Hey everyone,
I'm a music production student looking to upgrade my monitoring setup. I currently use an Audient iD24 and plan to connect a new DAC via optical (SPDIF). I mainly produce hip-hop, R&B, and electronic music, and I use Audio-Technica ath r70x (previous headphone) and aune AR5000 (current main headphone) headphones. Main use of the dac for me is mainly music production, mixing and mastering.
I'm torn between the iFi Neo iDSD 2 and the Topping DX7 Pro+. I tried the Neo iDSD 2 at a shop and loved its clear, deep, and buttery sound. However, I've heard that the DX7 Pro+ is in the same league but offers a more neutral and analytical sound, which is ideal for monitoring. Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to listen to the DX7 Pro+ myself.
My concern is that the AR5000 can sound a bit sibilant, and I'm worried that the Topping's analytical nature might accentuate that and make everything sounds way too boring with its neutral sound . I also heard that toppings optical connection makes jitter noise but neo idsd 2 has external word clock inout to attack this issue. In terms of performance—sound separation, soundstage, imaging, and clarity and etc—how do these two DACs compare? Which would you choose for my use case? If there’s a better option out there, I’d love to hear about it!
Thanks in advance for your help!
I'm a music production student looking to upgrade my monitoring setup. I currently use an Audient iD24 and plan to connect a new DAC via optical (SPDIF). I mainly produce hip-hop, R&B, and electronic music, and I use Audio-Technica ath r70x (previous headphone) and aune AR5000 (current main headphone) headphones. Main use of the dac for me is mainly music production, mixing and mastering.
I'm torn between the iFi Neo iDSD 2 and the Topping DX7 Pro+. I tried the Neo iDSD 2 at a shop and loved its clear, deep, and buttery sound. However, I've heard that the DX7 Pro+ is in the same league but offers a more neutral and analytical sound, which is ideal for monitoring. Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to listen to the DX7 Pro+ myself.
My concern is that the AR5000 can sound a bit sibilant, and I'm worried that the Topping's analytical nature might accentuate that and make everything sounds way too boring with its neutral sound . I also heard that toppings optical connection makes jitter noise but neo idsd 2 has external word clock inout to attack this issue. In terms of performance—sound separation, soundstage, imaging, and clarity and etc—how do these two DACs compare? Which would you choose for my use case? If there’s a better option out there, I’d love to hear about it!
Thanks in advance for your help!
