small report…NeoStream DAC (unspecified except to say its special!) and Oppo 205 DAC (ES9038PRO) sound about the same
@tony22 … have you directly compared ESS with DSD MkII?
Yes, the Oppo 205 as a matter of fact. A friend brought his over to my place. It sounds like an ESS DAC; I’ve heard more than a couple in my various systems over the years. They were good in their day. The MkII to my ears is better - and I’m being kind when I add the “to my ears” disclaimer. Sorry, but the vaunting of the Oppo over the years as some kind of audiophile device IME is unsupported by the listening.
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thanks
my interest is significantly closing the gap between the NeoStream/Oppo205 and vinyl playback (richer, cohesive), although their SQ is robust here
I’d get the MkII but don’t want to be faced with sending it back if dissatisfied, although PSA told me yesterday that they get very few returned.
sounds like you are saying that the Oppo205 and DMP would be about the same
Hmm, not sure how that could be presumed, but no, I’m not sure I’d say that. I’ve used my own Oppo (a 105D - used strictly a video player) as a transport, comparing to my DMP at the time, and I felt the DMP was better. But I don’t have any aftermarket mods on my Oppo, so I guess that could/might change things. I also don’t know if the transport section of the 205 is markedly better than on the 105D.
I do have another friend who uses his 205 as a transport into a DAC that I can’t recall at the moment, so I guess I can’t say much about that either. 
I do love the fact that the comparisons are between an 8K piece (DAC MK2) and ~1K piece (Oppo & Eversolo). Great conversations for the budget minded folks like me that 1. have lost a of of hearing over the years 2. Are perfectly happy with 90% of great is “good enough” 3. I can’t claim my entire system is good enough to go after the extra 10%. The age old saying “is the juice worth the squeeze”?
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My hopes for the A6 is as a streamer not as a DAC. Steve Huff said it sounds comparable to an entry level Lumin. That is pretty encouraging. I’m hoping that with the right power cord and isolation feet there might be more SQ benefits to be had. Time will tell.
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A great first post, welcome
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Stupid me I suppose. This sounded like you determined ESS chip in the DMP to be similar to other ESS chips and inferior.
Oppo 205 has 2 ESS DAC chips, DMP has 1…though presumably Oppo uses only one at a time (one for stereo, one for multi-channel). Specs between the Oppo and DMP DAC chips are similar according to ESSTECH, with Oppo’s ESS having greater dynamic range.
The Oppo’s DAC(s) and disc transport are independent. The Oppo can readily be used only for its DAC, skipping the disc transport altogether. EG, controlled by Roon and similar controllers. This is how I know the NeoStream and Oppo dacs have virtually if not identical SQ (a ‘streamer’ box is NOT needed!).
Sending digital out of the Oppo to another DAC (or presumably the DMP as well, if possible) has resolution limitations according to Oppo. I found lesser SQ when sending Oppo digital to an external McIntosh DAC.
I also found that playing SACD disc from the Oppo vs using the Oppo’s DAC by Roon et al playing DSD local files into the Oppo DAC produces virtually identical SQ if not identical.
When I discussed such ‘lesser’ DACs vs the DSD MkII yesterday, the PSA staffer pressumed that the MkII was better but had nothing definitive or tested to report. That’s what led me to asking about purchasing and returning if I was not satisfied. As I noted earlier, however, I am reluctant to face sending a new unit back since it would then not be a new unit for someone else. Also, the prospect of ever concluding that I wasted $8,000 would nag me for a long time…until I waste even more $. Wasting is not my thing. I’d rather donate more to charities.
Apologize for these details. Simply trying to best predict worthiness of the MkII for myself and other forum members. My primary objective is reducing SQ gap between my DACs and vinyl playback (superior, although my DACs elicit good SQ but less richness etc than vinyl). Yesterday, PSA told me they don’t know if the gap is significantly eliminated but rather both can be pleasing.
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akro, the DMP has no DAC chip in it; it’s the transport that came out with the original DS. So I figured you were asking about it in comparison to an Oppo similarly used as a transport only. Sorry if I misunderstood.
If true, Eversolo wrongly states it has “ 2xES9038Q2M DAC for independent stereo decoding.
And posters here are using the DMP dac, reporting it’s good SQ
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The DMP A6 has twin ESS chips one for each channel.
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Well you just contradicted your own previous post.
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Yes, I did say it had one dac chip rather than one for each channel, right/left
Was typing fast and was focusing on Tony’s SQ assessment of the DMP ESS chip
Though now he said that DMP has no dac
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I thought you were asking about the old Directstream Memory Player. 
That’s embarrassing!
Have no idea what that is
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It was a discontinued PS Audio universal transport and why every time you type DMP the forum database turns the type blue and provides links to info about it. So for the sake of continuity if you don’t want to type the complete name of the Eversolo product then just call it the A6.
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Thanks
Was hoping the thread’s purpose, posts, and Tony’s quotes about the DMP ESS dac, and context would help
When I click on blue DMP, I get a 404 Page Not Found web page, not any reference to a discontinued PSA product
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No, that was my bad. When I read your post up around #261 or so I saw you mentioned DMP (it being highlighted in blue), and at that point figured maybe you were wondering how the transport compared to the Oppo’s transport section. That’s when we went off course.
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hey, I made my own blunder (noted by @dawkinsj) for saying ‘this product’ had 1 ESS dac chip, not 1 for each channel (R and L)
devil is in the details as they say
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New guy is confused for sure. Lol
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