AKM proposes D/A Separation Solution for High-end Audio DAC achieving Real Live Sound
www.akm.com/global/en/about-us/news/2020/20200304-ak4498ak4191/

For some time now, AKM chips have been found in high-quality D / A converters because many manufacturers continue to rely on multibit converters. Some say that they sound better than the alternative delta-sigma converters (ΔΣ), such as those from ESS, others say that they are easier to control in terms of circuitry. The first may well result from the second.

In fact, one sees ESS converters almost exclusively in circuits that correspond to the ESS reference design or are very similar to it. In terms of circuitry, the variety of multibit converters is greater. The Texas Instruments (formerly Burr Brown) chips of the PCM 17xx series were popular here for a long time. But they weaken a bit when processing DSD data streams.

In addition, Texas Instruments has not presented anything new in the direction of high-quality DAC chips for a long time. Apparently the Americans are resting on their laurels. AKM is currently more innovative and accordingly more and more manufacturers are relying on the chips of the Japanese chemical giant.

(Example) Motu M4 (259 €) ESS-Sabre32 (AD/DA Converter)
https://apogeedigital.com/ess-sabre
(Example) Audient - iD14 (226 €) Burr Brown (AD/DA Converter)
www.mouser.de/Texas-Instruments/Semiconductors/Integrated-Circuits-ICs/Data-Converter-ICs/_/N-6j74r?P=1z0zls6

AKM Factory Fire—A Pro-Audio Industry Disaster
https://www.prosoundnetwork.com/business/akm-factory-fire-shakes-up-pro-audio-industry

 

Last edited: Apr 26, 2021

@BEAT16 I agree with everything that you stated, however, I want to point out several factors not mentioned. For starters, even though AKM is highly praised, the difference between all modern chips is very very minimal. Indeed, there are many other things that will have a greater effect on the sound. For example, the design of the power supply and the circuitry, and their components. Simply put, get whatever is the best chip out there and couple it with a bad USB driver implementation. Certainly, your flagship chip's sound will be affected adversely. Finally, AKM and Burr are not alone. there are good chips from Cirrus Logic, Phillips, Wolfson, each with their own signature sound but very very minimal differences almost unnoticeable in average systems.

 

Thanks "The Pirat 2 for the" view of the whole thing. I agree with you.
I think you should continue to trust in companies / developers who understand their job and have proven it.
And I've learned something again.

 

I have a multibit DAC, never could tell any difference with a regular delta-sigma. But it did cost me.

Converter technology has come so far these last 10-20 years that it's become very difficult to invent new technologies that still make an actual difference you can hear.

 

Professional sound cards / audio interfaces (Market overview April 2021)

Spoiler: USB - Audio Interfaces

USB - Audio Interfaces

Akai, Apogee Electronics, Arturia, Audient, Avid / Digidesign, Behringer, Black Lion,
Esi, Focusrite, iConnectivity, M-Audio, Mackie, MOTU (Mark Of The Unicorn),
Native Instruments, PreSonus, RME,Roland, Solid State Logic, Steinberg,
Tascam, Universal Audio, Yamaha, Zoom

Spoiler: PCIe-Audiointerface

PCIe-Audiointerface

Avid HDX PCIe Pro Tools Ultimate - 5798 €
Avid HDX PCIe Card only - 4111 €
ESI MAYA44 eX - 159 €
Focusrite RedNet PCIe R Card - 1099 €
Lynx Studio E22 - 859 €
Lynx Studio E44 - 1179 €
Lynx Studio AES-16e50 PCIe Card - 1059 €
Lynx Studio AES-16e PCI Express - 859 €
Marian Seraph 8+ XLR - 565 €
Marian Seraph AD2 MWX - 626 €
Marian Seraph D4 - 1179 €
Marian Seraph 8+ MWX TRS - 616 €
MOTU HDX-SDI PCIe - 1025 €
RME HDSPe RayDAT - 585 €
RME HDSPe AIO Pro - 729 €
RME HDSPe MADI - 1449 €
RME HDSPe AES - 969 €
RME HDSPe AIO - Mod-Broadcast - 769 €
SSL Dante PCIeR - 1799 €

Spoiler: PCI - Sound Card Info (Out of production)

PCI - Sound Card Info (Out of production)

E-MU - 1212m PCI (Out of production)
M-Audio - Audiophile 2496 PCI (Out of production)
Infrasonic - Quartet v1.25.04 PCI (Out of production)
ESI - Maya 44 (Out of production)
ESI - Juli@ (Out of production)

 

Last edited: Apr 28, 2021

they are so close to perfection now. to hear any difference, there have to be a noticable difference. but its now very close to the original, theres nothing more to enhance. better than the record isnt possible
and measure some minuscule differences doesnt help anyone, besides the boys with the golden ears and 500 usd mains cables.

