"John Phillips" wrote
in message
On 2006-07-08, Andy Evans
wrote:

Serge Auckland wrote:
At the time, the AKM D-A chips had a better spec than
the equivalent Crystal D-As

Did you try the Wolfson chips?

The Wolfson WM8740 (which is now a few years old and
getting on a bit
for a DAC) is technically a great looking device although
I have only ever listened to it as a part of several
Arcam CD payers. See the Wolfson DAC list at
http://www.wolfson.co.uk/products/digital_audio/dacs/.

A 24-bit capable device it seems to get about 18 to 19
bits of real performance which is more than enough for a
"perfect" CD-DA DAC.

I can echo the advice to get hold of an evaluation board
for DIY DAC experiments. That saves a great deal of
effort getting the PCB layout right for a 117 dB SNR.

Notwithstanding UK charuvinism, Wolfon's best is outperformed by products
from AKM and Cirrus.