ESS Technology, Inc., a provider of audio-video solutions for the consumer markets, has announced that OPPO Digital, Inc., a manufacturer of digital electronics solutions that enhance the performance of audio-video products, has selected its Sabre32 Reference 8-channel Audio DAC or ‘ES9018’ within its advanced BDP-95 Universal Audiophile 3D Blu-Ray Disc Player. 

The Sabre32 audio DAC series by ESS is an enhanced 32-bit audio D/A or ‘Digital/Analog’ converter solution that has been built upon the original Sabre (News - Alert) audio DAC series introduced in the year 2008. It is being widely used in the industry for audio digital-to-analog conversion, and features patented circuits which offer better music with an unsurpassed sound stage unlike conventional sigma-delta DACs, according to the company.

The Sabre32 Reference DAC offers up to 135dB dynamic range and 0.0001 percent or -120dB total harmonic distortion, and also removes the clock jitter that is usually seen in digital audio systems. It comprises of patented circuits such as the 32-bit HyperStream modulator that is capable of ensuring offers comprehensive modulation and unconditional stability, while the revolver dynamic element matching provides enhanced performance over wide audio dynamic range.

Supporting 8-channel or stereo conversion from a digital audio input that might have up to 500kHz sampling rate in PCM, DSD or SPDIF formats, the Sabre32 Reference DAC is equipped with advanced features such as click-free soft mute, volume control, de-emphasis, programmable zero detect and per-channel customizable roll-off filter characteristics.

OPPO Digital’s BDP-95 Universal Audiophile Blu-ray player leverages two ES9018 Sabre32 Reference DAC chips, out of which one is used for the 7.1-channel output while the other has been configured in Quad Differential Stereo mode to provide enhanced stereo output in balanced or unbalanced formats. The Blu-ray disc player is equipped with advanced features such as 3D video playback plus bit-stream and full decoding capability for high resolution audio tracks such as Dolby TrueHD and DTS (News - Alert)-HD Master Audio.

“The BDP-95 is OPPO Digital’s flagship Universal Blu-ray Player designed from the ground up for Audiophile grade listening,” commented Jason Liao, chief technical officer & vice president, Product Development at OPPO Digital. “The solution uses two ESS Sabre32 Reference DACs with Toroidal Power Supply to deliver astounding sound stage and unmatched fidelity in both 7.1-channel and stereo modes.”

In January 2010, ESS Technology (News - Alert) launched RadiX, a high performance CMOS hybrid TV tuner for worldwide analog and digital terrestrial and cable TV reception. The device is a multi-standard silicon tuner designed to replace and outperform conventional Can tuners, exceeding the A/74 specification by a wide margin, and is equipped with built-in LNA and SAW filters.