Aye that’s for sure, same with my setup. :-)
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Aye that’s for sure, same with my setup. :-)
Incoming...
New dac and (probably temporary, but maybe not if it sounds good enough) preamp.
Calling digital done after this one.
Though may dive into the HQ Player upsampling rabbithole at some point.
Come on then, what are you getting? Topping E30? :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Gazjam
Weirdly,Quote:
Originally Posted by Macca
the Preamp IS a Topping!
:eek:
Audio Science Review's measurebator special, the Pre90.
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/topping-pre90-review-preamplifier.18283/
https://www.electromod.co.uk/storage...77fcb64aa2.jpg
Gets great reviews online?
"Straight wire with gain" transparent, massive dynamic range, goes head to head (and subjectively betters) some high end Pre's, and has fully balanced Inputs and Output.
So it ticks all my boxes.
More affordable than a lot of options out there, which is great, including the one Im (probably?) still set on getting.
But want to hear the Topping first, it just might be what I need.
So I'll give it some time and make the call.
The new Dac doesn't have a lossless volume control like the PS Audio, and as I'm looking for a change from my PS Audio pre (up for sale soon), I just need a clean transparent volume control with balanced XLR ins and outs.
The Topping does that.
Only one balanced XLR input though, so not enough inputs to run the vinyl at the same time...
Depending if its all its cracked up to be, I might actually keep it and pick up the handy extension unit, which adds more XLR inputs.
I like the half width form factor too.
The Dac however,
ISN'T a Topping.
Was always a Speakers first guy?
But that changed over time when I realised a better source can make a massive difference, IF your speakers are sorted and the rest of your chain is transparent enough to let the Source do its thing.
Happy with my Wharfie speakers, work well in my room and always step up whenever I improve something.
Like the Chrod Dave and DCS dacs,
my Directstream dac runs on an FPGA, and I've enjoyed several software upgrades over the years to improve it.
That, along with the hardware mods Ive done I've had some pretty great sound upgrades over the years, and sounds a heap better over the stock Dac.
My PS Audio Directstream Dac is now discontinued, there's a Mark II out now, but given the mods I've done I suspect it will be only incrementally better, with the same sound signature.
Folks over on PS Audio forums who've compared both bear this out.
So looking for a Dac to improve my digital which goes in a completely different direction.
I've taken this (great) dac as far as it can go, so whats the next step?
Back in the day I built music servers, so was very into stuff like Jitter reduction, SNR power filtering and the like. Digital Audio theory stuff.
Kinda miss all that stuff, software upgrades and the like, so drifting back into that area nowadays.
My Vinyl setup is locked in, so looking at upping the Digital and decided improving my Dac is the way forward.
I can get that upgradeability I miss with this new Dac?
Upsampling NOS digital files with HQ Player and I get to tinker again with audiophile PC hardware builds and software tweaks.
But getting ahead of myself,
The Dac running unaltered digital files in NOS mode will be a great start and again, might be all I need.
Maybe no need for a beefy music server build and HQ Player running through Roon.
But going forward I have the option though, which I like.
I've taken my current Dac as far as I can.
Shout out to Elise Audio in London, after checking they had one in stock I ordered it and an hour later got an email from UPS saying its getting delivered tommorow! :eek:
*EDIT*
Was going to put a second "uneccessarily wordy" :) post up talking specifically about the Dac, but pictures speak louder than words, so I'll keep the suspense up a while longer.
I'll post some pictures tommorow when the Posties been.
Wont be able to hear the Dac until the new Pre comes in (UK Retailer out of stock sadly, so a couple of weeks from Chinashire) but will leave the Dac on and get some burn in time under its belt while I wait.
* Found another UK Source for the Topping Pre90, so getting the Preamp delivered tommorow as well. https://theartofsound.net/images/smilies/thumbs-up.gif
Happy Days.
Thats me done for a bit.
Good pre-amp. I looked at that when I was looking for an active pre, along with the Rotel Michi, Parasound JC2BP and Benchmark LA4.
