ESS Technology Introduces the SABRE PRO Series of DACs-Setting a New Performance Bar

< Newsroom | Posted: Wednesday January 6, 2016

Flagship ES9038PRO SABRE DAC Brings Music to Life for Audiophile and Professional Products 

CES 2016 – Las Vegas, NV – ESS Technology today announced its new professional series of Digital-to-Analog Converters (DAC) targeted at premium audiophile and recording studio equipment. The flagship offering for this professional series is the ES9038PRO SABRE DAC.  This first member of the ESS PRO SABRE series sets a new benchmark in high-end audio by offering the industry’s highest dynamic range (DNR) of 140dB.  The ES9038PRO also offers impressively low total harmonic distortion plus noise (THD+N) at -122dB in a 32-bit, 8-channel DAC.

“The immersive nature and quality of the audio experience that listeners value is a direct result of how well the digital source material is converted to the analog sound that human ears understand,” said Dan Christman, ESS’s Chief Marketing Officer. “Our audiophile and professional customers are constantly driving us to push the technical envelope to deliver better performance and enhance the listening experience. We are very pleased to announce that our new PRO series, with the flagship SABRE ES9038PRO, takes that experience to a new level, both for the home and professional studio environments.”

Technical Specifications

The ES9038PRO SABRE DAC features ESS’s patented 32-bit HyperStreamDAC technology. The HyperStream architecture is responsible for both the outstanding sound quality of ESS PRO SABRE DACs and the extremely low THD+N. Other 32-Bit 8-Channel DACs, using typical delta-sigma architecture, feature –107 dB THD+N (0.0004%), which when subjected to individual listening tests do not equal the clarity and sound stage of the ES9038PRO. This new flagship SABRE DAC was created to integrate seamlessly with both the existing and future portfolio of ESS headphone amplifiers as well as other audio building block technology.

Designed to Recognize and Realize the Artistic Vision

The ES9038PRO SABRE DAC was designed for premium home theater equipment including Blu-ray players, preamplifiers, all-in-one A/V receivers, and more. For serious audiophiles it provides the most immersive listening experience – bringing music to life. Studio environments can also leverage the ES9038PRO SABRE DAC’s industry-leading performance for professional audio workstations and other equipment. The PRO series enables studio professionals to recreate popular signature sound styles, using external DSP and specialized software packages, while remaining true to the artists’ musical vision.

The Complete SABRE PRO Series of DACs

In addition to the SABRE ES9038PRO, ESS is also announcing other members of the PRO series – the ES9028PRO and ES9026PRO SABRE DACs. These 32-bit, 8-channel PRO series DACs are designed for the audiophile/enthusiast who demands the high quality and performance of a SABRE DAC at a more economical price point. The ES9028PRO and ES9026PRO are pin-compatible upgrades for previous generation ESS products—the ES9018S and ES9016S – and feature 129 dB and 124 dB dynamic range (DNR), and -120 dB and -110 dB total harmonic distortion plus noise (THD+N).

Product briefs with further technical details and block diagrams are available here.

About ESS Technology

For more than three decades ESS Technology has been on the cutting edge of audio technology. A privately held fabless semiconductor company, ESS Technology designs and markets high-performance analog and HiFi audio devices for mobile, consumer, automotive, and professional audiophile systems. The company was founded in 1984 and today ESS Technology is best known for its SABRE series of high-performance audio products. For more information visit www.esstech.com.