[NotKunvinced]

Thank you @Tysun for getting this thread started right!

I have the PDV2 and 9038S. I will be ordering the 9038D when available. And also the speaker powerdac HiFiToy when Ivan gets around to finishing it. The PDV2+P1 is a god-tier setup. The 9038S is the most transparent DAC I've ever heard - it has plenty of power on its own, but the 2.5 balanced out pairs perfectly with the XCAN's 2.5 balanced input - giving you about 2x the power while keeping your entire chain balanced the whole time.

These are industry-changing products.

Do Not Sleep On E1DA

Totally agree with everything, except I don't have the xcan so can't comment there.

 

[nesty]

The Powerdac v2, makes my earbuds sing. It transforms it from a baby to a grown man.

 

[Krassi]

got my sundaras hooked on them and some techhouse stuff had tremor bass and still so striking juicy agile treble.. on 58% volume ) and only generic vinyl sound preset..

 

[Isloo]

Thank you @Tysun for getting this thread started right!

I have the PDV2 and 9038S. I will be ordering the 9038D when available. And also the speaker powerdac HiFiToy when Ivan gets around to finishing it. The PDV2+P1 is a god-tier setup. The 9038S is the most transparent DAC I've ever heard - it has plenty of power on its own, but the 2.5 balanced out pairs perfectly with the XCAN's 2.5 balanced input - giving you about 2x the power while keeping your entire chain balanced the whole time.

These are industry-changing products.

Do Not Sleep On E1DA

They both sound like great products, which makes deciding between difficult. Do you think it is worth getting both PDV2 and 9038s? Or do you find you actually tend to use one more than the other? Thanks.

 

[Infoseeker]

I just might get one of these to be dedicated for my laptops.

 

[Alboxing]

I am really interested in E1DA's dacs, as soon as 9038D is out imma buy it together with the powerdac.

Can somebody with the 9038S tell me if it has the typical ESS sound signature? And by "ESS sound" I mean thin, cold and overly analytic.

That's the only thing that worries me, I remember reading E1DA himself saying the 9038S type of sound is not his personal favourite, he said it was "too clean".
Some people have said that Sabre 9038 can sound full and musical when well implemented (some people described the KTB as full and "analog" sounding) but others still complained it is cold and thin...so many contraddicting infos out there.

 

[Lohb]

May A\B both myself to decide....looking like best bang to buck gear in a few years on this site.

These are like that 'labs company' who built out Sabre proto dongles ....without 5x the price and 2-year wait and no delivery for so many in past.
Just wish he had put OPA1622 in 9038S right from start..such a stellar combo with 9038 Gen DAC chips....noise suppression in those chips to boot.

 

[Alboxing]

May A\B both myself to decide....looking like best bang to buck gear in a few years on this site.

These are like that 'labs company' who built out Sabre proto dongles ....without 5x the price and 2-year wait and no delivery for so many in past.
Just wish he had put OPA1622 in 9038S right from start..such a stellar combo with 9038 Gen DAC chips....noise suppression in those chips to boot.

yeah, I think he should try setting the 9038 in NOS mode if possible.

Thinking about it I don't even remember Ivan saying what reconstruction filter he set.

 

[Lohb]

yeah, I think he should try setting the 9038 in NOS mode if possible.

Thinking about it I don't even remember Ivan saying what reconstruction filter he set.

Right would that be a new setting or you mean that 'tube tone harmonic' setting being position 1 of the filters ?

 

[Alboxing]

Right would that be a new setting or you mean that 'tube tone harmonic' setting being position 1 of the filters ?

I mean setting the chip in non-oversampling mode and filter-bypass as the default setting for all the "modes". As far as I heard the khadas is set more or less that way.

I am no audio engineer, but as far as I know the startup modes ( normal, performance, tube 2nd harmonic dominant mode, etc.) he achieved setting a register inside the dac chip called "thd compensation" which apparently can manipulate thd parameters.

