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Not sure what you really want. An RME would seem to fit your needs perfectly, but you don't want to spend that much and oh yeah, for some reason you want Win 7 capable even though you'll be building a Win10 production system. Since that would enlarge possibly candidates greatly you probably should do that first. And RME even with an old Fireface is almost sure to work with your old Win 7 system. But you want it cheap. Bottom line is I think the market for this is too small and you aren't getting it cheap even though you can do so on the DAC side of things.
Than you wrote the following:
In which case, many went to older generation Cirrus chips which are fantastic...if someone knows how to build around them it is nearly as good as the Sabre and I am totally cool with that. In fact, most of those who know how to build around the AKMs are fantastic too. But... they DO impart a sound, and I prefer the ESS when the analog settles in, it is wide, dimensional, airy, and sensitive to levels which means if you are extremely picky and the analog is made extremely well...you can dial in YOUR sweet spot and it takes perfectly.
Respectfully, no the chipset doesn't impart a sound. The performance achieved while maybe not SOTA is not an identifiable sound via chip brand used. As long as you believe such things it will limit your options unnecessarily.
So if you want to make headway, get onto Win10 or 11. The best interface meeting what you describe for cheap currently is the Topping Professional E2x2. Much better than average ADC, much better than average headphone output power, and a good enough DAC though presumably not a priority for you for $159.
Than you wrote the following:
In which case, many went to older generation Cirrus chips which are fantastic...if someone knows how to build around them it is nearly as good as the Sabre and I am totally cool with that. In fact, most of those who know how to build around the AKMs are fantastic too. But... they DO impart a sound, and I prefer the ESS when the analog settles in, it is wide, dimensional, airy, and sensitive to levels which means if you are extremely picky and the analog is made extremely well...you can dial in YOUR sweet spot and it takes perfectly.
Respectfully, no the chipset doesn't impart a sound. The performance achieved while maybe not SOTA is not an identifiable sound via chip brand used. As long as you believe such things it will limit your options unnecessarily.
So if you want to make headway, get onto Win10 or 11. The best interface meeting what you describe for cheap currently is the Topping Professional E2x2. Much better than average ADC, much better than average headphone output power, and a good enough DAC though presumably not a priority for you for $159.
