing DAC that can dig down to expose the smallest details of the music. Now some of you might think that this level of detail comes at a price; hardness and a lack of warmth."

 

This hardness and a lack of warmth doesn't come from the DAC , but from the recording itself...!

 

Roch

 

IF we are talking about the e22 DAC:

 

"Now some of you might think that this level of detail comes at a price; hardness and a lack of warmth. But nothing could be further from the truth concerning the sound of the e22 DAC."

 

While no one will argue with you about the quality of recordings, not all DACs fulfill your statement. At least not in my experience.

[matthias]

E22 review: exaSound Audio Design e22 DAC | AudioStream

 

The most interesting point is that ASIO sounds much better than DoP.

 

Matt

[matthias]

Yes, ASIO (PCM & DSD) support on OS X version was added recently.

 

Miska,

thank you.

 

Matt

[Stereolab42]

The most interesting point is that ASIO sounds much better than DoP.

 

Matt

 

DoP is a travesty. Most of the DoP-supporting DACs I tried had terrible issues with clicks and pops related to starting/stopping playback and resolution change. With ASIO, the problem goes away.

 

My e22 is coming tomorrow, going to be a fun weekend.

[exa]

There is a great news for the users of the exaSound volume synchronization plug-in for JRiver Media Center for Windows. The plug-in allows JRiver and JRemote to operate the hardware volume control of exaSound DACs.

 

Until now the plug-in couldn't control the volume during DSD playback. The latest JRiver MC beta build 20.0.12 offers a new setting - "Enable Volume When Bitstreaming". Finally we can use JRemote as a unified remote control center for all music sources - PCM and DSD.

 

You can find the new setting by clicking on the Volume Options icon on the left side of the JRiver volume control slider.

 

The latest release of the exaSound Volume Synchronization Plug-in for JRiver MC for Windows is available for download on the exaSound support website.

[bmoura]

HQPlayer 3 beta8 for OSX and I believe the Windows version both can use ASIO with exaSound DAC's now. Slowly but surely ASIO is starting to appear in more software.

 

Interesting. Last time I checked the exaSound and HQ Player web sites, they didn't have instructions on how to use those products together. Maybe it's time for the two companies to get together and document these new features + capabilities!

[bmoura]

There is a great news for the users of the exaSound volume synchronization plug-in for JRiver Media Center for Windows. The plug-in allows JRiver and JRemote to operate the hardware volume control of exaSound DACs.

 

Until now the plug-in couldn't control the volume during DSD playback. The latest JRiver MC beta build 20.0.12 offers a new setting - "Enable Volume When Bitstreaming". Finally we can use JRemote as a unified remote control center for all music sources - PCM and DSD.

 

You can find the new setting by clicking on the Volume Options icon on the left side of the JRiver volume control slider.

 

The latest release of the exaSound Volume Synchronization Plug-in for JRiver MC for Windows is available for download on the exaSound support website.

 

Hmm, sounds like I need to check out JRemote and load the new JRiver 20!

[elcorso]

IF we are talking about the e22 DAC:

 

"Now some of you might think that this level of detail comes at a price; hardness and a lack of warmth. But nothing could be further from the truth concerning the sound of the e22 DAC."

 

While no one will argue with you about the quality of recordings, not all DACs fulfill your statement. At least not in my experience.

 

Pardon me my bad English.

 

What I was trying to say (regarding the e22 of course): From bad (hard & lack of warmth) recordings , you can get this bad , but not by fault of the e22.

 

With some other DACs you can get hardiness & lack of warmth from nice recordings. Or the contrary, removed hardiness & added warmth from bad recordings. The same with some music players?

 

BTW , I never make "statements" , but opinions (or experiences) , like you.

 

Best,

 

Roch

[Mercman]

Sure, I see what you are saying. No problem here

[Miska]

Interesting. Last time I checked the exaSound and HQ Player web sites, they didn't have instructions on how to use those products together. Maybe it's time for the two companies to get together and document these new features + capabilities!

 

My website was updated on Sep 4th with the 3.4.0 final release, so things do change... You can now just select ASIO backend from Preferences in HQPlayer and exaSound ASIO driver appears on the device list.

 

You can select CoreAudio or ASIO as DAC input from exaSound control panel icon at the top right menu bar area (blue note icon).

[bmoura]

My website was updated on Sep 4th with the 3.4.0 final release, so things do change... You can now just select ASIO backend from Preferences in HQPlayer and exaSound ASIO driver appears on the device list.

