Jump to content
IGNORED

exaSound E68 Stereo DSD512 and 8-Channel DSD256 DAC


Recommended Posts

I tired the zoom controls!

 

For Youtube, radio and Qobuz, the zoom controls worked fine to stretch the picture sideways to fill the screen.

 

However, the zoom control had no effect on the ROON display whatsoever - something perhaps Exasound can address as this is beta.

 

Another thing Exasound could address is having an onscreen control to make the mouse larger, as on a very large flatscreen its pretty darn small.

 

Nonetheless, kudos to Exasound for adding features like this!

Link to comment
  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

George and the exaSound team is having a nice sale for Black Friday and the holidays. His S88 mk2 is the best multichannel dac I’ve ever had, and the Delta and Sigma servers are steals, if they fit for your system.  

Link to comment
5 hours ago, ted_b said:

George and the exaSound team is having a nice sale for Black Friday and the holidays. His S88 mk2 is the best multichannel dac I’ve ever had, and the Delta and Sigma servers are steals, if they fit for your system.  

Ted, I saw at the Quad Forum that you have an Aerial Acoustics system. Good taste. I've had Aerial speakers in my theater since 1997 - currently being remodeled and upgraded. 

 

And of course great taste in Exasound, I have the s88 v1 in my family room system.

 

What have you noticed with the s88 v2 vs the v1? Thanks.

Link to comment

Steve, Hi. Yes Michael Kelly and I became friends during numerous shows, and then I finally succumbed. 😀

 

I got one of the first S88 V2s from George so I’ve not heard the V1, sorry. 

Link to comment
  • 3 weeks later...

Just got my Surround Master v3 (Surround Master V3 - INVOLVE AUDIO) ($695 plus shipping) two days ago. Wasn't sure if I would like it, given my system is all solid state - Exasound s88 7.1 channel DAC ROON Ready with Exasound Delta ROON Core, Coleman 7.1 channel switcher (as also have Marantz AV7706 SSP and TCL 75" Mini-LED 4k TV), front/center/right Totem Audio Onwall Tribe Vs with PS Audio Stellar M1200 monoblocks, surround left/right Totem Audio Onwall Tribe IIIs with PS Audio Stellar M700 monoblocks, pair of REL S510 subs in front and pair of REL T9i subs in back. Up to now, my two channel has been stellar, and multi-channel even better!

But darn. Connected for now the Surround Master for front left and right and surround left and right, using in quadraphonic 4.0 mode. Note my REL subs for this purpose are connected via high level input with all main speakers running full range (I find Totems sound best this way as well). And my conclusion with lots of listening to 2 converted to 4 channel is WOW WOW WOW! Really outstanding. The surrounds are ever present - yet it all sounds so natural, like the recording being played in live good sounding venue. Very impressed! 

I can't say I was expecting this - in that I expected that in some cases my "pure" 2 channel would sound better than using the Surround Master v3 in quad 4 channel. But using the quad 4 channel is a revelation.

Note that for grandchild proofing purposes, I have all on wall speakers. But I have a large large family room extending into an open kitchen and beyond with large open and irregular surfaces and it sound great (surprisingly) without any acoustics treatments or even room correction for low frequencies! And my speaker cabling is all in wall, in front low grade Audioquest in wall but doubled up, and old 14 guage Monster Cable in the wall for the surrounds. Maybe exotic audio cables would make a difference??? But color me ecstaticly satisfied.

 

Thought maybe some s88 owners might want to try this! I got mine just in time - now the website indicates its backordered.

 

By the way, I blame s88 Ted B for this. He turned me onto the Quadraphonic Forum where I learned about the Surround Master v3. He also years ago turned me onto ripping SACDs. Thanks a lot Ted. And we both own and luv Aerial Acoustics speakers - I have owned different versions of Aerials since 1997 for my dedicated home theater, currently under renovation/upgrading.

 

 

 
 
 
Link to comment
  • 2 weeks later...

Hello everyone and Happy Holidays!

 

Since we (ExaSound DAC owners) are audio enthusiasts, I thought this information would be helpful.

 

Up until a few months ago, I primarily relied on Native DSD for high resolution downloads.  In fact, Native DSD began offering DXD resolution for many titles which is wonderful.  But, recently I have gone to two producer's websites for even more resolution choices.  I hope you find this interesting.

