Yeah having tested the Realtek AC1220 in my X370 board its actually surprisingly good as a DAC, sounds extremely close to a typical Sabre/Cirrus Logic dac. I actually preferred it in some situations to a Modi 3 with an Asgard 3 sound wise.
Main issue with it is that its underpowered, I think its around 1v RMS as opposed to the 2 you get from a typical stand alone dac. You also can have issues with voltage droop if you are under heavy load which is why I would always recommend external in addition to the noise issues you mentioned. Not really a issue for a normal user I suppose but gamers very well could run into the droop issue as I have had it in the past.
A month later a we finally have our answer: they’re going ESS/Sabre with the ES9026PRO chip! It’ll also be including an option of Amanero USB for those who’ll be excited to hear about that, and I trust Geno will be able to make sure no one complains about any issues people have with ESS, especially since it seems to be less and less of an issue these days. Sadly no release date or price announced yet due to the circuit board company they use getting decimated by over 2 feet of snow, but my guess is that the JNOG2 will be a little more expensive than the JNOG, so maybe $225-250. I have my fingers crossed that it’ll come out soon and blow everyone away with the performance!