Who makes chips for audiophile equipment?

[Ralf11]

Burr-Brown used to be the big name, and there are the ESS DAC chips, but who else is involved?

 

I hear about Wolfson, but never hear anything AEIS or others.

 

 

[mansr]

Burr-Brown was acquired by TI in 2000. The DAC and ADC lines are still available. I don't know to what extent TI has updated the designs.

 

Wolfson was recently acquired by Cirrus Logic, which already had an audio line. For now the old Wolfson parts seem to be available, though I'd imagine some consolidation is likely in the future.

 

You failed to mention AKM, whose chips are widely used in both mass-market and audiophile gear.

 

My general impression is that ESS Sabre DACs are used exclusively in audiophile equipment. BB/TI and AKM can be found in a lot of studio gear as well. Cirrus/Wolfson is more common in lower end devices.

[Ralf11]

Thx, looks like AEIS is not involved

 

http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/companyProfile?symbol=AEIS.O

[semente]

11 hours ago, mansr said:

Burr-Brown was acquired by TI in 2000. The DAC and ADC lines are still available. I don't know to what extent TI has updated the designs.

 

Wolfson was recently acquired by Cirrus Logic, which already had an audio line. For now the old Wolfson parts seem to be available, though I'd imagine some consolidation is likely in the future.

 

You failed to mention AKM, whose chips are widely used in both mass-market and audiophile gear.

 

My general impression is that ESS Sabre DACs are used exclusively in audiophile equipment. BB/TI and AKM can be found in a lot of studio gear as well. Cirrus/Wolfson is more common in lower end devices.

 

How about Analogue Devices, aren't they still making D/A chips?

[mansr]

4 hours ago, semente said:

How about Analogue Devices, aren't they still making D/A chips?

They are, but only for non-audio applications. A couple of DACs nevertheless use them, but they are rare.

[lucretius]

On 2017-06-25 at 9:20 AM, mansr said:

They are, but only for non-audio applications. A couple of DACs nevertheless use them, but they are rare.

 

The Cambridge Audio 851D uses Analog Devices chips.

[miguelito]

On ‎6‎/‎25‎/‎2017 at 9:20 AM, mansr said:

They are, but only for non-audio applications. A couple of DACs nevertheless use them, but they are rare.

They are Schiit. 

[Ralf11]

what does a manf. have to do to make a good DAC chip (as vs. a garden variety one)?

 

I know the ladder DACs need precision resistances, but what else?

[mansr]

On 2017-6-25 at 2:20 PM, mansr said:

They are, but only for non-audio applications. A couple of DACs nevertheless use them, but they are rare.

Correction: they do have a few audio DACs that I missed when I checked their website. That said, they top out at 110 dB SNR, which isn't exactly audiophile grade.

[kevint]

AD1955 made by Analog Devices is used in several highly respected DACs like Berkeley Reference, Bricasti, etc

it has 120db SNR,  THD+N vs amplitude plot is the best I have seen, although I am not sure if its measuring condition is the same as other manufacturers.

AD1955 is still a highend da for sure

[mansr]

5 hours ago, kevint said:

AD1955 made by Analog Devices is used in several highly respected DACs like Berkeley Reference, Bricasti, etc

it has 120db SNR,  THD+N vs amplitude plot is the best I have seen, although I am not sure if its measuring condition is the same as other manufacturers.

AD1955 is still a highend da for sure

You're quite correct, and I was mistaken. The product table on their website doesn't work well on tiny phone screens, and I misread it.

 

So that means we have ADI, AKM, ESS, TI/BB, and Cirrus/Wolfson as the main producers of high-end audio DAC chips. I recall someone, possibly @Jud, mentioning a DAC based on an obscure chip from Niigata Seimitsu, but this company is no longer in that business.

[Jud]

26 minutes ago, mansr said:

So that means we have ADI, AKM, ESS, TI/BB, and Cirrus/Wolfson as the main producers of high-end audio DAC chips. I recall someone, possibly @Jud, mentioning a DAC based on an obscure chip from Niigata Seimitsu, but this company is no longer in that business.

 

FN1242a "Fluency" DAC chip.  It was used by Luxman and more recently by Sonore, and was popular in various DIY DAC designs.

[lucretius]

9 hours ago, Jud said:

 

FN1242a "Fluency" DAC chip.  It was used by Luxman and more recently by Sonore, and was popular in various DIY DAC designs.

https://www.audiostream.com/content/sonore-simple-design-exd-dac

[Ralf11]

9 hours ago, mansr said:

You're quite correct, and I was mistaken. The product table on their website doesn't work well on tiny phone screens, and I misread it.

 

So that means we have ADI, AKM, ESS, TI/BB, and Cirrus/Wolfson as the main producers of high-end audio DAC chips. I recall someone, possibly @Jud, mentioning a DAC based on an obscure chip from Niigata Seimitsu, but this company is no longer in that business.

 

well, that's 5 majors so we've avoided a duopoly

[Jud]

2 hours ago, lucretius said:

https://www.audiostream.com/content/sonore-simple-design-exd-dac

 

Yes.  I bought boards from exD for a DAC I semi-customized.  Never used the chip’s “Fluency” upsampling - used software upsampling into the DAC.

[FredM]

In addition to the list: Transient Audio also makes DAC chips/modules, they're used in Metrum DAC's.

http://transient-audio.nl/DAC_TWO.html

[Ralf11]

How about chips other than DAC chips?

[Sam Lord]

What companies make search engines for finding things out?

 

Okay, I'll be nice.  But what is your goal?  There are many companies involved, some are foundries and some are only design houses.  I couldn't possibly remember all that we used in our amps and preamps, but Linear, Onsemi, Maxim, Toshiba, TI, Vishay, and Motorola are a few that come to mind.  And the parts that aren't exactly chips, i.e. cut pieces from a wafer, are extremely important.  Dirt cheap, tiny metal film SMD resistors make all kinds of good products affordable now.