Topping D90SE Review (Balanced DAC)

[rlwings]

Quick (stupid question) ... Any advantage to getting a better USB cable for the D90SE? - Thicker gauge\Gold connectors, etc? - Or is would this just be more 'Audiofoolery'?

 

[MakeMineVinyl]

Quick (stupid question) ... Any advantage to getting a better USB cable for the D90SE? - Thicker gauge\Gold connectors, etc? - Or is would this just be more 'Audiofoolery'?

Just get a good but not expensive one such as from Monoprice.

 

[muslhead]

Quick reply.
Do a search. Amir did a great video. Not only will you find the answer to your question but you will be much smarter for watching

 

[rlwings]

Quick reply.
Do a search. Amir did a great video. Not only will you find the answer to your question but you will be much smarter for watching

Great video! Thanks! - Amazon Basics it is!

 

[rlwings]

Just get a good but not expensive one such as from Monoprice.

Yep, just watched Amir's video. Amazon Basics it is!

 

[muslhead]

Great video! Thanks! - Amazon Basics it is!

quick learner

 

[RadioBuddha]

The IFI Zen Streamer is basically a Raspberry Pi with Volumio. It costs $399 while you can buy a RPi4 for $100 with a Flirc case, 32Gb memory card and a CanaKit 3.5A Raspberry Pi 4 Power Supply (USB-C). But since no one makes any real money on the RPi4 it's a word of mouth secret which allows companies like iFi to sell a device very similar for 400% more.

I have a RPi4 setup with Moode and only UPnP enabled. This allows me to use a DLNA enabled player like Audirvana or JRiver on my computer and wirelessly stream ripped CDs or Tidal/Qobuz to any DAC. This setup avoids compression schemes used with BT and Airplay. Your music streams to the DAC without compression just as if your computer USB port was connected directly to the DAC. $100 for the RPi4/Moode UPnP combination is the best value for wifi streaming. No need to add it to the DAC.

So I gather you think these guys are full of beans:

Basically they are stating how much the IFI Zen Stream wows them with a pure sound quality, they mention a bunch of technology that IFI has added to the streamer that makes it sound great, whatever that means, what DAC do you use with the Raspberry Pi 4, and I thought Airplay does not compress anything?

 

[linger63]

Quick (stupid question) ... Any advantage to getting a better USB cable for the D90SE? - Thicker gauge\Gold connectors, etc? - Or is would this just be more 'Audiofoolery'?

Get whatever makes you happy and don't worry what anyone else's opinion.

 

[Frgirard]

Quick (stupid question) ... Any advantage to getting a better USB cable for the D90SE? - Thicker gauge\Gold connectors, etc? - Or is would this just be more 'Audiofoolery'?

Audiofoolery

 

[amper42]

I have a gold toothbrush. It fits my hand comfortably and provides amazingly low harmonic distortion.

 

[Barryfromholland]

So I gather you think these guys are full of beans:

Basically they are stating how much the IFI Zen Stream wows them with a pure sound quality, they mention a bunch of technology that IFI has added to the streamer that makes it sound great, whatever that means, what DAC do you use with the Raspberry Pi 4, and I thought Airplay does not compress anything?

they sure are convincing……could a measurement solve this statemen?

 

[rlwings]

I know that we're not suppose to say that one DAC sounds different than another, but come on, this DAC is a detail monster! Lol - My god. Play a little Tidal through this puppy on a good system and wow!

 

[Dipypang]

Some questions:
1. Is it ok to keep the rear switch on and turn on/off directly from wall/power strip?
2. Are the filter 1-7 really audible? Or just let it default. But from the comments some said filter #7 better
3. Is there any difference from DAC mode only and Pre+DAC? Just wondering why some people need to change to DAC only.

thanks!

 

[JohnYang1997]

Some questions:
1. Is it ok to keep the rear switch on and turn on/off directly from wall/power strip?
2. Are the filter 1-7 really audible? Or just let it default. But from the comments some said filter #7 better
3. Is there any difference from DAC mode only and Pre+DAC? Just wondering why some people need to change to DAC only.

thanks!

1, Yes. It's the same as switching on the back.
2, A couple of them possibly. Not really make much difference. I recommend 3(default).
3, No difference.

 

[Dipypang]

1, Yes. It's the same as switching on the back.
2, A couple of them possibly. Not really make much difference. I recommend 3(default).
3, No difference.

Thanks for the fast reply John, love your creations and have a nice day!

 

[Music1969]

@JohnYang1997 How does the ES9038PRO deal with DSD?

I don't think even the DAC designer can tell you exactly how, because ESS chips have been described as being 'a black box' for many many years, in regards to DSD handling.

The most common accepted guess is that sample rate is maintained but it becomes multi-bit to allow for DSP like digital vol control. And always passes through the chips sigma delta modulator.

It's definitely not like 'DSD Direct' mode that AKM chips provide , which skips volume control AND skips sigma delta modulator and goes to SCFs

 

[uusuke]

hi@JohnYang1997 , What do you think of this?

https://www.ptt.cc/bbs/Headphone/M.1629297767.A.2EC.html

 

[enricoclaudio]

Some questions:
1. Is it ok to keep the rear switch on and turn on/off directly from wall/power strip?
2. Are the filter 1-7 really audible? Or just let it default. But from the comments some said filter #7 better
3. Is there any difference from DAC mode only and Pre+DAC? Just wondering why some people need to change to DAC only.

thanks!

Also, DAC mode makes the D90SE volume Fixed. This is convenient if you are running the D90SE through a pre amp.

 

[David_M]

I don't think even the DAC designer can tell you exactly how, because ESS chips have been described as being 'a black box' for many many years, in regards to DSD handling.

The most common accepted guess is that sample rate is maintained but it becomes multi-bit to allow for DSP like digital vol control. And always passes through the chips sigma delta modulator.

It's definitely not like 'DSD Direct' mode that AKM chips provide, which skips volume control AND skips sigma-delta modulator and goes to SCFs

Are you saying the 9038PRO converts the DSD to PCM (for volume control) then outputs PCM-based analog or does it re-convert to DSD then apply the 50,70,90kHz filter for analog output?

 

[Music1969]

Nobody exactly knows what is happening. Hence why i wrote "black box"

If you Google you will see discussion going back over 10 years on various forums about what ESS does with DSD.

The general consensus (guesstimate) is what I wrote above but you can Google and see if you agree with what I wrote or not.