are ESS chips better than AKM? A little bit of a touchy subject for a lot of people, and amazingly or strangely in this case, I have a product today that, well, it has both. Basically, Duke put a DAC inside your DAC inside your DAC. This is the Q11, and it actually has a switchable DAC output between the ESS 9038 and the AKM 4493, both popular chips today, and they tend to carry some general characteristics. Whether any of these are true, that's pretty subjective, but the general thoughts are ESS DACs are more detail-focused, a little more sharp-sounding, while the AKM DACs are more musical, whatever that is, and basically a smoother or more analog sound. Is there differences in the sound between DACs? Yes, I do feel this certainly is between brands, designs, that kind of thing, but in my opinion, I view it as the sound is different, not necessarily better or worse in most cases. Defining something that sounds better is really a slippery slope. It sounds better to me, but does that

necessarily mean that it sounds better to you. I really don't think so. So many things can influence this sound as well, so pay extra attention when you're listening to these DAC reviews online. Things like the speakers they use, the amps, and in some cases, most importantly, the music. If they let you know what they're using to sample the equipment, all of this can play a huge role in how we're going to perceive the sound. Because I don't know about you, but I rarely sit back after a long day and, well, listen to bench tests. Because you know that sounds so relaxing. The Music Matters and how we interpret it. You notice how some people love that warm ELAC sound, and in other cases, people are drawn to that, you know, detail-focused Focal speaker type sound. It's okay to like different sounds. I probably like a different pizza than some of you, and that's actually okay. I'm a supreme, all the meat and veggies kind of guy, but hold off on the mushrooms. Just can't do those. Let me know what yours is below.

let's argue about that rather than DAC sounds beyond my rant there. The DAC implementation is going to have a lot more to do with the sound than the chip, as long as we're talking too comparable and good-performing options like we are today. Sometimes we go so far into the measurements that it can take a bit of the fun away. I do care about the measurements; I really do, but I just don't obsess for myself. I like to see the measurements and know that what I purchased is, for the most part, transparent, and I'm actually getting my money's worth. But if I had to read 10 graphs to know that, is it really useful if you're unable to actually hear a difference and instead have to be told the change in the sound exists? Should we really be giving that as much attention as we tend to these days? Basically, respect the measurements as they showcase the product. They're actually useful in explaining a change in sound, and it's good to know what you purchased can actually back up the claims and

beyond that, just enjoy it, have fun, swap equipment, you do you. A subscription would really make my day, guys. If you could please like and comment as well, all this plays a huge role in getting in more gear. The goal is to simply get to 15,000 by the end of the year, but I really do need your support. Basically, the more engagement I can get with the community, the more these videos are pushed to a wider audience, so let's grow this great community together. Basically, more subs, more gear opportunities. Now back to the video. The packaging on this one is actually a step above some of the other designs. This one actually looks pretty cool. The IT guy in me likes the acrylic top so we can see a bit of the PCB. It's L, of course. I sort of wish we could change the colors, but it does match the displays on the front. It's a nice little metal case with two screens on the front. On one end, we have the input that can be cycled with the push of this multi-function wheel here or

selected using the remote. We also get the volume and the sample rate. On the other end, we get two more of the party tricks on this one: the DAC selection. We get three modes of operation. Mode one has both chips enabled, one coming out of each output on the back. Each output also has its own auxiliary out. Mode two and three locks both outputs to the same DAC chip. Something notable here, as far as usability, you do need the remote to make changes to the DAC modes. I was expecting to be able to make this selection from the knob itself as well as the remote, but I'm not seeing any way to do it. So, just don't lose the remote as it's going to be your only gateway into the different DAC selection modes. The back of the unit has two outputs with the matching auxiliaries, like I mentioned earlier, as well as a decent digital input selection. We get coax, optical, and USB, and a DC 12-volt input, and of course the wall wart. An internal power supply would have been nice, but in

most cases like this, it just doesn't line up with the pricing that they're aiming for. Something I've noticed lately, and back to the measurements from earlier, they've actually started to include them in the manual. You get this nice little laminated booklet with measurements, driver instructions, all the usual stuff that I generally don't read. The reason I think this is interesting is it's something that we don't always see in gear that costs exponentially more. I think some of these budget brands aren't hiding anymore, pretty much showing you the cards on these. Not hiding is exactly the route these companies should go too. There can be a lot of bad stigma around budget gear, and rightfully so in many cases. There's been some poor designs and bad features, so if they want to continue to grow in this space, being transparent with the customers is honestly the best thing they can do. There's certainly a lot of room to grow in this budget realm as well. We have such a huge gap in pricing between these designs from the

