Better DAC than Dragonfly Red for full system

[sanchezxxx]

Hey All,

My latest attempt at building a room friendly system from second hand parts is:

Macbook pro running Tidal Hifi / MQA > Dragonfly Red DAC > Bel Canto S125 Power > Neat Iota

It's sounding like it has real potential but I'm not massively impressed with the Dragonfly red. I have tried using its own volume controller, in addition to running in line out mode into a passive pre. The MQA is interesting but for other material it doesn't seem massively better than my old 7520 DAC with upgraded op amps that I've had for years. To be fair it's probably not fair to test a USB stick Vs a desktop DAC but had to try it.

Anyone running similar setups that have tried the dragonfly and can recommend anything better. All advice welcomed.

[antonio]

Someone on another forum uses both the Dragonfly Red and Chord Mojo. He really likes both but will admit the Chord is superior. The sky's your limit when it comes to dac's these days. Topping D70 and D90 are well reviewed (I like my D30 in a second system) as is the RME Dac 2.

[sanchezxxx]

So now just realised the MQA content on Tidal is tiny so not a 100% fair evaluation on the AQ Red, some of the tracks I were demoing were not MQA.

Randomly tried out Qobuz and the AQ Red sounds awesome with the majority of their content, 24bit or otherwise with no need for MQA.

Spotify lacking dynamics and detail in comparison big time.

Still considering DAC swapping.

Any Topping or SMSL users here that can compare to a Jolida glass or give any feedback?

[Clive197]

My money would be on a Chord Mojo but if you can stretch to Qutest then that pretty well is you sorted for a very long time.

[zzag]

I have had my Topping D90 for a good few weeks now, I am very impressed with it. I have also used the inbuilt pre amp which is good but i think the pre can be improved upon if and when funds are available.

[Firebottle]

Depending on your budget a Topping D70 or D90 will be excellent, for less money consider a Topping D50.