Review and Measurements of Musical Fidelity V90 DAC

[douce]

unfortunately my Preamp only has balanced output, not balanced input, but appreciate the response!

 

[Jaimo]

@amirm Can you elaborate on your clock accuracy comment...

"Clock accuracy is a bit off at 1.00006 kHz or 60 parts per million. Not an audible concern but something to note. "

What clock runs at 1.00006kHz?

Is the digital equivalent of a Rega Turntable running a tad fast ?

 

[amirm]

@amirm Can you elaborate on your clock accuracy comment...

"Clock accuracy is a bit off at 1.00006 kHz or 60 parts per million. Not an audible concern but something to note. "

What clock runs at 1.00006kHz?

Is the digital equivalent of a Rega Turntable running a tad fast ?

It is. The analyzer generates a perfect clock at 1 kHz. So the reading should be 1.00000 kHz. No clock is that accurate though so we see variations up and down. In this case it is a little bit worse than I like to see.

As speed difference though, it is totally inaudible. It is orders of magnitude better than any turntable.

 

[JSMEK]

Auditioned a V90 as replacement for the Massdrop SDAC in my office setup. Running everything from a Galaxy S8 and Spotify. Looking for something more on par with DX3Pro at home (thanks to ASR reading), but featuring a more nondescript appearance. Based on my experience with the iFi nano BL and the V90 review here, another Burr-Brown implementation seemed intriguing.

Dang, what a pleasant addition the V90 has proven. Vastly more detailed presentation than the SDAC. Did some (loose) A-B with the DX3, as well, and came away rather impressed. Not sure if I'll replace the home DAC just yet, but oh-so tempting.

The one hiccup had been some distracting pops that were audible with quieter or less energetic tracks. The interwebs led me back to ASR and the Topping D10 as a possible solution - confirmed! Now running Galaxy S8 -> D10 -> V90 over S/PDIF -> O2 and happy as a clam.

Thanks @amirm for the phenomenal service you provide!

 

[Audiovue]

Be aware topping D50 and D50s having coaxial issues. And very very bad services by topping.
And test sound quality at my home smslsu8 new version and and topping D50s it is versatil knife but the sound not very smooth and lost details in the mid the upper high agressive, and bass leak... test with sonus faber venereS with Cambridge audio edgeNQ and amp W with and without NQ...
After testing with audio research réf. amp. And totem wind signature.
These products are juste attractive. And nothing else’s.
Sorry it is my personal opinion.
You have the right to do not agreeing with me.
And sorry for my English writing I am French Canadian and only know a little bit English.

 

[Russm535il]

This is a review and detailed measurements and comparison of Musical Fidelity V90-DAC against Topping D50. The unit is on kind loan from a member who has been patiently waiting for its review. The V90-DAC retails for $300 from what I can tell (it is sold through a dealer channel) so a bit more expensive than Topping at $250.

The V90-DAC is quite attractive and has a high-end feel to it despite the diminutive case:

View attachment 14069

There is a certain elegance to it that you don't normally find in this price category. Compared to it, the Topping looks decidedly industrial.

It comes with a nice little switching power supply no bigger than a USB phone charger.

From format support point of view, the V90-DAC trails the D50 by only supporting PCM up to 192 kHz and no DSD. The Topping goes up to 768 kHz and DSD512. And while the Topping has a volume control, the V90 has none.

Let's get into measurements and see how they do.

Measurements
Let's start with our Dashboard:
View attachment 14070

We see a healthy 2.2 volt output which is 10% more than the nominal 2 volts I look for. So there should be no problem driving any pre-amp after it.

Clock accuracy is a bit off at 1.00006 kHz or 60 parts per million. Not an audible concern but something to note.

THD+N and hence SINAD is pretty variable between channels. Like to see those closer. Still, both are in very respectable range. I averaged the SINAD for the two channels and this is where it fits:

View attachment 14071

It lands where it belongs: below state-of-the-art tier but solidly above the low tier on the right.

Looking at intermodulation distortion we get this:
View attachment 14072

There is higher noise and distortion levels until we get to mid-level where the Topping suffers. But then it loses at the highest levels. So a mixed picture and a draw.

A draw is also what we get for THD versus frequency:

View attachment 14073

For some reason, one channel in the D50 decided to have more distortion than it normally has. To that end, those two channels are the same but the other beats the V90-DAC. Still, the difference is not something to worry about.

Another even match is jitter and noise:
View attachment 14074

Both have a few spikes especially due to USB packet traffic on multiples of 1 kHz which state-of-the-art DACs don't have. Levels though are at -120 dB so absolutely inaudible.

Finally, everyone's favorite measurement, linearity:

View attachment 14075

Here, we see some variability in the output of V90-DAC that Topping does not have. I like to see less than 0.5 dB at -120 dB level and the V90-DAC exceeds that a bit. So a nod goes to Topping D50.

Conclusions
The Musical Fidelity V90-DAC is a beautifully executed small DAC. It exudes a feel of luxury that doesn't exist in products in this category/price. Design is competent with no glaring faults. All in all, I say it is a hair worse than Topping D50 but we are literally splitting hairs here.

