John Westlake (formerly of Cambridge and Pink Triangle IIRC, though I am not sure of all of his history) posted a link to a DAC that he designed recently using the ESS Sabre DAC as the basis:

Signal Path International - Era Speakers & Peachtree Audio - Introducing Nova

Reference thread on diyaudio:

diyAudio Forums - Da-capo issue (John W?) - Page 16

Might be a good option for those interested in the Sabre but not up to building your own. EDIT: John Westlake seems to know his shit from all I have seen from him on a couple of forums so I would think anything he is involved in would be worth a listen. I have not heard this DAC (and wouldn't be the one to judge it anyhow since I don't use external DACs), so take it in that light.

Edited December 30, 200817 yr by Pars

I happen to see this this last week at my local audio dealer and a beautiful unit it is. He did not have it setup on the high end side of the store...but it did sound good from the speakers I heard it out of.

I was reading about that a few days ago, I think on Audiocircles. I was thinking it could be a good office rig.

But Mike, you've already got a Sabre based DAC, you just don't know (haven't broken your '09 rule) about it yet...

But Mike, you've already got a Sabre based DAC, you just don't know (haven't broken your '09 rule) about it yet...

Cool. I can't wait to get it.

I'm buying gear like crazy. I need to stock up. I'm just going to leave a bunch of stuff in the boxes and ship to myself every so often during '09.

Just ship it to me, Mike, and I'll randomly ship it to you throughout the year. Think of the excitement of not even knowing when your gear will come!

Just ship it to me, Mike, and I'll randomly ship it to you throughout the year. Think of the excitement of not even knowing when your gear will come!

That could work. See this is where Jp failed in his no audio for '08 pledge. He didn't stock up in '07.

This serves both of us, in fact, since I have a "no preassembled audio in '09" pledge.

I'm desperately shopping for speakers in the next two days

This serves both of us, in fact, since I have a "no preassembled audio in '09" pledge.

I'm desperately shopping for speakers in the next two days

I can send you parts every so often and then you can assemble them. Who said Republicans and Democrats can't work together and get along.

Hrm interesting dac.

any idea of cost?

edit: ooops missed it on the first page Not for me though

It looks as though Peachtree will also be releasing a stand alone Sabre DAC for $700.00 and a statement Sabre DAC with tube output and tube headphone amp for $1,500.00.

I didn't see any release dates for them.

Pretty reasonable price for all that it offers from where I sit and I like the design aesthetic.

any idea of cost?

edit: ooops missed it on the first page Not for me though

Turns out you can bypass the tube For me again... TPA Buffalo looks awesome too. What's the wait time on boards?

I had a demo Decco (try and say that fast) for a bit and it was decent. This was before headphones for me, so I can't comment on that section. With a better DAC and bigger amp, the Nova looks very nice.

Apropos of nothing, I also liked the Era monitors a lot despite all the "style-of-life" ad crap on their Web site. They sound like Aerials, which is a good thing in my book.

Looks hawt.

Biggie.

Looks hawt.

Biggie.

You should get one biggie.

Seems you can also now get the Wavelength Crimson with the ESS Sabre now too, called the Denominator module. Bit pricey though, but I would definitely be interested in hearing it.

Seems you can also now get the Wavelength Crimson with the ESS Sabre now too, called the Denominator module. Bit pricey though, but I would definitely be interested in hearing it.

That piqued my interest as well, but I'm wondering if he's optimizing the analog stage for them individually? Curse my curiosity with DHTs \

That piqued my interest as well, but I'm wondering if he's optimizing the analog stage for them individually? Curse my curiosity with DHTs \

Depends what you mean optimized. To my understanding (reading what is on that page+some information posted by Gordon Rankin on diyhifi), he is using the Sabre in voltage out mode, with the mentioned Magnequest transformer converting that to SE, and then I assume following that with the DHTs, taking the output from the plate. No telling what kind of ratio the transformers have. Of course, this is mostly just assumptions on my part, so any/all of it could be wrong.

Oh, before I forget: Dew Eet!

You should get one biggie.

I'm just a poor chump now.

Biggie.

I'm just a poor chump now.

Biggie.

That's what buying a house gets you! Just wait till you get a couple rugrats running around.

That's what buying a house gets you! Just wait till you get a couple rugrats running around.

That's when you get the Ninja MasterCard.

looks interesting.

I was really interested in buying a Decco as a all-in-one solution for K1000. Does the Nova improve everything or only DAC? (extra 30w doesn't help, but the amp may be higher quality?)