Article: Matrix X-SABRE Pro (MQA) DAC Review

[Josh Mound]

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[Josh Mound]

6 hours ago, Ralf11 said:

were the listening comparisons done sighted or blind?

 

Level-matched and sighted. (I don't feel like going through the effort to conduct blind tests for every review is worth the effort, since, as I outlined in the RME review, it doesn't seem to convince anyone.)

[Josh Mound]

9 hours ago, JoeWhip said:

Hi Josh. You may want to compare this DAC with the Yggy with the Unison USB installed. We added it last night and it is an improvement in detail, tone and dynamics. Not a ton but enough to make a nice improvement. Cheers.

 

I'm interested in the Unison based on what I've read. But I'm also happy with the Gen 5 and have various USB->SPDIF converter options. So I might wait until my Yggy's warranty lapses and then upgrade to the Unison to get the warranty refresh.

[Josh Mound]

From the No Good Deeds... category, the folks at ASR are mad that, in the context of my rave review of the Matrix, I suggested that the hated (by them) Yggrasil may be better in some areas than the Matrix. 

[Josh Mound]

7 hours ago, firedog said:

The Yggy was measured there several times and did really badly (https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/review-and-measurements-of-schiit-yggdrasil-v2-dac.3607/)

so even if they haven't heard it, the people there get offended if anyone likes it. To them it proves you are lacking listening skills and are fooled by expectation bias. Because you must have tin ears if you like such a poorly measuring unit. Of course, they probably also couldn't "hear the measurements" in a non-sighted test. 

 

The Yggy has been measured now by Schiit themselves, Marv, AtomicBob, Jude, and a few others. On things like the unbalanced "droop," Amir is the outlier. (I've also measured that on mine, and it doesn't exist, FWIW.)

 

But I just think there's a fundamental ideological disconnect between ASR loyalists and others. As I've advised people before, if they think the ASR suite of measurements tell the whole story, they should buy a Schiit Modi 3 or Khadas Tone Board for $99 and be done with looking at DACs.

[Josh Mound]

3 hours ago, barrows said:

Josh, I believe the synchronous/asynchronus mode settings refers to the ESS 9038, and not the USB interface?  The ESS chips can be run either "synchronous" in which case the oversampling does in the DAC chip is synchronous, (they are referring to a case where master clock and bit clock are derived form he same source), which results (again, inside the ESS chip) any oversampling being done in integer fashion, which is easier math, and theoretically will result in more precision (less artifacts) in the oversampling process.

The Asynchronous setting with the ESS chip means the master clock is unrelated to the bit clock, and the DAC resamples all incoming data based on a separate master clock frequency (often 100 MHz is used, but it can be many different frequencies).  The Asynchronus sample rate converter of the ESS chip makes it "immune" to any jitter coming from the source, but with USB input jitter is unlikely to be a problem anyway.

I build DIY DACs with ESS chips, so I am quite well versed in different ways of running the ESS chips.  I find the synchronous mode to sound more natural: defeating the ASRC and only allowing integer based oversampling appears to avoid some artifacts.

There are not a lot of DACs which allow the ESS chip to be used in this mode, if the Matrix really does, that is very interesting to me.  BTW, Ayre only uses this mode on their DACs: running the ESS 9038 synchronously, with the OSF (aka "jitter eliminator") off, and doing the first step of oversampling in an FPGA (to 705.6 or 768 kHz).  I find the less the ESS chips do themselves, the better they sound (more natural tone/timbre, better depth as well).  Even better can be sending the chip DSD 256, with sync clocking-I always run DSD 256 into my DIY ESS 9038 DAC.

If you still have the Matrix around, give the synchronous mode a try, and see if you experience all the same details, but with better tone and timbre.

Good catch! You are correct. I need to update the article and try the synchronous mode. 
 

Are you behind Sonore? I *love* your two free SACD programs! I’ve used them for my TBVO columns. 
 

I’m also looking for a good new USB to SPDIF converter. If you’d like a review of the ultraDigital and @The Computer Audiophile gives the thumbs up (am I missing a previous review, Chris?), I’d be interested in reviewing it. 

[Josh Mound]

I've posted an update to this DAC review (and several others) for those interested: