http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?action=gallery;area=browse;album=1729&pos=0Here is an interesting graphic that you may not have seen. The AKM dacs feature a 2v voltage output and super low ultrasonic noise floor which enables them to run their analog output direct out to the output connector with no analog filters or buffers, still providing plenty of power to drive passive stepped attenuators. No active circuitry of any kind following them. This provides the purest, most detailed sound that I have heard. A DEQ2496 or various sound cards that use the AKM dacs can run direct out needing only a high quality coupling cap to block the dc offset. Interestingly, I find that the sound of the 4395 has better fine resolution but the 4396 has a beautifully focused and powerful presentation.
The AK4396 has been around for a couple of years now and I have had a lot of people asking me about it as a possible upgrade to the AK4393 that comes stock in the Behringer 2496 audio gear but I have just now been able to get my US distributor to supply them. I installed an AK4396 dac chip in a direct out modified DEQ in order to compare it with the AK4395 that I have been recommending. The 4396 drops in to the board space vacated by the AK4393 and works fine on 3.3v with no other mods whereas the 4395 needs an extra regulator to provide 5v to pin 2, assuming that you don’t want to share the analog 5v with the digital pin. It’s interesting that the two chips do sound quite different. Although I usually have little trouble picking one component I like best from listening trials, it has been very difficult for me to choose a clear winner this time. These chips both offer stratospheric performance. It’s funny that I actually started to feel some pressure from my indecision. I also swapped the boards into the opposite chassis to make sure that I was minimizing the variables and tried both 4k and 20k stepped attenuators even though the 20k attenuators don’t work as well with my 22k amps. The 4396 has a more powerful sound even working into my 4k stepped attenuators despite it’s lower stated power consumption. It throws it’s soundstage closer to the listener, more toward the front line of the speakers and actually plays about 1db louder depending on the program material. The 4395’s bass was heard to extend much further than the stock 4393’s, along with a big improvement in resolving ability, and the 4396 has just as much extension, with a higher level, up into the mid bass. This makes the 4395 sound a bit lean in comparison. On the other hand, the 4395 throws it’s sound stage much deeper, starting just behind the plane of the speakers and going back beyond the front wall of the room. The 4396’s stage is pleasantly a bit taller. The 96 lights the stage more brightly, making each instrument stand apart from the others but lacks the ultimate resolution of the 95’s ability to follow the sounds right to the fine end. Some tracks favor the 4396’s closer presentation as feeling more involving and easier to follow. On other cuts I preferred the 4395’s extra ability to resolve reverberation tails and ambient information, making the 96 feel like it is leaving something behind. So the trade offs went back and forth causing one of those listening binges where you just keep pulling one cd after another off of the shelf, and can’t wait to get home the next day to do it all over again. At this point, with my current associated equipment, I will have to choose the AK4395 for it’s extra resolving ability even though I was hoping the 4396’s more focused and powerful sound would win as it would be easier to install. With different equipment I can see where this might go the other way so I will check back on the 4396 as things in my system change.
