ESS vs AKM DAC Chip: Which Sound Quality Matters More

If you’ve spent more than fifteen minutes reading DAC specs, you’ve almost certainly landed on two names: ESS Technology and AKM (Asahi Kasei Microelectronics). These two chip manufacturers supply the silicon inside the majority of consumer DACs sold today, from budget desktop units all the way up to multi-thousand-dollar luxury gear. Understanding what separates them helps you make a more informed buying decision rather than treating specs as marketing noise.

Three years into this hobby, with a Topping E50 sitting on my desk right now, I’ve read enough measurement data and owner impressions to have a considered opinion here. That said, chip-level differences are genuinely subtle at competent implementations, and I’ll say so plainly throughout. The goal is clarity, not hype.

What ESS and AKM Actually Make

Before comparing them, it helps to understand what a DAC chip actually does inside your chain. If you’re newer to the hobby and want context on signal flow and why a separate DAC matters, the Audiophile Basics hub at /learn/ covers that ground well before you spend money on anything.

A DAC chip, or Digital-to-Analog Converter chip, takes a digital bitstream and produces an analog voltage. Your files, whether FLAC, WAV, or even a streaming feed from Qobuz, are sequences of binary data. The chip’s job is to reconstruct a continuous analog waveform from that discrete data as accurately as possible. Two main architectural approaches dominate: delta-sigma modulation (used by both ESS and AKM in most consumer products) and R-2R ladder networks (a separate category with its own discussion).

Delta-Sigma Architecture: The Common Ground

Both ESS and AKM use delta-sigma conversion in their mainstream product lines. That shared architecture means some of the audiophile forum debates about “ESS versus AKM sound” are happening at a level of implementation detail most listeners will never practically resolve. The chips oversample heavily, noise-shape the signal to push quantization noise above the audible range, and then filter it. What differs is how each manufacturer executes this process and what downstream artifacts each approach introduces.

The differences show up most clearly in distortion profiles and noise floor behavior, which is exactly what measurement platforms like ASR capture in their test data.

ESS Technology: The Measurement Champion

ESS Technology, based in San Jose, California, produces the Sabre series of DAC chips. Their flagship consumer chip lines, including the ES9038PRO and the ES9068AS, have become strongly associated with top-tier ASR measurements. ASR’s SINAD scores (Signal-to-Noise And Distortion, a composite performance metric) for ESS-based DACs regularly appear near the top of their DAC ranking list.

What ESS Does Well

On paper and in measurement, ESS chips offer extremely low noise floors and very high dynamic range numbers. The ES9038PRO in particular became a benchmark chip for measurement-optimized budget-to-mid-tier DACs starting around 2018 to 2020. If your priority is owning a DAC that measures as cleanly as possible for the money, ESS implementations have historically offered the most headroom at each price band.

ESS chips also tend to handle MQA decoding licensing well, which is why you see MQA certification more often on ESS-based products. Whether MQA itself adds audible value is a separate question I’m politely skeptical about. The measurement performance is the actual story.

The ESS “Glare” Discussion

Spend any time on Head-Fi or the Audiophile Basics forums and you’ll encounter the phrase “ESS glare” or “Sabre glare.” The claim is that ESS-based DACs produce a slightly harsh, fatiguing character in the upper midrange and lower treble. This is contested territory. Measurements from ASR and others don’t show an obvious distortion artifact that would explain a consistent tonal coloration. The more likely explanation is that early, poorly implemented ESS designs (particularly some early budget Chinese DACs from 2015 to 2018) had real implementation problems that got attributed to the chip itself rather than the surrounding circuit design. Well-implemented modern ESS DACs, like those from Topping, show no obvious measurement artifact that would predict harshness.

At my experience level, I’d treat “ESS glare” as a real historical phenomenon tied to bad implementations, not a property of the chip itself in competent modern products.

AKM: Warmth, Fire, and Recovery

AKM, or Asahi Kasei Microelectronics, is a Japanese semiconductor company producing DAC chips used widely across the industry from budget products up through flagship components in gear costing well into luxury territory. Their AK4490, AK4497, and AK4499 series have appeared in products from Schiit, SMSL, Fiio, and many others.

What AKM Does Well

AKM chips have a reputation in the listening community for a slightly warmer, more analog-adjacent presentation compared to ESS. This is where I have to be careful with framing. Measurement data from ASR on well-implemented AKM DACs shows extremely clean performance, often within the margin that’s practically inaudible for any real listening scenario. The “warmer” character may reflect very subtle differences in harmonic distortion profiles, it may reflect different filter implementations built around the chip, or it may reflect listener expectation and placebo. The honest answer is probably some combination of all three.

What’s harder to dispute is that AKM chips have been extremely common in products that subjectively satisfy listeners across a wide range of preferences. Verified owner impressions across Head-Fi and Audiophile Style consistently describe AKM-based gear as easy to live with for long sessions.

