AudioEngine DAC3 - another study in deferred gratification?

[JonMarsh]

I've enjoyed AudioEngine desktop speakers for my computers on and off for some time- but usually end up giving them away to some deserving soul who comes along and admires them and pines after them...

As a company, they've sort of fallen off my radar, though, as my favorite desktop speakers for some time have been the Kanto Tuk, with their AMT tweeter and built in class D amps.

BUT! An article 5 days ago on Ecoustics changed that, about the Audioengine DAC3, with USBC connectivity for headphones, though obviously with the right cable it would likely be plugged into a "normal" two channel stereo.

Why is that of interest? Well, with the idea that a few pictures might be worth quite a few words, I'll supply a few words and a few pictures, and just let you ponder the implications...

• DAC type: ES9281A PRO (32 bit)
• Full scale output: 2.0Vrms
• Frequency response: 10Hz – 25kHz (+/-0.5dB)
• S/N ratio: >116dB
• THD+N: (1kHz FS 96kS/s) <0.002 %
• PCM support: Up to 32bit / 384KHz
• DSD support: Up to 32bit / 384KHz
• MQA support: MQA rendering
• Headphone impedance: 12 ohms to 10K ohms
• Product Dimensions: 1.9”×0.6”×0.375" (48x15x10mm) Weight: 12 grams

Now, the worst thing about this puppy is the price: $150. Steve knows full well how weak my impulse control is, in the absence of effective adult supervision, so you can imagine what happened next...



It's just so darned cute, and even smaller than I imagined it. Quite a bit smaller!


And of course, at the same time I ordered a relatively pricey adapter cable with gold plated connectors to go from headphone to stereo RCAs so I can plug this into something like my Halcro Preamp. And drive it from the music server software on my M1 MacBook Pro, and give this a bit of a workout with the Isiris rebuild.

Of course, I'll probably cheat and try it out with some Bowers and Wilkins headphones I have on hand- most of my really "good" headphones are in storage still. I saw them just the other day, and said to myself, "Nope, don't have time to mess with those right now!".

And that is the crux of the problem, so much going on that finding time to squeeze this in may take a bit... though, gee, getting this tuning on the MacBook this evening shouldn't be THAT big a deal, right? But doing a good evaluation will be... haven't been able to figure out a way to test with the AP, don't have USB C output with my existing digital interface.

But considering the price, and the ESS Sabre chip used, if this fits an application slot in your music lifestyle, at this price, it's probably hard to go wrong.

Stay tuned.

[theSven]

Did you buy an adapter for USB C? That should do the trick to be able to use it.

[JonMarsh]

It's not a problem about USB cable - it comes with those, both USB-C to USB-C, and USB-C to Lightning.

The issue would be testing it on my Audio Precision APx555 Analyzer; the only input is USB-C, and the Digital module on my analyzer does not have a USB-C output. Just stuff like SPDIF and AES/EBU. So doing hardware measurements isn't feasible at this time.

But I did hook it up with my M1 13" MacBook Pro, and have a few first impressions to share...

• The power on/off function is controlled by whether you have a headphone jack or cable plugged into the output.
• Of course, for audio output, one needs to use the Midi utility to select what device Core Audio output is routed to.
• My B&W headphones are probably fairly sensitive; I was wanting to listen to lowish volume while relaxing before the evening walk, and I had the volume turned down all the way to 6%; below that, the system went silent. Given the load rating of 12 ohms, I expect the actual output impedance to be pretty low. However, note that this gain adjustment is not made by reducing bits, but rather by a custom two channel variable analog gain circuit.
• Checking out the data sheet for the Sabre DAC chip, it's a highly integrated part, including jitter suppression, and many other features that used to take up a substantial amount of space on a PCB.
• I've been spending too much time of late with bluetooth headphones, even expensive ones like the Apple AirPodMax or some Sony high end models. With the reduced data rates of Bluetooth and digital compression, they are not a valid standard to compare this product against- the midrange tonal clarity and lack of artifacts with the DAC3 is quite obvious. The only album listened to was Alice Gomez's "Obsidian Butterfly", but it's one I'm very familiar with, and has interesting tonal textures, as it is based on her compositions using native Indian themes and instruments.

For those that like to "nerd out", here's a block diagram of the ES9281A chip: