DAC replacement required.

[loonytunes]

Hmm, yeah - it does sound daft.
It's true, though. (I wrote that Amazon review).
The key is to listen with your ears not with your wallet.

I'd rate the XiangSheng DAC-01A as better than that wallet-emptying gear as well, especially with a Western Elecric 396A valve onboard.

OK - sorry I didn't think that may have been a review by you.

I will put this to you though - with your experience I would like you to try the new JKenny ISO-DAC - I've listened to it myself and I have a feeling with all the amazing strengths I heard from that digitial 'David' - you may just find this particular DAC may (I say may because I haven't heard the D30 but I have heard other high end DACs) just top the Topping. John loans these out for 30 days, it's a USB only battery based DAC, and the SQ is the best I have heard in digital. Trust me it really is worth a shot and I would love to hear how you got on with it if you decide to take it for a spin.

[jandl100]

No worries - nothing to apologise for.
A £90 Topping DAC beating a well-reviewed £3k Auralic Vega is ridiculous (albeit the Vega comes with extras, but still).
If the Topping D30 were alone in this, I'd just have to write it off as a weird personal preference, but I've had the same result with XiangSheng and SMSL product and I know that other experienced listeners have had similar results. There are some seriously good sounding cheap DACs coming out of China atm - I think it really does need a re-think as to what is technically important here.

I'd be happy to give the John Kenny DAC a listen.
Although not atm as I have had an ear infection these last few days!
His website seems to be in a very confused state - can you give a suitable link for the DAC? (Edit: and what does it cost?)

[loonytunes]

It's not the best of websites I agree...

This is the exact product I listened to: https://www.ciunas.biz/product-page/iso-dac

This ISO-DAC also has a hub section underneath so you can isolate and re-clock any preferable USB DACs of your own that you might want to connect downstream instead; however I found that the DAC part was more than sufficient in that I didn't really give the HUB side a go. The absence of glare and ringing plus the expressive emotional conveyance of the ISO-DAC is so compelling.

Again, with your experience, it would be interesting getting your feedback. The other giant-killer is supposed to be the Chord Mojo, but for me it walked all over the Mojo. And it's one of those DACs where you can easily tell the difference by its improvement without even the need to think about it.

I tried the ISO-DAC with an Aries Mini and sMS-200 Ultra.

[jandl100]

Thanks for the link, Chris, that worked fine. 450 Euros, so sensible money.
I'll knock my ear infection on the head before making any inquiries!

I've never heard a Chord Mojo but I have heard a Hugo2 in my system (fully expecting to buy it) and absolutely hated the way it porrtrayed music. It did tick a lot of the hifi boxes, though.
I pretty much go along with The Verge review
- "they built a soulless perfectionist’s idea of an audio reproduction machine, neglecting to hear it for themselves. The Hugo 2 is technically impressive, and its crystalline sound gives glimpses into detail that other DACs can’t match, but in the end, it’s just too cold and inhuman. With enthusiast products like this, precision means nothing without pleasure."
In my view, it may be the subtle dynamic inflections that are missing, the Hugo2 just kind of steamrollered over the music leaving it's structure laid bare but it flattened out the small emotional inflections that give music life.

[User211]

That's Chord gear all over, though, Jerry.

They must make something that doesn't sound sterile and unnatural but I haven't come across it yet.

[jandl100]

An audio buddy of mine who likes sounds pretty relaxed agreed with me on the Hugo2 but is a very proud owner of a DAC64ii. Who knows, maybe that's the DAC that Chord got right?

[struth]

It was about 3k in the day. Never seen one far less heard one

[loonytunes]

Thanks for the link, Chris, that worked fine. 450 Euros, so sensible money.
I'll knock my ear infection on the head before making any inquiries!

I've never heard a Chord Mojo but I have heard a Hugo2 in my system (fully expecting to buy it) and absolutely hated the way it porrtrayed music. It did tick a lot of the hifi boxes, though.
I pretty much go along with The Verge review
- "they built a soulless perfectionist’s idea of an audio reproduction machine, neglecting to hear it for themselves...

Interesting review Jerry! I won't big the Ciunas ISO-DAC up too much otherwise expectations will be too high - but after listening to the Ciunas I am absolutely dead set on the fact that the source equipment leading the Hi-Fi chain is the most influential and not the room acoustics or speakers! Yes, the latter two make a big difference, but if the upstream electronics don't perform then you will be tuning the speakers and room to accommodate below-par performance. For me, I was getting the odd glare and hardening of sound which I just listened through thinking - ah well - room acoustics perhaps - but this annoying issue went away when listening to the ISO-DAC. And there should be no problem with the conveyance of the emotional content of music (unlike the technical perfection of the Chord), that was one of its main strengths in how expressive this DAC was.

Anyways, let's see what you think Jerry once your ears have cleared. I am especially interested in your response after going through so many hi-end DACs and then concluding that a sub £100 DAC was your choice of execution. If you still think the Topping DAC is better - then I'm going to have to buy one and see for myself.

[SantanaCorreia]

After Jerry's advice great advice I went for an smsl m8 dac. The unit was faulty so I returned it.

I will give a go on the D30 probably.

In my Pi3 the PSU does make a diference. Is there a good PSU for the D30?


Enviado do meu HTC_M10h através do Tapatalk

[jandl100]

Oh no - faulty SMSL M8? I don't think I'd heard of any SMSL issues before this.
I guess part of what saves you money with this cheap Chinese gear is so-so quality control.

The linear PSU I have with my Topping D30 is this one - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/30W-DC15V...y/131515351686