exaSound e18 - e20 - e28 - Info and Experiences Post All Here

[exa]

3 minutes ago, dennis88 said:

 

How is the MK II different to the MK I (MQA decoding aside)?

The only new feature is MQA full unfold up to 384 kHz.

[alec_eiffel]

Great thread ! Getting strong interest for e28 and e38 for an active 2x4 setup I am building.

I have one question regarding volume control. My setup would be: - Roon Core on a NUC, converting 2 channel to 8 channel, sending to a MacMini endpoint running RoonBridge with Exasound ASIO driver, plugged with USB into e28/e38.

1) Will I be able to control the volume via a Roon Remote, with the display on the e28/e38 actually displaying the correct volume level ?

2) Same question but with the addition of HQPlayer in the chain on the endpoint ?

Thanks a lot and great to see that manufacturers are present on this forum and providing good support and advice.

[george]

3 hours ago, alec_eiffel said:

My setup would be: - Roon Core on a NUC, sending to a MacMini endpoint running RoonBridge with Exasound ASIO driver, plugged with USB into e28/e38.

1) Will I be able to control the volume via a Roon Remote, with the display on the e28/e38 actually displaying the correct volume level ? 

Yes, you can control the e28 hardware volume with Roon Remote on Mac in ASIO mode.

 

3 hours ago, alec_eiffel said:

2) Same question but with the addition of HQPlayer in the chain on the endpoint ?

Thanks a lot and great to see that manufacturers are present on this forum and providing good support and advice.

 

Roon will enable volume control from Roon Remote to Roon Core to RAAT endpoint.  From that point it is a question of Roon/HQPlayer integration. You need to check with them.

[John G]

"Yes, you can control the e28 hardware volume with Roon Remote on Mac in ASIO mode."

 

Is this now possible in Windows Server 2012 with the e12 DAC?

[exa]

32 minutes ago, John G said:

"Yes, you can control the e28 hardware volume with Roon Remote on Mac in ASIO mode."

 

Is this now possible in Windows Server 2012 with the e12 DAC?

Do you run  Roon Core or Roon Bridge on Windows Server 2012?

[John G]

8 minutes ago, exa said:

Do you run  Roon Core or Roon Bridge on Windows Server 2012?

 

Roon Bridge, and I should add it's running in Audiophile Optimizer's "core mode."

[exa]

No, the same scenario it is not going to work.

[John G]

6 minutes ago, exa said:

No, the same scenario it is not going to work.

Figured us much. The amp's remote works fine to control volume anyway. 

 

Thanks for the  response.

[alec_eiffel]

2 hours ago, george said:

Yes, you can control the e28 hardware volume with Roon Remote on Mac in ASIO mode.

 

 

Roon will enable volume control from Roon Remote to Roon Core to RAAT endpoint.  From that point it is a question of Roon/HQPlayer integration. You need to check with them.

Many thanks George. Roon can control HQ Player volume, and HQ PLayer is in principle capable of changing Exasound volume in ASIO mode on Mac OS as far as I've read, so all looks good!

I like Roon volume control as you can define volume limits ("comfort" and "safety") that are protecting your ears and your equipment in the case your finger slips on the slider...

 

[Bob Stern]

4 hours ago, alec_eiffel said:

I like Roon volume control as you can define volume limits ("comfort" and "safety") that are protecting your ears and your equipment in the case your finger slips on the slider

 

You also can set a volume upper limit in either or both of HQPlayer and the exaSound Dashboard.

[exa]

By popular demand exaSound is introducing a Limited Edition Balanced e38 DAC with Mini-XLR Line Outputs. The e38 LB is built to order, contact us for more information.

 

[alec_eiffel]

2 hours ago, exa said:

By popular demand exaSound is introducing a Limited Edition Balanced e38 DAC with Mini-XLR Line Outputs. The e38 LB is built to order, contact us for more information.

 

 

Nice! Except for the generic benefits of an XLR output (allowing for perfect matching with a balanced amp in terms of S/N especially, and longer cable length), what are the specificities or advantages of this limited edition balanced output ? Is the output buffer the same as in the E28 ?

[exa]

The output stages of the e38 LB are the same as the standard edition e38, except the last stage is balanced.  This makes the e38 LB balanced all the way from the ES9028PRO DAC chip output pins to the Mini-XLR  connectors.  As you pointed out, this is beneficial when the DAC is used with power amp with balanced inputs and with longer cables.  The fully balanced topology also makes the e38 LB less sensitive to noise induced by external sources including the power supply.

 

Compared to the e28 DAC,  the e38 uses upgraded output stage to satisfy the higher current demands of the ES9028PRO DAC chip.  The e38 output stage also offers lower noise and distortion levels. 

[duxservit]

The following review (11 Oct 2018) of the Exasound E32 DAC maybe useful information for this thread:

 

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/exasound-e32-dac-review-and-measurements.1990/

 

 

[exa]

I am sure you've made an honest mistake. The link above points to a review that is one year old (12 Oct 2017). It has been discussed earlier in this thread.  The link to the new e32 review on Audio Science Review from 8 Oct 2018 is here:

 

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/fs-exasound-e32-dac-and-headphone-amp-on-sale-from-asr-lab.4808/#post-109728

 

Here are the latest e32 and e38 reviews on ComputerAudiophile.com:

 

 

 

Links to more reviews are available on our website:

 

https://www.exasound.com/AboutUs/Reviews.aspx

 

 

[Miska]

On 11/14/2018 at 8:18 PM, alec_eiffel said:

Many thanks George. Roon can control HQ Player volume, and HQ PLayer is in principle capable of changing Exasound volume in ASIO mode on Mac OS as far as I've read, so all looks good!