 

You can select CoreAudio or ASIO as DAC input from exaSound control panel icon at the top right menu bar area (blue note icon).

 

Hmm, time to visit your web site!

[Hiro]

There is a great news for the users of the exaSound volume synchronization plug-in for JRiver Media Center for Windows. The plug-in allows JRiver and JRemote to operate the hardware volume control of exaSound DACs.

 

Until now the plug-in couldn't control the volume during DSD playback. The latest JRiver MC beta build 20.0.12 offers a new setting - "Enable Volume When Bitstreaming". Finally we can use JRemote as a unified remote control center for all music sources - PCM and DSD.

 

You can find the new setting by clicking on the Volume Options icon on the left side of the JRiver volume control slider.

 

The latest release of the exaSound Volume Synchronization Plug-in for JRiver MC for Windows is available for download on the exaSound support website.

 

Can you spill the beans about whether JRiver plans to provide ASIO DSD support for Mac?

[Hiro]

Yes, as far as I'm aware. It is the traditional chicken-egg problem. Of course more players support it, more incentive hardware manufacturers will see in supporting it, and more DACs support it, more incentive player developers have to support it. Since ASIO was already supported on Windows, adding the support to Mac version too wasn't such a big effort. I had to buy e28 to test it, but I anyway wanted to have e28 for multichannel DSD...

 

I hope that from now on every DSD DAC will come with Mac ASIO drivers. DoP, after all, was just a pro tem solution for Mac computers.

[elcorso]

I hope that from now on every DSD DAC will come with Mac ASIO drivers. DoP, after all, was just a pro tem solution for Mac computers.

 

Hiro,

 

The same hope over here. But ASIO drivers are ready for the Mac, thanks to George Klissarov. I believe are the music players developers that need to adopt them...!

 

Roch

[Stereolab42]

Intro

From the land of ice hockey, frozen wine, and decent beer, comes:

 

 

Two DACs manufactured by a small company in Canada called exaSound, run by a smart guy named George Klissarov. Both support PCM up to 32/384 and DSD up to DSD256 over USB. The e20 mkIII will run you $2499 and the e22 will run you $3499. exaSound also sells an 8-channel DAC called the e28, for $3849. See here for a spec comparison chart.

 

I bought the e20 first, and after deciding I liked it -- a lot -- I bought the e22. The e20 will serve office duty with my less-expensive audio equipment, while the e22 will remain at home with my nosebleed stuff. I should note that I did not compare them together at the same time. Since they can't both be connected via USB to a single computer simultaneously, it would be difficult to do quick A/B tests anyway. Also, my e20 is one of the lucky few that came with a free upgraded clock, so that would make any differences that much harder to hear. But my sonic memory is pretty good, and as I detail below, they both sound phenomenal.

 

Build Quality

 

The e22 is a few inches longer than the e20, but otherwise they are of identical dimensions. Both units are very light and compact, with an aluminium chassis, but they don't have the "audio jewellery" look. In other words, they look more at place next to your PC than next to a $50K amp. I do wish the units had something better than the small stick-on rubber feet they come with. I wanted more clearance on the bottom so I added these isolating rubber feet from Amazon.

 

The power supply on both units is external, but it's a very high-quality power brick, according to exaSound. If you worry about this, there are third-party companies that will sell you a custom AC/DC converter for $500 and up. I personally would be shocked if it made a difference.

 

The units do not get hot or even warm during operation, unlike many previous DACs I've owned. This applies both to the chassis and the power brick. A sign of proper engineering, IMHO.

 

Input/Output

 

On the back the e22 has upgraded gold RCA outs, an upgraded gold coax SPDIF input, and a USB type B jack instead of the e20's USB mini jack. The e22 also has a 12V trigger output. Both have identical optical SPDIF inputs. The front display and buttons are the same, and everything seems solid. One slight annoyance is that the backlit area of the display is not centered in the front panel cutout in both units, something you can't see on the website pictures. While this seems very out-of-place to anyone even mildly OCD, it has zero bearing on functionality. However, I do implore exaSound to fix it:

 

 

Remote control is supported with an included, ubiquitous Apple IR Remote, and works flawlessly to duplicate the functionality of the front buttons. That is, it can turn the unit on/off, change inputs, and change volume. Regarding volume... the e20's volume can be set anywhere from 0db to -80db. At 0db there is no attenuation at all and output should be bitperfect. Attenuation is implemented by asking the ESS Sabre chip, politely, to turn it down. George explains it here.

