Oppo Sonica DAC coming Fall 2016

[cordobaman]

Borrowed news from SHF, did not find here as of yet.

 

The Absolute Sound has a sneak peak at the new Oppo Sonica DAC due this fall.

The Absolute Sound's Buyer's Guide to Personal Audio, Analog, and Vinyl 2016 | The Absolute Sound

 

"Given that more and more music comes from digital sources, the DAC is one of the most important components in the playback chain. The new Oppo Sonica DAC improves upon the highly regarded audio performance of the Oppo HA-1 and BDP-95/105 players and presents an upgraded DAC chipset, the flagship ESS ES9038PRO SABRE DAC. The Sonica DAC combines the convenience of modern network streaming and the hi-fi sound quality of the traditional audiophile DAC. The Sonica app for iOS and Android allows you to conveniently stream music from your smartphone or tablet. The Sonica DAC supports high-resolution PCM and DSD audio via its USB, coaxial, and optical inputs. Additionally, Sonica DAC is a high-resolution audio player and can decode files directly from a connected USB drive, NAS drive, or network shares. Available in Fall 2016. Price: $799."

 

Not a lot of details, would really like to see pictures of the business (back) end of the unit.

My big hope is that it will stream DSD via ethernet...gapless. If so, it could be a big player.

[Vassago]

Have been a huge fan of this company for well over a decade.

i am going to shoe horn in a little history about my experience with them.

 

i was helping a friend put together his Home Theater here in Dallas and picked all the gear that would be part of his system.

 

i had spec'd a very early Oppo DVD player as a source for a JVC DILA Front Projector.

 

William Phelps whom was well known for his expertise in CRT Projector Circles in this period had just started some advanced calibrations with JVC products. He ask me a few questions that quickly went beyond my depth about our DVD source of choice.

 

i put a very confused Senior contact at Oppo in direct touch with William and it turned out after a few conversations via email that they were some 12 miles apart. The Oppo peeps grabbed their Engineers and accepted Williams offer to come see his then State of the Art "Halo Deck" Projection Room for themselves. I suppose they were curious as to why this odd CRT Projector Enthusiast segment of the marketplace had shown such rabid excitement for their gear. They had never thought in terms of the resolution required to fill 120" screens prior to that encounter.

[occamsrazor]

The Oppo Sonica seems pretty interesting to me, especially as it will use the new 9038 chip. My main question will be what kind of network streaming it will support....

[rns]

Excited to learn more as specs are released. Thanks for sharing.

[徐中銳]

Available in Fall 2016. Price: $799."

 

Not a lot of details, would really like to see pictures of the business (back) end of the unit.

My big hope is that it will stream DSD via ethernet...gapless. If so, it could be a big player.

 

Voilà

[occamsrazor]

Voilà

 

That's the Oppo Sonica Wi-Fi Speaker.

We are talking about the Oppo Sonica DAC.

I agree the naming system is a bit confusing.

 

(Pic from Absolute Sound link in 1st post)

[徐中銳]

Well, I searched for back end, it said Oppo Digital’s Sonica – Look Ma, No wires! aka http://www.hifitoday.com/oppo-digitals-sonica-look-ma-no-wires/

That's the Oppo Sonic Wi-Fi Speaker.

We are talking about the Oppo Sonica DAC.

I agree the naming system is a bit confusing.

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]28977[/ATTACH]

(Pic from Absolute Sound link in 1st post)

[Tieu Ngao]

Hope it's NOT made in China!

[fiske]

Specification of the The ES9038PRO SABRE DAC;

ESS Technology :: ES9038PRO

http://www.esstech.com/files/7414/5193/1716/ES9038PRO_Product_brief_121715.pdf

[cordobaman]

...My big hope is that it will stream DSD via ethernet...gapless. If so, it could be a big player.

 

I spoke with Oppo Digital USA, they hope to have more details to release "by the end of next week". It is "believed" to be able to play DSD gaplessly from a network, unsure whether it will do gapless from a connected hard drive. No additional info/pictures available.

[fiske]

I hope this DAC will do both Multichannel and stereo in both PCM and DSD.

[bmoura]

I hope this DAC will do both Multichannel and stereo in both PCM and DSD.

 

Oppo Digital has said that the Sonica DAC will offer Stereo DSD 256 playback (via the USB DAC input jack on the back of the DAC), but no Multichannel playback (it only has Stereo output jacks).

[audio.bill]

Just spotted a couple of pictures of the new Oppo Sonica DAC including one of the rear connections:

 

[徐中銳]

Well, read for yourself

 

Hope it's NOT made in China!

[jjraffin]

Well well... I look forward to seeing if it will appear soon in the Roon list of compatible network players...

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Kiendo]

Just spotted a couple of pictures of the new Oppo Sonica DAC including one of the rear connections:

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]29104[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]29105[/ATTACH]

 

Many thanks for the pics. I wish I could see inside, really curious about the analog section and PSU. Hope it comes with toroidal transformers

[kevin gilmore]

sure hope gapless playback over the network actually works on this one.

 

the teac is very broken for this.

[audio.bill]

Here's another overview with some additional details for your reference:

 

Behind its brushed aluminium front panel which houses an extremely clear OLED display sits the latest DAC from ESS Technology, the ES9038PRO. It features the critically acclaimed ESS patented 32-bit HyperStream™ DAC architecture and Time Domain Jitter Eliminator. The power supply is designed with a toroidal transformer.

 

The Sonica DAC supports high-resolution PCM and DSD audio. The DAC has a theoretical SNR of 140 dB and total harmonic distortion of -122 dB. Connections provided are Asynchronous USB, coaxial and optical inputs, as well as AirPlay, Bluetooth, and Ethernet. You can stream your favorite digital tunes from your NAS or your smart device. The Sonica DAC will decode the files directly from your USB or NAS drive. This DAC also has a pair of RCA inputs so you can hook up your turntable or tape player in the loop and send audio out to any of your networked Sonica speakers.

[jmdesignz2]

I hope this DAC will do both Multichannel and stereo in both PCM and DSD.

 

me too but looks like not

[wizardofoz]

no headphone output either I wonder if it will do track name display on network streaming.

[occamsrazor]

no headphone output either I wonder if it will do track name display on network streaming.

 

That does seem really weird to not include any type of headphone socket....

[JediJoker]

That does seem really weird to not include any type of headphone socket....

They're clearly marketing this as mainly a networked audio renderer to integrate into an existing stereo, as the "Sonica" name-branding would suggest. The other Sonica products are wireless speakers.

[Jay-dub]

You could probably hook up a headphone amp to the RCA output and a power amp or powered speakers to the XLR output.

[Longbluesquid]

Now could I just use this as a streamer correct to my benchmark dac2 hgc? I want to replace my Mac mini

[JediJoker]

Now could I just use this as a streamer correct to my benchmark dac2 hgc? I want to replace my Mac mini

Don't think it has digital out, given that it's a DAC itself.