I like Roon volume control as you can define volume limits ("comfort" and "safety") that are protecting your ears and your equipment in the case your finger slips on the slider...

 

Only HQPlayer Embedded supports adjusting hardware volume. HQPlayer Desktop never touches hardware volume. When you adjust volume from Roon when using HQPlayer, it is adjusting HQPlayer's software volume.

 

HQPlayer has similar safety limits too, since you can adjust the volume control range. However, this doesn't remove the possibility that some other piece of software in the computer touches hardware volume or otherwise plays out something at full volume. For something like HQPlayer Embedded using the HQPlayer OS bootable image it is somewhat safer because it doesn't even have any other software running that could play sounds.

 

Of course there is still always possibility for a software bug or glitch.

 

[dennis88]

On 3/28/2018 at 8:04 PM, exa said:

 

Hi John, the ASIO standard doesn't support volume control. We have a JRiver volume integration Plugin. Unfortunately we don't have this level of integration with Roon on Windows. We support Roon Volume synchronization on Mac and with the PlayPoint.

 

Is the volume synchronization something you look into for Roon on Windows? I understand that sync is currently for no exaSound product possible?

[exa]

Yes, we will look into it. We have a volume synchronization plug-in for JRiver and we will work with Roon on a similar solution.

[alec_eiffel]

On 11/26/2018 at 9:19 PM, exa said:

Yes, we will look into it. We have a volume synchronization plug-in for JRiver and we will work with Roon on a similar solution.

That would be awesome!

Meanwhile, I think I'll refurbish an old Intel Nuc into a Hackintosh to run Mac OS, Exasound ASIO Drivers and Roon Bridge. Do you have any prior objection or warning?  I have not read anything regarding USB 2.0 issues on Hackintosh so I assume all should be fine.

[alec_eiffel]

I have tested my “new” E28 in stereo mode on my second system and I admit it sounds really really good, very musical, clearly ahead of another (and cheaper) ES9018 DAC I own, from Audiophonics.

 

The end game is to use all channels of the E28 in a 2 x 4 way setup. Room correction, active filtering, upsampling and volume control will be done in software by Roon or HQPlayer, over a stereo PCM stream (I don’t own a lot of DSD).

 

As all will be done in software I’d like to avoid as much as possible processing in the E28. WHat is your recommandation ? I read setting the volume to 0dB deactivates volume control, what about the best format/sampling rate to “match” the hyperthread DAC of the ES9028 ? 384kHz ? DSD64 ? DSD128 ? (DSD256 over 8 channel would probably be out of reach for my processing PC)

 

Thx!

[fatihakin]

On 12/18/2018 at 9:59 AM, alec_eiffel said:

The end game is to use all channels of the E28 in a 2 x 4 way setup. Room correction, active filtering, upsampling and volume control will be done in software by Roon or HQPlayer, over a stereo PCM stream (I don’t own a lot of DSD).

 

Do you parallel 4 channels for stereo playback? How do you do it at the input and at the output? 

[alec_eiffel]

No, I oinly used two channels in and out for stereo.

[Kal Rubinson]

On 12/18/2018 at 1:59 AM, alec_eiffel said:

The end game is to use all channels of the E28 in a 2 x 4 way setup.

 

 

You were asked:  Do you parallel 4 channels for stereo playback? 

 

9 minutes ago, alec_eiffel said:

No, I oinly used two channels in and out for stereo.

 

So what are you asking to do?  

[fatihakin]

I think when you parallel the DAC channels, the output sound tend to have more weight.

May be this is something to do with the current output capability and output impedance.

 

I do own e22 and e28. For stereo playback the sound difference between and e22 and e28 is quite remarkable in favour of e22.

 

e28 uses one DAC channel per output channel, e22 uses 4 parallel channels per output channel. I guess a dual mono design (like PlayPoint DM) i.e., 8 DAC channels per output channel should make things much better. I didn't have chance to listen to a PP DM.

 

Assuming my thinking is true, what if a DAC can use discrete channels for multichannel playback, and switch to 2x4 for stereo playback (i.e., connect 4 channels parallel for L and R) to provide a better sound? (assumption: DAC chip has 8 channels)

 

e28 does a great job for mch playback. I guess e38 much better. I wonder if (for stereo playback) 4 channels could be connected in parallel for L (and same for R) to achieve better stereo sound (PCM and DSD). 

 

If my thinking is right, than a 3 DAC chip design where L and R is driven in Dual Mono (2 DAC chips) and surround channels driven by another DAC would be great. Great stereo and multichannel sound from a single DAC unit!

[exa]

One way to do it is to use the ES9038PRO. It will bring 4 internal parallel channels per output channel, making the e38 equal to the e32 in number of paralleled DACs.