Help a pro musician choose a new DAC and AMP setup

[DavidM1]

I think if I'm spending my own money today, with your criteria, I'm going for the following:

• Aiyima A70 amp, should be under $175 with a 48v/5 amp power supply.
• Topping DX3 Pro+ DAC/AMP Combo, at c$200

Then you can throw in a WiiM Mini later if you want streaming and PEQ (can just use APO/Peace when on PC).

I think this is good advice and not too different from the system I bought for myself and listed earlier. I don’t get the need for a sub for a functional high quality system. The added expense and complication won’t make a difference to your ability to practice with orchestral recordings. Simplicity and functionality would be higher priorities. I’d be exploring DAC plus power amp/s or perhaps a good integrated WiiM amp as practical solutions that will sound very good.

 

[kemmler3D]

I think this is good advice and not too different from the system I bought for myself and listed earlier. I don’t get the need for a sub for a functional high quality system. The added expense and complication won’t make a difference to your ability to practice with orchestral recordings. Simplicity and functionality would be higher priorities. I’d be exploring DAC plus power amp/s or perhaps a good integrated WiiM amp as practical solutions that will sound very good.

I'd agree that a sub isn't necessary to practice, but I would also argue that a properly integrated sub makes pretty much any music on almost any system sound noticeably better. Not just the obvious stuff but anything with drums in it. We're talking an octave, octave and a half at least! And not just the ability to play lower, but the ability to fill nulls from the room in the overlapping ~octave.

If you don't have "good" (read: smooth directivity, flat on axis) speakers, I would always say start there, but generally a sub + EQ is the next major step up in quality for most people.

 

[davmol]

The A70 has a sub out so that's covered if needed.

AIYIMA A70 Stereo Amplifier Review

This is a review and detailed measurements of the AIYIMA A70 stereo class D amplifier. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $190 with 48v @ 5 amp supply. As tested with 48v 10amp GaN supply, it costs US $220. As you see, the A70 comes in vertical desktop configuration. Controls are...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[Roland68]

I think if I'm spending my own money today, with your criteria, I'm going for the following:

• Aiyima A70 amp, should be under $175 with a 48v/5 amp power supply.
• Topping DX3 Pro+ DAC/AMP Combo, at c$200

Then you can throw in a WiiM Mini later if you want streaming and PEQ (can just use APO/Peace when on PC).

The A70 has a sub out so that's covered if needed.

AIYIMA A70 Stereo Amplifier Review

This is a review and detailed measurements of the AIYIMA A70 stereo class D amplifier. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $190 with 48v @ 5 amp supply. As tested with 48v 10amp GaN supply, it costs US $220. As you see, the A70 comes in vertical desktop configuration. Controls are...

www.audiosciencereview.com

There is nothing to say against the Aiyima A70 as an amplifier, but the subwoofer function is absolutely useless with the setting option between 150-600 Hz. 60-120 Hz would have been great, but Aiyima has lost out again.

The Topping DX3 Pro+ is clearly inferior to the SMSL SU-1 and the Sabaj A20h, and that at the same price. You may have overlooked the fact that the A20h is being sold off and comes from the €/$ 300-400 device class, is correspondingly powerful (4.7 watts), a real balanced HPA and is better equipped.

In addition, separate devices are much more flexible if you want to change something.

 

[davmol]

There is nothing to say against the Aiyima A70 as an amplifier, but the subwoofer function is absolutely useless with the setting option between 150-600 Hz. 60-120 Hz would have been great, but Aiyima has lost out again.

The Topping DX3 Pro+ is clearly inferior to the SMSL SU-1 and the Sabaj A20h, and that at the same price. You may have overlooked the fact that the A20h is being sold off and comes from the €/$ 300-400 device class, is correspondingly powerful (4.7 watts), a real balanced HPA and is better equipped.

In addition, separate devices are much more flexible if you want to change something.

I agree it's nice to have separates and the flexibility that comes with them and the A20h and SU-1 are great devices (I own the latter). However, I wasn't overlooking them, I just wouldn't choose them in this scenario due to the lack of aesthetics (they will need to be on display), simplicity and convenience.

A separate speaker amp, headphone amp and the SU-1 DAC means 7 cables to start with, plus splitter cables or switches, plus headphone cables, plus speaker cables, plus 3 more cables if adding a sub and a WiiM. I think we're at 15+ cables now, all which can't be hidden away because the A20h remote will only control amp power on/off and volume (sources need manually switching on SU-1, and possibly a splitter). For me personally, if I'm looking for a desktop setup in a small room, I don't want to deal with this, particularly when adding in the inconvenience of the A20h having headphone jacks on the back (I mean, why Sabaj, why?)

As for the DX3 Pro+ and A70 combo, I would have just two boxes. The A70 can set to max and hidden away, turned on/off manually or with a smart plug whenever using the speakers, and just leaving the tiny DX3 on the desk to control everything else. A fully functional remote controlled pre-amp and DAC, with a headphone jack on the front (where it belongs ) and with LDAC Bluetooth, so I wouldn't even need a streaming device (assumes having an LDAC capable phone). PEQ is covered by APO/Peace when on the laptop, or Wavelet (or others) when streaming from the phone.

Again, I agree that the A20h and SU-1 are great devices, but the former is a little too compromised for me with the jacks on the back, and the latter a little too short on connectivity and convenience for this kind of setup. The D50III DAC mentioned earlier is a great choice for solving the multiple outputs mess, and returning the convenience, plus adds PEQ over USB. I own the D50III and use it daily myself, and I love it, but it is 2-3x more than the SU-1, so depends on OP's budget.