 

[Tysun]

@Alboxing
PDV2 is reported to have more 'warmth' and 'full' without integrated pEQ, with integrated pEQ it can be anything you want, like a chameleon.
9038S is reported to have more 'neutral' and 'clean' without 'sabre shrill'. You lose the ability to have integrated pEQ function in order to get absolute portability.
At that price why not get both? If you don't like one, you can easily resell at a cheaper price because the curiosity for these DACs in head Fi community is very high right now.

 

[bobbooo]

@Alboxing
PDV2 is reported to have more 'warmth' and 'full' without integrated pEQ, with integrated pEQ it can be anything you want, like a chameleon.
9038S is reported to have more 'neutral' and 'clean' without 'sabre shrill'. You lose the ability to have integrated pEQ function in order to get absolute portability.
At that price why not get both? If you don't like one, you can easily resell at a cheaper price because the curiosity for these DACs in head Fi community is very high right now.

What specific specs / measurements of the PDv2 cause it to have a more 'warm' and 'full' sound? Higher distortion? (THD or intermodulation?)

 

[Alboxing]

@Alboxing
PDV2 is reported to have more 'warmth' and 'full' without integrated pEQ, with integrated pEQ it can be anything you want, like a chameleon.
9038S is reported to have more 'neutral' and 'clean' without 'sabre shrill'. You lose the ability to have integrated pEQ function in order to get absolute portability.
At that price why not get both? If you don't like one, you can easily resell at a cheaper price because the curiosity for these DACs in head Fi community is very high right now.

yeah that's exactly right, the prices are so good that it is a no brainer to get both which I will.

What separates E1DA's devices from the competition is that much power in such small format, I didn't even know it was possible to be honest.

I also like that Ivan is targeting that niche (which I belong to) that do NOT use phones as their main source and do NOT want/need a battery do deal with!

I use my dacs with my desktop/laptop computer, so I need a good sounding, reasonably powered, reliable and compact dac amp combo.

I have seen some people have been putting some pressure on Ivan to put batteries inside his devices, but some of us do NOT want a battery inside.

I see devices with batteries as "devices with an expiration dates", little bit like a yogurt device, because more often than not when the battery starts having issues (and all of them eventually do) then the device does not even power up anymore and the thing is turned into an expensive paperweight. Unless you send it to be serviced by its creator but that is very costly in itself.

 

[Tysun]

What specific specs / measurements of the PDv2 cause it to have a more 'warm' and 'full' sound? Treble roll-off? Higher distortion? (THD or intermodulation?)

I'm not well versed in these technical terms just reporting what generally users (including myself) have reported. You can check first post or official website [ Link ] if you are knowledgable enough to compare the specs between these two to understand the reason how the differences came about.

PDV2 uses Texas Instruments TAS5558 chipset while 9038S uses ESS 9038Q2M chipset. Probably one of the many factors causing the SQ differences too.

But with companion pEQ app HPToy you can tweak PDV2 to any SQ of your liking. You can't do the same for 9038S. There are no integrated pEQ app for 9038S, only 4 different modes (Normal/Performance/Tube/IEM).

 

[Alboxing]

What specific specs / measurements of the PDv2 cause it to have a more 'warm' and 'full' sound? Higher distortion? (THD or intermodulation?)

Yeah , I'd say it is about the specific distortion profile of the device.

Using the reviews Amirm does @audioscience as an example, if you take a look at the main dashboard screenshot you will see that the most basic test is done by sending the dac a 1khz tone at 0dbfs.
That is obviously the main tone and in a "perfect" dac there should be no "children" secondary tones beyond that emerging from the noise floor.

Obviously there are normally other "byproduct" tones. If they are "2n harmonic" so a 2k tone if a 1k tone is sent, that is said to be perceived as a pleasant richer sound by the ear.

On the other hand a 3rd harmonic one, is said for example to sound out of place and odd to the human ear.

So by comparing the ratios of the tones you get the distortion profile of that dac or amp