Latest Sabre32 Audio DACs Target Hi-Performance Blu-ray Player Applications

Latest Sabre32 Audio DACs Target Hi-Performance Blu-ray Player Applications

New ES9016 Sabre32 Ultra 8-channel Audio DAC and ES9006 Premier Audio DAC significantly improves the analog audio performance of a Blu-ray player to a level normally found only in audiophile-grade equipment costing 5- to 10-times more.

ESS Technology, Inc. is targeting manufacturers of high-performance Blu-ray disc players with its latest Sabre32 Audio DACs. A typically end user-application for the new ES9016 Sabre32 Ultra 8-channel Audio DAC and its ES9006 Premier Audio DAC would feature bit-stream and full decoding capability for high resolution audio tracks such as Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio.

The ES9016 Sabre32 Ultra DAC is the latest addition to the world’s highest performance and critically acclaimed Sabre32 Reference DAC (ES9018) introduced in early 2009. Unlike conventional sigma-delta (ΣΔ) DACs, the ES9016 Sabre32 Ultra DAC incorporates innovative patented circuits to deliver spectacular music with an unsurpassed sound stage, with up to 128dB dynamic range and 0.0003% (-110dB) total harmonic distortion, and free from clock jitter common in digital audio systems.  The patented circuits in the Sabre32 DAC include the 32-bit HyperStream™ modulator, capable of 100% modulation and unconditional stability, the Revolver™ Dynamic Element Matching which ensures the highest performance over an extremely wide audio dynamic range, and a Time Domain Jitter Eliminator to remove the digital jitter that causes distortion.

The ES9016 Sabre32 Ultra Audio DAC supports either 8-channel or stereo conversion from a digital audio input (up to 500kHz sampling rate) in PCM, DSD or SPDIF formats, features click-free soft mute, volume control, de-emphasis, programmable zero detect, per-channel customizable roll-off filter characteristics and consumes less than 100mW.

The ES9016 Sabre32 Ultra DAC significantly improves the analog audio performance of a Blu-ray player to a level normally found only in expensive audiophile-grade equipment. The ESS solution has already been adopted by OPPO Digital in its latest flagship Universal Blu-ray Disc Player. The OPPO Digital BDP-83 Special Edition’s stereo output is powered by the ES9016 Sabre32 Ultra 8-channel DAC configured in Quad Differential Stereo mode, while the unit’s 7.1-channel output is powered by the ES9006 Sabre Premier 8-channel DAC.

According to Jason Liao, CTO & VP of Product Development at OPPO Digital, the ES9016 Sabre32 Ultra DAC and the ES9006 Sabre Premier DAC combination delivers an unparalleled sound stage and incredible fidelity in both 7.1-channel and stereo modes to the OPPO BDP-83 Special Edition. “The BDP-83 Special Edition is our latest Profile 2.0 unit. It plays DVD-Video, DVD-Audio, Super Audio CD (SACD) and standard CD with excellent video and audio performance in addition to Blu-ray Discs and targets both home theatre viewers and music listeners”.

The adoption of the ES9016 Sabre32 Ultra DAC significantly improves the analog audio performance of the BDP-83 Special Edition Blu-ray player to a level normally found only in expensive audiophile-grade equipment. Audio enthusiasts can now enjoy the BDP-83 Special Edition’s exceptionally wide dynamic range, ultra low distortion, accurate sound stage and jitter-free music clarity, in addition to excellent audio/video capabilities. The Sabre DACs’ stunning performance and music clarity extracts the ultimate fidelity from Blu-ray movies, CDs, DVD-Audio, and SACDs.

Both the ES9016 Sabre32 Ultra DAC and the ES9006 Sabre Premier DAC are available in 48-LQFP packages.