This should open up in December.
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Hello, I’m a beta tester. Have you had any problems with receiving signals over the spdif or coax inputs?
Input 4 coax showed blank on the screen while the remaining inputs showed as normal. I resolved the issue by doing a factory reset. However I did not put a live signal through it. So really can’t be sure it was a signal issue or just a display issue. Hope that helps.
I tried a factory reset and the problem still exists. Thank you
Hifi news just posted a review. 100 was the score. I have PDF, but not sure how to post.
No, the score was 88 (out of 100). A good review.
yeah my bad, I just saw the green bars with 100 at the end. assumed 100. which for them is great. 88 is not bad. I will see if I can put this PDF in my google drive and share.
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As a beta tester, I can confirm the sample rate issue did get flagged and fixed during testing. I assume the review was completed with the initial software release. Mine was reporting, for example, DSD 128 without issue. The display does take a moment to lock onto the correct sample rate.
And I can confirm it is a great DAC-transparent, accurate, deep black noise background-a real win for PSA.
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My understanding is that the Stellar Gold DAC does not use 8 separate DAC chips, but rather uses a single ESS90938 Pro chip that includes 8 channels of digital-to-analog conversion, with 4 channels allocated to each of the 2 stereo channels. So when descriptions of the Stellar Gold DAC describe 8 “digital to analog converters” or 8 “DACs”, this means that there are 8 channels of conversion but not 8 separate ESS chips.
The 90938 Pro chip was designed to be used in a range of applications, including multichannel receivers and high-quality stereo DACs. The Stellar Gold DAC appears to combine a well-regarded 8-channel DAC chip with some design magic from Darren Myers to produce an excellent sounding 2-channel implementation.
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This is correct. We use the 8-DAC chip pro version and dedicate 4 of the DACs to one channel and the other 4 to the other channel. Still separate DACs, just not in separate packages.
Disappointing to miss the spec’d 127 dB SNR by 11 dB. Expected better noise performance for 4x2 ES9038 pro design. Still quite a bit lower noise than all other PS Audio DACs.
Michael
But it will not sound anywhere near as good.
You have been a beta tester for this DAC?
I bet he got his data from A Source that’s unReliable
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Paul how does the single package 8 DAC improve the channel separation / lowers crosstalk compared to a single package 2 DAC? I could be totally wrong here, but I imagine more signal paths in an extremely small package potentially enhances crosstalk.
John Darko’s sight introduces the Stellar Gold series as a 8 DAC CHIP design, but you mentioned above it’s a single package. Are “Package” and “Chip” two different things, like a package of 8 chips?
From John Darko’s site:
I quite like the Stellar series sleek design. These units look attractive.
No, no at all. Here’s the thing. Crosstalk is an analog event. Small amounts of one channel can leak into the other channel. In digital, small amounts of digital crosstalk don’t affect anything because, unlike analog, digital transitions have to exceed a certain amplitude in order to trigger an event. If that crosstalk is below the (fairly high) threshold then it is completely ignored.
StellarGold has extraordinarily low noise and crosstalk and, because it averages the output of 4 dacs its distortion and noise specs (and crosstalk) are significantly lower than a single DAC.
It’s an extraordinarily good sounding and performing and measuring device.
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Using an 8 channel DAC chip for stereo takes advantage of differential operation to improve noise and THD.
(It is one physical chip, 8 channels.)
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Thank you for the explanation. Makes sense.