 

As a techie, an assembler programmer, and most importantly as as musician, I love new and better ways of doing things. So thank you for posting!

Ironically, however, and with great sadness, it has to be said. Over the last few decades, as the technology has improved, the music itself has degraded to idiot level (but it sounds great). Also, the ability of mere mortals, with mere mortal playback systems, to either perceive or or care less about these subtle improvements is questionable!

Just my 2 cents worth, even though I have no idea about cents, not being American

If only they would work more on latency and get that right down!

 

PCI (“Peripheral Component Interconnect”) Enables the connection for plug-in cards in the PC

PCI Express ("Peripheral Component Interconnect Express", abbreviated to PCIe or PCI-E) is a standard for connecting peripheral devices to the chipset of a main processor. PCIe is the successor to PCI, PCI-X and AGP and offers a higher data transfer rate per pin compared to its predecessors. In addition to being used for expansion slots, the PCIe protocols now form the basis for numerous other interfaces such as SATA Express, M.2, U.2, SAS Express and Thunderbolt as well as for CFexpress and SD Express memory cards.

Firewire (Plug & Play connection) Serial bus with digital interface with up to 400MB / s for max. 63 devices. The patented interface from Apple is mainly used in sound and video technology and, for example, with DVD burners and hard drives.

Thunderbolt (up to 10 Gbit / s) Interface between computers, monitors, peripherals and consumer electronics developed by
Apple and Intel. Because of the extremely high data transfer rate, an interface with a future that USB3 should offer.

Spoiler: Thunderbolt: The Future

Thunderbolt: The Future

Last year, Intel introduced another external high-speed interface, Thunderbolt. In the first evolutionary stage, the serial Thunderbolt interface works with a bidirectional transfer rate of 10 GBit / s and is therefore significantly faster than USB 3.0.

At first, Thunderbolt was only used by Apple, but now it is also finding its way into Windows computers. Asus, MSI and Gigabyte have developed motherboards with a Thunderbolt port, Acer is launching the Aspire S5, an ultrabook with the new Intel interface, and the Asus G75V already has the new interface.

Six devices connected in series
Copper cables with a maximum length of three meters will initially be used for the transmission, with optical cables later up to 10 meters should be possible. In addition, up to six external Thunderbolt devices can be connected in a chain, provided that their own power supply is required. Devices that are powered by the Thunderbolt cable can only form the end of the chain.
For the connection, Intel uses a modified Mini-DisplayPort socket, which also transmits image and audio information. This means that Thunderbolt is also suitable for monitors that also serve as a docking station. One example is the Apple Thunderbolt Display.

Technically, Thunderbolt USB 3.0 is clearly superior. But the new interface currently has one major disadvantage: it is expensive. This not only applies to the Thunderbolt chip from Intel, but also to the cables. The high data rate requires active transceiver chips in the connectors, which are responsible for a price of more than 40 euros.

Source with Google Translator
https://www.pc-magazin.de/ratgeber/pci-sata-co-alles-ueber-schnittstellen-1323642.html

Computer interfaces

Interfaces (I / O interfaces) are connection options for external devices on the main board.
The tasks are to enable data transmission between individual peripheral devices and the central unit; the formal correctness
of the data is also checked. An interface is defined by the following characteristics:

- Bus width (number of lines over which binary numbers are transmitted)
- Bus speed (speed of the data flow per second)
- Bus protocol (coding of binary data)

Spoiler: USB 2.0 - UBS 3.0 - USB 3.1

USB 2.0 audio interface
The USB standard 2.0 offers bandwidths of up to 480 Mbit / s. This results in the possibility of multi-channel PC audio interfaces, which in many cases can no longer be operated exclusively by bus power. Due to the widespread use of this interface, these devices can be connected practically anywhere and represent an alternative to the Firewire protocol, provided the drivers are correct. With its USB models, RME proves that fast, stable solutions can be implemented.

USB 3.0 audio interface
USB 3.0 has once again been significantly increased in terms of transmission speed. The protocol is very promising because, in addition to further improvements and backward compatibility, it also offers higher bus power so that an interface can be supplied with power directly from the PC. So far, USB 3.0 has only been used by very few interfaces that transmit several hundred channels, e.g. the RME Madiface XT.

USB 3.1 audio interface
With USB 3.1, the data throughput is significantly increased again and a new connector is introduced. So far, USB Type-A (computer side) and USB Type-B (device side) have been used. USB 3.1 uses the USB Type-C connector. This is smaller than the previous ones, is used on both sides of the cable and can be plugged in in two positions, so there is no longer any "top" and "bottom".

HISTORY OF AUDIO CONVERTERS

The world’s first digital recording was captured and released in 1971 using an experimental
PCM recording system from the Japanese broadcasting company NHK.