The 2020 Factory Fire and Its Aftermath

In October 2020, a fire at AKM’s primary semiconductor fabrication plant in Nobeoka, Japan caused a significant production halt. This directly affected the supply chain for AKM chips, and products that used AKM chips, including some versions of the Schiit Modi, saw production revisions or temporary chip substitutions as a result. If you’re buying an AKM-based product that was manufactured between late 2020 and roughly 2022 to 2023, it’s worth checking community forums to verify exactly which chip revision is in the unit you’re purchasing. AKM has restored production capacity and their newer chips are available again, but used market units from the shortage period may carry substituted chips.

ESS vs. AKM: Where the Differences Actually Matter

Three years in, having read through ASR data, Crinacle’s coverage, Resolve Reviews’ commentary, and hundreds of owner impressions, my honest take is this: for the vast majority of desktop listeners running headphones at mid-tier price bands and below, the chip brand is not where you should focus your buying decision first.

Implementation matters more than chip selection. A well-designed circuit around an AKM chip and a well-designed circuit around an ESS chip will both measure better than the audibility threshold for most listeners. The factors that actually separate listening experiences at this tier are output impedance, power supply quality, analog output stage design, and whether the DAC has balanced outputs.

Where chip selection can start to matter slightly more is at the edges of the performance envelope: very high-resolution DSD playback, extremely demanding headphones that reveal noise floor differences, or A/B comparisons under controlled conditions. For casual desktop listening through a Sennheiser HD600 or a HiFiMan Sundara, you’re unlikely to A/B the chip brand reliably.

Buying Guide: Choosing Between ESS and AKM-Based DACs

Clarify What Your Chain Actually Needs

Before selecting a DAC based on chip family, map your actual signal chain. What’s your source? What amp are you running? What headphones are you driving? If you’re running a planar magnetic headphone like the Sundara, you’ll want a clean noise floor and a capable amp to match. If you’re running a dynamic driver like the HD600, the gap between a competent DAC and an excellent DAC is real but smaller than marketing materials suggest. The Audiophile Basics resources at /learn/ cover chain-building logic in more detail and are worth reading before you commit to any single component.

Balanced output availability is worth prioritizing at mid-tier desktop builds if your amp supports it. An ESS-based DAC with XLR outputs will give you a cleaner noise floor into a balanced amp than an unbalanced budget alternative, regardless of chip brand.

Budget Builds and the AKM Track Record

At the budget tier, AKM-based products have a long, verified track record of satisfying listeners. The classic Schiit Modi plus Magni stack is built around this philosophy: competent measurements, American manufacturing, and a straightforward upgrade path. Field reports from Schiit users consistently describe the Modi stack as an excellent first dedicated desktop setup. If you’re entering the hobby and want a no-drama starting point with multiple input options, an AKM-based budget DAC is a well-supported choice backed by years of community consensus.

One caveat: verify the chip revision in any used-market AKM product purchased from the 2020 to 2023 window, for reasons covered in the AKM factory fire section above.

Mid-Tier Builds and the Case for ESS Measurements

At the mid price band, ESS-based DACs have a strong argument rooted in measurement data. If you weight objective measurements heavily, as ASR’s methodology does, ESS implementations at mid-tier have historically offered the highest SINAD scores per dollar. That data is real and worth respecting, even if the audibility of those differences in casual listening is limited.

For a desktop balanced build, an ESS chip with XLR outputs and verified ASR performance is a strong foundation. The Topping E50 is the reference point I can speak to directly: it sits on my desk, pairs with the L50, and performs exactly as ASR’s measurement data predicts.

Listening Goals vs. Measurement Goals

Resolving the ESS versus AKM question for your own purchase comes down to whether you’re optimizing for measurement certainty or listening character. If you want the cleanest measurements at a given price band, ESS implementations currently have the edge in data. If you want a product with a long subjective satisfaction track record and slightly warmer community reputation, AKM-based gear has that in abundance.

Both are valid positions. I personally land closer to the measurement-first camp at the desktop DAC level, because I believe the amp and headphone pairing does more to shape the sound than the DAC chip selection does. That’s not a universal opinion, but it’s grounded in three years of reading data and community impressions carefully.

When to Ignore the Chip Debate Entirely

If you’re choosing between two specific products at similar price bands and both measure competently, stop reading about chips and read about outputs, inputs, build quality, and warranty support instead. Schiit’s American manufacturing and customer service reputation is a real differentiator. Topping’s measurement optimization and balanced output availability is a real differentiator. The chip brand is, at most, a tiebreaker at this level, not the deciding factor.

Top Picks

Topping E50 HiFi Balanced DAC ES9068AS MQA DSD512 PCM768kHz

The Topping E50 is the ESS-based mid-tier DAC I can speak to most directly, because it’s the one running on my desk right now paired with the Topping L50 amp. It uses the ES9068AS chip, which is a high-performance ESS silicon implementation offering balanced XLR and single-ended RCA outputs, MQA full decoding, and support for DSD512 and PCM up to 768kHz.