 

Bert van der Wolf, Northstar Recording, has completely revamped his own website:  The Spirit of the Turtle.  His recordings are usually made available through Challenge Classics.  However, on his own website he is making available all his work in a variety of formats including, DXD, Binaural (headphones) and Spatial Audio (9.1 format).  He is very responsive to inquiries.  I emailed him about downloading a collection in surround DXD, the Mendelssohn Symphonies (de Vriend), and he wrote back it was an older recording so he hadn't gotten to "rendering" the master DXD file in surround.  Just a few days later he wrote me that he posted the DXD surround files with this comment:  "Thanks for pointing out this silly fact, it triggered some more action on this side to finally update more productions to their original source format. It will be many though, so is a lot of work...

Apparently Surround is getting more common gradually after all and the appreciation for my preferred format DXD is also growing. A surprise I must admit..."

 

You may want to read his blog post on his new Binaural format for headphones.  I purchased one album and used headsets plugged into the S88 headphone jack.  Pretty impressive.  Binaural Playback.

 

Here's an even more interesting development over at TRPTK.  Brendon Heinst is the owner and recording/mastering engineer.  In fact, he used to work with Bert van der Wolf before opening his own company.  He made a BLOG post this past October called:  Lower Resolution, Better Sound Quality?  That got my attention.  It is a great read and very worthwhile to understand what we are sending to our S88 DAC.  Here is the end result of his revamping his entire production chain:  "In almost all cases, we recommend the 352.8kHz 24bit FLAC file. It’s relatively compact, and since it’s mastered at 64bit and then converted using Saracon the sound quality is utterly amazing. If you’re adventurous and would like to experiment with adding your own DSP, sample rate conversion, dithering or noise shaping, you can check out the 64bit floating point ones, since that will save you at least one conversion step in the process. It’s actually that simple."

 

I have a few TRPTK albums downloaded from TRPTK.  He says they've remastered, using the new process, all albums, so I will re-download them and take a listen.  When I buy another album, I'll evaluate if the new production chain does indeed improve sound quality.

 

Technology changes in music production and reproduction continue to advance.  Exciting times.

 

Marcus

Link to comment

Subject: SPDIF vs. USB Sound Quality? The e68 or one like it would be a great choice for my 5.1 system, as I'd very often be using JRiver, VLC, and/or PowerDVD 19 for DVD and BD movies. But I'd also still want to play BD movies on my Oppo 95 and/or Pioneer LX500 players, which of course, have no USB outputs. Would anyone care to share any such sonic comparisons made between the e68 DAC's USB and coax/optical SPDIF inputs?

Link to comment
  • 4 weeks later...

Yes, Steve, and I noticed it seems to connect the web GUI very quickly now.  George says the web communication is greatly improved.  It's great to have products from companies that clearly demonstrate continuous support.  exaSound is certainly one of them.

Link to comment
On 1/24/2023 at 9:23 PM, ted_b said:

Yes, Steve, and I noticed it seems to connect the web GUI very quickly now.  George says the web communication is greatly improved.  It's great to have products from companies that clearly demonstrate continuous support.  exaSound is certainly one of them.

 

Come to think of it I have noticed this as well.

Link to comment
  • 1 month later...
On 6/23/2021 at 6:43 PM, Desertpilot said:

Update:  As you know, I wanted to set distance settings from speakers to MLP while using the S88.  I use JRiver and tried their room correction in DSP Studio.  I discovered it works for PCM files but not for DSD files.  A couple days ago, I began a 14 day trial of ROON.  The program does allow setting speaker distances (and, as needed, volume equalizing between speakers) for both PCM and DSD files.  Adding ROON's DSP processing (for speaker distance) slowed down my computer (core i7 windows 10).  I checked ROON's processing speed in the program's signal path window and it was very slow.  ROON's message boards provided lots of tips to improve processing speed which worked.  Processing speed, even with DSP engaged, is excellent now.  No more interruptions.

 

Lastly, I successfully migrated all JRiver tags to ROON.  As an aside, I made some tag changes in JRiver and they immediately updated in ROON.  My current plan is to keep both players.  I need JRiver for tagging music files (easy) and playing movies.  ROON's DSP does offer a lot more capability, but for now, speaker distance and volume control is sufficient.

 

My integration of the S88 in to my system is now complete.

 

Marcus

Hello, about tagging, mp3tag has tagged all files I have given to it. Including DSD (.dsf .dst .wav .flac)

Link to comment
  • 4 weeks later...

How I configure Roon for MQA ?

 

I can't see 192kbits

source tidal 48/24 , mqa 192

mqa 192 authentification

e38 I only see 96khz.