Ruled it out on looks in the end, same with the Michi and the Benchmark. Probably would have got the Parasound but then had a punt on the Sony which ended up surprising me - and saving me about three grand!
For me it's got to look old school.
We have very different approaches to digital sources. I don't go with spending large amounts of money there, I just don't hear any benefit, or see that there can be any when I look at the measurements either. Yes I did drop two grand on the CD transport but that was just bought for the looks as well. If there'd been anything cheaper that looked as good and wasn't slot loading I'd have gone for that instead.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Macca
Slot loaders are the work of Beelzibub.
Just Say... NO.
As you say though,
It's funny how folks can hear things differently?
For me,
even changing out digital cables I've heard a difference?
Ferrinstance the new HDMI i2s cable I'm running between the CD Transport and Dac sounds VERY different now to how it did when I first plugged it in a few weeks ago.
1's and 0's right?... Go figure.
My take on things is that theres too many assumptions being made and we just dont know enough about how it all works... yet.
Example:
With my current Dac you can run it in two modes, High volume or Low volume.
The choice being there to tailor the Dacs sound to the particular gain structure of your pre/power amp?
The low setting reduces the noisefloor by -20dB, and is meant for high gain systems where the DSD upsampling nature of the Dac may produce slightly audible background noise.
A decision made by the Dac Designer at the time..
Love Audio folks that look that far into their designs, can totally get behind that.
Those are the products you want to spend money on, not the flavour of the week stuff.
Bought a few things over the years based on that.
I compared both settings and volume matched, and they sounded slightly different, with the Low setting having slightly reduced dynamics and narrower soundstage width.
So not even two different bits of digital gear, but the same Dac with different settings sent to the analogue output stage applied!
:stalks:
Hear you Martin on the gear having to look the part as well?
Feel the same.
You gotta stare at it and if it looks terrible or if it's not your Thing... thats never great.
Each to their own of course, but like yourself wouldn't give gear like that houseroom, unless it was hidden out of sight.
That Parasound looks the Business, hadn't seen it before?
Has an old school Electrocompaniet/ Audio Note vibe about it, you cant beat a bit of Black and Gold with hifi Gear.
My first Valve amp was a chinese cheapie, which sounded MEH... and eventually blew up :D but boy did it look good with all that black brushed aluminium and gold valve cages!
Really enjoyed my time with it.
My next foray into valves was a custom build 300B power amp, that one looked amazing AND sounded wonderful.
https://i.imgur.com/3FDRO4x.jpeg
It had a black case with a copper top plate.
Loved how that thing looked, especially with the big Western Electric 300B valves at night.
Real "serious amp" vibe about it.
Miss this amp, thanks to Nick Gorham and Colin Topps (RIP)
Some things really are worth spending your hard earned on, the Amp yes, but not Premium unobtanium 300B power valves at THAT price.
Only reason I still dont have it.
Always liked the copper contrasting with the black though?
Guess it kinda stuck with me, the new Dacs the same
https://cdn.head-fi.org/a/11744533.jpg
Ah, that looks like Kitsune. HoloAudio DAC coming' up?
YeahQuote:
Originally Posted by Riislingen
Good spot :)
Holo Audio May
Level 3 KTE
Posties bringing it tommorow!
Bit of a gamechanger this one by all accounts. Shall see.
Two box Dac, seperate Power Supply, its a big beastie... need to rearrange the rack.
https://youtu.be/Wa3sOSRa-U0?si=hzcvb-S4_agieM2O
Subjective Spolier:
This guy prefers it to the Chord Dave with MScaler.
Good enough for me!
Was going to get the matching Serene KTE preamp by default, but want to see if the Topping gets me there first.
Hope so.
Couple of other takes:
https://youtu.be/7JEKgiXm7ZI?si=rWvkQPh9sz_2DE6n
https://youtu.be/HPtsWvhjLxA?si=q_CdJfVBeESnnwr5
Congrats on the new gear, Gary! Been eyeballing the Topping P90 as well for some time. We'll see what happens.
Thanks Mikkel! :)