More and more mobile phone brands have joined the ranks of HiFi, and a core chip manufacturer called ESS Technology started the battle. Almost all high-end HiFi mobile phones use their chips. stay CES2016 On, ESS And released the most powerful global parameter ES9038PRO Chip, the highest signal to noise ratio in the world is 140dB!
At the end of November 2015, vivo and ESS brought us ES9028 series chips, and the X6 Plus also appeared in front of us as the world's first ES9028Q2M device. After more than a month, ESS made a big splash on CES2016, releasing the world's highest parameter DAC chip ES9038PRO, which is also the first chip of ES9038 series chips. ES9038PRO is a DAC chip with the highest indicators in the industry, with a signal to noise ratio of up to 140dB, total harmonic distortion plus noise of - 122dB, and it is a 32 Bit, 8-channel DAC. In terms of parameters, the ES9038PRO is enough to kill all competitors in the market, and also successfully takes over from the flagship ES9018S (129dB, - 120dB) of the previous generation.
In addition, ESS also introduced ES9028PRO and ES9026PRO series DAC. The former can be seen as the high-end chip of ES9028 series (the ES9028Q2M on the X6 Plus is a simplified version designed for mobile devices), with a signal to noise ratio of 129dB, total harmonic distortion and noise of - 120dB. From the perspective of positioning, it is the evolution version of ES9018S, and the main parameters remain the same. It is also a 32 Bit, 8-channel DAC. The ES9026PRO has a lower positioning, with a signal to noise ratio of up to 124dB, total harmonic distortion plus noise of - 110dB, and even worse parameters than some mobile DACs, which are used to replace the ES9016S.
Once upon a time, the chip of ESS only appeared in some high-end DACs, all-in-one phones, and walkman players. Until the advent of vivo X3, the chip of ESS officially entered the mobile phone with a much higher penetration rate than HiFi devices. The first high-end DAC to enter the mobile phone was ES9018K2M, which is a DAC developed for mobile devices. Although it has been launched for two years, Until now, there are still many mobile phones in use. Vivo introduced the world's first ES9028Q2M in the X6 Plus, with a signal to noise ratio of 127dB, total harmonic distortion plus noise of - 120dB, which is invincible in mobile phones. However, there is still a gap between the full blood version of ES9028PRO used in desktop system/walkman, not to mention the new flagship ES9038PRO. Due to the limited space and power supply conditions of mobile devices, DACs such as ES9018S, ES9028PRO and ES9038PRO cannot be used on mobile phones. Therefore, the top independent DAC on mobile phones is still ES9028Q2M. It is believed that more and more mobile phones will use it in 2016.
On CES2016, AKM, the "old rival" of ESS, also launched its flagship DAC, AK4497EQ, which was released only one day later than ES9038PRO, which seems to be tit for tat. In terms of parameters, AK4497EQ is not as "abnormal" as ES9038PRO, but its signal-to-noise ratio is as high as 128dB, total harmonic distortion plus noise is - 116dB, and such parameters are very close to ES9028PRO. Moreover, the AK4497EQ supports the DSD 22.4MHz and 768kHz sampling rates. It is also a 32 Bit DAC, but only has two channels. It seems that it was born for HiFi enthusiasts.
PS: The full name of AKM is Asahi Kasei Microdevices, which is an audio chip manufacturer from Japan. Maybe ordinary users have little contact with it. Some Codec chips such as AK4961 (used by Nubia Z7 and OPPO U3) and AK4735 (used by Nubia Z9 and vivo Y29) have been made in mobile phones. The high-end series AK4490 has been used on Astell&Kern's flagship AK380, Le Bi L5PRO and some desktops. The AK4497EQ launched this time is a chip that is positioned higher than the AK4490, so we don't expect to have mobile phones using this top chip.