Although commercial digital recordings were possible as early as the 70s, it wasn’t until Sony released the PCM-501ES
digital audio processor in 1984 that CD-quality digital recording technology would become widely available.

Studios quickly realized the benefits of working in the digital domain, but they weren’t without their limits. In its
infancy, digital recording devices were extremely expensive, and those that weren’t tended to sound harsh and shrill.

As technology continued to advance, the sound quality improved, and digital audio interfaces became
commonplace in professional recording studios. In 1999, Ricky Martin’s "Livin’ la Vida Loca" was the
first song recorded, edited and mixed entirely in-the-box. Today, most professional studios rely entirely
on digital audio systems, with much of the workload being carried by the digital audio converters.

Spoiler: WHAT IS A DIGITAL AUDIO CONVERTER?

WHAT IS A DIGITAL AUDIO CONVERTER?

On a basic level, digital audio converters (DACs) convert audio signals from one type of signal to another.

AD CONVERTERS
Analog to digital (AD) converters transform analog audio signals, such as the output of a preamp or other piece of outboard gear, into digital audio signals that can be processed by your computer.

DA CONVERTERS
Digital to analog (DA) converters work in reverse, converting digital audio signals, such as those played by your DAW or web browser, into analog audio signals that can be recreated by your studio monitors or headphones.

Most modern audio interfaces include limited DACs to enable simple digital recording, but for high-quality recording or particularly large sessions, you’ll need a standalone DAC. Most DACs include both AD and DA converters in the same unit, as well as a few other pieces of technology.

WHAT DOES A DAC DO?
DACs are responsible for three main tasks in the conversion process. First, they sample the analog audio signal. No, not like sampling a song in hip hop, it’s more like taking a burst photo on your smartphone.

DACs take tens of thousands of ‘digital snapshots’ each second when sampling an analog audio signal. The more samples the DAC is able to capture, the more accurately it can recreate the audio signal in the digital domain. More on that later...

Once the analog audio has been sampled, the DAC assigns each sample to a different timestamp within the waveform through quantization—similar to lining up transients to the grid in your DAW.

Once the quantization occurs, the signal is converted into a binary code that your computer can process. This code represents the exact voltages of the waveform at any given time. By ‘connecting the dots’ of each sample, your speakers are able to accurately recreate the sound being played back from your DAW.

By adjusting the sample rate and bit depth of your DAC, you can control the quality of your digital audio recordings.

WHAT IS SAMPLE RATE?
Sample rate is a measurement of how many samples your DAC takes per second when sampling audio. Most professional DACs offer the following sample rates:

• 44.1 kHz / sec
• 48 kHz / sec
• 88.2 kHz / sec
• 96 kHz / sec
• 192 kHz / sec

The minimum sample rate for CD-quality audio is 44,100 samples per second. It may seem like an odd number to use, but it wasn’t selected randomly.

According to the Nyquist–Shannon sampling theorem: “the sampling frequency must be greater than twice the maximum frequency one wishes to reproduce.” Since the human hearing range maxes out at roughly 20 kHz, the sampling rate had to be greater than 40 kHz.

Digital audio was developed alongside digital video, and 44.1 kHz was deemed the highest usable rate compatible with both PAL and NTSC video. To this day 44.1 kHz remains the minimum standard resolution for digital audio.

However, by using a higher sample rate, your DAC is able to capture more information and more accurately recreate the audio signal. Using high sample rates comes at a cost. It also creates more stress on your processor, restricts the number of channels you can work with, and creates significantly larger audio files.

WHAT IS BIT DEPTH?
Bit depth controls the amount of dynamic range in a digital audio recording, or the amount of space between the loudest and quietest sounds. Most professional DACs operate at the following bit depths:

• 16-bit
• 24-bit
• 32-bit float

A bit is a binary digit, or a single unit of code. A bit only has two values: 1, or 0. On, or off. Max volume, or mute. But with multiple bits, you can create more combinations, resulting in more values. For instance, with two bits you can create four combinations: 00, 01, 10, and 11. And each of those values can each be assigned a different meaning.

In a digital audio system, each value is assigned a specific amplitude of the audio waveform. With a high resolution, you can accurately map the exact amplitude of each peak on a waveform. But with a low resolution, you’re not able to be as accurate, and the quality begins to suffer. For instance, in a 24-bit system you have more than 16 million possible values to choose from, while in a 16-bit system you have just over 65,000.

The minimum standard bit depth for CD-quality digital audio is 16-bits, but using a higher bit depth offers greater dynamic range, improved signal-to-noise ratio and more headroom. Higher bit depths allow you to make the loud moments louder and quiet moments quieter without introducing additional noise.

Source: https://vintageking.com/blog/2020/03/buyers-guide-audio-converters/

 

Last edited: May 6, 2021