neoheresy
Member
This is my first post in this Forum, so I wanted to start by saying "Hello!" to everybody.
My kids keep growing up and somehow the living space of our apartment (we live in a flat) does not want to expand on its own as time goes on
In addition, we are about to start rearranging the space and renovating the apartment. For these reasons, I have to significantly reduce the footprint of my living room audio setup. I have already sold my Yamaha R-N602 and active studio monitors and I am curently looking for new and smaller audio gear.
I already have my “go to” active speakers - Edifier S2000MKIII - with a single optical input, single coax input and two sets of stereo RCA inputs.
The speakers are controlled with a remote controller, thus the new DAC would not have to include both an on-board preamp and a remote controller to change the volume.
My TV is currently connected to Edifier set, of course via optical (TOSLINK).
I also use a Raspberry Pi 3 acting as a streamer in this setup - via HiFiBerry DAC2 HD HAT, working under Volumio 3.
I use the Raspberry Pi for:
Hence, my idea is to keep the Pi with Volumio 3, stop using the DAC2 HD Pi HAT and buy a DAC.
My requirements are:
The units I am considering, are:
I do not have very high quality requirements - I would just like the DAC to output decent quality sound and work flawlessly in a setup I have described above.
I was wondering, maybe I would do better by grabbing a Topping E50, saving money that way, and use that saved cash to purchase a linear power supply/supplies for the Raspberry Pi and the Topping?
Thank you in advance for any input and recommendations you might have for me.
My kids keep growing up and somehow the living space of our apartment (we live in a flat) does not want to expand on its own as time goes on
I already have my “go to” active speakers - Edifier S2000MKIII - with a single optical input, single coax input and two sets of stereo RCA inputs.
The speakers are controlled with a remote controller, thus the new DAC would not have to include both an on-board preamp and a remote controller to change the volume.
My TV is currently connected to Edifier set, of course via optical (TOSLINK).
I also use a Raspberry Pi 3 acting as a streamer in this setup - via HiFiBerry DAC2 HD HAT, working under Volumio 3.
I use the Raspberry Pi for:
- Spotify Connect
- Tidal Connect
- playing audio files from my NAS
- internet radio
Hence, my idea is to keep the Pi with Volumio 3, stop using the DAC2 HD Pi HAT and buy a DAC.
My requirements are:
- Full MQA decoding for Tidal (DSD would be supported kind of by the way)
- Possibility of connecting the DAC via a USB cable to my Raspberry Pi 3 - so that Volumio 3 operates as a Passthrough for MQA, and the USB cable transmits MQA data that would be decoded by the DAC
- Headphone amplifier - I use my headphones only at my desk, in another room
- Bluetooth - I don't listen to music from BT (not that I am against the idea, I just don’t need this functionality
)
- remote controller (the Edifier speakers has its own remote controller)
The units I am considering, are:
- SMSL M500 MKII
- Cambridge Audio Dacmagic 200m
- Topping E50
- Sabaj A20D 2022
I do not have very high quality requirements - I would just like the DAC to output decent quality sound and work flawlessly in a setup I have described above.
I was wondering, maybe I would do better by grabbing a Topping E50, saving money that way, and use that saved cash to purchase a linear power supply/supplies for the Raspberry Pi and the Topping?
Thank you in advance for any input and recommendations you might have for me.