Anyone have any experience with Sabaj? D5?

[PianotunerNJ]

So, I’m considering moving to a decent DAC for a secondary system I’m building. Currently I’m running a Topping D10 I got on Craig’s for $40 and it’s pretty nice honestly. It’s my first DAC (engineered for music listening specifically) that’s not a piece of entry level home recording gear or external computer sound card, it has DSD capabilities and I’m impressed with in generally for a sub $100 device. It’s got me thinking about how much of a jump I can make for a few hundred more. A friend mentioned Sabaj and said the D5 looked really nice on paper, and not too pricey, but I can’t imagine I’m going to get to see one before I plunk down $400 to $500 so I thought I’d ask around for advice.

 

[xdd]

Some talk about it over on AC : https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=164865.0

 

[PianotunerNJ]

I found some info at Audio Science Review too, seems like an impressive DAC for the price. The utter lack of response regarding recognition of or experience with the brand is disconcerting.

 

[xdd]

Sabaj is something of an oddity as a Chinese brand in that they seem relatively uninterested in selling domestically. Type their name into Taobao and you come up with practically nothing. I was interested in their A4 digital amp but seems hard to find one locally (I live in China).

 

[wallacefl]

There are some impressions given on Audio Circle....

 

[xdd]

There are some impressions given on Audio Circle....

See post #2 above for a link.

 

[patient_ot]

IIRC Sabaj is a company that is related to SMSL. Sabaj usually offers a sister product to what SMSL is offering for certain things that is a little bit different but still very similar.

I use a small SMSL DAC at my desk and I've had the unit for about a year with no issues. You can probably find a number of bench tests, measurements, etc. and subjective reviews on SMSL products if you look around.