Here's a quick and brief review about ESS9023(compared to 2704, well, it's not fair to compare between them as like as TS said they are in 'different league', but since alot of ppl interested to know the differrence, well here it is.....).
Testing equipments
Speaker 1: Logitech Z2300 playing from PC
Speaker 2: Paradigm monitor playing from PC thru marantz amp (pure direct enabled)
1. Emi Fujita's Fields of Gold flac, 9023 sounded wider and sharper. Yes, you can definitely hear the differrence, it's quite obvious right after I switched from 2704 to 9023. Bass is deeper but not at annoying level (i don't like boomy bass).
2. Tsai Chin's Take care tonight flac, 9023 sounded more neutral and better vocal. Medium freq not much differrence.
3. Ronan Hardiman's Heaven, again sounded awesome but I hv to lower the bass setting compared the above songs. Too boomy for me.
IMO, this little DAC is worth the money and definitely worth of the quality.
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and I will do comparison to PCM2704 USB DAC and Asus Xonar Essence STX.