DAC with unimpaired sound quality when used in "preamp mode"?

[Walter]

My number one priority would be usability when it comes to a standalone D/A converter driving active speakers. People tend to forget about that when clamouring to recommend the latest #1 poll-sitter in the ASR charts.

Does it remember volume settings when powered off or unplugged for a while? Can you set turn on volume levels so you don't get blasted out of the room? Are there any noises on power up/down that crack through active speakers? Is the +/- up/down volume fast/slow/unusable or great?

Is it so small and light that you need to glue it to the table-top to prevent the leads pulling it onto the floor? Does it skate backwards if you reach out to adjust the volume? Can you see the input designation and volume setting across the room and does it light up your listening room like a Christmas Tree at night?

I agree completely, especially since returns are impractical where Iive. Amir does comment on these things on occasion, but I accept that he does not consider that to be within the scope of what he wants to review, so I mostly look to user comments from owners, and other subjective reviews for this information.

 

[Walter]

Haem. You just take the SINAD at max output (0dBfs @ 4.1Vrms for D30 Pro) and lower it by the same amount of dB attenuation... SINAD does include SNR, that what goes down with attenuation, (most often) not THD.

He does that, sometimes:View attachment 180950

Same.

Saw that in the M500 review. Hoping it is the start of a new policy. John Yang has specifically stated that the noise level on the D30pro is NOT constant with volume. I'm not sure how many other DACs this would be true of.

 

[VintageFlanker]

John Yang has specifically stated that the noise level on the D30pro is NOT constant with volume.

Sure...That exactly what I said:

I'm not sure how many other DACs this would be true of.

Noise is not constant with any DAC with digital attenuation from its chip. You loose one dB of SNR each dB of attention from 0dBfs. That's it.

 

[Walter]

Sure...That exactly what I said:

Noise is not constant with any DAC with digital attenuation from its chip. You loose one dB of SNR each dB of attention from 0dBfs. That's it.

Sorry, read too quickly while not fully awake. I believe he also said that the noise on the E50 did not decrease at lower volumes, as I believe that topic is where this was discussed.

I didn't notice at first that we were saying the same thing. I referred to the noise level, while you referred to the ratio. My bad. However, John Yang stated that the noise on the D30pro was lower at lower volumes. I doubt that the decrease is linear--SNR probably still goes down, just not as much.

 

[Walter]

Got curious if I was remembering correctly so I located his actual comment: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...ing-e50-review-balanced-dac.26219/post-900960

 

[DDF]

My number one priority would be usability when it comes to a standalone D/A converter driving active speakers. People tend to forget about that when clamouring to recommend the latest #1 poll-sitter in the ASR charts.

Does it remember volume settings when powered off or unplugged for a while? Can you set turn on volume levels so you don't get blasted out of the room? Are there any noises on power up/down that crack through active speakers? Is the +/- up/down volume fast/slow/unusable or great?

Is it so small and light that you need to glue it to the table-top to prevent the leads pulling it onto the floor? Does it skate backwards if you reach out to adjust the volume? Can you see the input designation and volume setting across the room and does it light up your listening room like a Christmas Tree at night?

I was shopping for a dac/pre and so many of the recommended gear here have unacceptable usability issues.

Bizarre crosstalk issues, output muting by design, inability to lock toslink on normal sources like tvs and disc players, drop outs, oled burn in, trouble playing dsd or mqa, bizarre filter setting with several dB loss at 20khz, volume bugs, popping, leakage to rcas when a headset is plugged in, standby erasing volume setting, mistaken reporting of sample rate, hot operation to deliver pointless arcwelders for headphone outputs....
Some of the most touted brands seem to be expending their R&D budgets chasing a few specs well beyond what is necessary while rushing product out the door with amateur level testing beyond the AP. Much better to have fewer features and acceptable but less dazzling specs, and have it just work, and last. The often 50+ pages of bug discussions have been very revealing.

 

[restorer-john]

I was shopping for a dac/pre and so many of the recommended gear here have unacceptable usability issues.

Bizarre crosstalk issues, output muting by design, inability to lock toslink on normal sources like tvs and disc players, drop outs, oled burn in, trouble playing dsd or mqa, bizarre filter setting with several dB loss at 20khz, volume bugs, popping, leakage to rcas when a headset is plugged in, standby erasing volume setting, mistaken reporting of sample rate, hot operation to deliver pointless arcwelders for headphone outputs....
Some of the most touted brands seem to be expending their R&D budgets chasing a few specs well beyond what is necessary while rushing product out the door with amateur level testing beyond the AP. Much better to have fewer features and acceptable but less dazzling specs, and have it just work, and last. The often 50+ pages of bug discussions have been very revealing.

Very true. And I agree, they are chasing the headline 1kHz number at the expense of a well considered and bug-proof design. A bit like the VW dieselgate. Test well in the lab in specific conditions, but in the real world- it all goes t#ts up.

 

[MCH]

I also bought the D30pro based on the numerous comments of @JohnYang1997 on its low noise and ideal use as preamp and its reasonable price. Example:

Shenzhenaudio Topping EX5 Review (DAC and Headphone Amplifier)

Endgame all-in-one. Except for the MQA garbage, hope they stop paying for the licence and ship out the units for 299. They're not paying $50 for MQA. Would you like some more money off because this pointlessly supports high-resolution too?

audiosciencereview.com

I don't have others to compare but i can say it is dead silent directly plugged to an hypex power amp. It also has its issues though (spdif, lazy remote).

 

[Klonatans]

I use a Mytek Brooklyn DAC+ as pre-amp/DAC with active speakers in my computer based audio system. Haven’t seen its measurements here but I immensely enjoy music from Qobuz and Tidal every day while working from home. A massive improvement after Audiolab Q-DAC I had before.