So ultimately this comes down to the usefulness of more formats in Topping D50 and its lower price, versus the more elegant look of the Musical Fidelity V90-DAC. You pick.

-------------

As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

If you like this review, please consider donating funds for these types of hardware purchases using Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/audiosciencereview), or upgrading your membership here though Paypal (https://audiosciencereview.com/foru...eview-and-measurements.2164/page-3#post-59054).

Not that I have seen.

 

[Russm535il]

I believe the V90 is a bit dated as it only offers inputs up to 96k on USB. It is a favorite at Stereophile. Conversion uses a Burr Brown 1795, a change from the usual ESS.

I own the V90 and just subscribed to Amazon HD as you said using USB from my iPhone 11 the DAC only handles 92 k not 192k I was looking at Schitt DAC’s do you think the Modius 3 would offer better sound ?? I think it sells at $199 Thank you I am a Digital novice Russ Dejulio Pittsburgh

 

[Ron Texas]

I own the V90 and just subscribed to Amazon HD as you said using USB from my iPhone 11 the DAC only handles 92 k not 192k I was looking at Schitt DAC’s do you think the Modius 3 would offer better sound ?? I think it sells at $199 Thank you I am a Digital novice Russ Dejulio Pittsburgh

Get something from Topping. Check the reviews here.

 

[Russm535il]

Before I saw your response I ordered the Modius from Schitt oh well Thank you though I think it will be an improvement hopefully Russ

 

[Zenek73]

I bought this dac about 2y ago about your recommendation. I really like it's simplicity. The only complain - too bright less
On the other side i have tinnitus so I love music but I'm not audiophile for sure
I also browse through your bluesound node 2021 review...
and I'm still going to buy it
Bluos looks great for be. Dac... Probably I won't notice any difference between node and v90 but I will try
I use headphones and tube amplifier so it also counts.
Anyway I registered because I'm tired reading audiophile forums with playing cables or other strange equipment. Measurement is the only thing I should relay only if I can't hear difference. I'm going to buy equipment which looks great for me and is "certified" by reviewer like you not a storytellers.

 

[Russm535il]

I don’t know if I posted it but I canceled the order for the Schitt DAC and kept my Musical Fidelity V90 Thanks All !!! BTW I was at my local audio dealer a few weeks ago and he told me that I had to get a musical server for the best digital music sound . He said using a Cambridge Music server would be far superior to my current set up of using my Apple iPhone 11 Amazon HD paid service and the musical fidelity V 90 I have to research it but I don’t understand why it would make any difference. Frankly I don’t know what a musical server is I have to research it sorry to be so clueless

 

[audio2design]

Huh, it looks to be way cleaner comparing to another measurement in terms of jitter:
https://kenrockwell.com/audio/musical-fidelity/v90-dac.htm#spectra
Maybe they got a bad sample?

This is a good example of how power supply effects can have unintended consequences. Note where those jitter spikes are, +/- 60Hz and it is an optical input. That suggests noise on the analog side of the TOSLINK input.

https://kenrockwell.com/audio/musical-fidelity/v90-dac/FFT-115-optical.gif

 

[spacessound]

I got one of these 2nd hand, maybe 18months ago, for 140€. it’s paired with a Yamaha A-S300, also 2nd hand for 80€, and fed with an r pi streamer over usb and optical spdif from. TV. I love the simplicity, the sound and the aesthetic pairing with the Yamaha is also very satisfying. my first consumer DAC and seeing this review I feel reassured to not look any further

 

[Jimster480]

I got one of these 2nd hand, maybe 18months ago, for 140€. it’s paired with a Yamaha A-S300, also 2nd hand for 80€, and fed with an r pi streamer over usb and optical spdif from. TV. I love the simplicity, the sound and the aesthetic pairing with the Yamaha is also very satisfying. my first consumer DAC and seeing this review I feel reassured to not look any further

The other performance is definitely not bad but compared to today's standards there are much better performing products. Depending on your setup though you may not be able to hear the difference.

 

[spacessound]

The other performance is definitely not bad but compared to today's standards there are much better performing products. Depending on your setup though you may not be able to hear the difference.

I think the limitations lie elsewhere in what I have. In my studio I have some PMCs with a metric halo lio8 and the difference is clear, (room acoustics aside) but I don’t feel I’m missing out when listening at home in my tiny living room. I don’t listen on headphones ever as it’s not really my thing.

 

[Jimster480]

I think the limitations lie elsewhere in what I have. In my studio I have some PMCs with a metric halo lio8 and the difference is clear, (room acoustics aside) but I don’t feel I’m missing out when listening at home in my tiny living room. I don’t listen on headphones ever as it’s not really my thing.

I would say that most of the recent advances in DACs are most noticeable with headphones. If you don't use them then you probably can't notice it once you have something competent. Since the distortion products would be so low that you would need a totally silent sound treated room that is tuned combined with some great speakers. Atleast that is my take.

 

[MediumRare]

I have one for sale, in-box, in mint condition: https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lisb9650-musical-fidelity-v90-dac-da-converters