 

Software Quality

One of exaSound's competitive advantages is their proprietary ASIO drivers, which work with a custom FPGA buffering stage in the DAC. This serves to eliminate the PC and USB cable as possible sources of noise/jitter/errors. As a coder I know how hard writing software is, so I'm not surprised to see that only one dedicated audio company appears to have gone this extra mile. I use Windows 8.1, and the exaSound driver and control panel work flawlessly with JRiver:

 

 

One thing to keep in mind is that the exaSound does not appear in the Windows control panel as an audio device... it's ASIO only, so you need a music player application that speaks ASIO. If you want "ordinary" computer sound to go through the e20/e22, connect the SPDIF output from your existing sound card to one of the unit's SPDIF inputs. Then you can simply switch to that input. I don't consider this a big limitation, as all high-end DACS require you to play music in ASIO/WASAPI exclusive mode for the best SQ. And exclusive mode already precludes other PC sound (like YouTube) from being heard at the same time.

 

Sound Quality

(Tested primarily with a Woo Audio WA22 headphone amp and a pair of Audeze LCD-XCs.)

 

The e20 and e22 are both phenomenal sounding DACs, and are built around the ESS's flagship ES9018 Sabre chipset. I've owned a bunch of ES9018-based DACs and am a big fan, although ESS does have its doubters (who like to call us "Sabre rattlers"). It's revealing, detailed, and neutral, and can produce good punch and bass when called upon. I think it makes a good companion to a tube amp, if that's your thing. Although I tested primarily with my WA22 through the balanced DAC outputs, I tried the DACs' headphone jacks as well, and found them to be excellent solid-state amps. The e22 headphone jack supposedly can provide twice the power of the e20's, but I never needed to drive it that hard.

 

I tested many genres of music with JRiver at all sorts of resolutions. 16/44, 24/96, 32/384, DSD64, DSD128, DSD256, both native and upsampled with JRiver. Sources come from my own CD FLAC rips, DVD-Audio rips, BluRay rips, and high-quality PCM and DSD downloads from various Internet vendors.

 

I'm not one for long, elaborate descriptions of tonality, soundstage, and "dark backgrounds". Suffice it to say these DACs bring out the best of the ES9018 without any hint of hardness or graininess. They basically just get out of the way and let the music speak for itself. Heck, they are good enough to scale right along with two of the most expensive heaphone amps and headphones on the market. The WA22/LCD-XC combo is lush but also mercilessly revealing of bad -- and good -- recordings. There is no way anything short of a world-class DAC can bring out its best, and the exaSounds do.

 

Also, keep in mind exaSound pioneered DSD256 support, and continues to specialize in excellent DSD playback quality. All of my native DSD tracks sounded spectacular, as did PCM converted to DSD via JRiver. (However, I'm not ready to say that PCM->DSD improved the SQ. Just that it didn't degrade it, which is not something I can say about previous DACs I've owned.)

 

There was no trace of noise, USB or otherwise, through these DACs. As I mentioned before, there are occasionally some medium-volume clicks when stopping/starting playback at very high resolutions, but this is not bothersome (and is an ES9018 limitation according to George). There were no clicks, pops, skips, or static in any other circumstances.

 

Summary

 

Is either the e20 or the e22 for you? I personally think they are the best computer audiophile DACs on the market. That is, if your preferred music source is Redbook or better audio from your PC, then you cannot theoretically do better than exaSound. Especially if you are a fan of DSD tracks, since for many competing USB DACs, proper DSD support is an afterthought. (Hint: if a competing DAC only does DSD over DoP, you know DSD was an afterthought.)

 

Is the e22 worth $1000 more than the e20? Although I didn't AB them side-by-side, I'm confident any SQ difference is minimal. But there are solid engineering improvements in the e22, like a better clock, beefier headphone output, a 12v trigger, gold connectors, and so on. I would say go for the e22 if you can swing it.

 

Who should NOT buy the e20/e22? Well, I suppose if you need a DAC that looks like an exotic alien sculpture or a Ferrari, to match your $100k stack of amps made by Swiss elves. Also, if you need more choices regarding inputs/output, you may want something from a pro audio company. And maybe you're allergic to the ESS Sabre, or have a religious aversion to anything less than a fully custom FPGA DAC, such as those offered by Chord Electronics or PS Audio. But in my experience those don't sound any better!

 

Also, don't be afraid of buying these units direct from Canada. The shipping process was absolutely painless with Fedex. For me, it only took a couple days for exaSound to ship each DAC (presumably for final assembly or burn-in), and then precisely two days for Fedex to deliver it. And they offer a generous 30-day return policy as well, and respond quickly to emails.