All personal tastes though, so if the OP prefers the flexibility of separates over the aesthetics and convenience, doesn't need a full remote control or Bluetooth, and doesn't care about headphone jacks at the back of their headphone amp, then crack on, either setup will sound good.

 

[gpunique]

The A70 has a sub out so that's covered if needed.

AIYIMA A70 Stereo Amplifier Review

This is a review and detailed measurements of the AIYIMA A70 stereo class D amplifier. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $190 with 48v @ 5 amp supply. As tested with 48v 10amp GaN supply, it costs US $220. As you see, the A70 comes in vertical desktop configuration. Controls are...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Does the aiyima do bass management? Or does it send all signals to every speakers?

 

[davmol]

Does the aiyima do bass management? Or does it send all signals to every speakers?

It has a low pass, although as mentioned above, it's not very useful due to the frequency range.

What is your budget? You have mentioned a fairly wide range of options. What is absolute max you would want to spend if it gets you everything you mentioned?

 

[gpunique]

It has a low pass, although as mentioned above, it's not very useful due to the frequency range.

What is your budget? You have mentioned a fairly wide range of options. What is absolute max you would want to spend if it gets you everything you mentioned?

Would the fosi za3 have a better range and have bass management?

I would be will to spend $400ish. That without factoring in a subwoofer. Aomim inclined to stay on the lower end but with quality options to not break the bank.
The Fiio K7 has my attention right now as it has a great dac, wonderful headphone power and has a toggle switch for outputs so I could leave headphones in and they would only be powered when the switch is on.
And it would keep cables and desk space managed like you said.
The K5 is a good option too but reviews seem to greatly favor the sound of K7 for only a little more money.
The smsl D100 is very attractive for those reasons too. Having HDMI for the future would be nice too.

With black Friday coming I may be able to snag even better deals to get more bang for buck.

I guess I should also mention that my studio is quite small. And I have sound absorbing panels all over to help reduce reflection and prevent hearing damage since trumpet playing is pretty loud. So maybe room correction is even more important to compensate for that?

 

[Chrispy]

Can't imagine why you being a musician is particularly important in choosing playback gear to start. I looked at the Fosi ZA3 for bass management but see nothing at all....but pretty typical for most 2ch gear otoh.

 

[gpunique]

Can't imagine why you being a musician is particularly important in choosing playback gear to start. I looked at the Fosi ZA3 for bass management but see nothing at all....but pretty typical for most 2ch gear otoh.

It was mentioned only to help with gear. Since my use is in a practice studio is much different than in a living room for ambiance, movies, light listening, etc. I'm listening at very loud levels while playing a loud trumpet. So maybe some equipment might be great for normal use but I may need more power. Similar to buying headphones, you wouldn't normally buy studio monitors for casual listening, you'd want a better sound signature for added warmth. Where in a recording studio you want to hear all the imperfections and perfect balance to know how to adjust for the best mix.
So me using a studio setup for practice may help guide what suggestions would fit my tiny room and needs differently than in a large living room. That's all.

 

[Chrispy]

It was mentioned only to help with gear. Since my use is in a practice studio is much different than in a living room for ambiance, movies, light listening, etc. I'm listening at very loud levels while playing a loud trumpet. So maybe some equipment might be great for normal use but I may need more power. Similar to buying headphones, you wouldn't normally buy studio monitors for casual listening, you'd want a better sound signature for added warmth. Where in a recording studio you want to hear all the imperfections and perfect balance to know how to adjust for the best mix.
So me using a studio setup for practice may help guide what suggestions would fit my tiny room and needs differently than in a large living room. That's all.

I think you still just want a generally neutral room and speaker response. That can be hard. I can't even imagine using headphones to compare to good speakers/monitors, tho. Added warmth means little let alone sound signature...maybe you can expand on what you mean by that. I would use technical descriptions and measurements rather than vague terminology....

 

[davmol]

I would be will to spend $400ish. That without factoring in a subwoofer.

I don't know US prices but maybe for that budget, and with upcoming sales, you could pick up a WiiM Amp (or Amp Pro) and then just buy a separate cheap headphone amp/DAC combo (so treat them separately, instead of trying to share the DAC between speaker and headphone amps). This should cover your bass management / sub, plus your room correction and you could then just stream from your laptop to the WiiM (Spotify / Tidal etc) for speaker output, or use a cheap USB to optical converter from Amazon.

For the headphone combo, you would connect laptop with USB, but it should also possible to connect the WiiM amp to the headphone combo using USB-out from the WiiM, so you could stream from WiiM to the headphone combo without needing the laptop open (if you wanted too, might not be a common scenario). It would just need you to swap usb cables, or get a cheapo Amazon 2-in/1-out USB switcher, if you don't want to swap cables. The WiiM will pass PEQ filters over USB-out to the combo, so you should also be able to EQ your headphones regardless if the source is laptop (APO/Peace) or WiiM.

A cheap DAC/AMP combo I've tried recently was the Fiio K11, which looks sleek, sounds good and has decent power from the two jacks (I have the R2R, but standard will likely sound the same and is cheaper). Also consider looking used for a cheap headphone DAC/amp combo if needed, to keep you under $400. I'm sure others will comment if this will work or not but it should look nice on a desk and covers all the bases as far as I can tell.