high dollar gear equipment to some of these budget things. So, as they continue to push out products, we all likely are going to have more expectations. Growth and fine-tuning of the developments on these is something we want to see rather than just pushing out clones of gear. There are a lot of ways they can do this too. The easiest might just be to continue interacting with the end users and potential customers as they develop this new gear. A lot of these smaller budget brands look for input on the forums. It's a great way to gauge what people want, as well as, you know, just building a little bit more trust. So, the million-dollar question: could I hear a difference between the dacks? I could, but it's not that simple. For one, the output voltage is different between the 4493 coming in at 1.8 volts and the 9038 at 2 volts. So, right off the bat, the majority of people are going to say that the 9038 sounds better because it's simply louder. They hear more dynamics.

and that's really all it takes on something like this. As this obviously wasn't a blind test, volume matched, anything like that. I can't say with certainty I wasn't experiencing a bias, but even though the volume comes in a bit louder and the expectation would be that I'd pick the 9038, I still gravitated to the AKM chip more. It was insanely close, and I would likely fail a blind test without a doubt. And so many things can influence this, but in general, in my eyes, open fully knowing what is connected to what, I picked the AKM over the ESS. And it did come down to some of the usual generalizations. I felt like it was ever so slightly less detailed and played a little bit smoother on my speakers. I was a bit surprised as I generally prefer the ESS sound as it's in most of my reference gear. But I think a lot of this just came down to the speakers I had it paired with, which is where almost all the influence is going.

to come from. If you think about this logically, I was mixing and matching with a number of new pieces that I'm not as familiar with compared to some of my usual reference gear. This included the CSS1 TDX speakers that I recently built. Check out that build series if you haven't already; it's a really fun one. And also the ultra-budget-friendly Dayton B65, the new model that just came out, and it's under $100. Actually, I think it's around $70 for this one. For whatever reason, psychoacoustics or whatever, I picked the AKM. And the kicker here is it doesn't really matter; the sound was so close. Like I said, I would have actually been happy with the performance on either of these and likely failed the blind test, so it is what it is. This is actually an interesting product, in my opinion, in some ways more of a conversation piece than anything else. It might be a kind of a fun one to play around with or even challenge your friends to see if they can pick up on.

the differences, if they exist. It also opens you up to a number of different configurations. Having the dual outputs, let me know what you think about these dual outputs, how you could best utilize something like this. I'm open to some really out-of-the-box ideas here. Even if this product isn't for you, you believe it all sounds the same, or you feel that changes in sound should fall down the line, you know, coming from your speakers, which is mostly the camp I fall within. I'm a get a good amp, a transparent DAC, and spend the majority of your money on the speakers kind of guy. You have to respect the design on this one, though. It's actually a nice-looking, well-built budget DAC. Too often, we see the high-end manufacturers charge exponentially more, but do they actually deliver much more as far as performance-to-price ratio? In some cases, yes, but in a lot of cases, not so much. I've said it many times before that a lot of my heart lies with more of the premium designs, not crazy high-dollar stuff, but things

like my Audio Lab 9000a amplifier, which is actually still broken and at the repair center. Unfortunately, who knows how long that's going to be there or what that'll cost, but that's besides the point. And these Bart A10s, which look and sound fantastic. But at the same time, I don't discount a good Budget Buy when I see one. The most obvious in our space is the Weim, but a lot of others are following suit as well. This product also demonstrates that the cost of the internals isn't what is setting the prices. These guys basically put a DAC inside your deck using semi-new chip designs and delivered it under $200, and even made the case look a little more stylish, which does matter actually. So let's keep pushing these budget designers in the right direction, but also applaud them when they get something right, even if it's a little weird like a multi-chip DAC. A subscription would really make my day, guys, if you could please like and comment as well. All this plays a huge

role in me getting in more gear for review. Basically, the more engagement I can get with the community, these videos get pushed out to a wider audience. So please help me help you by engaging down below. We can get some new brands in and really open things up and make things really interesting. Take care, we'll talk later, see you.

A VERY Unique DAC That Has Something For Everyone? Douk Q11 Review

I will review audio as well as technology projects, with some DIY as well.