Is the ESS Sabre HiFi really that good?

Not all the MSI GT series have this especially the 8XX series. So for those who have the ESS Sabre HiFi how does it compare to the series without it? Is the ESS Sabre HiFi really that good?

 

You keep saying the 8xx series doesn't have ESS Sabre Audio, but they do, and I've already quoted you the specifications pages for them showing the 865 and 866 models do have ESS Audio, here it is again:
https://us.msi.com/Laptop/GT73VR-TITAN-PRO-7th-Gen-GEFORCE<sup>®<sup>-GTX-1080/Specification

Audio Port - 1/1 (ESS Sabre HiFi)

The 872, 1005, NE1080 models don't:

Audio Port - 1/1/TOSLINK

I actually prefer the TOSLINK as then I can route my audio out to a digital processor (receiver and/or digital headphone amp for example) and from there drive higher end headphones, but that's really only optimal in a fixed location. Although on trips I've packed the whole shebang to use in place at another location like a work or fun venue.

If you get the ESS Sabre I think getting a 400 ohm headphone would be optimal, maybe even an 800 ohm impedance, I haven't done any A/B testing but generally for these high power amps you'd want a higher impedance than the standard 16-32 ohm consumer headphone.

I guess I wouldn't hold it against a laptop for not having a built-in headphone amp, as there are plenty of fun external alternatives to play with

 

But they _do_ have a headphone amplifier coupled to the ESS DAC. In my GS60 it is (IIRC) an ESS design with specifications far beyond any human hearing could ever reach - so it's more than good enough. Even driving high impedance phones.

 

Yes the sound from the ESS chip(s) is very good and capable of driving most headphones. But actually it's the last thing that make the big difference: while the DACs on modern CODEC chips can produce sound of a good quality they aren't capable of driving higher impedance headphones and may (but this should be exceptional) be very sensitive. My Asus U500 was so sensitive that the impedance of the headphone cable made a obvious difference - something I'd not believe if I hadn't heard _and_ measured the effect. IOW the integrated headphone AMPs in the CODEC tend to be bad and few manufacturers take the time to add a good external headphone AMP.

The ESS solution is honestly overkill. But that also makes sure it isn't the bottleneck in the system. It makes sure that the notebook designers made the effort to make a good solution - using an expensive DAC+AMP solution and not using it in a proper circuit would be pretty stupid after all.