ASR’s measurement results for the E50 are exceptional for the price band. The SINAD score placed it among the top-measured DACs available at mid-tier pricing when it was reviewed, and that result has held up. On my Topping stack, listening through Qobuz with Nick Drake’s Pink Moon, Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works Vol. II, and Radiohead’s Kid A, the noise floor is inaudible and the presentation is neutral without feeling clinical.

The balanced XLR output is the E50’s standout feature at its price band. If your amp has balanced inputs, using XLR here gives you measurably better channel separation and a lower noise floor compared to the single-ended path. That matters more for sensitive IEMs than for high-impedance headphones like the HD600, but it’s a meaningful feature regardless.

MQA support is present and functional. My honest take is that MQA’s licensing story is a marketing complication I don’t find compelling, but the E50’s neutral tuning and measurement performance are the actual reasons to buy it. You do not need to use MQA to benefit from this DAC.

The one real limitation is the absence of a headphone output. The E50 is a line-level DAC only. It requires a separate amplifier, which is the right design choice for a dedicated desktop separates build but makes it unsuitable as a standalone all-in-one solution.

Check current price on Amazon.

Schiit Modi 3+

The Schiit Modi 3+ is Schiit Audio’s entry-level desktop DAC, and it represents the clearest example of the AKM-based budget tier done right. Built in the United States (Schiit manufactures in Newhall, California, which is a genuine differentiator in a category full of Chinese-manufactured alternatives), the Modi 3+ offers USB, optical, and coaxial inputs in a compact aluminum chassis.

ASR-measured the Modi 3+ and found competitive results for its price band. It won’t match the E50’s SINAD score, but it performs well above the audibility threshold for noise and distortion in normal listening. Field reports from verified buyers and community impressions across Head-Fi and Reddit consistently describe it as a clean, reliable performer with no obvious colorations.

The AKM chip inside the Modi 3+ is a key caveat worth flagging. Some production runs during the 2020 to 2023 AKM supply shortage used substitute chips. If you’re buying new from a current production run, Schiit has returned to AKM silicon. If you’re buying used, verify the build date and check Schiit’s own forums for current chip information.

The natural pairing for the Modi 3+ is the Schiit Magni series amplifier, forming the classic Schiit “Modi/Magni stack.” This combination has been a community-consensus entry-level desktop recommendation for years. It doesn’t offer balanced output at this tier, but for listeners running single-ended headphones at the budget level, that’s not a practical limitation.

Check current price on Amazon.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the DAC chip brand actually affect how music sounds?

At competent implementations, the audible differences between well-designed ESS and AKM chips are extremely small, often below the threshold most listeners can reliably identify in controlled listening tests. The larger sound-shaping factors in a DAC are the analog output stage design, power supply quality, and output impedance. Chip brand matters more as a proxy for implementation quality than as an independent variable. Community consensus on ASR and Head-Fi supports this framing consistently.

Is the “ESS glare” problem real in current products?

ESS glare was a real phenomenon in some early, poorly implemented budget DACs from roughly 2015 to 2018, where circuit design problems around the chip produced audible harshness. Modern ESS implementations from established manufacturers like Topping show no measurement artifacts that would predict consistent tonal harshness. ASR’s data on current ESS-based DACs does not support glare as an inherent chip property. If you’re buying a current production mid-tier ESS DAC from a reputable brand, it’s not a meaningful concern.

Should I care about MQA support when choosing a DAC?

MQA support is a licensing feature that enables full decoding of Tidal Masters streams. The audible benefit of MQA over a standard high-resolution FLAC stream is genuinely contested, and the format has faced significant criticism from engineers and measurement experts. If you use Tidal and value the Masters tier, MQA decoding is a functional feature. If you stream via Qobuz or use local FLAC files, MQA support has no practical relevance to your listening experience.

What happened to AKM chips and should I be worried about buying AKM gear now?

A factory fire at AKM’s Nobeoka fabrication plant in October 2020 disrupted production of AKM DAC chips for roughly two to three years. Some products using AKM chips, including certain versions of the Schiit Modi, were produced with substitute chips during the shortage period. AKM has restored manufacturing capacity and current production gear is again using genuine AKM silicon. Buying new from a reputable retailer in 2024 or 2025 carries minimal risk, but it’s worth confirming chip revision on used-market purchases from the shortage window.

Do I need a separate DAC if I already have a decent motherboard or audio interface?

Modern high-quality motherboard audio has improved significantly, and the gap between onboard audio and a budget external DAC is smaller than it was five years ago. The main benefits of a dedicated DAC are lower noise floor (especially important in desktop PCs with significant electromagnetic interference), balanced output availability, and better measured linearity at low signal levels. For headphones with high sensitivity, a dedicated DAC with a proper noise floor is genuinely useful. For the HD600 specifically, the improvement over a clean laptop output is real but modest.

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