Does the ESS Sabre Chip have a telltale sound?

It depends on how you use the Sabre chip. In my experience, if you drive it with S/PDIF input it uses the internal reclocking, which mucks-up the sound IMO. If you drive it with I2S, it is quite pristine and nice sounding. I believe it avoids this reclocking when you use I2S. I have not found it to be any better than the chips from TI or Analog Devices however.

I find there is a noticeable difference in sound between the dac in my Meridian MS600 (which I believe uses XMOS chips) and my Simaudio 650D (which uses Sabre chips).

The Simaudio dac has deeper, more articulate bass, slightly more treble emphasis, more pinpoint imaging, greater articulation, a wider soundstage and more body.

The MS600 has more bloom at the expense of less focused images, is a bit more ethereal, and sounds a bit more "organic" in the way it presents the music as a whole rather than calling attention to any particular component.

I wonder how much of this difference is due to the sonic signature of the chip sets? Clearly the Simaudio 650D is a much better built component with a much better power supply (the MS600 uses a switching power supply) and chassis (the MS600 benefited from extensive vibration control from HRS products).

FYI, the Meridian MS600 is using an AD1852 chip (24 bits, 192 kHz).

Interesting, you know over at Emotiva ,the design team hates the ESS Sabre chip. They claim it sounds awful.I myself don't know but do take a look at their website under digital and particularly the DC-1 threads.
Best
George

Interesting. I think many attribute much of the highly regarded analog sound of the Oppo BDP-105 to ESS Sabre chips.

db