 

Capacity MQA: No or render only give 96khz anyway

Activate decoder mqa first level core : ON (if off I have 48khz)

 

Link to comment
  • 4 weeks later...

I was using an Uptone Audio Ether Regen as a switch for ethernet to my s88. I have DJM Electronics Gigafoil v4, converts ethernet to optical and back. Works great with my Kaleidescape gear - picture and sound are clearly even better. But for whatever reason it won't work with my s88, when I connect it, I get no ethernet connection. So today I got a Sonore Audio optical converter package from Small Green Computer. Hooked up and works right away no issues. And the sound. WOW!

I can clearly hear the sonic improvement. With the Ether Regen, the sonic improvement was there on some stuff by marginal in comparison.

Link to comment
5 hours ago, Steve Bruzonsky said:

........ But for whatever reason it won't work with my s88, when I connect it, I get no ethernet connection. So today I got a Sonore Audio optical converter package from Small Green Computer. Hooked up and works right away no issues. And the sound. WOW!  I can clearly hear the sonic improvement. With the Ether Regen, the sonic improvement was there on some stuff by marginal in comparison.

Just curious if you also use any pc or mac based room correction like DIRAC Live or Audiolense. If yes, if you then initially encountered any problems with system gain losses due to the use of that software how did you overcome them? Or is the input sensitivity of your power amps sufficiently high to realize ample output power?

Link to comment
3 minutes ago, nxrm said:

Just curious if you also use any pc or mac based room correction like DIRAC Live or Audiolense. If yes, if you then initially encountered any problems with system gain losses due to the use of that software how did you overcome them? Or is the input sensitivity of your power amps sufficiently high to realize ample output power?

 

I am using strictly ROON via ethernet, ROON Core is Exasound Delta, ROOM Ready is Exasound s88. In my family room I am not using room correction - frankly, its a super large area (see photos above with pictures) and I've been too lazy to go that last ounce so far. And tonight I'm up late, late, late because the Sonore Optical addition to my s88 is so darn remarkable.

S88 owners really ought to try it! Its so good that now I may have to consider upgrading my s88 from version 1 to version 2 (or version 3 if one comes out?)!

 

Kal Robinson, since you pretty much try everything (at least component wise), you really need to try this Sonore Optical! I think you will be mightily impressed!

Link to comment
11 hours ago, Kal Rubinson said:

Why?

 

Why not? 

 

You are at fault for my reading your reviews and posts and getting the s88 and Coleway 7.1sw switcher in the first place. Thanks.

 

Its well established at least in commercial and industrial that optical isolation is often used for ethernet connections. And some audiophiles are doing this (though audiophiles admittedly do all sorts of crazy stuff so can't give much stock to this. HA!)

The Gigafoil v4 optical I'm using with my Kaleidescape Strato C and Alto which serve as players for movies on my 88 TB Terra Server, and it certainly has improved my picture and sound. but for whatever reason it won't work with my s88, the ip address won't go through when its connected. But the Sonore optical works fine with the s88. I've been doing stuff all day where i can have the music on as I feel its that much of a sonic improvement in my family room system coupled with the s88!

Link to comment
24 minutes ago, Steve Bruzonsky said:

You are at fault for my reading your reviews and posts and getting the s88 and Coleway 7.1sw switcher in the first place. Thanks.

You are welcome.

 

I have no real appetite for such devices nor for the added complexity.    

Kal Rubinson

Senior Contributing Editor, Stereophile

 

Link to comment
14 minutes ago, Kal Rubinson said:

You are welcome.

 

I have no real appetite for such devices nor for the added complexity.    

OK  I respect you. But as for complexity - I am using a Gigafoil v4 optical (ethernet plugs in and out, converted to optical and back inside( from DJM Electronics for ROON with my Trinnov Altitude 32 SSP (when it gets back up, as my theater gets redone), and I'm using in my basement system right now with Kaleidescape Strato C and Alto players. All you do is plug in the wall wart, connected ethernet each side, and presto! Works great with Alt32 for ROON and with Kaleidescape players. However, I tried it with the s88 and got no ip address/connection for whatever reason. But the Sonore optical is working great. Took just a few minutes to hook up, not a big deal, not complex at all at least in my book! Of course, I have an Exasound Delta ROON Core server in my master bedroom, and the s88 ROON Ready player out in the famil room, all hard wired ethernet. I'm not using USB. For anyone using the s88 as both a ROON Core and player, or using USB from ROON Core ino the s88, I don't know the optical isolation would necessarily make any difference.

Link to comment

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now



×
×
  • Create New...