Those New Chips.................

We are in quite a - well, as "Neuman" put it, a "conundrum" with some new DACs and CD players employing the PCM1798 and the CS4398 DAC chips. Something mysterious must be going on: they both end in "98" and they both sound the same.

Where as the other chips: the AD 1853 sounded "sweet" and the PCM1704UK sounded "bold", both of these "98" suffixed chips sound surprisingly neutral and both demand that they have the best circuits around them, otherwise they sound flat, veiled and generally uninteresting.

Look for manufactures of the DACs and CD players using these chips to charge you 4X the price they should be to try and get them to sound "right".

For my book, the DIYEDEN Great March 2, Musiland MD-10, DIYEDEN SVDAC05 and the Doge CD player are the best values in audio.