Regards,
Grant .... ؠ ......Don't be such a big girl's blouse
I've said it before and I'll say it again: democracy simply-doesn't-work.... ..... ...... ...... ................... ..... ..... ..... ..... .....
FIIO K7 BT, M11 PLUS, BTR7, KA5 - OPPO BDP-103D - PANASONIC UB450 - PANASONIC 4K ULTRA HD TV - PIXEL 6 - AVANTREE LR BLUETOOTH - 2* X600 SOUNDCORE - HEADPHONES INCLUDE, FIIO, NURAPHONES', FOCAL, OPPO, BOSE, CAMBRIDGE, BOWER & WILKINS, DEVIALET, MARSHALL, SONY, MITCHELL & JOHNSTON - 2*ZBOOK'S- MERCURY BD ROM, ROON, QOBUZ, TIDAL, PLEX, CYBERLINK, JRIVER - MULTI HDD'S -
Oh my god! There's nothing wrong with the bidet is there?
“Nothing discloses real character like the use of power. It is easy for the weak to be gentle. Most people can bear adversity. But if you wish to know what a man really is, give him power. This is the supreme test. It is the glory of Lincoln that, having almost absolute power, he never abused it, except on the side of mercy".
“You see these dictators on their pedestals, surrounded by the bayonets of their soldiers and the truncheons of their police ... yet in their hearts there is unspoken fear. They are afraid of words and thoughts: words spoken abroad, thoughts stirring at home -- all the more powerful because forbidden -- terrify them. A little mouse of thought appears in the room, and even the mightiest potentates are thrown into panic.”
"You don't have free will. You have the appearance of free will.”
“There's a war out there, old friend. A world war. And it's not about who's got the most bullets. It's about who controls the information. What we see and hear, how we work, what we think... it's all about the information!”
***SMILE, BE HAPPY***
Location: East Riding of Yorkshire these days
Posts: 4,779
I'm Shaun.
Audiolab M-DAC. How do I rate it..? Difficult as I only have two others to compare it to however it is better than either of those.
Location: Seaford UK
Posts: 1,861
I'm Dennis.
Yes Grant, I've got my eyes on that as well, or maybe the '2'.
No external DAC, my system is entirely digital with a Lyngdorf TDAI 3400. Ive got a Chord mojo for headphones that i use at work.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Location: Navan
Posts: 378
I'm Jo.
New toy for the bedside listening setup: a Roksan K3 DAC, no half-width affair. The best DAC I've used so far. Previous boxes included an Arcam rDAC, an Audiolab M-DAC, a Beresford Caiman II, a Beresford SEG, and an SPS DAC 3. It has a couple of useful extras such as two sets of RCA outs allowing me to run two HPAs and an internal K-Link receiver and USB transmitter for sending CD quality from a computer to the DAC. Well-built and sounds great - quite a step up from the M-DAC. Bought at a whopping discount, £900 off from Audiovisual online [including next day delivery].
K3:1.jpg
K3:3.jpg
K3:4.jpg
*I'll be keeping the Caiman SEG and SPS DAC 3.
Topping D50.
I have had to downsize my 2nd system due to a room change. Having promised my son my N cores and Benchmark DAC1 HDR, I set out looking for alternatives. Im a Benchmark Fan of some years using the DAC1 HDR and DAC2 so looked at the S/H market for benchmark gear but was a bit taken aback by the prices being asked for 10 year old design and electronic hardwear. I found a link on the forum to a site that provided technical measurements of various DACs. I was attracted to the Topping performance figures particularly the D50 and DX7s. They lay midway between the Benchmark HDR and the DAC2. The D50 is a bare dac with no frills, needs a 5v PSU and provides unbalanced outputs. The DX7s is similar to the bechmark DAC1's with balanced and unbalanced output and internal PSU. The DAC section electronics spec for both is almost identical. It will be the same circuitry. The D50 is £179 ex amazon and the D7S about twice that price.
I decided to jump in and bought a D50. It arrived a few days ago and has been running 24/7 Im using a separate Linear 5v supply I built (equivalent on Ebay circa £45) but it comes with a USB power connector so could be used from a powered laptop or clean PC.
Well Ive been gobsmacked with its performance, into my NCores/ATCscm 40's its every bit as good in the SQ arena as my as my Benchmark HDR. I still have to do an evaluation against my DAC2.
Im now a convert- No need to pay megabucks for a good DAC !
Im redesigning my system for the smaller room around a D50 with a passive unbalanced switch to give me Vinyl/Dac into a new pair of NCores.
Technics 1200 tweaked,Ianmac Bearing,DACT DIY Phono Pre, Belcanto CD-2, Engineered Switzerland DIY Renderer, Benchmark DAC2, Hypex NCore, ATC SCM40
2nd system --Engineered Switzerland DIY streamer, Sony CDP11,Topping D50 DAC, Hypex NCore. Kef 1point2 speakers. Ianmac Filters
Very interesting review Ian. I'm still liking my Topping D30 but would be happy to try another DAC of theirs. The D70 should be released any moment now but will be around 600 quid. I'd love to know how much of an improvement the D50 would be over the D30 as the price is very attractive of course!
Sonore Rendu - Cambridge Audio Edge W - Sonus Faber Venere 2.5
Not a review just an indicator
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/f...rters-dacs.10/
Page 1 gives you their interpretation of the D30 and new D50.
From looking at the Topping specs the big difference is in the architecture of the two. The D50 uses two DAC chips (ES9038Q2M) one for each L & R channel so I would expect a lower noise figure and better channel separation so slightly more detail and improved soundstage.
The published noise for the E30 is -113 to -115 db while the D50 is -122 db so the ( unwanted) noise is at around half the level of that coming out of the D30.
It is important to remember that the Hi Fi system following the DAC must be capable of revealing the improvement.
My donation of my NCores and Benchmark to my son has now backfired. In my new room I initially set up using an old Cyrus Smartpower amp I had. It just didnt cut it with the D50.
Ive now ordered two Hypex Ncore amp boards and power supplies, plus the aluminium to make cases for them, so Im now almost back to square one but with the Topping instead of the Benchmark.
Good hunting re the potential change.
Technics 1200 tweaked,Ianmac Bearing,DACT DIY Phono Pre, Belcanto CD-2, Engineered Switzerland DIY Renderer, Benchmark DAC2, Hypex NCore, ATC SCM40
2nd system --Engineered Switzerland DIY streamer, Sony CDP11,Topping D50 DAC, Hypex NCore. Kef 1point2 speakers. Ianmac Filters
Thanks Ian, some more useful insights there!
Sonore Rendu - Cambridge Audio Edge W - Sonus Faber Venere 2.5
Location: Near Newcastle upon Tyne
Posts: 110
I'm Mandeep.
Schiit Gungnir multibit replaced a Chord 2qute.
Nice organic sound, don’t feel inclined to try anything else at the moment.