SDAC has always, and only, been AKM4452. If you ready differently, someone’s probably been smoking something they’re not supposed to (i.e. whomever was claiming they used ESS chips).
My thoughts on a number of DAC chipsets can be found here.
I’ve generally enjoyed Burr Brown-based DACs. Still do, in most cases. I really liked the old Rotel RCD-965BX … back when it was a current product.
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Back on the SABRE thing … the issues are not, by any means, limited to moderately priced gear. I’ve heard the same artifacts in pushing 5-figure converters that were supposedly “no holds barred” in their implementations.
And I’ve heard implementations for under $500 that do not have the “typical” SABRE issues.