[pointthinker]

I wanted to compare a Wolfson WM8805 DAC chip with the Burr-Brown DAC in my HTR-4065.
I looked high and low and could not find which Burr-Brown DAC model is in the HTR-4065 or any other Yamaha receiver or AV receiver.
So, I thought I would start a thread to see if anyone had links to that information or saw it somewhere and could comment here.
Post your Yamaha DAC chip model and test info on this thread.
Probably each year or two, the chip is updated to a newer model. I imagine, there are a number of Burr-Brown DACs in a variety of Yamaha receivers. With the latest and greatest working its way down the line to the bottom over a few years.
Note: age or price does not seem to indicate DAC audio quality. Old but good can be the case too.
Also, the general consensus is that Burr-Brown (now owned by TI, Dallas) is warm compared to Wolfson (Scottish, bought in 2014 by Cirrus Logic, Austin) which has more punch. But Wolfson DACs are used in some pretty high end brands AND low end too.

 

[RayDunzl]

Open it up and read the labeling on the chip, if it's visible.

 

[pointthinker]

Found this accidentally on an Australian site

http://www.stereo.net.au/forums/ind...cm1791-or-wm8741-which-is-technically-better/

Looks like a toss up.

 

[Worf]

That is generally the truth. I mean, a well designed DAC is supposed to reproduce the signal as intended, so two DACs really should end up generating the same signal. And in the modern age we live in, even the cheapest DACs from Realtek and the like perform quite well.

It's all the stuff around it that matters - the anti- imaging filter, the power supplies, the impedance matching to the amp, etc.

Just like well designed amps should sound identical because their job is to take a small signal and output a much bigger signal that's a faithful replica of the input. Any deviation from the input waveform is distortion which is bad.

It's going to take really expensive equipment in the end to find any difference, which would most likely be well into the mandible range.

DACs are also extremely cheap devices - a few bucks or so. Even those $1000 DAC units probably only spent well under $10 on that component.