Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
Welcome to ASR. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions.
Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!
Hi everyone, I wanted some advice. I intend to upgrade my dac. I currently have an Audiolab MDAC with a 9018 dac and a SINAD 101 which they declare. Unfortunately I have a very limited budget, and my choice would be a Topping D10S used with dac 9038, and with higher SINAD. Do you think I do well or is there something else. Thanks
Hi everyone, I wanted some advice. I intend to upgrade my dac. I currently have an Audiolab MDAC with a 9018 dac and a SINAD 101 which they declare. Unfortunately I have a very limited budget, and my choice would be a Topping D10S used with dac 9038, and with higher SINAD. Do you think I do well or is there something else. Thanks
There are usually measurable differences but there is RARELY ANY audible defects/or difference with a DAC (in a proper, blind, level-matched ABX Test). If there is a difference it's usually noise (hum, hiss, or whine in the background) but that's coming from the analog electronics or it's getting-into the analog side from the power supply. It's not the DAC chip.
You'll read all kinds of flowery nonsense "audiophile" descriptions of sound, and that's usually because they "don't believe in" blind listening tests. The flowery language is a big red flag. If they aren't talking about real characteristics like noise, distortion, or frequency response, I'd ignore what you read.
...I don't own a separate DAC. There's a DAC built-into my computers, my AVR, my TV, etc. (I had a computer once with a noisy soundcard. I could hear noise through the speakers/headphones when the hard drive was accessed.)
I didn't do multiple switches. I unplugged one and plugged in the other! I wasn't setting out to listen for a difference, but I expected to hear one, because... biases!
I bought for RME for features (an ADC, PEQ etc.) rather than for an audio upgrade from the M-DAC.
Thanks for the MaxwellsEq warning. Unfortunately my MDAC was part of that lot, and I have already replaced the leaking capacitors. Returning to the original discussion, I heard a couple of musical pieces on YOUTUBE in my headphones, which compared the two DACs in question And you could hear the difference. Not big differences, but the 9038 is more detailed. Unfortunately, I don't know anyone who has this DAC, to make a comparison on my system.